Thick: A Stepbrother Romance (9 page)

She walked toward me taking my hands in hers. Meeting my eyes, she inhaled. “Claire, there is something that I need to tell you. But I don’t want you to be mad at me. Please just see it from my point of view, ok?”

“Um…Mom I’m just meeting Shawn and his son for the first time. I’m going to be surprised, regardless,” I giggled.

She shook her head. “Promise me right now, that you will not be mad at me. Pinkie promise.” She held out her pinkie toward mine.

As I took her pinkie with mine I winked at her. “I swear on all that’s holy, I will not be mad at you. You are my life mom.”

Tears filled her eyes but I waved her away. I thought about what she just said to me, and it gave me pause. My mother was really worried about me getting mad over it. I bet this had something to do with what she whispered earlier. I looked back at her before gripping the handle. Sweat was beginning to gather on my brow. Damn, she was making me nervous. The suspense was killing me. I was just going to do it.

The doorbell rang again just as I twisted the handle, opening the door. I plastered a smile on my face, backing up to the bottom of the stairs as the door opened all the way. My mother’s worried eyes floated between myself and her man at the door. I opened my eyes wide as she looked back at me. I wanted my presence to be a surprise. In the first few seconds of meeting someone you found out who they truly are.

“Hey darling,” a deep gravelly voice called out, the sound striking a memory of mine.

My hand fell from the door as the man entered the house. When he got to my mother, he picked her up and swung her around, peppering her entire face with kisses. My mouth hung open in shock. I put a hand over my stomach, and one over my mouth when I recognized who it was. Henry Titan. He was my mother’s fiancé. My soon to be Stepfather. This just couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. That would mean that…oh God no.

“Where’s your lovely daughter?” Henry asked, looking in my direction when she pointed toward me.

When his eyes set on me, they widened. His eyes filled with tears, as did mine. I was completely speechless at this point in time. Henry Shawn Titan was going to become a part of my family. I should have known, pieced it together before now. I can remember her telling me that Henry started going by Shawn after the divorce. But until now, I didn’t put two and two together.

“Claire?” I nodded my head, tears escaping my eyes. “Oh my God. It’s really you! You’re really here!”

He left my mother and ran to me, grabbing me into a tight embrace. I did what I hadn’t done in forever. Soaked up the tight embrace of a Titan man. This man had been like my father. I still considered him as such. I forgot how much I missed him. He was the one to pick me up and soothe me that afternoon on the side of the road. He was the one to put everything into perspective. I owed him, and my mother my very life.

“I’m really here,” I whispered into his neck.

            
 
I stepped out of his arms, and raced toward my mother. “Is this what you were worried about? That I wouldn’t approve of your fiancé.”

              She nodded, and I shook my head. “Mom, you couldn’t have picked anyone better. That man has been like a father to me since high school. Do you know he was the reason I was able to live so well, and finish my degree.”

              Her eyes watered when she gazed from me to Henry. She got choked up as she slipped past me to kiss the man that made every bit of my future possible. I smiled as I saw them embrace, and kiss. It wasn’t disgusting seeing them like this. It was beautiful. I had been so lost in my happiness that she was with Henry that I forgot one small crucial part. His son.

              My eyes widened when I finally put two and two together. Brad my ex-lover, was soon to be my Stepbrother. She hadn’t been nervous about introducing me to Henry, no. She had been nervous because Henry was tied to the monster that broke my heart all those years ago. The monster, dammit to hell, that still held my fucking heart. No matter how many pieces it was broken into, it was his.

              Fuck me.

              I felt a presence at the front door. Goosebumps broke out all over my body, as the hair at the nape of my neck stood on end. I knew that feeling. It had been ten long years since I’ve felt anything like it, but I would never forget it. I glanced toward the door and my whole world crumbled at the sight I saw.

              Brad wearing aviator sunglasses, leaning against the door jamb, a cocky smirk on his face.

              He was making no move toward me. It was as if he was waiting for me to come to him. It felt like a cold bucket of water had been dashed on me. He takes his index finger, sliding his aviators down to the tip of his nose. His eyes began eating me up. A seductive smile came over his face as his eyes hooded. I began fidgeting under his intense gaze, a warm feeling creeping over me.

              “Well hello there Claire Bear. I see you’re still as hot as ever.” His deep, gravelly voice took on a seductive purr.

My mouth fell open in shock. How dare this fuck nut use my nickname? That right had been taken from him when he tossed me out with the trash. I was so in shock that I was frozen in place. The anger ripping me apart from the inside. It has been ten years since I saw him last, but he still thought he could talk to me that way. Yeah, I don’t think so. I could feel my temper boiling, causing a crimson blush to come over me. Brad not being the wiser, thought I was blushing because of him. In all aspects I was, but it wasn’t from falling under his spell.

When I got my wits about me, I smiled taking a step toward him. He beamed a bright, white toothed smile. A smile that had caused me to go weak in the knees several times over. But not this time, I had another idea in mind. The closer I came to him, the more his eagerness showed. He pulled his sunglasses from his face, holding them teasingly between his teeth. The same teeth that he used to nibble my ears, and give gentle love bites all across my body.

He crossed his leg over the other, feigning boredom. Before I knew it I was within inches from his body. Feeling his heat pulse from him in waves. He took the glasses from his lips, hanging them on his shirt. Reaching a hand toward me, I frowned when he ran his finger up the outside of my arm. Looking into his eyes, I saw them brighten with laughter. He was testing me. That son of a bitch. I’ll show him testing me.

I smiled shyly at him, lowering my head to hide my eyes. When his index finger cupped my chin, bringing my head back up so that I could look at him, he leaned in. My opportunity presented itself, balling my fist up, I reared my arm back. His eyes were connected with mine so he didn’t know what I was doing. Putting all my anger behind the force of my arm, I swung, connecting with his nose. A girly squeal came from his lips as he put his hands up to his face.

I turned around, my face lit up with joy. I swayed my hips seductively as I made my way into the kitchen. I stopped at the door, looking back. Seeing my mother with a smirk on her face, and Henry rolling with laughter. I giggled. When I caught their attention, I masked my emotion. Taking on a look of horror, I nailed them with terrified eyes.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Don’t you just hates spiders? The nasty little buggers. He’ll thank me one day.”

I sat down at the kitchen table, giggling to myself. I heard my mother fawn over Brad as his dad said, ‘Prick, I told you this would happen.’ I almost couldn’t contain my laughter. Damn it felt good to get back at him for what he did. It wasn’t much, but it made me feel good. Taking a drink from my goblet, I smiled behind the cup when the others joined me at the table. I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw that Brad was giving me the stink eye.

I set my glass down, shooting my mother an innocent smile. She cocked her head to the side, crossing her arms in front of her. “Kids, now that you have that out of your system. There will not be any more casualties this weekend.”

We quickly nodded our heads in agreement, our answers making her smile across the table at us. When we all settled in, my mother began serving everyone. It was something that she always did, even though it had always just been the two of us. I pushed back my chair to get up and help her, but she waved me away. Her face showed contented happiness, it was a joy to watch her interact with Henry.

From the time the door opened to now he was still complimenting her, kissing her, waiting on her hand and foot. That was when she allowed him too. It was nice to see two people in such love. I thought back to the time that he was married to Brad’s mother. Even then I never saw him this happy. I didn’t know if it was their love overflowing and contaminating me with it. But I felt lite hearted watching them interact. It was then that I believed everything my mother said on the phone. She was indeed in love with Henry, and he was with her.

I came out of my trance when I felt a hand slid from my knee to my thigh. My mother and the Titan men had been talking about the wedding while I was over here probably looking like a special person, staring off into space. I looked over at Brad, seeing him smiling in a mischievous way. He noticed me looking at him, and glanced back, winking. I shook my leg trying to disengage his hold on me, but it didn’t work. Moving my leg I tried crossing them, only to have him hold steady and force my legs to stay uncrossed.

To say that his dominance over my body wasn’t hot, would be a lie. It always got my engine revved when a man took charge. But to have Brad be that man just wouldn’t do. I put my fork down on my plate, inconspicuously sliding my hand under the table. I rubbed the back of his hand softly, earning a surprised gasp from him. I was looking at my mother now, seeing that she was lost in conversation with Henry.

Feeling around for his finger, I found it. Gripping it tightly when his hand began to slide up my leg getting closer to my panties. I smiled evilly just before bending his finger back farther than was scientifically possible. He stopped mid-sentence and coughed. His eyes began to water furiously, or so it would seem to my mother and Henry.

“Are you alright, son?” Henry asked, giving him a concerned look.

He nodded his head in tight, short spurts. “Yeah…I’m just nervous is all,” he visibly shook when he grabbed his goblet, taking a drink.

My mother swooned. “Awe, Claire. Did you hear that? Brad’s nervous.”

“Brad’s something alright,” I snickered, letting go of his finger.

“Darling, don’t be too hard on him,” she stated.

I heard Brad mumble under his breath something about him being the one that was supposed to be hard. I had been in the process of getting a drink out of my goblet. When he said that, I began choking on the wine my mother was serving. I set my goblet down, a coughing fit taking hold of me. Brad leaned over and began patting me on the back, as if he were concerned for my wellbeing.

“Oh, you poor thing. You’re not supposed to breathe when you swallow.” He stated jokingly, but I could tell there was a different meaning underlining his words.

“I hadn’t noticed,” I stated dryly.

I went back to ignoring him, finishing my dinner. I refused to let this asshole get to me. I will admit when I saw him at the door, he gave me pause. It had been so long since I had seen him that the surprise of how great he looked made me speechless. But that had lasted all of two seconds. I immediately saw right through him. Hell I could still see the outline of where he wore his wedding ring. I remember my mother telling me that he had been divorced for some years. So why was he still sporting the wedding band tan line?

I was majorly confused as to why, but I reminded myself that it was none of my business. He was a big boy, he could take care of himself. He’s been doing it for the past ten years without my help, he could continue to do it that way. Even though the thought of him being with Cherish Sharp made me gag. She was literally the trashiest person I knew, bar none. I often wondered why he married her in the first place, why he would stoop so low. This was Brad we were talking about. He was never one to settle for just anything.

His drive was most of the reason he went into business for himself. I remember the talks we had when we were younger, lying under our willow tree in his back yard, just contemplating what the future held for us. At that time the future seemed bright, like nothing could hold us back from reaching our dreams together. Of course we were young, dumb, and in love. We thought that we would be able to brave any storm together, and make it through unscathed. That had been until his mother, of course.

That’s when everything had changed. That the future we dreamed up, shattered. It still confused me how he didn’t know that it wasn’t my body in the picture. I had been flabbergasted for a long time. Out of all the times we had been together; you would think that he knew my body damn good. However, when all that came out I believe that’s what hurt me the most. That he had seen so many women’s bodies that he could decipher that it wasn’t me.

It wasn’t fair in a way. Of course it was my fault taking him back. I should have known that he was going to hurt me again, even if it was out of false pretenses. He still had. Over the years the sting from his rejection has dimmed quite a bit. It was still there, don’t get me wrong, but the hatred I felt for him went away. I couldn’t hate someone that had been tricked, could I? I wanted to. God, did I want to. But it wasn’t fair. We were both so young when that happened. It would be wrong of me to do that to him.

I sighed. Standing up from the table, making my way to the cooking area. After putting my things into the drainer, I slumped against the counter. I loved this about our kitchen. If you needed privacy without letting the others know something was wrong, you could sulk in here without them noticing. A wall disconnected the dining area from the cooking area. Privacy was something that I really needed right now, and this was the only way that I was going to get it.

I lay my head back against the cabinet, taking slow deep breaths. Being around him and thinking about what could have been between us, was seriously getting to me. I closed my eyes causing the tears that had gathered there, to slide quietly down my face. I tried so hard to be strong However, it still seemed that he could get to me. No matter how guarded I had my heart, he could still penetrate it. It wasn’t fair. He was sitting there like nothing was wrong, like he hadn’t broken my heart all those years ago. In all honesty none of this was fair. I really wanted my mom to be happy, but at what cost?

My sanity, my heart…or both.              

              I knew that I couldn’t stay in here forever. That at any moment someone would come in here and catch me sulking. Wiping my eyes, I took a few calming breaths before walking back into the dining area. When I entered, everyone stopped talking and looked at me. I looked down at my shoes, praying their attention would go back to what they were discussing with each other. My mother’s voice caught my attention.

              “Do you mind getting desert, dear?” She asked softly.

              Clearing my throat before I took a chance at speaking, I answered her, “Yeah, I’ll go grab it. Does everyone want desert?”

              They all chorused their yeses, but Brad’s next words caught me a little off guard.

              “I’ll go help her get everything.”

              “That would be lovely, Brad,” she gushed.

              Mother Fuck. Could he just leave me alone?

              I turned on my heel, heading to the fridge. After collecting the desert, I was about to shut the door when I felt him standing close behind me. I took a few steadying breaths before closing the door and started gathering the plates. From his silence I knew he was thinking about how to start a conversation with me. Well, the best way would be to admit that he was wrong all those years ago and that he was sorry for everything he put me through. But this was Brad Titan we’re talking about here, he never apologized for anything. Ever.

              “Claire,” he mumbled, sadness lacing my name.

              I turned to him, waiting for him to say something else. Putting everything down on the counter, I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes at him. He took a few steps closer coming within feet of me. I studied him with my eyes, not really sure where he was getting at. He lifted his hand, I flinched. He lowered his hand with a saddened expression on his face.