My Future Stepbrother

Chapter 136

I step out of the bug, Brie and Kallie following behind me but the usual smiling face I’m used to greeting me is nowhere to be seen.


Chad hasn't spoken to me all weekend, I've tried calling and I've text. I even ran into Elizabeth when me and Brie took May and Milo for ice-cream but she said she hadn't seen him since she brought him home after the party.


He was completely avoiding me, and everyone else by the looks of things. I wasn't massively keen to have this conversation either but I wasn't being a pussy about it. Why do we use the term pussy to refer to something weak? It never made any sense to me, pussy’s can take a fucking pounding and they survive shoving out an actual human being. Kick a guy in the balls and he'll crumble like a piece of paper under a running tap. Balls-bags, that's the new word we're using people. He was being an absolute ball-bag about this entire thing.


I had just got comfy at lunch and was about to take my first bite of pasta when my phone buzzed.


'Chad - Can you meet me by the bleachers? Halls open.'


About bloody time. I shovel in as much pasta as I can fit in my mouth whilst packing my stuff back into my bag.


“Bitch, where are you going? You have to do this chem prep with me before I flunk, never graduate and end up some millionaire daddy's play-thing to make rent!” I glare at Brie, she knows full well that's her dream so why is she trying to make it seem like torture.


“Kal can do it, I've got to go have a super awkward conversation with the best friend that wants to fuck me. Trust me, I'd rather be here.” An annoyed growl comes from just outside my peripheral vision and I honestly didn't realise until this moment that Jayce was behind me. All the understanding he had about me and Chad seemed to have disappeared when he found out about what he said to me that night at the party.


“If I asked you not to go would you listen to me anyway?” He asks, lowering his tray to the table and taking a bite out of his apple.


I cross my arms across my chest and glare at him, trying not to focus on how the glistening juices from the apple in his hand still coats his plump lips. I have some juices I wouldn’t mind coating those lips with...

Jesus Aleah, so not the time!


He raises his hands in surrender at my scowl, a small grin on his face. I know that even if he denies it, he loves that I hardly ever listen to him. Obeying a guy is just not who I am but fancying the pants off strong women is exactly who he is.


Walking into the gym it's completely empty, except for the guy holding his head in his hands sitting half way up the benches.


“You pulled me away from my food. Do you have a death wish?” I joke, crossing the court towards him.


He lifts his head at the sound of my voice, smiling at the sight of me before reining it back in. He starts to step over the benches down towards the bottom, stopping on the second row whilst I take the seat in front of him. He looks so tired. “Why are you avoiding me douchebag?”


We both know why but I figured it's better to just let him get it out then we can have this all over with and go back to normal. I miss him.


“Look Ally, what I said by the car-”


“Forget it. You were absolutely steaming drunk, I could barely get you to walk to the car. It's okay, you were probably just caught up in the moment and a bit turned on by the cheerleaders that had practically sat on your cock for most of the night. I know you didn't mean it. So we good?” I ask hopeful he'll just plaster on that classic smirk and we can just go back to being us again.


He slips down off the bench to the floor in front so we now sit eye to eye, his hand reaching up and twirling a piece of hair that's slipped from my messy bun around his finger. His other arm quickly hooks my waist and pulls me from the bench so I sit between his legs. I scan the room quickly, this could look a lot more sinister than it actually is to the casual observer.


“Do you want me to protect you with a lie or possibly scare you with the truth?” He asks, looking directly into my eyes. He's really not messing around here, his palms that sit against my thighs are clammy and I've never seen him look so unsure of himself.


“Truth. I always want the truth, you know that.”


He takes a deep breath. “I meant it Ally. Every word. The way I feel about you... it's more than I've ever felt about any girl in my life. I'm not telling you this too pressure you, I'm totally happy for things to stay exactly the way they are if that's still what you need right now but I can't keep pretending that being around you isn't the best part of my day. I've never had someone I've wanted to rip the clothes off so badly but also wanted to protect with my life. You're it for me. Everything I've ever wanted but never thought I'd get.”


Fuck me.


He's pouring his fucking heart out right now, what the fuck do I say? Thank you but I'm still kind of caught up on my ex right now who just happens to be your best friend and my future stepbrother?


His sad doe eyes look at me and I practically melt into a puddle. He's amazing, he's actually fucking perfect and if I could be with him... I would... but right now I have nothing to offer him. I'm fucked up. In another time, another place, under different circumstances, we would be... perfection together.


I take a deep breath, my head lowering, I can’t look at him right now or I’ll break. “Chad-”


He stops me, forcing my head up to look at him. “Don't okay. I know this is something we've both kind of pushed aside because that’s what you needed and you still do but I just had to tell you. I just want you to think about it, but you don't have to decide anything until you're ready. Even if this isn't what you want, you're always going to be really fucking special to me and I don't want to lose you.”


Those words mean more to me than anything else he's ever said, I love him for that.


“You won't ever lose me. I can't be without you now.” It's the truth, he has become someone so important in my life, I can't stand the idea of him walking away from me. It's actually terrifying.


His hands come behind my neck, his thumbs looping under my chin and forcing my face up to meet his. He isn't mad or upset, he just looks happy to have the weight taken off him. He leans in to kiss my head and I let my skin soak in the feeling of his gentle touch.


“We should go. I know if I don't let you eat soon you'll probably rip someone's head off and devour their soul in the next hour.”

I want him to know I care about him, that no matter how this turns out with this thing we have, he's important. I reach my arms around his neck and pull him into me. Our hugs have mostly involved him holding me so this is different, his head leans against my shoulder and I can feel his breath on my neck, soothing the heated skin.


“We're going to be okay. No matter what. The way I feel about you... it's the purest thing in me.” My heart flutters in my chest as I feel him smile against my skin at my words, his lips pressing against my shoulder smoothly before he sits up.


He extends his hand and I grasp it. “Come on, before you take a bite out of the bleachers.”


He's not wrong.


***************************


Things were better now. Me and Chad were back to laughing and joking, Brie was back to making fun of him and Kallie had a smile plastered across her face from the moment she left the bedroom at the party that still hadn't gone anywhere. Everything was good.


Famous last words....


The smell of Granny's cooking hit us from the driveway as we pulled in after Bries class. She'd been training Harley to take over one of her sessions every week now her and Tara had started working together full time on the gala, he was a natural of course.


Sitting down after food I was just getting settled into my pyjamas when there was a knock at the door.


“Al can you get that?! I'm doing May's hair and Granny’s in the tub!”


I ran downstairs and pulled open the door to find absolutely no-one. I looked around to the street but there was nothing, until I spotted a white envelope on the doormat, my name written on the front.


I picked it up, opening the seal two photos fell out onto the floor and when I turned them over my heart sank into my stomach.


The first was one of me and Chad from earlier today, me practically sitting in his lap as we talked. The other... was me and Jayce sitting in a similar position under the oak trees a few days ago. I froze. Someone had seen us. In the envelope was a note.


'Do they know about each other yet? They soon will.... plenty more where they came from pretty girl.'


My hands shook as the images flapped in the wind still hitting me through the open door.


Who the fuck did this? And how the hell do they know where I live?


I forced my legs backwards and slammed shut the door, securing the bolt and checking it twice before running up the stairs to Brie.


She had just finished May's final braid and was tucking her in when she saw my shaking frame standing by the door, envelope still in my hand.


“Al?” She stepped out of May's room after giving her a quick kiss and turning off the light. I didn't even know what to say, I just passed her the pictures and held my hand over my mouth to try steady my breathing.


She scanned the images. “Where did you get these?” She asked panicked.


I could feel my legs shaking, someone had been following me, it was the only explanation. No-one who knew about me and Jayce would ever do this to us, they all cared about us. “It was left on the front step. What the fuck do I do?”


Brie was shaking now too but not with fear, this person had come near our house, the house where her baby sister slept. She was going to kill them. “You have to call Jayce, see if he's had one too. It says 'they soon will'. This creep wants to expose you guys, or at least expose the boys to each other.”


I walk back to the bedroom on my legs that have all the strength of wet spaghetti and ring Jayce. He answers but doesn't talk right away, I can hear mumbling and then a door slam before he finally speaks. “Hey beautiful, I can't really talk right now, I'm at Chad's making the plays with him and Coach for next season.”


My heart beats faster. He's with Chad? Right now?


“Jayce, there's some creep that's been following me... he knows about us. He's going to tell Chad, I had this knock at the door and there was this envelope left with pic-" I stop, I hear Elizabeth shouting but it sounds muffled, like she's the other side of a wall talking through.


“Chad! There's a letter down here for you!”


Oh shit.


“Jayce! You have to get it before he sees!” I hear Jayce scramble and footsteps rushing down the stairs. There's silence for a bit before Jayce speaks again. “Hold on, I'm opening it.” There's some more rustling before Jayce’s voice comes through loud and clear. “Oh fuck.”


I panic. Maybe it's just the same image they sent me? If it was we could work around that, I mean it didn't look great, but if it got out we could probably get away with saying it was just an intimate looking friend moment without the whole world having to find out about me and Jayce right now.


“Lee, can Brie get you out and cover? I'll meet you anywhere.”


I look to Brie who nods, grabbing her coat. “Tell him to meet us by that pizza place in the bay, if Tara tracks him he can say he got a slice on the way home.”


Jayce hears her. “I'll be there in ten.”

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