Authors: April Brookshire
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“All the freaky people make the beauty of the world.”
-Michael Franti
CALEB
Shit, my dad caught me making out with his stepdaughter. In my opinion, we were doing nothing wrong, but I understood he and Julie might not see things the same way. Hell, they definitely wouldn’t. From the look on my dad’s face, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, besides what a shock it was to find us like this.
My dad’s face turned
from shock to seriousness once he’d composed himself. “Caleb, in the study.
Now
.” Expecting immediate compliance, he turned around and marched into his study.
Staring down at her face as she nervously gazed back at me, I had one thought in my head
,
fuck ‘em
. Something new was happening here and if we couldn’t stop is ourselves there was nothing anyone else could do.
I g
ave Gianna a reassuring smile then pulled away from her to follow my dad. Shutting the door with a click, I stood defiantly instead of taking a seat. Having no need to defend myself, I waited for him to break the silence.
My dad began with, “Gianna i
s a good girl.”
“I know.
”
Maybe that wasn’t the response he’d expected. He didn’t say anything for a full minute.
“How serious are you about her?”
How serious? She meant a heck of a lot more to me than all the girls in my past combined.
“Very.” I could see Gianna and I being together for quite a while.
He obviously didn’t expect that answer either. He
’d practically cringed at my response. “You have to end it.”
“No.
”
My dad sighed.
“Caleb, if it was up to me, I’d leave the two of you alone. But Gianna isn’t my daughter. She’s Julie’s daughter and I know Julie wouldn’t like the two of you dating.”
I scoffed at that. “
Too late, we already are.”
“What am I supposed to do
about this? You’re my son and she’s my wife. I also care about Gianna and Chance and how they’re affected.”
“We aren’t doing anything wrong
.”
“But
if you hurt her. . . .” he trailed off.
“I won’t.”
“Does she plan on telling her mother?”
“Not yet,” I
told him. “We wanted to give ourselves time to adjust to the relationship ourselves.”
My dad gripped the arms of his chair. His agitation made me feel bad.
“Okay, I won’t say anything to Julie yet, but this can’t stay a secret forever. Her mom has a right to know. I have a feeling things may get bad when she does find out. We’ll just deal with it when the time comes.”
“Thanks
, dad.” My dad appeared surprised by my gratitude and a little pleased. We hadn’t been close since he and my mom divorced so maybe sharing this secret would be a good thing.
I
found Gianna in the living room and related the conversation I’d with my dad. She was relieved he’d stay quiet about it for now. They may be worried about Julie’s reaction, but I hardly knew the woman and she wasn’t my mother. For their sake, I’d let it be a secret for now, but not for long.
Later that night, when Julie and my dad
were downstairs watching a new Disney movie with Chance, Gianna and I were in her room. I sat at her desk as she stood behind me, looking over my shoulder. Following her instructions, I’d drawn a sketch of the tattoo she wanted. She seemed kind of shy about it and I almost had to force the details from her. It was cute. She had me draw a boom box with wings.
“Where are you
getting it?” I asked her.
“I’m not sure yet,” she said
, looking down at her clothed body. “Definitely somewhere my mom won’t see it.”
“All this hiding things from your mom is really getting on my nerves,” I mumble
d. “Maybe we should just lay it all out. She’s a big girl and she has to find out eventually.”
“You can’t do that!”
I narrowed my eyes at her. Was this about more than me being her stepbrother? Would her mom think I wasn’t good enough for her precious angel? We weren’t really related! Julie would have to be delusional to protest for that reason.
“Fine,” I said
. “What about school? Are we going to hide it there also?”
“I’ll let you decide.
I don’t care either way,” she conceded.
“Well, that makes me feel good, y
ou not caring either way.” I turned back to the sketch, touching it up.
She wrapped
her arms around my neck from behind and kissed me on the cheek. “I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t care because there’s no one there that’s important enough to me.”
“What about the misfits?” I asked, mostly forgiving her.
“The what?”
“Our new friends.
”
“Oh yeah, we’ll tell them
, of course, but I could care less what anyone else thinks.” When she nibbled on my ear she was completely forgiven.
“Now, about that cud
dling we discussed earlier,” I reminded her, making her giggle in my ear.
*****
As was our new habit, I drove Gianna to school the next morning. I’d decided she’d be coming to and from school with me from now on. Things would be unpleasant when I gave Desiree the brush off today and let Seth know to back the fuck off. Josh had better not try any shit either.
I
chose a spot far out in the parking lot. Before Gianna got out of the car, I grabbed her waist to pull her onto my lap. I’d miss her lips and wanted to get my fix before the faculty’s judging eyes killed the mood.
Breathless, she rested
her head on my shoulder. “I’d be okay with skipping today.”
“
Me too, but I think we should get this over with. Give a big
screw you
to anyone who has a problem with it.”
“You can give them a
screw you
attitude and I’ll give them a
leave me the hell alone
attitude,” she informed me.
“
You do that, little badass. Come on, I’ll walk you to first period”
Holding hands as we walked through the parking lot, we drew stares and whispers right away
. It was like being in a bad teen movie. Didn’t they have classes to get to? We passed by Seth and Josh where they were leaning against the back of Josh’s truck. Their dirty looks made my day. Perhaps Seth wasn’t such a nice guy after all, at least not when it came to me. My smart-ass grin didn’t help matters.
Gianna didn’t seem fazed by it all
. My girlfriend was so beautiful and brave. Walking past people, she acted as if we weren’t the focus of their attention and conversations. But then, our classmates had gossiped about Gianna in the past.
We
spotted Kara and the other misfits standing near the front doors. Kara greeted is with, “Hi,” then took in where our hands were joined and shouted, “Oh my god! I knew it! Didn’t I tell you guys?”
“How’
d you know?” Gianna asked Kara while I wondered if they’d taken bets.
“Duh!
By the way you two acted around each other,” Kara explained, clearly enjoying being right.
“
You don’t think it’s weird?” I asked her, not beating around the bush.
“Why would it be weird? It’s not
like you guys are blood-related.”
“Well, I think it’s sick!” a
high-pitch voice sneered from behind us.
Desiree
stood there, staring daggers at Gianna. I was about to give her a piece of my mind, but Gianna beat me to it. “Desiree, you’re just mad because you threw yourself at Caleb and he threw you back.”
The
crowd forming around us laughed, mocking Desiree. “You bitch!” Desiree shrieked.
Gianna ignored
her and turned to me. “Walk me to class, Caleb?” The sugar-sweet voice was a nice touch.
“Sure,” I replied
, pulling her close as we entered the building. Outside her class, teachers be damned, I went in for another kiss. Let everyone see, the sooner they got used to it, the better. “Bye, princess. See you next period.”
“Bye,” Gianna s
ighed, leaving me to go in and take her seat. I traveled to my first class with a big grin on my face.
After first period was over, I hoofed it to my second class which
I had with Gianna. She still hadn’t shown up yet when the final bell rang. Feeling that something wasn’t right, I grabbed my backpack and didn’t stop to let the teacher know where I was going. I stepped into the hallway calling her phone, but there was no answer. I didn’t even know where to begin to look. Maybe it was a girl emergency? If so, wouldn’t she at least text me to say she wasn’t coming to class?
I first
checked out the parking lot to see if she was by my car. No sign of her. Circling around the school, I was figuring out my next move when I heard from around the corner someone yelling.
“
You’re mine!”
I
ran around the corner and saw Josh holding onto Gianna’s upper arms as he shook her. Before I could reach them, he slammed her against the wall making her head bang hard against the brick.
“Hey!” I
growled.
Josh turned
his head to sneer at me. Releasing his hold on Gianna, she slumped to the ground. I rushed at Josh and slammed him against the wall. He punched me in my side, but I ignored it and grabbed his big head. I started banging his head against the brick until he was knocked out by the impact. As he fell to the ground, I kicked him in the stomach, putting all my strength behind it. He’d be waking up with a bitch of a headache and a gut ache to match.
I
bent over where Gianna was on the ground. Enraged and wanting to go back and stomp on Josh’s balls, I pushed it back so I could take care of my girl. Carefully, I picked her up and carried her to my car. She opened her eyes a crack as I buckled her in.
“
I guess we’re ditching after all,” she mumbled and passed out again. Grabbing a sweatshirt from the back of my car, I bunched it up and used it as a pillow for her.
I
didn’t want to take her to the house. I was pissed at everyone in her life: her mom, Josh, the kids at school. Getting on the freeway south, I headed for downtown and my mom’s apartment. At least there no one would bother us.
G
ianna woke up before we were out of Broomfield, but she didn’t have much to say. Knowing we both needed the quiet, I let her be. In the shade of the parking garage, I leaned my head against the steering wheel, trying to get control of my turbulent emotions.
Shaking off the need to go back and pull Josh out of whatever class he was in, I opened my door, going around to
her side to help her out. She was a little dizzy on her feet, so we moved with my arm around her waist.
Once in the apartment,
I stretched across the couch with my back to the armrest and her in front of me so her back leaned against my chest.
H
earing her finally cry, I was glad to hold her. “It’s gonna be okay, Gianna.”
She sniffled, her voice weak.
“No, it’s not. Everything is so messed up right now. Maybe we shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Yes, we should
.” Turning her around in my lap, I kissed her gently on the lips.
“What happened after I passed out?”
Playing with her hair, I filled her in. “I banged Josh’s head against the wall until he was knocked out.”
She gasped.
“Are you serious?”
“Ye
p, and I’m not done with him either.” It apparently hadn’t gotten through to Josh to stay the fuck away from Gianna, so I’d be bringing in reinforcements.
Her head dropped against my chest in a trusting move.
“I need to text Cece and Jared. I promised them I would let them know if Josh did anything else.”
I clench
ed my teeth to hold back a rude remark. She’d just been through a lot and she didn’t need to hear me complain about her friendship with Jared right now. It didn’t mean I couldn’t get things done on my terms.
I pull
ed my phone out of my pocket and said, “I’ll text Cece for you. You just lay back and rest. You may have a concussion so I’ll have to keep an eye on you for the next 24 hours.”
“Okay,” she
agreed and turned back around to fall against me. I didn’t have Jared’s cell number, but Cece would most definitely pass on the information.
Me:
Josh hurt Gianna again. I took care of it. She’s resting now.
About thirty seconds later my phone beeped
. Jeez, she must have had turbo fingers.