TEASE ( A Stepbrother Romance ) By Caitlin Daire

6

Chapter 6

Jace

I didn't arrive home until about seven, not because I'd changed my mind and taken Roy up on his offer to get high and hammered, but because I'd needed some time to do some thinking. First, I'd gone for a walk around the streets near the pub, still trying to shake Rayna and Roy from my mind, and when that failed to work, I headed to the closest gym to do some weights and cardio. Working up a sweat always made me feel better and helped me think clearly, and as I'd been pumping weights, it became obvious to me that Roy had just been lashing out at me. This wasn't our first argument, and it was unlikely that it would be our last. I would just have to speak to him when we'd both calmed down; try to discuss his party-hard drug habits when he wasn't in such a bad mood.

After this revelation, I'd headed to my favorite place in the whole damn city-24 Hour Books, a bookshop that really was open twenty-four hours a day. It had everything and anything you could ever want. Despite what everyone thought about me, I loved reading. This had been obvious to everyone when I was growing up-I'd been pretty studious in school-but when some of the other guys started to tease me for being a nerd, I started to hide it, as if it was something that I should be ashamed of. I soon found alcohol and got distracted by girls, and ever since then, I'd kept my reading habits hidden, like it was some sort of shameful vice.

One of my tattoos was actually a quote from one of my favorite dystopian books-a quote which said'Be only you'. I always told people it was a line from a rock song, and no one ever questioned that, but really it was said by the most badass character of all time, Billy-Joe from World's Over. All of my tattoos meant something important to me, but this was one of my favorites. It was on my wrist, and I looked at it every time I needed to smile. The fact that no one knew what it meant apart from me made it even better.

There was just something relaxing about losing myself in an epic plot line when real life became too annoying to deal with, and this was certainly one of those times. I wasn't finding it easy, knowing that some of my oldest friends were still lost in the vicious cycle of drugs; a fact that I could do absolutely nothing about. It was as if they didn't yet realize the devastation that their addiction could cause. I didn't want them to have to go through the life-changing shock that I'd had back in Edinburgh, but I wasn't sure what else could cause them to change. Time and growing up certainly didn't seem to have helped.

After buying a few books, I headed home and trudged up to my room before sitting back on my bed and losing myself in a story. Because I'd slept in so late this morning, I knew I probably wouldn't be able to get to sleep till quite late, and before I knew it, it was past two in the morning.

"Aarrghhh!"

A feminine scream suddenly burst through the wall from somewhere out in the hall, shocking me to my core, and I dropped the novel that I'd been reading and jumped up, my heart pounding.

What the fuck?

The scream sounded like it came from Rayna, and I dashed out of my bedroom and headed out into the hallway, my mind concocting a million different reasons as to why she would be shrieking at this ungodly hour.

Giant spiders in her room.

Thieves breaking into the manor.

A fucking serial killer breaking into the manor.

The only thing I ended up finding was Rayna curled up in a ball outside her bedroom door, and I could hear frightened sobs escaping from her.

"What's wrong?" I asked before realizing that I was going to have to be much closer to get her attention. She was in far too much of a bad state to be able to hear me from all the way over where I was.

I tentatively stepped up right next to her, my eyes scanning the hallway, desperate to find out what was wrong. "Rayna?" I whispered, reaching my hand out to touch her.

As my hand grazed her shoulder, she jumped backwards as if she'd been electrocuted. Her eyes were wild and panicked, and she gulped.

"Oh god, it's just you," she said.

"Always nice to see you too, Rayna."

"Sorry, I didn't mean it in a bad way," she replied, grabbing my hand and clinging to it. "When you touched me just then, I thought you were the....god, Jace, it...it was horrible. I...I don't even...I think I've totally lost my mind!"

"Shh, try to calm down. I'm here." I crouched down next to her, rubbing a comforting hand along her back and making sure my voice sounded as calm and soothing as possible. "Tell me what happened."

"I woke up a few minutes ago, and I was thirsty, so I went to get a drink. And I saw....I saw..."

"You saw what?"

"A ghost. I saw a ghost."

Seriously? She actually thought she'd seen a fucking ghost?

I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh. Even though she'd obviously just had some sort of sleepwalking nightmare, she was still freaked out, so I didn't want to be an asshole and laugh my head off right in front of her.

"Either this place is haunted, or I've lost my mind and started seeing things," she continued.

I wasn't sure what to say, so I ended up awkwardly patting her hand for a moment before speaking up again. "Do you wanna come hang out in my room for a while to calm down? Might make you feel better if there's someone with you."

I half-expected her to assume that I was trying to use her fear as a way of getting into her pants, but instead she nodded. "Okay. Thanks."

Jesus. She really thought she'd seen something. Why else would she be too scared to be alone right now? The fact that she was actually choosing to join me in my bedroom showed just how petrified she was.

I helped her get up, and as I grabbed her hand, I swore I could feel a spark shooting up my arm. My cock stirred in my pants, and I tried to will the feeling to go away. I couldn't be getting turned on right now; it wasn't the right moment. In fact, it would never be the right moment for that with Rayna, because she was about to be my sister. So tonight I would be polite and I'd help her out, but that would be it.

If only I could stop thinking about her gorgeous legs and pert tits. If only her hazel eyes and curvaceous body didn't filter into my every thought and every fantasy. If only I could stop wanting to touch myself over the thought of what it would be like to actually be with her; if our encounter the other night had occurred under different circumstances and we hadn't stopped.

Looking at her frightened face right now, I realized it was going to take all of my willpower to make that happen. There was a deep, primal tug inside of me, begging me to rescue her, to make her feel better, to claim her for good and make her mine.

Shit.

Life with Rayna as my stepsister was going to be fucking hard....and it wasn't the only thing that was fucking hard.