Page 5 of A**hole Stepbrother

“Not cool, man,” Sam said as he looked at me grumpily.

“Well, how do you plan on getting Tilly if she sees you talking to other girls?” I asked him with an innocent look that he tried to read into but failed.

“I suppose,” he said as he turned his attention to the girls as they walked away. “They would have been a pretty good consolation prize, though, you know? It’s always good to have choices,” Sam said, as though he’d got it down to a fine art of science that could be learned from.

“Right,” I said dryly as I realized that my dad had taken his place under the floral archway that had been placed on the raised stage. “I better go take my seat,” I said as I stood up and started to walk away from Sam.

“Tell Tilly I said hi,” Sam said as he grinned at me.

I didn’t say anything to him. I didn’t even give the impression to him that I’d heard what he’d said. I just walked off and took my seat, which was in the front row of chairs. I looked over at Tilly, who had appeared as if from nowhere and had sat a few seats down from me.

Sam was right. The dress, her hair—everything about her looked fantastic. I watched her intently for a moment and noticed her hands clutching at the small bag that sat on her lap. It looked lumpy, as though she had something hard and pointed in it, and I couldn’t help but chuckle when I realized that she’d brought a book with her.

I watched as her fingers subconsciously ran over the hidden escape she had made for herself and I think it was in that moment that I realized I loved her. She was everything to me. She was my Juliet, and for the first time in my life, I could understand why Romeo had been willing to make the ultimate sacrifice after finding her gone. She had been the light that had lit up his life and without her, he was facing nothing but an uncertain blackness.

The music started to play. and my eyes flickered quickly to the doors as Tilly’s mom walked out in a pretty white dress that came out at the hips. She looked happy and so did my father when I turned back to look at him. I was happy for them both. I’d been uncertain when she’d shown up out of the blue, but I could tell the marriage was for love, and that was okay with me. I couldn’t help but feel unease, though, as I watched them both recite their vows. It was the strangest of feelings, as though my brain was trying to tell me that my love for Tilly was pointless because nothing could ever happen between us, and that was because of the union I was watching. It was selfish, I knew that, but I also knew that a love like what I had for Tilly didn’t come around very often.

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Chapter 9

Tilly

The wedding was beautiful, and when the night started to take over from the warming sun, the trees seemed to shine with the light of a thousand stars. It was all magical and beautiful and warming. My mom was clearly in love, and although I would never agree with the way she had sprung our move on me, I didn’t resent the relationship, because it clearly made her happy.

I stopped a maid who was walking past me and smiled as I lifted a flute of champagne off the tray that she was holding with expert balance.

“Thanks,” I said, and she smiled warmly back at me.

“You know, you don’t have to thank the staff,” Sam said as he walked over in my direction.

I looked all around me to see whether I could escape before he reached me, but everywhere was blocked off with people and ridiculous ice sculptures. “Oh, hey, Sam,” I said as I tried to keep the distaste that his name caused me from rolling off of my tongue and into my tone.

“Well, don’t look too happy to see me,” Sam said with a look of mocked hurt on his face.

“Don’t you have some girls in short dresses to chase?” I asked him with a bored look that was a hell of a lot more real than the hurt on his face.

“Oh, you know, they don’t always have to be wearing a short dress.”

I could feel his sleazy eyes examining my body and I shifted so that he’d bring his attention back to my face. “Well, that’s great, Sam,” I said with false enthusiasm. “What do you want?” I asked him directly, because I couldn’t see any other way of getting out of this awkward exchange he was forcing on me.

I let my eyes scan the crowd again and I noticed James standing next to the bar. He was looking over in my direction, but I couldn’t be sure that he was actually looking at me. I secretly hoped for a moment that he might notice my discomfort and come over to take Sam away, but then he turned and seemed to order another drink without a second glance in my direction.

“I want to show you something,” Sam said as I turned my attention back to him.

“Well, I don’t want to see it,” I said shortly because I was starting to lose my patience with him.

“I think you do, though,” he said in an annoying sing-song voice that caught my attention a lot more than I would have liked to admit.

“And why is that?” I asked him as I stroked the copy of Wuthering Heights in my bag.

“Well, it’s just that I noticed you’re into books, and there’s a spot just a few minutes from here where a pretty famous poet used to write most of his stuff. I don’t know, it’s just something I thought you’d be interested in,” Sam said in an almost coy voice, as though he’d never broached the idea of leaving a party with a girl before.

“You swear that’s what you’re going to show me?” I asked Sam with narrowed eyes, because I refused to walk into anything else like one of the other stupid bimbos that he normally chased.

“Pinky promise.” He grinned as he held out his hand.

I nodded curtly and stood up. “Okay,” I said with an edge of warning to my voice. “But I swear to god, you better be telling me the truth.” I looked back over at the bar, but James had moved on and I didn’t have time to find him in the crowd.

I turned back to Sam, who had already started to walk away from me, and I quickly jogged to catch up. We walked in silence for some time, as though Sam knew that anything he had to say would only be met by further distain from me. We got to the edge of the woods before he stopped and turned back to look at me dead in the eye.

“I think you’re really going to love this,” he said with a grin that was stemming from more places than his sense of doing a good deed.

“I’m sure.”

We walked through the woods until he stopped by a gentle brook, and he gestured out at the scene that was in front of us. I couldn’t deny it was beautiful. The stream provided a break in the thick trees, and the silver moon was slithering in and filling the whole place with milky light. “It’s beautiful,” I said, as I fully understood how a person might spend t

ime there writing.

“I thought you’d like it,” Sam said as he took a step towards me and reached out his arm.

I froze as he wrapped it around my waist. I could feel the tips of his fingers digging into my hip, as though he wanted to make sure that I couldn’t wiggle free. “What are you doing?” I asked him as I stepped away quickly and forced his arm away from me.

“Don’t be such a prude,” Sam said with an almost cruel laugh.

“A prude?” I asked him. “Are you joking? I told you that I just wanted to see this place. You have some real problems, Sam,” I said, shaking my head.

He opened his mouth to speak, but I raised my hand up as though that had the ability to stop him, which it did. I gave the place one last longing glance, and then I turned and started to walk back out of the woods. I might have been stupid enough to follow him, but I certainly wasn’t stupid enough to let him put his greasy hands all over me.

I stumbled over a lose root and stopped as I tried to find my bearings. The milky moonlight had gone, though, and I couldn’t see anything as I tried to retrace my steps back to the wedding.

*******

Chapter 10

James

I’d watched Tilly walk into the woods with Sam and I hadn’t followed them. Why hadn’t I followed them? I should have followed them. I scanned the tree-line nervously as I waited for them both to show back up. I’d seen Sam talking to Tilly before they’d left, but I thought she was smart enough to turn him down. I hadn’t actually thought that she’d go into the woods with him.

I could feel the glass of scotch in my hands starting to slip as my palms became sweaty. I was worried. Not like when I skipped out on revision for a test or when I’d broken my dad’s favorite watch. This was real worry. It was worry that was taking a hold of my heart and gripping it with such force that it was struggling to beat.

I shouldn’t have left her to walk off with him. I should have gone over and stopped it. I should have offered to go with them. I’d just been too stunned. I’d been too taken aback by the fact that she’d walked out with him. I put the scotch down on a table and walked over to the place where I had seen them going in.

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