Mask - A Stepbrother Romance (12 page)

So that was it. Whatever spark we’d once had had been dimmed, and it was my own damned fault for being so stupid and letting her slip through my fingers. Now I had to start seeing Rayna for what she really was to me.

My stepsister, and nothing more.

Chapter 15

Rayna

“So,” Liana said, polishing off the last of her cocktail. “Now that you’ve heard everything about Rick, you have to tell me everything about
your
love life.”

We were still standing near the bar, and she’d just spent the last few minutes updating me on every detail of her fledgling romance with the guy from her office building whom she’d hooked up with at the masquerade party. I shrugged at her statement and put down my own empty glass. I’d had to take my Cylon headpiece off earlier, so it was currently dangling from my other hand.

“Nothing much to tell. I’ve been so busy the last few weeks with all the wedding stuff, not to mention I’ve still been settling in here.”

She regarded me with a suspicious gaze, then looked past me at Jace, who was chatting to a group of people near the spot where we’d left him.

“You know what? That drink went right through me. Join me in the bathroom?” she said in a sweet, sing-song voice which I knew meant only one thing: ‘
I know you have a secret, and we’re going to have a little private chat
.’

We headed upstairs and found the first bathroom where we could have a private conversation, and she cornered me near the door and stared at me with a gleeful expression on her face. “I know there’s still something going on with you and Jace.”

“Hmm?” I managed to choke out, affecting my most innocent expression and wishing I could put my Cylon helmet back on so that she couldn’t see the guilt in my eyes. What she was saying wasn’t true—Jace and I had been nothing more than friends for a week or so now. Still, it felt like a lie to say it, because I knew I still wanted him.

Liana put her hands on her hips. “Oh, come on. You could’ve come to the party with me, but you came with him instead.”

“It just made more sense. I live with him, so it made sense for us to share a car to get here, and I also knew you’d be coming with Rick, so I figured you’d want some alone time with him.”

I completely left out the part where I still had strong feelings for Jace, because what was the point in discussing it? He’d made it quite clear to me that he thought we should stick to being friendly and nothing else, and I was trying to move past that. It was damn hard, considering how sexy he was, but I knew I’d get there eventually.

At least I hoped so.

Liana was silent for a moment, and then her shoulders slumped. “Damn. I was totally hoping for some gossip about you and Jace sneaking around and doing the dirty.”

“Well, there were the times when we almost…you know…but that’s it. Since the wedding, nothing’s happened.”

She sighed. “I guess it couldn’t happen anyway, now that your parents are actually married.”

“Exactly. Anyway, in the last week or so, he’s just been like a brother to me. And it’s great. We get along really well, so I’m happy with it,” I replied. “I don’t want anything more from him.”

“Okay, well, if that’s really the case, then you have to meet my friend Eric. Hot blond guy, lots of muscles, and has an awesome job at…”

Her voice trailed off as she saw the look on my face, and she practically crowed in triumph. “A-ha! I knew it!”

“Knew what?”

“You don’t want any other guys. You might just be ‘friends’ with Jace, but you still totally want him, you liar!”

I felt my cheeks turning hot, and I knew I was caught. “Okay, fine,” I admitted. “I still like him.”

“Tell him!”

“I can’t. It was his idea for us to be friends. I’d just look like some obsessive love-struck puppy.”

“He was probably just
saying
that, you know, trying to do the right thing and all, to make it less awkward. But that guy looks at you like you’re a supermodel, even when you’re wearing a bloody Cylon outfit!” she said. “I’ve never seen or heard about him being like this—he’s usually such a man-whore—but he
so
obviously still wants you just as much as you want him. Guaranteed.”

“You really think so?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes. God, you two are like characters in rom-coms. I just want to shake you both and say ‘communicate!’”

I hesitated for a second before speaking up again. “You really think we should go for it? I mean, you just said nothing can happen now that our parents are married, and—”

She cut me off with a wave of her hand. “Oh, please. I was just saying that. Who gives a crap if your parents are married? It’s not like he’s legitimately your brother.”

“I think the law might see it another way.”

“Screw the law. That just makes it even hotter…all the sneaking around, the forbidden aspect of it, and so on. Don’t you think so?”

“I guess,” I said. Truthfully, I was all kinds of confused. Yes, the idea of doing something naughty and taboo was hot as hell, but on the other hand, I still felt a crushing sense of guilt over my feelings for Jace, and on top of that, if I was going to be with him, I wanted it to be real. I wanted us to be able to show our feelings to the world, not hide it all behind closed doors and veiled comments.

Liana was right about one thing, though—I should at least talk to Jace about it and communicate my true feelings for once.

“You know what? You’re right. I’m going to find him,” I said.

Liana grinned. “Good. Talk to him about all of this, and I’ll go spend some more time with Rick.”

We were about to head out of the bathroom when my phone began to vibrate in my handbag. “Oh, hold on, it’s my Mom, so I better take it,” I said after pulling it out and checking the caller ID. “You go on ahead.”

Liana nodded and headed out of the bathroom, and I answered the call. “Hi, Mom. What’s up?”

“Hey, sweetie. I was just wondering where you were.”

“Oh, sorry, didn’t you get my note? Jace and I are at a Halloween party. I stuck a note on the fridge to tell you, just like we used to do back home.”

“I didn’t even think to check the kitchen for a note, silly old me,” she said. “That’s fine, I was just wondering where you were. Anyway, I’m about to go out for dinner and drinks as well, so have fun! I’ll see you later.”

“You have fun too, Mom!” I said. I was glad to hear that Gerald was spoiling her a bit and taking her out on a date; at least I assumed that was what was happening. “Anyway, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

After we hung up, I checked my reflection in the bathroom mirror, and I decided to keep the helmet off for a while longer. The cocktail Liana had ordered me earlier was starting to warm me up, and it was bound to get sweaty if I left the helmet on for hours.

I headed back downstairs alone, keeping my eyes peeled for Jace, but I couldn’t spot him anywhere. Just as I decided to head back upstairs to see if he’d gone up there for some reason, I bumped right into someone wearing a monster mask.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I said, looking up.

“That’s okay. Hey, wait a minute….Rayna, right?” the monster replied.

“Yeah?”

He pulled the mask off and grinned. “Roy. We met the other day when you were costume shopping with Jace.”

“Oh, sure, I remember. How are you?”

“Good, good. And you?”

“Not bad, just been busy trying to settle in,” I replied. I wasn’t sure why Jace had acted weirdly around this guy in the costume shop the other day, because he seemed perfectly normal—maybe a bit nerdy with his spotty face and skinny body, but hey, I was a bit of a nerd myself, so there was nothing wrong with that.

“I can imagine. This place is quite a bit different than what you’re probably used to back in the States. Anyway, were you looking for Jace?”

I nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“I was just with him a second ago, and he was looking for you too. He went to the bathroom, though, so how about we grab a drink and wait for him?”

I smiled. “Sure, sounds good.”

I followed him across the room, and with his long legs and stride, he reached the bar before I did, so by the time I got there, he was already ordering our drinks.

“Hope you like rum,” he said, handing me a glass before gesturing towards some seats in a little nook a few yards away from the bar.

I didn’t usually like rum, but I also didn’t want to be rude, so I gratefully accepted the drink and took a swig as I headed over to the nook to sit down. The drink actually wasn’t that bad at all; it seemed to have a hint of cinnamon and cloves along with some other similar spices, which gave it quite a nice flavor if I ignored how strong the alcohol was. Roy saw my expression and grinned.

“It’s a new type of spiced rum. Nice, right?”

“Yeah, not bad,” I said with a smile.

“Well, cheers,” he said, raising his own glass. I raised mine to his after taking my second sip, but just as I did so, Roy looked over my shoulder. “Wait, is that Jace there?”

He pointed over at the other side of the spacious room, and I turned my head over my shoulder, looking around for Jace in the crowd of partygoers. “Where? I don’t see him.”

“Never mind, it was just someone else,” Roy replied as I turned back to face him. “Looked a bit like him. Anyway, how are you enjoying England so far overall?”

“It’s cool. Literally. I’ve never been so cold in my life when I step outside,” I said with a grin. “I’m from California, so I’m used to much warmer weather.”

“Wait till it’s actually winter here,” he said. “You’ll probably be wishing you could jump into a hot tub every minute of the day. Or a volcano, more like it.”

I laughed, and we continued to chat for several minutes. Roy was obviously well-educated, and he had been nothing but polite so far, albeit a little twitchy, but I guess talking to girls made him nervous. I really couldn’t imagine why Jace had been so keen on losing him at the store the other day. Perhaps it was because of me…maybe he didn’t want me talking to his friends in case I became closer to them than him.

The idea of Jace possibly being jealous over me talking to other guys made me want to smile, but as I tried to, I realized that I couldn’t. Every muscle in my body seemed to be momentarily paralyzed, and my head had suddenly begun to spin like mad.

“God…that rum is really hitting me,” I said, finally summoning the strength to rub my eyes as I tried to keep them open.

“Sorry, it’s pretty strong. Are you okay?” Roy asked, holding out an arm to steady me.

It occurred to me that Jace still hadn’t met up with us, and I managed to mumble something else. “I don’t know. Where’s Jace? Wasn’t he coming to find us?”

“Yeah. Maybe he forgot and went outside. You look like you could use some fresh air, anyway. Let’s go out into the courtyard and look for him.”

“Okay,” I whispered in response, barely able to speak now. The alcohol was seriously hitting me hard; I’d never felt this way before, even when I’d gone on Spring Break back in the States and had six cocktails in a row one night. My limbs and eyelids were heavy, and I felt like I needed to sleep for a thousand years.

Roy held me with both arms as I stumbled, preventing me from hitting the ground. “Come on, you’ll be okay. Let’s just get you outside.”

Alarm bells finally began to ring in my woozy head as he led me out of the party, but by the time we got outside and the fresh night air hit my face, those bells were too faint for me to hear. In fact, every thought in my head was too faint to register, and everything around me was too fuzzy to see. By the time my exhausted brain had figured out what was going on, it was too late.

Everything was black.

Chapter 16

Jace

“So did you talk to her?”

A feminine voice interrupted my train of thought, and I turned to see Liana standing behind me upstairs.

“Oh, hey. Did I talk to who?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in a puzzled expression. “By the way, where’s Rayna?”

After leaving the bathroom earlier, I’d run into some more people I knew, and we’d had a nice long chat before one of them had checked his phone and realized his girlfriend was waiting for him, and he’d headed back downstairs. After that, the group had dispersed, and I’d taken the few minutes alone to check through my emails on my phone.

I hadn’t worried about where Rayna was in the time I’d been upstairs chatting, because I’d assumed she was still with Liana, but Liana was definitely alone as she stood before me now, and she looked even more confused than I was.

“I meant ‘did you talk to Rayna’,” she said. “But apparently you don’t even know where she is. So she didn’t even come to find you?”

“No, I’ve been in the same spot up here for the last twenty minutes or so, and I haven’t seen her come up. I thought she was with you.”

Liana rolled her eyes. “I bet she chickened out.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Chickened out of what?”

“Never mind. She was just…” She trailed off, and from that and the look in her eyes, I could tell she thought she’d said too much.

“Just what?”

“Erm…just talk to her, okay? I shouldn’t have said anything. Sorry, I just assumed you guys would have chatted by now.”

“Did I do something to upset her?”

She shook her head. “No. Look, I really shouldn’t say this, but she seems so bloody bad at communicating with men that I may as well give you a hint. She likes you, Jace. She was coming to find you to tell you that she thinks your whole idea of being platonic friends is rubbish.”

My eyes widened. That wasn’t at all what I’d overheard earlier. Perhaps I’d heard incorrectly or somehow misinterpreted things. “What? You serious?”

“Don’t act surprised. From what I hear, you’re used to girls falling all over themselves just to get a chance to drop their panties for you.”

I had to grin at that. “Maybe, but Rayna’s not like other girls,” I said.

Liana smiled. “That’s what I like to hear. Now go find her!”

I nodded and headed downstairs, keeping my eyes out for Rayna. I couldn’t see her anywhere, but I didn’t panic—the place was huge and filled with partygoers, so she was probably just blending in with the crowds.

I kept looking, and after ten minutes, I started to get concerned. I’d been around the party five times now and asked a lot of people about her, and I’d even checked all the bathrooms and knocked on every door I could think of. She was nowhere to be seen, and even Liana didn’t seem to have any idea where she’d gone. I wondered if maybe she’d simply gone home, but I figured she would’ve sent me a text if that were the case, just to let me know. Rayna wasn’t the sort of person who would just rudely leave like that.

My heart raced as I did another lap of the main party room, and guilt seeped through every inch of my body. I’d promised myself I’d keep an eye on her tonight, but I’d let her out of my sight for too long, and now she was nowhere to be found. Simply assuming she’d been with Liana wasn’t good enough—I’d fucked up, and if anything bad happened to her tonight, it’d be my fault.

When she didn’t respond to my third text, I tried calling her, but it rang out. I stepped outside where it was quiet to call her again, praying that she’d pick up this time, but she didn’t, and just when I was about to go back inside and tell Liana that I thought something had really gone wrong, my phone began to vibrate in my hand.

Shoulders slumping with relief, I answered it, only to realize it wasn’t Rayna.

“Jacey boy, still at the party?”

I rolled my eyes. “What do you want, Roy? I think I made myself pretty fucking clear to you earlier. Don’t call me unless you really want help.”

“You might wanna change your tone with me, man.”

“Roy, I don’t have time for this shit right—”

He cut me off midsentence. “Why? Because Rayna’s gone missing from the party?”

His words sent an icy chill through me, and I fell silent. How the fuck did he know that? Was he still at the party, following me around and watching me search for her?

“Yeah, now you’re listening,” he said before laughing; a short, sharp bark. “Well, you won’t find her at the party, man.”

“Why?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Because she’s with me.”

My heart leapt into my throat, and I was acutely aware of the fact that I no longer knew a thing about Roy. The old friend I’d once had was no longer here—he’d been replaced by this psychopath addict. There was no way Rayna would have left with him willingly, which left only one option.

He’d forcibly taken her.

“What the fuck, Roy? Where are you?”

I could practically hear him smirking over the phone. “I told you earlier, man, you should watch your back.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, and Rayna has nothing to do with any of the shit between us. This isn’t fucking funny, so tell me where she is.”

“Actually, she has everything to do with the shit between us. I remember the way you talked about her when we caught up the other week, and I know she’s more to you than just a stepsister. So you’d do anything to get her home safely, right?”

“Of course I would,” I replied, my hands balling into fists by my side. “Now tell me what the fuck is going on. If you’ve done anything to her…”

“Relax, she’s fine. She’s here with me at the old furniture warehouse in Brixton. I’m sure you remember the place.”

He’d obviously picked our old dealer’s usual place of business on purpose to try and drag up all those old memories, reminding me that I’d once been like him. He wanted to put me on the same footing as him, but I wasn’t. Not anymore.

Before I could say another word, he continued. “Don’t call the cops. I’ll know if you do. Just come here alone.”

“Fine.”

“And bring thirty thousand quid in cash with you.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said. Surely he was just drunk and this was all some kind of sick joke, because what he was saying was utterly absurd. “This isn’t a fucking Liam Neeson gangster movie, Roy, this is real life, and what you’re claiming to be doing is kidnapping for ransom. Besides, do you think I have thirty grand just sitting around?”

“You’ve got it in your bank account, I know that for sure.”

“Yeah, but I can’t just go to an ATM and withdraw that much. There’s a limit, you fucking idiot.”

“I don’t care. You’ll figure something out, I’m sure…if you want Rayna to be okay, that is. She looks like she’s got a nice little body under this stupid costume of hers. Anyway, you’ve got four hours.”

He was actually serious. The threat in his voice was clear, and before I could say anything else, he’d hung up. I stared into space for a moment as a horrifying sickness swirled around within me, knowing that this was all my fault. My shitty past had come back to haunt me, as it always did, and now Rayna could get hurt, all because of me.

I quickly dialed the number for the car service to come and get me again, and I told them if they hurried the hell up and got me home as quick as possible, there’d be a hefty tip in it for them. Fuck, I should’ve just driven tonight, so I’d be able to get to my car right away, but either way, it didn’t matter, because I needed to get back to the manor before I could try to get Rayna back anyway. There was only person I knew who had piles of cash as big as thirty grand sitting around in safes, and that was my father. I hated to ask him for help in a situation I’d created through my own stupidity, but this was a possible life or death situation, and I had no other choice.

I’d do anything to get Rayna back and hold her safe in my arms.

***

“Dad?”

I was sprinting down the hallway of the third floor, towards the western end where my father and Elena’s master bedroom was. I’d just arrived home, and while all the lights downstairs were off, I’d seen a yellow glow from the third floor, so I knew someone was home. I knocked on the door, and just was I was about to go ahead and open it, I heard low, panicked voices from inside. I guess I’d caught Elena and Dad doing the nasty, but I didn’t give a shit. Rayna was in trouble, so being forced to see my father caught with his pants down really didn’t register as anything too bad right now.

“Dad, I don’t care what you guys are doing, we need to talk, and it’s important,” I said before pushing the door open. I figured Elena being there would make this conversation even easier, because there was no way Dad could refuse to help Rayna with her mother lying right there.

Only the pale-skinned, dark-haired woman lying on the king-sized bed wasn’t Elena.

“Oh, shit. Seriously, Dad…again?” I said, narrowing my eyes as he struggled into a shirt and pants, guilt etched into his features.

Of course this wasn’t the first time he’d cheated on someone, but given his usual behavior around Elena and the way he’d made such a big deal about being a ‘good father and family man’ lately, I’d thought he might have been able to keep his dick to himself for once. But no, the lithe brunette lying on the bed was proof that he’d never change. He was still the same old lying, cheating asshole.

“Jace…outside!” he snapped, as if I was the one who’d done something wrong here.

I stalked from the room, knowing he would follow.

“What on earth is so important you had to disturb me with my…er…friend?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Dad, I realize this will sound like total bullshit, but it’s not. It’s serious.”

“Well, out with it,” he said, waving his hand impatiently.

“Rayna’s been kidnapped.”

He stared at me with nothing but a blank expression on his face, and I repeated myself in case he simply hadn’t heard me properly. “Dad, Rayna’s been kidnapped!”

“Go on,” he said, still seemingly not understanding the seriousness of the situation.

“This drug-fucked guy I went to school with took her from the party we were at. She’s in a lot of trouble, and I need to help her.”

“Right,” he replied, affecting a bored tone. “What has all this got to do with me?”

I stared at him, unable to believe that he could be so callous. Although this was the side of him that I was far more used to seeing, I’d actually gotten used to the fake nice display that he’d been putting on for the benefit of everyone else recently.

“Are you kidding me? She’s your stepdaughter and she’s been kidnapped by some psycho guy,
that’s
what it has to do with you. Where the hell is Elena, anyway? We need to tell her!”

“She’s at dinner with some friends. I really don’t think she wants her evening ruined with your silly little shenanigans, so please just go back to whatever party you were at and play your pranks on someone else,” he said, looking at my Halloween costume with disdain.

“These aren’t ‘silly shenanigans’ or pranks; Rayna is seriously in trouble. The guy wants a load of cold hard cash, which I don’t have. He’s demanding thirty grand from me.”

He sneered at me. “How do I know this isn’t just money for one of your little dealer friends? You think I don’t know what you’ve been spending that trust fund of yours on for the last two years? Your mother and I
do
speak occasionally, you know.”

“It’s not that, I swear. I’ll pay you back; take it directly out of my trust fund account. I just need real cash now, that’s all.”

He rolled his eyes, still clearly not believing me. “Fine. We actually do have kidnapping insurance, but I don’t believe for a second that anything’s really happened to Rayna, so I’ll just take it out of my safe, and I’ll have my accountants withdraw it back out of your trust fund for myself later. So I’m getting that money back either way, no matter what you do with it tonight.”

My shoulders sagged with relief. “Okay. Thank you.”

He held up one hand, and a smirk crossed his face. “I have one condition.”

I’d agree to anything right now, even though he really shouldn’t have been putting conditions on saving the daughter of his brand new wife.

“What?”

He indicated towards the bedroom. “I need you to keep quiet about what you saw in there.”

I stared at him in shock. Was he fucking serious? Whether he believed it or not, Rayna’s life was seriously in danger, and all he cared about was not getting caught for his seedy little affair?

That’s when something finally hit me.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. That mistress of yours…it’s been going on for a while, hasn’t it? She’s Rayna’s ‘ghost’, isn’t she?

He chuckled, and the fact that he wasn’t fazed at all about being an absolute prick made me want to throttle him. “Yes. She was here with me that night and went to get a drink, then came back up the stairs and almost bumped into Rayna. She didn’t know who Rayna was, so she got scared and ran up to the fourth floor to hide for a while.”