Bad Boy - A Stepbrother Romance (53 page)

“Yes, I’m sure,” he smirks at me. “For years when you didn’t even speak to him, when he left your place.” He sees my confused expression and laughs in my face.

“That’s right, Tessa, I spoke to your mom and stepdad. I know all there is…know about your little crush, too. Bet you didn’t know lover boy called mommy and daddy as soon you arrived on his doorstep?”

My face pales even more. Adam would never sell me out like that. Would he?

“Adam was at my side like you never were,” I spit out at Jared.

“Oh, I’m sure he was at your side,” he laughs in my face. “And in all your holes, too.”

I grab my glass of water and am fully prepared to splash it in his face, but Jared grabs my arms and holds it tight, wrenching my wrist away so no one can see. My hands are shaking, my thoughts mangled and confused. What the fuck is going on here?

“Why don’t you be a good little girl, Tessa,” he purrs again. “And come home with me. We’ll get you that modeling contract, get you back on track. And I’ll get my spread and many more to come, hopefully.”

“Are you insane?” I spit out. “No fucking way am I going anywhere with you.”

He smiles wickedly at me, his tongue sneaking out to lick his lips. Disgusting, that’s what he is. I hate this man…how could I have ever dated him?

“Oh, I can imagine the headings now,” he says in a dreamy voice. “Slutty model caught in rendezvous with her own brother! World famous chef fucks his own stepsis! You’ll be the talk of the town, darling.”

I stare at him hard, the reality slowly dawning on me. I’m being fucking blackmailed by this jackass. I can feel tears pricking at my eyes already, begging for me to let them fall.

“What do you want from me?” I ask Jared weakly. “You know I don’t have any money.”

Because of you, I want to add bitterly. Because I paid for your goddamn rehab after you decided it would do your portfolio some good if you got treated for alcoholism, you pretentious ass, and I lent you all the money which you still haven’t returned.

“Simple,” he says with a shrug. “You come with me, we play the happy couple for a little while longer to calm everyone’s tits.”

“And if I don’t?” I spit out.

“I’m going to the press,” he threatens immediately. “Your fucking career will be destroyed, princess, and so will your stepbrother’s. Not to mention your parents…you don’t want to let your mommy down again, do you?”

The words are disgusting on his filthy tongue and my hand is itching for a slap…but I can’t fucking do it.

I know Jared, and I know when he’s full of shit. This delirious tone he has, though, the way his eyes sparkle triumphantly…he’s serious about the whole thing. He could destroy me with a single phone call and he holds me in his hand, ready to crush me at any moment.

Before I open my mouth, both of us know what I’m going to say.

“Fine,” I manage through gritted teeth. “I’ll do it.”

“Do what?” Jared taunts me, probably enjoying every second with it.

“I’ll come back home with you,” I agree, my heart breaking because of the confession, knowing I’ve just signed myself over to this prick.

But what the hell am I supposed to? I don’t care about my own goddamn career, but our parents…my mom barely got over my dad, I can’t put this on her as well. Same goes for Adam’s dad.

And as for Adam’s career…I need only think about his many projects, and I already know my decision is for the best. Our relationship never could’ve worked. It was doomed from the start, and we both should’ve known it would end in tears.

Tears that are now freely falling down my face.

I feel like a grinning fool as I make my way to the restaurant. I have a fucking spring in my step, for God’s sake. I’m pretty sure everyone who passes me knows I got laid last night.

Except it wasn’t just about the sex, not this time around. At the risk of sounding like an emotional softie, I have to say it was…special. Did I ever have any doubts about that, though?

A stupid grin is plastered on my face as I walk into the restaurant, but it falters pretty soon as I’m met with worried glances of my staff.

“What’s up?” I ask, the worry already settling into my voice. I think about all of the things that could have gone wrong today. It’s a busy night in the kitchen, we have a new menu we haven’t done before and everyone’s probably scared shitless.

Did I forget to order ingredients?

Did Alec or Bex bail on me tonight?

Did someone burn the ribs, which should have been slow roasting for a few hours now?

“What?” I ask again, my heart already beating too fast for comfort in my chest. Horrible scenarios play out in my head and I can only hope the night is still going as planned.

I never expect what Bex tells me, coming from around the corner. Her expression is worried, for once not the face of a confident woman, but instead panicked and twitchy.

“It’s Tessa,” she says, and with those simple words, my world threatens to fall apart at the seams. But I make myself stay calm for a moment longer, just so I can hear the rest of the story. I hope Tessa is okay, and my eyes roam the kitchen, coming up empty. She’s nowhere to be seen.

My heart burns in my chest, threatening to give out from all the pressure.

“What’s up with her?” I growl, protectiveness setting in as I scowl at my co-workers. “Did she get hurt? She burned herself? Cut something? I hope you didn’t have her doing prep, Bex!”

She takes a step back, obviously intimidated and offended by the way I’m treating her. I’m not about to apologize though, not until she tells me what exactly is going on here.

“Where is she?” I growl, my voice dangerous.

“She didn’t show,” Bex shrugs, shooting me an angry look. “We’ve been one short all day. It’s been hectic, a real madhouse. And everyone’s worried about Tess. She’s always been on time, always did a great job. We’re just worried something might’ve happened to her.”

The words sink into me and my heart falls down, down, down, into my stomach. What if something happened to Tessa? Bex is right, this is nothing like her. She’s never been late, and if something came up, she would’ve at least sent a text to one of us.

But everyone in the kitchen tells me there’s been nothing. No phone calls, no texts, no sign of my stepsister. She just didn’t show up for work.

Frantically, I dial my home number that’s barely been used these past few days. I listen to my own goddamn answering machine and beg for Tessa to pick up, wishing she was at home, maybe just down with the flu or something.

But nothing happens, the phone just rings and rings, then cuts off after my voicemail. I’m pretty sure I’ll have a minute of cursing to listen to next time I use my answering machine.

“I’m going home to check if she’s there,” I tell an ashen-faced Alec and he gives me an incredulous look.

“You can’t go, we have a new menu, we have people to feed,” he hisses at me. My career is at stake here; does Alec not think I know that? But it’s fucking Tessa. My Tessa.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do, Alec?” I hiss at him, and he gives me a shocked look. I rub my eyes and sigh heavily, panic descending upon me like a heavy cloud. “I’m sorry man, I’m worried. I don’t know what I should do. What if she’s hurt or something?”

Bex comes over and hugs Alec’s shoulders. “We get it, Adam. Go find her, we’ll take care of the kitchen. Alec can cook, he knows the menu, and you practiced it only a few days ago…I’m sure it will be perfect.”

She gives me an encouraging look, and I look at my best friend for confirmation. Alec’s offended expression slowly softens and finally, he gives me a curt nod.

“Yeah, go get her,” he says, reassuring me. “You need to make sure she’s all right.”

I stand there like a fool until they both yell at me to go.

Then I run out of the restaurant like my fucking heels are on fire.

***

She’s nowhere to be seen. I can’t fucking find her.

She’s not at home. She’s not at the café down the street. All her stuff is still in her bedroom, left just like it was last night. Now I’m totally panicking, my heart hurting so bad I’m pretty sure I’m gonna have a stroke if she doesn’t make an appearance.

I run my hands through my hair, fucking worried sick about Tessa. Where the hell is she? Where could she have gone? I just hope I haven’t scared her off with what happened last night.

But fuck, I can’t bring myself to regret having made love to her. It was the best moment of my life, one night I will remember for the rest of my life.

I crash on the couch in the living room, tired and worried sick, just as my cell phone starts to ring shrilly. It almost goes flying across the room as I struggle to pull it out of my pocket, seeing a number I don’t have saved. With trembling fingers, I answer the call.

“Hello?” my voice is shaky, and I can hear breathing on the other side of the phone. Heavy breathing, like the person on the other end of the line is just recovering from some pretty heavy sobbing. “Tessa, is that you? Please, answer me.”

Nothing, just the heavy breathing, sobs and gasps coming from the phone.

“Goddammit it,” I curse into the receiver. “Just fucking answer me, whoever you are!”

“Adam?” a soft voice comes through, a voice I would recognize anywhere. It’s Tessa indeed, and a huge rock falls off my shoulders only to be rolled right back up, because she sounds genuinely upset.

“Tessa? Where the fuck are you?” I ask, almost slapping myself as I realize I’m being too harsh. Trying a softer tone, I give my question another go. “Where are you, sweetheart, what’s going on? We’re all worried sick about you.”

Another long pause, and then the sound of her sweet voice comes through.

“Adam, I had to leave,” she says tiredly. “I had to get away.”

“What the hell do you mean?” I’m angry, shaken, worried. This is horrible, this can’t be happening. She couldn’t just leave after what happened last night; I know we both felt it, the magic between us. If only I could talk some sense into her – it sounds like someone else’s words are coming out of her mouth. “Come back Tessa, I’m begging you, just come back home.”

“But I am home,” she says simply. “I went back, I’m already driving.”

Indeed, I can hear the telltale sound of a motor running in the background. Fuck me, she’s gone and done it, gone back to the big city where all of her problems started. She’s gone and abandoned me.

Just like I did her
, a voice reminds me in my head, and my hands form angry fists at my sides as I realize it’s an eye for an eye. But this can’t be fucking revenge, it just can’t be. She was so sweet last night, so loving…she couldn’t have changed her mind just like that.

“No, I’m not coming back,” she says quickly, her voice already set in her thinking. “I’m going back home to start working on my career again. I needed a break, Adam, but that’s it.”

A heavy sigh.

“I just needed to get away, that’s why I came to you. I’m really sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, I never meant to do that. I don’t want a relationship, Adam.”

I’ve never wanted a relationship in my life, but as she says those words, I realize I do now. I want it all, the fucking 2.4 kids, a white picket fence and a goddamned golden retriever. As long as Tessa is there, I’m happy.

But she just crushed all my hopes and dreams in one fell swoop.

“Tessa, why don’t you come back, turn around and we can talk this through?” I ask desperately, even though I know I’m grasping at straws. “I’m sure we can figure something out, sweetheart…remember last night? That was special, Tessa, it was-“

“Stop,” she says weakly, her voice shaky, like it’s getting really fucking hard to speak to me. “I’m not coming back. How is this going to work, Adam? You’re my goddamned stepbrother, we can never be together. Think of the scandal.”

“I don’t care about any fucking scandal!” I only realize I’m yelling once the words leave my mouth, and I run a shaky hand through my thick hair. “I don’t care, Tessa, can’t you see? I just want you…”

“Well, I don’t want you,” she finishes shakily. “I don’t, and I’m leaving. Sorry, Adam, and goodbye-“

I can hear something, a strange noise, and then the line goes dead. Dead, just like my heart as it drops down low again, hurting like I never thought it would.

She’s fucking gone. Gone, and not coming back, not now, not ever.

I thought all I needed was one chance to show her how I feel, one night together and she’d be sure we were right for one another. But instead, everything’s fucked up now. She doesn’t even want me as a friend, let alone a boyfriend. She wants nothing to do with me.

My phone drops from my hand, probably shattering the screen on my hardwood floor. I don’t care. I don’t give a fuck about anything anymore, because she’s done with me, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

All the work, all her progress, all gone in one moment.

She doesn’t want me.

And I fucking live, breathe and yearn for her, my heart broken in two because of her cruel words…

I smash a fist into the wall, screaming her name out loud.

***

4 months later

I don’t notice the time passing. I don’t notice too much of fucking anything, to be honest, because I’m too busy wallowing in self-pity.

She’s fucking gone, everyone keeps telling me. She made her choice, she isn’t coming back. She didn’t choose you, she picked her other life. It’s her choice to make, you need to get over her and finally move on with your life.

But I can’t. I freaking can’t, because she’s different, and special, and oh-so-good for me.

When you have something perfect and it shatters in your hands, you spend a lifetime gluing those pieces together, and every single time, you miss one, find a crack, and find a hole. It’s all gone, but you won’t admit it. You just keep gluing and gluing until your hands are fucking sore, your heart aching.

So I throw myself into the restaurant, cooking one amazing meal after another. I know the food is good, but you know that saying about cooking with love to give it a special taste?

I cook with anger, with hatred, with fucking bitterness. And it’s a small wonder the restaurant patrons don’t taste the goddamned sour taste of jealousy in their chocolate mousse.

I’m also focusing on my other project; the one I’m doing with school kids. I’m trying hard to make a difference in someone else’s world, if I can’t change my own. So I do programs, speak at schools, and try to get these kids to eat better.

I’m fucking shocked when I show them veggies like broccoli and cauliflower and they say they’ve never seen them before. But I don’t show it. Instead, I make it my goal to better their food, in school at least, if they have to eat crap at home.

And the day one kid proudly tells me that he made his mom make a stew at home, I’m prouder than ever. It does nothing to fill the black hole in my heart, though.

It’s been a long day and I’m just putting my knives away in the kitchen. I’m pretty sure everyone’s already left, and I’m alone in here, the only light on the one above me, throwing long shades across the room.

“Adam?” a voice interrupts me, and I turn around. Like always, I hope it’s Tessa by some fucking miracle, and like always, I end up disappointed. It’s just Bex, just changed from her hostess uniform in her usual outfit of a tight leather skirt and a crop top.

An outfit that would’ve enticed me half a year ago, but not now. My dick barely twitches at the sight of her perky tits, her long legs. I just don’t give a fuck about anything.

“Yeah,” I reply tiredly, focusing on my knives again. I put everything in place when I feel Bex’s cool hand against my own, and look up into worried brown eyes.

“Hey,” she says softly. “Aren’t you tired? You’ve been working yourself into the ground. Everyone’s worried about you, you know?”

“Boo-freaking-hoo,” I reply coolly. “I’m fine, thanks.” I realize I’m being harsh, but lately, I can’t seem to help it. I’m tired, worn out and fucking angry, and anyone who dares talk to me is going to be on the receiving end of that shit.

People steer clear of me in the restaurant, and on the streets, too. I’ve alienated myself from all of my friends, even Bex and Alec. I just can’t deal with anything right now.

“You’re really not,” Bex says worriedly. “I can see you hurting, and I know it’s because of her.”

Don’t say her name, I beg her silently. Don’t you dare say her fucking name.

Because as soon as it’s out there, I know I’m going to end up in pieces.

“I just want you to feel better, get over this,” Bex says, and I thank every god in existence for the small mercy of not hearing her name on my ex’s lips. It would’ve been too much too handle, and I’m too close to breaking down as it is.