In Love With My Evil Stepbrother
Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two Eason’s POV

She’s shivering under me, not because of pleasure of course. But for fear.

I know what she is afraid of, yet I deliberately extend her suffering at this very moment. She bites mytongue and immediately a bloody taste fills our mouths. But I don’t give a fuck.

I didn’t let her go till the footsteps is just around the corner.

The moment my grip loosens, she moves away from me. She glares at me with so much anger, as if I’vedone something horrible…well I did, but only because she has provoked me.

A group of students walk pass by. None of them notice anything wrong between us.

In their eyes, we are just standing here talking.

She finally restores her breathe and grits out in a low voice. “You…you are fucking twisted!”

I sneer internally. She probably wants to slap me for my audacity. But we’re in public. Since she’s tooafraid about our relationship being exposed, she won’t do anything at the moment.

“Save your energy to bed babe.” I smile, knowing perfectly well that my words would only anger herfurther.

Just as I expected, her eyes burn with flames of rage.

She and her hot temper. How intriguing.

Just when I’m about to say something else to her and see if I can get another interesting reaction fromher, I hear someone calling me from behind.

It’s James. And a bunch of my other friends. “Hey man.” He walks closer and then turns to her. “Natalia!How’s it going? Didn’t see you in school for the past few days.”

“We are in different classes,” she replies harshly.

She doesn’t like James, apparently. Not only because he forced her into playing the Truth and Dare atthe party before, but because she doesn’t like his type.

The playboy type. My type.

She prefers someone with straight-As and works in Student Union. People who always appear so decentand nice. Like that Alex and her trash ex-boyfriend Zack.

My mind drifts to the dark side for a moment thinking about Alex.

James is still taking to Natalia. “We are going to the café. You wanna come?” “…Umm thanks. But I thinkI’ll pass. I’m not very hungry.” She says.

Of course she says no.

“You are coming.” I tell her.

She darts me a sharp glare. I raise my eyebrows and look back at her.

If she wants to fight in front of everyone, it’s fine by me.

After a round of staring contest, she gives up eventually. “Fine.” She mumbles reluctantly.

She joins our group but picks up her speed and walks upfront, keeping her distance with us. She can beso stubborn sometimes.

James walks beside me. He nudges me in the ribs and whisper to me. “You two were kissing earlier,won’t you?”

I’m still staring after Natalia. “That obvious huh?”

He snickers. “You should see the look on her face when I called you…it’s way too obvious. Her face tellsthe whole story.”

I sneer and can’t help but agree with him. “Yet you won’t believe what she just said to me.” I go on to tellhim everything about Natalia’s proposal.

He almost bursts into laughter immediately after. “Fuck, for real? She said that herself? Damn …but isn’tthis just the way you wanted it? Going perfectly well according to your plan.”

“My plan was for her to fall in love with me. Not to fuck her in bed. That would be too easy.”

“Yeah but still. You are getting close. It won’t take long before she grabs your hands and begs you not toleave…especially since you’ve kicked that Alex guy out of the picture now. You took care of him, right?”“Yeah of course.” That ex-girlfriend of his will keep him busy for a while. We walk into the café and eachgrabs a tray. James is still smirking behind me as we pick our food, “fuck I can’t wait. When is the grandreveal gonna be? I can’t wait to see her smug face turns into pieces.” I reply lazily. “Have some patience.And keep your fucking voice down.” 0

I see Natalia looking back at us warily. She’s probably wondering what we are talking about.

But she’ll never guess what is waiting for her.

I leave James and walk up to her smiling. “Let’s replace a table little sis.”

***

Natalia’s POV

When Eason is not being a jerk, he can be very nice I sit with him and his friends during lunch and it’snot as awkward as I thought. These people probably know I’m not a huge fan of them, so they didn’tforce me to join their conversations

Surprisingly, they are talking about college applications and job interns.

I thought their lives are all about pretty girls, fancy cars, and hookups. So it shocked me a little that theyactually care about their future.

EWU

But on the second thought, these guys are born with privileges. Their parents are probably graduatedfrom Ivy Leagues themselves, giving their children a much easier access to top universities.

It’d be lying to say that I’m not jealous at all. And it got me thinking Where am I going to go after this?Dad has ditched me. Mr. Ramirez would probably be willing to pay for my college tuition, but I can’t lethim.

When I was with Zack, I’ve always wanted to come to Boston and stay in the same city with him. So I’vebeen saving for my college fund, which is probably enough for a public school in Boston if I get ascholarship.

But now that I’ve broken up with the jerk, it’s probably better to replace another city and start fresh.Somewhere more economic than Boston. “What are you thinking?” Eason drags me back into reality.“Umm nothing.” I say vaguely and quickly collect my stuff. “I should probably get going. See you guyslater.”

I quickly stand up and leave the table. Eason says something to me on the back, but I didn’t payattention to him.

My mind is deep in the sudden rise of anxiety about my future.

I spend my entire afternoon classes thinking about it. I used to have a clear plan about my future. Abouteverything. But a series of incidents have completely changed my life. Now I have no plan, which is veryunlike me. Plus I’ve just gotten myself into another trouble-my weird relationship with Eason. What thefuck am I thinking?

My life is such a mess.

When the bell rings across the campus, I drag my steps to the front gate with a heavy heart. I didn’t evenrealize where I am going till I bump into someone.

“Alex!” I blurt out when I see the person I run into. “I’m sorry… I didn’t watch my steps.”

“Oh no you’re all good.” He stands in front me and flushes, fumbling with words. “Are you going home?Can I give you a ride?”

“No thanks. I can take the bus.”

It’s better to keep a distance with him after that ex-girlfriend incident. I was about to leave but he movesto stop me. There’s a clear nervous on his face.

“Natalia, I was meant to talk to you about the ball and everything. Can I drive you home and we can havesome time to”

His words are interrupted by a sharp horn. I snap my head around to replace a flashy Porsche parked infront of the school’s front gate.

U T

wenty-Two

The door opens and my mom gets out of the car. “Madam you can’t park here! This is the towing area.”our school guard rushes forward but she waves him off casually. “I’ll be quick. My daughter is right overthere.” Mom runs to me with everyone’s eyes on her.“ Hey Nat, you ready to go?…Oh my god is thisAlex?” I’m beyond shock. What the hell is she doing here? Alex smiles and greets her politely. “Nice tosee you again Mrs. Ramirez.” “So nice to see you too! Nat has told me so much about you after-youknow, the night. And thanks for taking care of her during ”

That’s when everything snapped back into my head. That’s right. I lied to her about whom I slept with onthe ball night!

And she’s going to slip out my lie right in front of Alex’s face!

I cut her off sharply. “What are you doing here mom?” “To pick you up for dinner. Didn’t Eason tell you?”“No!” My head is spinning so fast that it makes me sick. Ok, ok stay calm. The top priority is to get herout of here as quickly as possible.

“Well let’s go now. You can’t park there.” I say, talking fast.

“What’s the hurry? I’m supposed to pick up both you and Eason…oh here he comes!”

My heart drops down to an even deeper pitch. I turn around stiffly and replace Eason walking towards usfrom behind.

His face grows cold immediately when his gaze lands on Alex.

This can’t get any worse. Even the air is getting thinner around me.

I grab my mom’s purse and grit out. “Eason’s here. Let’s go now.” There’s still hope to salvage thesituation. I’ll just explain to Alex some other time. “Oh, darling don’t be so rude. We should invite yourboyfriend to dinner with us. I’d love to know more about him. What do you say Alex? Are you free fordinner tonight?”

Eason’s eyes grow wide immediately.

Alex opens his mouth in shock. And I’m so screwed.