Thick: A Stepbrother Romance (21 page)

“Claire, what is it?” She asked, clenching my hands with her.

“I have to return home, now.” I replied, panic evident in my tone.

She pressed her hand to her chest, frowning. “Oh…why, is something wrong?”

I nodded my head.
Yeah, but it’s not what you think.
“Brett needs me. Someone in his family passed away,” at this Henry walked up settling a hand on my mom’s waist. “He isn’t taking it so good and he needs me there with him.”

Henry kissed my mother’s head as she began tearing up. “Ok honey. I completely understand. But please call me every hour until you get home. I want to make sure that you are safe.”

I stepped up to hug my mother, Henry backed away. I looked at him, tears filling my eyes. He simply nodded, and began looking around for something. “Mom I promise I will call you every hour on the hour until I get home. I’m sorry I gotta leave in such a hurry, but he needs me. I want to wish you and Henry the best honeymoon ever.”

When she finally let me go, I stepped back to see tears running down her cheeks. “Honey, I believe you. Just make sure you say goodbye to Brad before you go. He’ll hate it that he missed you otherwise. It’s been amazing to see you two come together and enjoy each other’s company. You all are perfect step-siblings.”

I kissed her cheek before setting off to find Brad. Even if I hated it, I was going to honor my mother’s wish. If she wanted me to say goodbye to Brad, then that’s what I was going to do. After all this was going to be the last time that I laid eyes on him, at least for a while. I was searching through the crowd when I saw him standing next to Cherish. Grunting my disapproval, I made my way toward them.

They were looking out the window, deep in conversation. What had me stopping was the word ‘baby.’ Did I just hear that right? Did she really just say something about a baby? They’d been divorced for years. There would be no way that she was pregnant with his child. She had to be lying. She just had to be.

When my shock wore off, I continued to them. Hearing her talking to him in a low voice about what they were going to do. From the slouch of Brad’s shoulders I could tell that he was devastated by her news. However, I didn’t hear what he said to her before interrupting. What I wanted to know was when they were last together. I knew it was none of my business, but damn, you don’t divorce your wife to sleep with her some more. You divorce to get the hell away from the crazy, not go running back in full throttle.

“Brad.” I greeted, my words laced with anger.

He turned around, his eyes widening when he saw how close I was. “Claire. Umm, what’s up?”

My eyes scolded him, as I turned to look at Cherish. Her smirk told me all I needed to know. She’d known that he and I were seeing each other. Of course that still didn’t stop her from squeezing her way into the middle of Brad and me. The baby probably wasn’t even his baby. He was a damn fool for believing this witch again for the second time. However, I didn’t give a flying fuck what he did now. I was going home.

“Just thought I would stop by and ask for a brother-sister dance.” My smile was so fake I was surprised my face didn’t crack.

“Sure,” he gave Cherish a kiss, which only fueled my anger.

As we got to the dancefloor, he twirled me before placing me safe within his arms. I hated the reaction that my body had to his, but damn I couldn’t help it. It was like the little bitch was on a slut high, and Brad was her fix.

“I can…”he began, but I cut him off.

“I’m going home.” I stated dryly.

He was taken back by my statement. “You’re going home?”

“Yup. There is no reason for me to be here anymore. I wouldn’t have told you, but mom insisted.”

His eyes drooped just a bit, saddened. “You can’t leave, Claire. I promise I can explain the whole thing.”

My eyes shot daggers into his. “Then explain,” I bit out, somehow managing to keep the smile on my face.

He sighed. “I got drunk a few months ago. Fall down on my face drunk. I was still mourning over the loss of our child. Cherish found me at the bar and took me home. The rest is history.”

“The rest is not history, Brad, because she’s fucking pregnant with your child. That little bitch knew what was going on between us. I could tell by the cocky smirk on her crap lousy face. How far along is she? Hmm?”

“Four months,” he stated in a pained whisper.

I snorted. “So she waited four months to tell you that she was pregnant. Seriously? Who the hell does that? If it were yours don’t you think she would have told you before now?” I seethed, looking into his eyes.

He shrugged. “She said she didn’t know how to tell me. Figured that I would try to say she was trapping me.”

“Well duh, you stupid ass. That is exactly what she is trying to do, and you’re playing right into her trap.”

That got a reaction out of him. “You don’t know anything, Claire. She has changed since high school. Isn’t the same tormentor as she used to be. It would be best if you fucking stayed out of it.” His eyes blazed into mine, as the song ended.

I stopped swaying back and forth. “Not a fucking problem. If you want to be stupid and go into something with her, blind. Then by all means, make a fucking fool of yourself. But don’t think for a second, I’m waiting for you. Hell to the nah. I’ve got my own life to live, and you have your own life to fuck up.”

His eyes searched mine. “I have to try to make things work with her, don’t you see that. This could be my second shot at a family.” He scolded me.

“Well, then by all means don’t let me keep you. You could have had a family with me, instead your believing her lies. I can see right through her, Brad. That baby is not yours,” I seethed, stepping out of his embrace when Cherish looped her arm through his.

Fucking trashy bitch.

I took a deep breath, pinning Cherish with a glare that could kill. Her triumphant smirk, however, was still in place. “As far as you being pregnant, you little whore…Your face isn’t.” With that, I slapped the ever loving shit out of her, the sound echoing through the now silent room. I laughed when she grabbed her face in pure shock, her eyes beginning to tear.

I peered up toward Brad, my eyes sending him every ounce of my hatred. He looked like he was getting ready to go to a funeral, his face completely emotionless. His eyes showed me everything that I needed to know; that he knew he just fucked everything up and that there was no way to fix it. I turned away and walked toward the door. Chancing a glance at my mother, her smile beaming with pride. Henry stood next to her, dying with laughter.

I winked at her, a care free smile on my face. Even though care free was the last thing I was feeling at this moment. I pulled open the reception door and walked away.

Away from Brad…Away from the heartbreak…Away from everything that could have been…

One Month Later…

             
“You have to get out of this apartment,” Alex said, slapping me on the ass.

              “Nope,” I replied, no emotions in my voice.

              It’s been a month since I came back from my mother’s wedding. The only thing I did now a days was go to work and come home. That was better than what I did do when we first arrived home. It took Alex two weeks to get me to return to work. I wouldn’t leave my bed, much less the apartment.

              All my work had been forwarded to me, and she went to all of my meetings. I was surprised that I hadn’t been fired yet. Amazingly Alex explained my situation, and my kick ass boss understood it all. Told me to take off as long as I wanted, only stipulation was I needed to get my work completed. I was happy for that, because even if my job were being threatened no one would have been able to get me out of this apartment.

              I missed meals, missed showers, and above all missed Brad. He’d treated me like shit, but I still loved the bastard. I knew from the moment Cherish’s eyes met mine that she was fucking lying about the child being his. However, being the good man that Brad is, he fucking believed her. But I’d gotten that bitch back. It may have taken me a decade to grow some balls, but I did and smacked that bitch across the face.

              Some people would probably say that I was hurting the baby. Well I say boo fucking hoo, her face isn’t pregnant. I didn’t wish ill on the child, because it wasn’t the baby’s fault their mother was a trashy gutter-slut.

              Damn, I still burn with rage just thinking about her. The way she manipulated Brad just to get back into his life. That was a low even for her. There was no need to get a child involved when you wanted a man. No frigging excuse at all. That was petty, as well as spiteful. However, you never put anything past a person like Cherish. She’s done some pretty crazy things to get what she wants, including lying about said child currently baking in her womb.

              I tried my hardest to see from Brad’s point of view. Debated day in and day out if I was the one that took things too far. But the more I thought about it, the more I stood behind my decision. He was making an ass of himself, and it would all come out in due time.

              My mother called me every other day and kept me updated. Turns out they were pregnant, well she was pregnant, with a baby boy. Being that she was five months pregnant now, that meant they had four months left before the truth came out. Then I would make a special trip to laugh in all their faces.

              I may be acting like a scorned lover, but dammit, I wasn’t only scorned once, but twice. The second time was my fault because I knew how Brad was. But dammit, was it too much to want happiness. Too much to want that house, children, and a husband to call my own. I didn’t think so, but fate had other plans, or so it seemed.

              She’d let me know that Cherish had moved back in with Brad, and they were determined to make it work with the baby on the way. I said my fake congratulations and ended that call. I wasn’t happy for the tramp trapping Brad in a loveless relationship. I was sad because he was going along with it.

              I sincerely doubted that I was going to be happy for a really long time. There is just so much a person can take before their broken and can’t be repaired. My bullshit meter had officially broken a month ago. There was nothing that he could say or do that could make me think otherwise. Especially with the way I was feeling right now.

              I turned over in my bed, facing the wall, eyes filling up with tears. It just wasn’t fair. I’d waited a decade to have Brad all to myself. To have him away from all the other girls at school. But I guess no matter how long you wait, things always come back to bite you in the ass. I was just thankful that I had Alex by my side during all of this. Having her here gave me a little comfort in my storm of denial and betrayal.

              “Hello, earth to Claire.” Alex laid down behind me, putting an arm around me.

              I gripped her arm to me tightly as the tears fell down my face. Love was not supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows, this I knew. But was it supposed to hurt this damn bad. I wanted to say no, that everything in this life was perfect and I would get everything I have ever asked for. But that just wasn’t the case. Life was a cruel little bitch. She pulled the strings of everyone in my life, laughing the entire time because she knew I would never get what I’d wanted with every fiber of my being. A chance to call Brad Titan my husband and the father of my babies.

              What life needs to do is go suck a dick, because the bitch wasn’t funny. Not in the least.

              I wiped my tears on my pillow, sighing before I replied. “I’m not leaving the apartment. I like it just fine in my own little bubble of misery.”

              She chuckled. “Claire, you can’t let one man dictate how you see men in general. It’s one guy. So put on your big girl panties and buck up buttercup, it’s a new day.”

              Fuck. Was this women always so cheery? She needed to tone it down a bit and come slump it with us depressed people. Alex let her mistakes roll off her back as if they never happened. I wasn’t the same as her. I couldn’t just let what Brad did to me roll off my back. Not when he pierced me through the heart.

              “Your too damn cheery, Alex.” I grumbled into the pillow.

              “You’re too damn depressed,” she retorted.

              I groaned, turning in her arms. “Alex, he fucking broke me. I can’t just snap my fingers and everything be ok. It takes time.”

              She sighed, hugging me tighter. “Ok…I get it. What about if we stayed in with our two main men, and pigged out in front of the TV all night?”

              I forced a sad giggle. “Ben and Jerry are welcome here anytime. At least I can always count on those two men.”

              She tried to get me to run to the store with her, but just like all the other times I refused. I had no drive to leave the apartment. Everything had been taken out of me when I was visiting my mother for her wedding. Even if nothing happened down there I would still need some downtime from all the crazy that was going on. My mother had been a force to be reckoned with the days before her wedding.

              I got up only because I knew there would be ice cream and takeout food involved. Instead of opting to stand around and do absolutely nothing, I got into the shower. Feeling the hot water running down my body brought me out of my funk for all of two minutes. It was always like this. When I started doing something for me, I would end up thinking about him. It was an endless cycle of torture, one I couldn’t handle right now.

              Turning off the shower, I wrapped a robe around my body. I was coming through my hair when I heard my phone going off in the other room. Thinking that it could be Alex, I rushed to answer without looking at the caller id.

              “What’s wrong Alex? You forget where the apartment was?” I forced a chuckled through the line.

              A deep, gravelly voice, which was so not Alex’s rumbled through the phone. “It’s not Alex, and no I can’t forget where your apartment is if I’ve never been there.”

              “Brad,” I gasped, sitting on the couch when my legs failed me.

              Instant tears. I ended the phone call right then and there. Pulling my legs up, I began rocking. That was the way Alex found me a few minutes later. Her worried voice echoed through my apartment, but I couldn’t voice what had went wrong. It was like every cell in my body had frozen just hearing him speak.

              “Claire…Claire, what the fuck? Claire, can you hear me?” Her worried voice started slipping through the fog in my mind.

              I grunted, still rocking. “Brad...Brad…Brad…” I mumbled over and over.

              “Brad what, sweetie,” she asked.

              “Brad…Brad…Brad…” I kept repeating, still frozen in shock.

              She grabbed me by my shoulders, hauling me to her. She rocked me back and forth as I cried in her arms. The only thing she was doing was cooing over me, and shushing my tears away. I was dazed and confused as to why Brad was calling me. It had been a month since I left Cedar Grove. A month since I heard his deep voice.

              As my tears eased, she sat me back up. I looked into her eyes, my now swollen from crying. I leaned back against the couch trying to dull the pain that crying left behind. I didn’t think I would ever be able to hear Brad’s voice again without going postal. But I was glad that Alex was so patient and waited for me to come back to her.

              “I’m sorry,” I mumbled, putting my hand over my eyes.

              “Sweetie, it’s no problem. Can you explain why you were rocking back and forth mumbling Brad’s name over and over like some mental patient?”

              I cleared my throat, fearing my words would crack otherwise. “He just called. Hearing his voice kind of upset me a bit.”

              “He called?” She roared with anger, jumping up from the couch to pace.

              I sat there watching her, my eyes beginning to hurt from crying so much. She didn’t seem to mind that she now looked like she was the mental patient. I giggled, because if I looked that crazy I was sure I was one hell of a sight. She was chewing on her lips with everything that she had, hands on her hips, her eyes filled with a whole bunch of crazy.

              “It’s ok. I’m fine now.” I promised, sitting up on the couch.

              She shook her head. “It’s not fine, Claire. He does all he did, and has the gall to call you a month later. That fucking bastard,” she screeched, pacing even faster now.

              I looked at the bags that were forgotten at the door. Standing up, I retrieved them and began putting them away. Gathering two plates I scooped out the takeout, and got two beers from the fridge. Upon entering the living room I saw that she was talking to someone on my phone. I hadn’t even heard the damn thing ring while I’d been gone. I caught the last of her conversation as I sat the food down on the coffee table.

              “How dare you call her phone? She wants nothing to do with you, and your assholey ways. You need to leave her the hell alone and go back to your whore of a girlfriend. Let her heal in peace. You didn’t just break her heart, you completely fucked her up. Now grow a set and take responsibility for your actions. You chose Cherish, now go live a happy fucking life with the tramp you let trap you.” She growled into the phone, before snapping it shut.

              Why did her telling him off not hurt me? Better yet, why did her telling him off make me feel a bit giddy? Was I a horrible person for thinking Brad deserved everything Alex said to him?

              I snickered when she turned around and saw me standing there, a blush creeping on her cheeks. “Your bitchy side kind of turns me on,” I joked, giggling when she doubled over in side splitting laughter.

              “Aw babe, you say such the nicest things,” she replied, holding her side.

              “All things asides. How did he sound to you?” I asked, sitting down.

              She released of huff of air. “To be honest. If I didn’t know what he did, I’d say his fucking puppy died. He sounded completely miserable.”

              “He frigging deserves it,” I snorted.

              We picked up out plates and dug in. The silence around us becoming deafening. I wanted nothing more than to forget that he called me, but it was eating away at me. I wanted to know what he said, more than that I wanted to know if he was sorry for the way he treated me. I knew it was asking for trouble thinking about those things, but I couldn’t help it. I needed to know. Having it go around in my head on a timeless clock, over and over was driving me crazy.

              It had hurt last time that I left him. But this time was different. It wasn’t because of a lie that tore us apart this time. It wasn’t because of something that supposedly did. It was because Cherish showed back up in his life and told him she was pregnant with his child. I kept trying to figure out how a woman that was four months pregnant, five now, could just keep that kind of information away for so long.

              If it was me I would have been able to last a week without tell the father I was carrying his child. That was if the father and I were on speaking terms, which he and she obviously were. You cannot get pregnant without being with someone. I’d ran it through my head more times that just one. Wondering how she could do that to him. If the child was his that is. I had a sneaky suspicion that it wasn’t, but who was I to say anything.

              The only thing I did know was, Cherish planned this whole thing. She knew that Brad and I wouldn’t be able to withstand not being together. From the way we were in high school, we were inseparable. It made her so fucking jealous to see us walking through the halls in school and not be able to tell Brad how she felt for him.

              She was treating this as if it were a game. Life was no joking matter. Getting in between two people that love each other, was no joking matter. But Brad wouldn’t see what I been trying to tell him. I saw the real person she was in school. A tiger can’t change its strips, Cherish could not change who she was. She was still the jealous little girl from school, and she always would be.