ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (257 page)

I was excused from school earlier than usual. I lost concentration twice and when Harris asked me a question I didn’t even hear him. He dismissed me, and Cole sent me to my room. I collapsed on the bed, relieved to have a break. A lot of what had happened that night had been an act, but I’d really gotten injured.

My window was open, a chilly breeze swirling around my room. The sound of flapping paper in the wind made me lift my head. A note, held down by a broken piece of brick, sat on the windowsill. I got up and pulled it out, unfolding it.

You were right. About everything. The only thing I could see as an answer to death was more death. Instead, you gave me back my own life. I will always owe you. I meant what I said when I told you I fell in love with you. You only have a few months left in the security of that place, and then you’re free to join the real world. I’ll find you then – wait for me.

The paper rustled in my fingers as I read it again and again. A soft prickling traveled up my arms when I held it, and I knew it was from him. I’d know that feeling everywhere.

Wait for him? I knew I would.

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BONUS

TEASED

By Elisa Elliot

Chapter One

I awoke with a startled gasp; what exactly had woken me I wasn’t sure, it could have been a noise, a movement or even my own subconscious telling me it was time. I had never planned on falling asleep, my feet still dangled lazily in the pool and my book, now long forgotten had fallen against my chest. Picking up the book I carefully closed it, sparing the spine any further damage before placing it at my side. I looked up at the sky; the sun was stronger now than it had been when I had first ventured into the garden, hoping for at least a few hours of peace to study in. The warmth of the sun and the coolness of the pool tiles against my bare back had been deceivingly comfortable and as the morning wore on I had succumbed to my tiredness.

Slowly I lifted my head, shuffling awkwardly on the tiled ground and removed my hand that had, for some time it seemed, been my make-shift pillow. With a yawn I pulled myself up, surveying my surroundings with weary eyes. It couldn’t be far off being classed as afternoon now which meant I had been sleeping far longer than I had wanted. With a shake of my head and a slight groan at having wasted so much of the day, I let my feet sink lower into the warm depths of the shimmering blue pool. The pool, without doubt, was my favorite place to be; heated by the sun and utterly peaceful it was the most tranquil spot in the garden.

Before I had chance to completely indulge in the sensation of the rippling water, noise erupted from the house. With a groan I turned towards the house and the source of the familiar noise, I had a strange feeling that it wasn’t the first time I had heard the shouting that seemed to radiate increasingly louder from the house. I strained my ears, trying to make out any words in the gabble of noise. There was more than one person that was something I could be sure of, in fact it sounded like there was a dozen voices, all fighting for attention.

With my full attention now on the open door, I watched as a man I didn’t recognize came wandering out. To my dismay he was dressed solely in a pair of shorts and carrying what looked like a water gun in his hands. It only took half a minute for a dozen others to follow him out, all dressed the same, all dressed for swimming. There was only one I recognized, a shaggy haired blonde that caused my frown to deepen.

I pulled my feet out of the water and gathered up my book and towel as quickly as possible, all the while eyeing the blonde that had in an instant caused my bad mood. Hopefully I would be able to slip by unnoticed but as the group of men grew increasing closer it seemed luck was definitely not going to be on my side. Dragging myself up from my once peaceful spot I walked quickly in the opposite direction.

“Leah!” I stopped dead at the sound of my name, barely even having made it a couple of steps.

I stared wistfully at the door to the house before slowly turning back to face the blonde who had called my name, knowing now that there was going to be no easy escape. “Matt,” I answered reluctantly, my lips twisting into a grimace.

The blonde haired man strode forwards from the crowd, dressed only in a pair of dark gray shorts. He had a smirk on his face, his lips curled up as he covered the distance between us. The men behind him it seemed where no longer interested in the pool, each set of eyes were on me. I stood awkwardly in my bikini, covering what I could of myself with my towel; I hated being the center of attention, more so than having my few precious hours of peace interrupted.

Matt stopped in front of me and I could instantly see the humor in his dark brown eyes. I wrapped my towel fully around me, glaring at his smirking face and wishing more than anything that he would just disappear. “What are you doing here Leah?” he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“I think you’ll find this is my house,” I stated, crossing my arms over my chest and giving him my best attempt at a death glare.

The look washed over him, seemingly as ineffective as ever. “Actually it’s our house, comes with the whole step sibling territory” he grinned, putting emphasis on the word ‘our’.

My shoulders dropped, I had a habit of forgetting it was no longer just my house; not that Matt ever stopped reminding me with his signature smirk. “You were supposed to be away,” I argued back.

Matt shrugged his shoulders and for the briefest of seconds I let my eyes flicker over to his friends. Much to my growing annoyance they were still watching our little exchange. “I changed my mind, looks like we get to spend the summer together,” he laughed and with those words I knew my summer was ruined.

“Just fantastic,” I sighed sarcastically.

“Aw I knew you’d be happy about it,” Matt laughed.

“Ecstatic,” I muttered. With a grimace I turned on my heels and stalked off, if there was one person who could destroy my summer then it was definitely him.

Chapter Two

As the last sunlight of the day shone through my open window I sat in the small crook just below it Somehow, despite the constant distracting noise pouring in through the window I had managed to get a days’ worth of studying done. With my last year of college looming at the end of the summer and the final exams seemingly approaching far faster than I had ever imagined I was determined to stay at the top of my class and if that meant studying the summer away I was perfectly content doing so. It would have been easier though without the shouts of Matt and his friends streaming into the room.

For the first time since I had left them I placed my book down and slowly pulled myself up from the floor. I had a perfect view of the pool from my room and that meant that I had the perfect view of Matt and his friends. It didn’t take me long to find Matt’s shaggy blonde hair in the crowded pool. I watched as he tossed a ball at one of his friends who seemed to be guarding a make-shift goal post.

I chuckled softly as the other man missed the ball and it went flying into what I supposed was the scoring area. A few of the men cheered loudly while the other half looked glumly at them. I leant against the wall as the ball was passed back into the middle and within a minute Matt had it in his possession. A few seconds later and the pool was once again the source of even more cheering as Matt scored again, tossing the ball with ease into the goal.

I don’t know how long I watched the game for but the garden was cast only in a dim light when finally the group jumped out of the pool. My eyes followed Matt as he strode over to where the towels were placed; as he walked water ran over each muscle of his chest, forming droplets on the floor in his wake. A couple of his friends patted him on the back as he roughly dried his hair with the towel, making it stick up in every possible direction. A smile creased my lips as I watched him wave off the last of his friends.

I mentally cursed myself, what was I doing? This wasn’t me; I didn’t stand in my room watching Matt, or anyone. I put my head in my hands, shaking it rapidly, trying my best to register the shock. As soon as my hands fell away my eyes met Matt's’, he was staring at me. A small gasp tumbled from my lips as he looked at me, his dark brown eyes full of what looked like amusement. I couldn’t be sure, for all I knew he was angry, or perhaps he didn’t know I had been watching him for so long.

Slowly Matt winked, or at least it looked like he did. With a groan I slid down the wall, landing awkwardly on the floor in a heap. Whatever had come over me in that moment of madness I prayed it wouldn’t happen again. Matt had only lived here for a couple weeks and I had been caught staring at him, I doubted I would ever get over the embarrassment and even more so that he wouldn’t remind me of it.

In two short weeks I had already had more than enough of Matt, enough to last me a lifetime. We were perfect representations for what polar opposites were, in our few and thankfully short encounters I was pretty sure it was abundantly clear that we had nothing in common. Seeing him with his friends, a world away from the sarcastic and arrogant man I knew had sparked a little doubt in me though and I didn’t like doubt. I sank down lower on the floor with a loud groan; I had really made a fool out of myself.

For the first time since this morning the house was silent and most of me was relieved. I pulled myself off the floor, shaking off the strange sensations that seemed to form as Matt winked at me, I didn’t like him; I needed to remember that. Despite what I told myself as I brushed my fingers against my cheek it was warm, I was blushing. There was something about Matt, something that definitely set me on edge.  Picking my book back up, I sat down and for the third time that day and tried to actually study.

As always though, the silence was never destined to last long and before I had even made my way through half a chapter, shouts erupted downstairs. This time the voices were both familiar though and I knew in an instant what was happening. It seemed that we couldn’t go a day anymore without Matt and my dad bursting into some kind of argument. With a chuckle I set my book back down, it seemed that today was definitely not my day.

Chapter Three

Like I had grown used to doing, even in just the two weeks, I tuned the shouting out; it definitely wasn’t just Matt and I who didn’t see eye to eye. Up until Matt arrived I had never heard my dad shout so much. I moved away from the window and flopped down on the bed, searching for my headphones to drown out the noise. I had half expected my dad and his new wife to argue when she moved in but from my increasing portfolio of experience, it seemed to be only my dad and Matt that argued and they fought constantly.

I finally found my headphones and to my frustration they were exactly how I had left them, completely tangled. I started on the knots, barely getting through the first one when my name was screamed from downstairs. I stilled, curiosity bubbling inside me, not once had my name been shouted before. Shrugging if off as merely part of whatever argument they were having I started on the second knot. I didn’t even get halfway through it before my name was shouted again, louder this time than before if that was even possible.

With a sigh I pulled myself off the bed, I in no way wanted to get involved in what was going on but I equally didn’t want to miss it if Matt was losing the fight, something that rarely happened. I pried open the door and slowly made my way down the stairs as the noise increased. My once quiet and peaceful house had definitely taken a turn for the worse. Reaching the living room and the scene of the fight I slipped my head around the door, only to have two rather angry eyes focus instantly on me.

One belonged to my dad and the other, a pair of dark brown eyes belonged to Matt. Behind them both stood a couple of Matt’s friends, ones it seemed hadn’t clicked that they should probably have gotten out of here by now.

“Leah!” my dad shouted, far too loudly in the relatively small space.

I edged forwards; diverting my eyes from Matt’s who seemed to be pleading with me for something I had no idea about. “Yes?” I answered my dad’s shout with a voice that could very easily be considered a suitable sound level for being inside, unlike his.

“Matt wants to have a party,” he said bluntly.

My brows furrowed as I looked between the two men, clearly in some sort of stand-off. Before I could stop myself I laughed loudly, all this was over some stupid party? “So?” I questioned a little unsurely, they must be more to this than either was letting on.  

“So he wants to have a party in my house,” My dad said angrily.

Before I could respond Matt took a step forwards into what I classed as the ‘danger zone’, before then there had been a pretty good distance between everyone in the room. “You’re going away, so I thought since I’m new here I could have a party and make some friends,” Matt said and to my surprise he actually managed a fairly good attempt at a convincingly innocent voice.

My dad’s face softened and I knew Matt had struck gold, clearly his fake voice only sounded fake to me. “You have friends,” he muttered and it was evident that he was wavering slightly.

“The more friends the better,” Matt said with a grin. I dared a looked behind him to see the few men that reminded laughing quietly at Matt’s display; it seemed though that I was the only one to notice.

“Can’t you wait until your mum and I get back?” my dad asked and at that point it was obvious everyone in the room knew he was fighting a losing battle.

“Leah will be here, I doubt she’ll let anything happen,” Matt said quickly, sending me another pleading look.

I rolled my eyes; the last thing I wanted was to be at a party with him. “Great,” I muttered under by breath. 

“If Leah agrees then its fine,” my dad said, finally giving up.

All eyes in the room turned to me and for the second time in one day I was stuck firmly in the spotlight, somewhere I really didn’t want to be. My mind worked overtime trying to figure out some way of getting out of it but of course I ended up with nothing. “Fine,” I sighed, my shoulders slumping.

Showing everything I felt my dad turned his back on Matt and walked out of the room, ‘just great’ I muttered to myself, I was stuck with Matt. “Thanks Leah,” Matt said.

I sent him a quizzical look and the eyes that met mine seemed sincere for the first time ever. Matt cleared the distance between us and in seconds I was wrapped in his arms. I stood there frozen as his warm arms encircled my body, his bare chest pressing into me. His hold was gentle and so much warmer than I could ever have imagined. To my disbelief I actually wrapped my arms back around the shaggy blonde haired man who up until a few second ago I had hated.