My Stepbrother: secret possession

Let Start Over

"Someone has seriously sabotaged my warmth by hiding or kidnapping my flask." I angrily accuse everyone in the house.

"No one has kidnapped your tea flask. Stop making baseless accusations. You must have kept it somewhere and forgotten." Mum says while looking through her laptop on the kitchen counter, sipping her tea.

"Whatever." I huff and close the cabinets I've scattered. In my defence, I can't live without tea, so not finding my bottle makes me nervous.

"I don't understand why you take these novels to school." Mum beams at the books on the worktop.

"We sometimes have a free period," I tell her as I gulp down the remaining tea in my mug.

"So you prefer reading fiction instead of the recommended school material." She asks, looking confused.

"It's helpful for my literature class, Mum," I explain.

"It definitely is." Mum rolls her eyes and sighs at my pouty facial expression.

Ignoring my attitude, Mum informs Christian as he passes by the kitchen. "Honey, Lilith says to let you know she's driving straight to school from Embry's."

He pauses by the door, eyebrows knit together. "Do you need a ride to school, Ava?" Christian asks me, looking concerned. He has no idea that I've been walking to and from school every weekday for weeks.

Before I respond, Leigh appears in his black leather jacket with a backpack hanging around his arm. "I can drive her. I'm heading to school anyway," he tells Christian, who looks at Leigh with the proud nod only a father can give to his child. I still don't understand the need to act so obedient.

"Great." Christian pats his son on the back.

With a nod towards the entranceway, Leigh says to me, "Let's get going."

Mum waves us goodbye with a wide smile as we leave. I follow behind Leigh with my beige bag on my shoulders. "You don't have to drive me. I'm used to walking anyway," I mutter as he opens the driver-side door.

Leigh halts and stares at me, his alluring lips pursed, before he shakes his head and gets into the car. Rolling my eyes, I open the passenger door and almost sit on the familiar flask until Leigh grabs it and hands it over to me.

Blushing, I tilt my head to face him. "Uhm..." I don't know what to think about accepting tea from Leigh after weeks of avoiding him and feeling anger and hatred, I suppose.

He shifts his position, with his left hand on the wheel, able to face me directly. "Don't say anything until you've tasted it." Leigh rushes his words while carefully observing my reaction.

I slowly release my lip between my teeth before bringing the purple flask to my mouth, never taking my eyes off him. I take a small sip of the beverage, and my eyes almost pop out of their sockets as my hand travels to my mouth in absolute shock. "That's Twinings. Where did you get it? Did you hide some from my stash earlier?" I question the attractive young man chuckling next to me.

"Oh no, I went shopping last week." He must be satisfied with my astounded face, as he looks proud of himself.

"What does that mean?" I impatiently ask.

Amazed at my reaction, Leigh's smile keeps growing as he explains. "You ran out of your favourite tea, so I happened to come across it at the supermarket and decided to get some for you. Actually, I'll put them in the cabinet later."

"Thank you, but you didn't have to do that." I smile and lower my head to my slightly shaking hands on my lap.

Nodding, he says, "I did, and I think that's the least I can do for skipping on delivering your tea and for being a jerk all this while."