The Stepbrother

Chapter 24

  I seriously didn't want to believe it. She couldn't get divorced. Not now when Adam and I were finally together. When I finally had a step dad who truly cared about me. And I finally had a home.  

The next day I helped Alexis make her bags as she got ready to head back to New York. For once I didn't feel homesick or that jealousy that she was going back to my city. All I felt was my stomach dropping because I was about to be dragged  away from the place I began calling my home.  

"I'm probably wrong" She was saying as she stuffed her shoes into her suitcase. Despite everything, Alexis was still trying to be the supportive best friend she always was, trying to convince me that everything was okay, when in reality it was all crumbling down. "It's probably just a rough patch. We know better than anyone that one trip to St. Lucia and these people are all over each other again."  

I smiled dully, but appreciated her effort. "Yeah, hopefully. I just don't know what could've happened.... they seemed so happy. Everything was so perfect... " not only with them but with Adam and me too.  

She shrugged and sighed as she shut her suitcase and sat down on the edge of my bed next to me, patting my thigh gently as she laid her head on my shoulder. "Who knows, these things just happen."  

I shook my head. They couldn't "just happen". This was going to be a sixth failed marriage. It was just becoming a bad habit now. A habit I had to stop.  

We heard the car honk outside. The chauffeur was here for Alexis.  

We stood up and I helped her with her suitcases as we headed downstairs to an empty house. Mom was in New York again, Peter working and Adam had football practice. I would finally get the chance to tell him I loved him... even if it seemed our time together had an expiration date.  

I hugged Alexis tightly as the chauffeur came in to get her suitcases. I smelled her usual scent of Chanel number 5, and my eyes watered. I just wanted things to go back to normal, more than ever. And somehow that faint scent of her perfume made that feeling stronger.  

"You know I'm always here for you, 'Rena." she gave me a tiny, sincere smile and all I wanted to do was tell her about me and Adam, and how my mom just couldn't get divorced because she would be pulling me apart from a guy I loved.

But I just nodded and returned the smile. I couldn't tell her. Not yet. "I know 'Lexi. I'll miss you."  

We hugged again before she gave me a small wave and stepped into her Mercedes and drove off to the place I no longer considered my home.  

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Adam was the first to get home that day. It seemed Peter and my mother were working longer hours, which meant less time for them to be together.  

"Hey gorgeous." Adam wrapped me tight in his arms, as I lied my head against his chest, hugging him back. "I missed you."  

"I missed you too." I we pulled apart a little and I gently pushed his hair back, admiring those navy blue eyes, his long soft, brown hair. How handsome and amazing he was. And how lucky I was to have him.  

He burrowed his eyebrows together, looking at me confused. "is something going on?"

  I stared at him for a moment, wondering whether I should tell him about my mother and how her behavior reflected that of her last days before filing for divorce.

  But I didn't.

  Instead, I smiled and hugged him tighter than ever, never wanting to let go. "Nothing is going on, Adam. I just love you."

  He pulled me back and I saw he was practically beaming with happiness. "You do? You're not just saying it because I did right?"

  I smiled, shaking my head, "No, Adam. I've loved you since that day since I saw you standing next to the rat poison and I love you now."

  He laughed and pulled me close to him again, and I felt him kiss my hair. "Oh Serena, I can't imagine anything more-"

   His sentence was cut off by the sound of the front door opening and my angry sounding mother arguing on the phone.

  We pulled away, but stayed quiet there in the living room, not wanting my mom to find us here in the living room all alone.

   We heard my mom drop her keys on the floor and angrily scoff, "No, you have absolutely no right to butt into my personal life, Lydia."

  Lydia, she was talking to my aunt, her sister. My heart began racing because I knew my aunt Lydia rarely called my mom unless it was to clarify about some scandal she just read in a magazine about my mom.

  My mother let out a sigh, and Adam and I looked at each other, silently hiding behind the sofa listening as my mother took a seat on the love seat across. This time when she spoke, he voice came out a little shaky, "You just don't understand, Lydia. I want to, believe me I do. but since Arturo passed away...." she got choked up and I felt the knot forming in my throat as Adam just shook his head, looking at the floor. I didn't recognize the expression on his face at all. And it scared me.

  My mother cleared her throat and her voice was stronger now. This was her decisive voice. The one where nothing could convince her to change her mind. "I've made up my mind already, Lydia. I thought this time it would be different, but it hasn't been. I'm contacting Rutherford tomorrow and filing for divorce. I will see you in a few days." And before my aunt could say anything, I heard my mom end the call.

  And end her marriage.

  She stood up and when we heard her head upstairs and shut her bedroom door, Adam and I stood up, both of us not saying a single word to each other.

  All I wanted was for him to hold me. I leaned in towards him, but he pulled away, my heart stinging.

  "Adam?" I softly croaked out. I felt my heart pounding as I finally began to recognize that look on his face. And it was a look of anger and disgust.

  "Is this what your mom enjoys doing? Marrying a good man just to eventually break his heart because 'it wasn't different this time?'" He demanded, staring right into my eyes, his breathing hard.

  "Adam, stop don't say that, "I tried to grab his hand but he pulled away immediately and shook his head, "You know what your mom is? She's a spoiled brat. I always knew my dad was too good for her because she's a bad woman."

  "Hey!" I yelled defensively, no longer even caring if my mom could hear us or not, "Don't you dare talk about my mother that way. She may not always know what she wants but she is not a bad woman!"

  He just kept shaking his head, his jaw clenched, breathing heavy. "I'm glad they're getting a divorce to be honest. They are too different. We all just don't belong together."

  I looked away, hurt and tears beginning to fill my eyes, "Well if that's what you feel, maybe you're right. And this was all just one big mistake."

  I looked at him, holding on tight to that thin string of hope that he would take back his words, pull me into his arms and tell me he was sorry, that he still loved me despite my mother ending her marriage.

  But instead, he looked away, swallowed hard and said, "Yeah, it was a mistake."

  I said nothing. Instead I just nodded, and went upstairs, locking myself in my room and trying my best not to cry. Because I knew he would hear me. And I didn't want him to hear me crying over this big 'mistake' we had made.