In Love With My Evil Stepbrother
Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Sex Talk I wake up in his arms the next morning. The minute I open my eyes, memoriesfrom last night instantly come back to me. That’s it. I’ve slept with Eason, with my stepbrother. I carefullyturn around to look at him. He’s still sleeping soundly. No matter how much of a jerk he is by day, heseems so cute and peaceful right now. The summer sunshine pours in through curtains and onto hisbeautiful face, giving the whole room an amber glow. I study his perfect, straight, angular figure.Seriously, I can do this all day, staying in his arms and looking at his sleeping face…

Wait.

I jerk up a bit, scared by that fleeting thought just like I did yesterday. My movement disturbed him in hisslumber, as he murmurs something vaguely and turns around releasing me from his arms.

I fight back the temptation to crawl back to his cuddle and get out of bed quietly.

I turn on my phone and quickly text my mom, letting her know that I got caught up my“ urgent homework”so didn’t come back last night. Then I go into the kitchen and brew some coffee.

My mind drifts away while waiting for the coffee to get ready.

Well, before last night, I thought sleeping with him would help me get over with my obsession and moveon to the next phase. I only want him sexually. That’s it. Period. But last night didn’t do a good job killingmy wayward thoughts. Instead, it opens a door to something else.

My own inner voice starts playing in my ears.

… I love this so much… I love him…

I jump to my feet immediately, panic as hell. No, no way. That can’t be it. We barely know each otherright now. Plus, he’s such a manipulative, forceful, difficult, and overwhelming guy. Why would I fall inlove with him?

That’s just sex talk. My hormone talking. I take a deep breath and bury my flaming face into my palms.That’s right. No need to overthink this. I’ll just keep some distances with him after last night. “What areyou thinking?”

I’m startled and turn around to replace him walking out of the bedroom. He yawns and walks closer to me,hairs messy in an incredibly sexy way. No one can look this good in the morning, except him.

“What are you doing babe?” he asks in a hoarse and sleep voice. His arms come around my waist andhold me from the back. He rests his chin on my shoulder, gently rubbing his head

against my neck. The intimacy makes my heart leap. “Umm…nothing,” I say quickly, breaking free fromhim. “Coffee?” “Yeah, I can have some,” he leans on the counter. His eyes fix on me. A faint trace ofsmile lightens his face.

I avoid his gaze and quickly pour him a coffee. But when I hand him the mug, he doesn’t take it. Instead,he grabs me by my wrist and pulls me right into his firm chest. “Why don’t you look at me?” he asks whilenibbling on the side of my neck.

That’s so itchy. I giggle and try to avoid him. But he tightens his arms and holds me closer, lowering hishead to capture my lips. I almost drown myself in that kiss. The atmosphere is just right. The lazysummer morning, the freshly brewed coffee, the warm sunshine filling up the living room, the perfectboyfriend…everything is perfect. Except he isn’t actually my boyfriend. His hand comes up to my waistand caress my naked skin. His breathe becomes rougher. And I can feel him swell against me. But mymind suddenly clears up, like waking up from a dream too good to be true. And I quickly push him to theside and move further away from him. He is caught off guard. He staggers back and looks at me withparted lips and frowning brows, deeply confused.

“Nat?” he asks. “What’s the matter.”

I can’t look at him. If I do, I’ll lose all courage. So I doge his gaze and quickly walk towards the livingroom, grabbing my bag. “I think I should go,” I say. That enrages him. He strides across the room andgrabs my shoulder forcing me to face him. That gentle smile on his lips is gone. Anger flashes throughhis green eyes.

“What’s your fucking problem Natalia?” he grits out.

I cower under his furious gaze. I know what I am doing right now is horrible. But it’s the only way toremain clear-headed.

“I just need to get home…mom may get worried.”

“I’ll call her,” he snaps.

“No!” I say quickly. “You shouldn’t. That’s it. I’m leaving.” He narrows his eyes and studies my face. Justwhen I thought he was going to lose it and go completely mad, his hands suddenly drop to his sides. Hetakes a step back as a cold sneer comes over his face.

“Fine. Get lost,” he shrugs. “I should kick you out of here the moment I’m done fucking you. That’s whywe are together right? It’s only sex and nothing else.”

His words make my chest hurt. I take in a deep breath and look away, trying to blink back the tears in myeyes. “Yeah, that’s right,” I say.

He snorts and walks to the side picking up his phone. His voice becomes impatient. “Then why are youstill standing here? Valerie is meeting me here. You don’t want to bump into her.”

He’s probably just saying that to make me mad. But that works surprisingly well. As I flee his apartment,tears have run down my face.

I blew the whole thing. Things were going so nice and dreamy between us, and now all is gone.

But if I let myself hover over him, I’ll destroy myself in the end.

***

Ever since that night, I never hear from Eason again. No calls, no texts. I bump into him a few times inschool, but he just walks right pass me.

Valerie is back again, following him everywhere he goes. Whenever our eyes met, she would stare at mewith a smug look as if she has won some stupid contest.

As far as I know, Eason is just playing her the same way he played me. I think Valerie knows that as well,but she doesn’t care. That’s why she could stay by Eason’s side.

I hope I could have that kind of consciousness. But I can’t let myself go down that deep.

Fortunately, my life in school has finally become better. Eason invited me to sit with him once in the café,and that successfully got me off the target list. No one would deliberately pick on me anymore. They justgo back to ignoring me. But that’s all I ever need anyway. A boring yet peaceful senior. I spend so muchtime with Katherine, Alex, and Edie recently. The four of us basically become a group. Now that I havefinally caught up with schoolwork and managed to make some friends, my life is finally back to normalagain. I would think about that wild night with Eason from time to time. But other than that, we nevercross again. I can’t let myself to go down that road again and I think his pride forbids him to contact meanymore.

TWO WEEKS LATER

Ses

Days fly back quickly. When we are finally done with midterms, Katherine proposes us to all go on ashort vacation.

“Beach house?” I ask with a frown. We are in the café waiting in line to get our food. Alex and Eddie areright behind us. She seems very enthusiastic about it. “Yes, it’s my uncle’s beach house. Not far awayfrom here actually, just an hour drive away. We can leave after school on Friday and get back Sundaynight. Isn’t it nice? I’m so exhausted by the exams. We can use a little rest.”

I keep my mouth shut. To be honest, I’m not so crazy about that idea. My original plan for the weekend isjob hunting. Now that I’ve finally caught up with schoolwork, I can start saving for

my college fund again. I can’t keep spending the Ramirez’s money anymore. We all replace a table and sitdown. Alex knows about my job-hunting plan, so he keeps quiet. But Edie jumps right on boardimmediately. “Sounds great! I’m in.” Katherine turns to me and Alex, “What about you two?” I bite on mysandwich in silence. My hesitation is obvious. Her face drops immediately as she grabs my hand andbegs, “come on, we studied so hard for the past few days. Let’s go. You can’t let me and Edie go alone.”A regretful look flashes by Edie’s face but he quickly disguises it. He probably has a huge crush onKatherine. But she is way out of his league, so he doesn’t dare to make a move on her yet.

“Yeah, come with us,” Edie agrees. “It’d be our first trip together.”

I sign, “But Alex already got me an interview. It’s on Saturday.” 1 “I could talk to them and have thatrescheduled,” Alex shrugs. “It’s a job in local coffee shop. Not running for president.” Looking at theireager faces, I finally give in. “OK fine.” Katherine cheers clapping her hands together. “Awesome!! Fridaynight, beach house it is!” I can’t help but smile with her. Her enthusiasm is contagious. But suddenly thenext second, someone appears from Alex’s back and jumps into the conversation, “What beach house?”I look up and replace it’s James. My heart sinks a little. James is both friend with Alex and Eason, sosometimes he would sit with us during lunch. During random conversations, Eason’s name would pop upunavoidably, causing my heart to flutter every single time.

“You are all going to the beach house this week?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Katherine says briskly. “You wanna come?”

I wanted to stop her, but her invitation was already out. She’s probably just being nice, but I really don’twant to hear Eason’s name over and over again during the trip. Fortunately, James shakes his head witha regretful smile. “Oh I can’t. I already had plan. Well, you guys enjoy yourself.” After that, he picks up histray and leaves our table quickly walking away. Katherine pouts looking at his back. “Why is he in such ahurry?” “Kat,” I lower my voice. “Why did you tell him we are going to the beach house?”

“He already heard us talking about it. Plus, it’s not a secret anyway. Why? What’s the matter?” Sheseems confused. I bite my bottom lips and say nothing, trying to dislodge the stupid feeling ofuneasiness. Even if James knows, it doesn’t mean that he would tell Eason about it. It’s only myparanoia.