He's So Fine (A BBW Stepbrother Romance) (18 page)

Would they have thought the same thing if they’d realized I’d been boning my stepsister? I wanted her so badly right now I couldn’t think straight. I’d made a huge mistake this summer. I thought I could fuck her and leave. Bastard that I was, at first I’d even gotten a thrill by pulling something over my rich father’s eyes. Fucking his stepdaughter under his own roof.

Abby’s mother knew something was going on. She thought her daughter was falling in love with the bad boy. She had enough faith, probably, in Abby for her not to take it all the way. I snorted. I could charm the panties off a nun if I wanted to. I wasn’t conceited. I knew how a woman’s body worked and I knew how to use that knowledge against her.

Abby had been ripe for the picking. My fingers tightened around my knife and fork remembering that day on the beach when she’d been attacked. It had been a week ago and I had yet to make love to her again. Afraid, almost, in case there was something broken inside her and I couldn’t fix it.

ABBY

I took a small taste of the baked potato I’d made to go with the steaks Cage had grilled. I was hungry, but I wasn’t. Not now anyway. I’d thought I knew Cage well enough by now to know when something was bothering him. Something had been bothering him for the past several days, but this was different. I’d thought his strange behavior—not screwing me—had been because of the attack. I’d thought it had screwed him up more than it had me. He didn’t seem to want to touch me at all. Had my first assessment of the situation been correct? Did he view me as damaged goods now? Did he somehow think I had encouraged what had happened? Just like Danny had thought I owed him something simply because I was curvy and available and he assumed he was god’s latest gift to women. Did Cage assume I would welcome the touch of any man because I had been a virgin before I’d met him?

I laid down my fork. No use pretending I was hungry. No use pretending anything anymore. My magical summer vacation was coming to a screeching halt.

Cage followed my example and we looked at each other for a moment, as if memorizing each other’s features. As if we both knew this was it. The end.

“That was Frank. He’s set me up with a fight.”

I plucked at the tablecloth even though my heart was nose diving inside my chest, sinking to the very bottom of my soul. “That’s good, isn’t it? What you wanted?” All I could see was his bloody and battered face.

“Yeah, it’s what I wanted.”

His tone said something different and for a moment hope flared. Did that mean he wanted more now? With me?

“I’m leaving in the morning.”

Hope plummeted inside me, making my stomach hurt. “Can’t you stay to the end of the week? We’re all leaving then.” My mother had told me this morning that Horace had to get back to work. They were cutting the vacation short by a whole week.

“No. I’d lose too many days of training.”

I wanted to ask why he couldn’t continue to train here. He’d found a gym and ran along the beach each morning. What else did he need?

I was afraid to ask him that question because I was afraid of his answer.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t train here, but that he didn’t want to anymore.

It was hours later when my mother and stepfather returned. I still wasn’t comfortable thinking of Horace as my father. With the appearance of Cage, I now knew I never would. My attraction to his son—my stepbrother!—had short circuited that relationship.

“Hello, darling. Did you have a good night?” Mom and Horace had gone to dinner at the country club. It wasn’t my mother’s favorite place, but I think there had been some kind of fundraiser. My mother was unpretentious unlike the other wives and mothers I’d met this summer. She was a happy, genuinely good person and I was lucky to have her as my mom.

“Cage grilled some steaks.” I’d already washed the dishes and put away the fancy tablecloth and candles Maria had helped me find. I still wasn’t ready to tell my mother about Cage.

Or I hadn’t been. After tonight’s happenings I knew that moment was drawing closer and closer because my heart was starting to break.

When my mother tapped my legs, I sat up. My stepfather had taken a seat on the matching leather chair. I did have to say he had good taste. In wives and furniture. Horace loved my mother and I thought any man who had her in his life was very lucky.

“Where’s Cage?”

“He went out. Said he’d be back soon.” I circled my knees with my arms, hoping he wouldn’t make a liar out of me and stay out all night drinking. Or carousing. He’d left in a sour mood. It broke my heart thinking about him doing that now.

Horace’s phone rang and he rose, indicating he’d take it in the kitchen. He’d been getting calls from what I’d assumed was his practice all summer. Once, I even saw him doing a conference call using Skype. I’d given him a thumbs up for embracing the technology until I saw the footage on the screen. It was a picture of a man’s chest, cut open. And the gory parts hadn’t been blurred and faded out like they were on
NCIS.

When he left, my mother asked, “Are you alright, darling?”

I felt the tears form in my eyes and it took all I had inside of me not to burst into tears and throw myself into my mother’s arms. It was funny really, how anticlimactic our parting had been. He’d said he was leaving, and I’d said okay. I had to close my eyes and didn’t see that Horace had returned until he spoke.

“I got a call from the harbor master. Cage took out the boat.”

I hadn’t expected that.

I looked at him, realizing that wasn’t all he had to say. “What’s wrong?”

“They can’t raise him on the radio.”

I shrugged my shoulder. I suppose he needed the time alone. If I wasn’t so afraid of water, I might have done the same thing. If I had thought about it.

“There’s a storm coming, Abby.”

I laughed. I was already in the middle of a shit storm. One that ended with my heart in tatters around my feet. The implications of what he was saying hit me. If Cage had turned off the radio, he’d have no way of knowing the weather forecast had been updated. If he’d even bothered to check the weather before he went out.

“Oh, Momma, what have I done?” I knew that I was the cause of him being out there, blind and heading straight for a storm.

Horace’s phone rang again. My mother pulled me into her arms and I was thankful she was there with me. “Does Horace know? About me and Cage?” I whispered my questions so Horace could hear whoever was on the line. I knew it was about Cage.

My mother patted my back. “We haven’t discussed it, but I’m pretty sure he does.”

“I didn’t mean to, Momma. I swear.”

“I know, sweetheart. You can’t pick who you love and who loves you.”

There was no use in denying my mother’s words. I loved Cage. Would love him with all of my heart. I was also positive he didn’t love me. I wasn’t even sure if he knew what that meant.

Horace ended the call and sat down on the coffee table in front of the couch. His size and mannerisms were so like Cage’s that, for a moment, my world blurred. Or maybe it was because I was having a difficult time processing what he was saying.

“They’ve located his boat, but he’s not on it. It looked as if it had been hit by a wave.”

Even though I was sitting down, my world tilted. All the feelings that had been building inside me all summer, solidified into a cold, hard lump in my chest.

Sound slammed back into me like a freight train. “We have to go find him.” That was my only thought. We could take Horace’s big boat out, search the inlet and find him. Simple.

“Search and rescue are already out, Abby.” Cage wasn’t the first angry young man who had taken a boat out when he shouldn’t have. There were a lot of young, foolish people who came here each summer. It made me feel better that the officials appeared to know what they were doing.

“Can we go down there?”

“Of course, we can.” My mother answered before Horace could, but I knew the big man wanted to go down there as much as I did. Coming to my feet, I said, “I’ll go change. I won’t take long.”

In fifteen minutes, we found ourselves traveling down the two-lane black topped road to the marina. In the middle was a large wooden structure that housed the harbor master. No one stepped out to greet us and I didn’t know if that was a good sign or a bad sign. Horace walked right in as though he owned the place. If this man wanted answers, someone was going to give them to him.

“Mr. Montgomery.” A large burly man came forward and stuck out his hand and I appreciated the way he got right to the point. “There’s no more news. We have teams searching the surrounding beaches.”

“Can we call in more teams?” Horace shook the man’s hand. “Cost is no object.”

“I realize that.” No doubt, he was used to rich, powerful men getting their way and he went out of his way to accommodate them. “I’ve called in a few from the surrounding area. They’ll be here within the hour.”

I could tell Horace wanted to demand that they appear in the next thirty seconds. Instead, he said, “Thank you.”

Horace turned back to me and my mother and I knew there was nothing else to do but wait.

The room had a hard, narrow bench along one wall and we took a seat to do just that. Wait.

CAGE

I knew I should have turned back when the sky had darkened. But I didn’t. Seemed like I’d been born doing foolish things. Hadn’t I done them all my life? Picking fights in foster care, dropping out of high school. Becoming a fighter.

What kind of life was that?

In the distance, the sky lit up as a storm rolled in and I swore I felt the boom of thunder under my feet. I knew I should turn around, head for the nearest piece of land. But I didn’t. I kept going and going, the slash of the wind and rain validating the bite of anger and wildness inside me.

When the waves started coming over the bow of the boat, I knew it was time to turn around. I wasn’t an idiot and I certainly didn’t have a death wish. A heavy wave hit the side of the boat and knocked me away from the wheel. I made my way to the benches on the side and put on a lifejacket.

I fought for control of the wheel for twenty more minutes. The waves inundated the boat. I realized I was close to the cove where I’d taken Abby. I steered toward it. I was almost there when the next wave took out the engine. It spluttered to a stop and I knew I had a decision to make. I could stay with the boat, drift, until they found me, with the storm taking me farther out to sea rather than closer to land. Or, I could abandon ship and try to swim for the shore, battling the waves on my own.

I was a strong swimmer and my fight training gave me the endurance. As another wave hit, quickly followed by another, I realized I had little choice. If the storm grew, there was no guarantee the boat would stay afloat. Going to shore, while I still had a chance to make it, was my only option. I quickly changed into a pair of swim trunks and gathered a few items and threw them in a diver’s bag before going over the side. It was still light enough for me to see the outline of land just ahead. I swam fast, but paced myself as Frank had taught me to do in the ring, keeping the goal—stay the distance—utmost in my mind.

ABBY

The sun was already up when I felt a touch on my shoulder. “Abby. Abby, honey, you need to wake up.” I did, the feel of the hard wood beneath my shoulder and hip telling me instantly where I was.