TEASE ( A Stepbrother Romance ) By Caitlin Daire

18

Chapter 18

Jace

I stepped into the abandoned furniture warehouse, and as I got closer to the main work floor, I heard Rayna's voice. She was sobbing and saying, 'Jace is a good guy, it isn't true,' so clearly, Roy was filling her head with bullshit and trying to poison her against me.

Then I heard Roy's reply, and my heart sank.

"What I'm saying is true. Ask him yourself when he gets here. Just ask him about his accident. You'll see," he said.

"You're making this up; he never caused any sort of car accident, and he never hurt anyone. It's not true!" Rayna replied.

Shit. I had no idea how Roy had even heard about the accident I'd had up in Scotland, but rumors had obviously spread far and wide. I loved that Rayna was defending me so much, despite all the shit I'd gotten her into, but she needed to know the truth.

"Rayna," I said as I stepped into the room, my voice tinged with shame. "It is true."

Roy smirked triumphantly, and Rayna's face fell. It was then that I saw what Roy had done to her; he'd tied her to a fucking pole like some sort of hostage in a thriller flick. Jesus, he was seriously messed up.

"You...you seriously killed two people and let your Dad pay the cops off?" Rayna said, seemingly not even caring about the ropes holding her wrists anymore as she stared at me with wide eyes.

"Wait, what? What the hell are you talking about?" I asked.

I hadn't killed anyone, and my father certainly hadn't paid anyone off, so I had no idea where she'd gotten that from. I'd definitely caused an accident with my own sheer stupidity, and I had hurt someone, though not seriously at all, and that's what I'd assumed they were talking about when I walked in here only seconds ago. Clearly Roy was just making shit up to try and make Rayna hate me.

"You just said it was true about the accident," she said.

"I-"

"Boo-fucking-hoo," Roy cut in. "You guys can discuss this shit later. Just give me my cash, Jace."

I was shaking with rage, and I wanted to knock his fucking teeth out for spreading lies about me, but I had to keep myself controlled. One wrong move and Rayna could be hurt. I put the briefcase down on the dirty concrete floor and kicked it over to him, and then I held my hands up so he knew I wasn't a threat. "It's all there. Thirty grand. Count it."

He leaned down and opened the case, and I rushed over to Rayna. As I undid the ropes binding her to the pole and pulled her into the safety of my arms, I felt just how cold and scared she was as she trembled against me, and I gently rubbed her head and made soothing sounds. "I'm so sorry, Rayna. This is all my fault. I'm so sorry."

She pulled back and slapped me, hard, and I rubbed my cheek and looked at her. "I guess I deserved that for getting you into this," I said.

"And I deserve to know the truth!" she said, her eyes blazing. "What the hell happened in Scotland? I really thought you were different, Jace."

"Look, I got in some trouble up there like I told you the other week, but it's not what you think."

Roy snickered from over by the case as he held up a banknote against the light of his cell phone to make sure it was real, but I forced myself to ignore him and went on with my story.

"I moved up there to get away from the whole drug scene, like I told you. I was okay for a while, got a decent job and everything. But then I met some new guys through work, and some of them were a lot like my old friends-they loved getting fucked up. I resisted at first, but it was hard to get out of the habit when there was nothing truly stopping me. So I gave in, and pretty soon I was in the same place as I'd been in Manchester. Getting fucked up all the time."