Page 37 of Corrupt Obsession

“Get in the car.”

His voice trembled with rage. She hesitated before she loosened her hold on him. She felt a modicum of relief when he turned from Tucker’s prone form to follow her back to the car. She warily eyed his blank expression as she climbed in. He held the door open for her out of habit. She flinched, even though he didn’t slam the door. She almost wished he had.

As he stalked around to the driver's side, she turned in her seat and was relieved to see Tucker sitting up and clutching his head with both hands. She hoped he was okay. If she had her phone, she would have texted one of his friends to check on him, but it was in her backpack on the other side of Tucker’s Bronco. Considering what just happened, her backpack didn’t seem all that important at the moment. As Jesse got in, she faced forward.

“Did he force you?” Jesse spat as they left the parking lot.

Her head whipped toward him. “F-force?”

“Did you want him to touch you?” he clarified impatiently.

For a second, she considered lying before the telltale wetness between her legs and honesty made her confess, “Yes.”

Jesse didn’t say a word, but his temper filled the cab, making her heart skip erratically. She ran a shaking hand through her hair. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Don’t talk,” he said harshly. “Before I crash the car.”

Sick to her stomach, she looked out the window, and bit down on her lower lip until she tasted blood. Jesse thought Tucker was forcing her? His reaction was understandable if that’s what he believed, but she wished Jesse asked questions before he got physical with her boyfriend. She buried her face in her hands. This was all her fault. Anyone could have come by. It just so happened that it was Jesse who interrupted them. Everything happened so fast that her mind was still spinning.

They didn’t exchange a word the whole ride home. When Jesse pulled into their driveway, he braked hard enough to make her rock forward, so her seatbelt locked. She cast him a wide-eyed look he didn’t notice since he got out of the car and, this time, slammed the door behind him.

She sat there for a moment, unsure what to do. It wasn’t until he disappeared inside that she realized Dad could be home. The bolt of fear that struck her caused her to undo her seatbelt and sprint after Jesse.

She burst through the front door and took in the empty living room and kitchen before she raced down the hallway. She got a glimpse of Jesse in his bedroom as she made her way to the end of the hall. She was relieved to see her parent’s room was empty, and her father wasn’t sleeping after a long shift.

She made her way back to Jesse’s room, nervously plucking at her top as she stopped in the open doorway. He paced manically, a far cry from his controlled, athletic grace. She was ata complete loss on how to fix this, especially when she and Jesse weren’t on the best terms.

They’d grown apart this summer. Jesse attended sports camps, helped renovate the church and went dirt biking, hunting, and fishing while she spent her time with whoever she was dating and her friends. Mom and Dad had remarked on her suddenly full social calendar, but they’d been happy for her rather than disappointed. Little did they know, she was doing it to avoid Jesse and exhaust herself so she could sleep through his visits.

It had been a sound strategy, but it hadn’t had the desired effect. Her body still responded to Jesse despite the emotional distance and distractions she’d placed between them. The shame of being sexually attracted to her stepbrother caused her to give Tucker privileges she otherwise wouldn’t have if her hormones weren’t running amok.

She glanced at the clock. Mom would be home in an hour and a half. She had never been more grateful that Lynne helped with after school programs. She wasn’t sure when Dad would be home, but she would do anything to gain Jesse’s promise not to tell him what she’d done with Tucker.

Her father would lose his mind. Would he take matters into his own hands and go after Tucker with a gun for daring to touch her? When she decided to date Tobias, she went to Lynne first, who made good on her promise to handle Dad. Though it clearly pained him, Dad allowed her to date on one condition—that she wouldn’t allow any boy to pressure her to do anything she wasn’t comfortable with. That was Dad’s way of telling her she wasn’t allowed to have sex. She hadn’t gone all the way with Tucker, but that wouldn’t matter to Dad. Imagining his reaction made her sweat. The thrill of breaking the rules and treading into forbidden territory had long since faded. Now, all she could think of was the consequences.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

Jesse’s words, dripping with disgust, made her hang her head.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him feverishly rake his fingers through his hair.

“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, no one could have convinced me that you would let him touch you like that.”

A ripple of defiance stole through her. “Why not? He’s my boyfriend! I’mseventeen. Other girls...”

He pivoted to face her.

“You aren’t like other girls! You’re better than that.”

She swallowed hard and averted her gaze.

“Or I thought you were.”

The verbal blow stole her breath. Jesse had never been intentionally hurtful, but that stabbed her straight through the heart and momentarily distracted her from their parents’ impending arrival. Before she could think of a response, Jesse whirled and sank his fist into the wall. She gasped, hands over her mouth, as he retracted a hand now covered in not just Tucker’s blood but his own. She thought that would be the end of it, but when he pulled back his fist again, clearly about to pummel the wall to bits, she rushed forward. She hauled back on his arm, stopping the force of his punch so he merely cracked the wall instead of creating another gaping hole.

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