Crush (18 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

MIA

“Mmm…I see you’re well and truly awake.”

I leaned forward, trailing my hair over Brad’s hard chest as I straddled him, and my hips slowly moved back and forth, rubbing my lower lips over his hard cock. It was early in the morning, and to my delight, he had a serious case of morning glory.

He opened his eyes and gave me a weak half-smile. There was something in his eyes; something which told me his body might be willing and ready, but his mind was miles away.

I climbed off him. “Is something wrong?” I said, trailing my fingertips over his abs as I curled up next to him.

“Sorry,” he said. “I can’t really think straight right now. Fuck, I’ve never
not
wanted sex.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “You’ve had a lot going on.”

“Yeah. I still can’t believe what a fucking idiot I was. It’s been a week and I still keep thinking about it.”

“The thing with your Dad?” I asked, rubbing his right hand. It was still bruised from when he’d punched his father in the face.

“Don’t call him my Dad. He’s just Tobin, and he’s a fucking prick.”

“I know. It’s okay, he didn’t get away with it. You called the police, and he’s been arrested.”

“He still hasn’t told them how to get the money back, though,” he said, eyes darkening with anger. “Your Dad must hate me.”

“Of course he doesn’t hate you. It wasn’t your fault, and besides, he had insurance on all his accounts in case of theft. This was proven to be theft, so all that money is covered by insurance. He’s grateful to you for figuring out what happened.”

“I guess. I still feel like shit, though. Whether you want to admit it or not, it was my fault. I brought Tobin into our lives.” He sighed and then continued. “Mom keeps trying to call me, but I haven’t answered yet.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because I upset her by even believing him over her in the first place, and now this happened. If I talk to her about it, she’ll probably be even more upset. Fuck, I know I sound like a total pussy for avoiding her, but I don’t want to keep hurting her with all my shit.”

I sighed. “Brad, she’s just sad for you. I spoke to her the other day. She’s not mad at you or anything.”

He sat up. “You spoke to my Mom?”

“Yes. I didn’t go out of my way to call her. I called to talk to my Dad and she answered, so we chatted for a while. She said she was actually hoping she was wrong about Tobin all these years, and that you two could have a good relationship. Now she’s just sad for you; sad that she was right about him all along.”

“Right. I guess I better call her. I dunno though, I still feel like a total fuckwit.”

Brad had been moody and glum over the whole Tobin debacle for days now, and I honestly didn’t know what to say that might make him feel better. Anything I did say seemed pitifully inadequate. He’d honestly thought that Tobin could be a decent guy, and I knew he’d thought that forming a relationship with him might help make up for all the years he’d spent without a father figure.

I’d skipped four classes in the last week just so I could spend time with him, but I really needed to head back today. As if he were reading my mind, he grabbed my hand and spoke again.

“You need to go back to Overton today, huh?”

“Yeah. Not till later, though. Tamara’s coming to my dorm tonight so I can help her pick out which dress to wear to the Mardi Gras ball this weekend.”

“Oh, I forgot you had that on. Where are they having it?”

“At a hotel not far from campus. Ziva.”

“Need a date?” he asked with a wink.

My face fell. “Um…I don’t think that’s a good idea. Sorry. It’s just that everyone I know will be there, and they’re already all starting to suspect something. I’ve barely been around them for the last few weeks because I’m always driving up here in my spare time.”

“To be with me. You know I’d come visit you there, but…”

His voice trailed off, and I nodded and finished his sentence. “But Tamara or someone else might see you, and they already know you’re my stepbrother. So yeah.”

“I still wish I could come to the ball. I don’t want any other guys thinking you’re single and trying to put their greasy paws on you,” he said, grinning as he wrapped his arms around me.

“Oh? I thought I was single,” I teased.

“Did you?” he growled, pressing his lips to my neck as I giggled. “Well, I’ll have to do something about that…”

***

I left in the late afternoon when Brad finally had to go to work, and by the time I got back to college, it was already dark. Damn that two hour drive. As I parked my car, I gazed around the lot, searching for one of the security guards who were roaming campus all the time these days. I couldn’t spot one, but I could see that several of the lights in the parking lot had blown. My stomach flipped over with anxiety. The Overton attacker hadn’t struck in a few weeks now, but I was still worried. I didn’t want to walk all the way back to my dorm in the dark.

I stayed in my car and called Tamara. She picked up on the first ring. “Hey, where are you? I’m already outside your room, but I can’t find my spare key in my bag,” she said.

“Sorry, I’m just in the parking lot. Do you know the number for campus security? I forgot it, and I don’t want to be walking around here while it’s dark.”

“Hold on, I’ll grab it for you. It’s in my phone. Actually, never mind, I’ll just call them and get them to send someone to escort you back up here. You’re parked in the usual spot, right?”

“Yeah. Thanks, T,” I replied, sighing with relief.

Five minutes later, a burly man in a security uniform tapped on my window.

“Hey, there. You’re the girl who needs me to walk her back to her room?”

He had kindly blue eyes, and I grabbed my purse and smiled at him before getting out. “Yes, thanks. Sorry, I feel so silly. It’s only a five minute walk.”

He shook his head. “Don’t feel bad. Can’t be too careful these days. Got anything you need to be carried to your room?” he said, motioning towards the backseat of my car.

“Oh, yes please,” I said, opening the door and pulling out the overnight bag I’d taken to Hattiesburg. “That’d be great. Thanks.”

“No worries,” he said hoisting up my bag. “Which dorm are you in?”

I told him, and we took off in the direction of my building. I shivered in the cool night air, and I rubbed my hands together in an attempt to keep them from freezing off. The guard noticed, and he smiled down at me. “Cold, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“And dark. Very dark. It’s a shame they haven’t gotten around to fixing these broken lights. You’d think it’d be a top priority, what with that crazy bastard running around attacking girls.”

“Uhh…yeah,” I said, forcing a smile at him.

He’d seemed nice at first, but he was walking very closely to me now, and it was starting to creep me out a tad. It was a little too close for my comfort.

“Makes me wonder if they’ll ever catch him,” he continued. “He’s obviously a smart guy, considering how long he’s gotten away with it.”

He was even closer to me now, and my heart raced as adrenaline pumped through my body. It almost sounded as if the guard was praising the campus rapist for being ‘smart’ enough to keep getting away with it. But surely it was just a figure of speech. No one would praise a guy like that unless they were….

No. I was being overly-paranoid. He was just a security guard who was trying to make conversation with me, and he was probably just a bit socially awkward. He wasn’t the rapist, and he wasn’t going to attack me.

Finally, we reached the door to my dorm, and Tamara grinned as she saw us. “There you are!”

“Thanks for walking me up,” I said to the guard.

He smiled down at me and winked. “No worries. You girls stay safe.”

With that, he took off, and Tamara raised an eyebrow. “He was kinda hot! He totally winked at you too. I think he was flirting with you!”

“I doubt it,” I said, sliding my key into the lock. “The whole way over here, he was talking about the campus rapist and how dark and cold it is outside…it kinda creeped me out.”

“Wow. Guys really don’t know how to flirt these days,” she said, breezing into my dorm. “Anyway, these are the options.”

She laid out three dresses on my bed. One was red, one was black, and the third was white.

“Hm….I think the white one might make it look like you’re planning on getting married at the ball,” I said, fingering the stiff fabric.

She grinned. “Maybe I can surprise Ben. By the way, did you find a date yet? I was going to try and set you up with someone, but after the Jeremy incident, I think I’ve lost my touch.”

“I’m just going by myself,” I said.

She pouted. “Aww. It’d be good if you had someone to hang around and dance with all night. Anyway, what are you wearing?”

I pulled the lilac dress Brad had bought me for Christmas out of my closet. “This,” I said, holding it up to my body.

She gasped. “Oh, wow! That’s awesome! Where’d you get it?”

“Um...it was a Christmas gift.”

“From who? Karen? I doubt your Dad’s taste is that good.”

“Actually, it was from Brad. He saw me looking at it when we went Christmas shopping for the family together, so he got it for me.”

She narrowed her eyes slightly. “Brad, huh? That’s a pricey gift to be buying his stepsister…”

I forced a smile. “He’s been working overtime, so he bought everyone nice gifts.”

“Uh-huh. So is that who you’ve been spending all your time with lately? Stepbrother dearest?” she said, arching an eyebrow.

“Um…no. I’ve been going back to McComb to see Dad and Karen. There’s been a lot going on in the family,” I said, feeling terrible as the lies tumbled out of my mouth.

I was getting so sick of hiding my relationship from everyone I cared about. Sometimes it felt like my secret was about to burst out into the open, but I’d always stop myself from blurting it out at the last second and squash it all back down. What was worse was that I was actually getting quite good at lying. Tamara used to be able to see straight through me, but these days she seemed to be buying everything I said. Being good at lying wasn’t a trait I’d ever wished to have.

“Right. Anyway, I’ll try on the red dress first,” she said. “Tell me what you think!”

Honestly, right now all I could think about was what an awful person I was turning into with all my secrets and lies. Something had to change soon.

Brad and I needed to come clean.

I knew he’d be okay with me confiding in my best friend, so I suppose there was no better person to start with than Tamara.

“T? I need to tell you something,” I said, my voice hesitant.

She glanced over at me. “What is it?”

“I’ve been keeping something from you. It’s pretty bad, and I’m sorry. I just wasn’t sure how to tell you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. I already knew you were keeping something from me, but I figured that it must be a pretty big deal if you weren’t telling me.”

“Yeah…it kinda is,” I replied, glancing down at the floor so she couldn’t see just how guilty I looked in this moment.

Her eyes filled with concern. “Okay. Are you sure you’re ready to talk about it?”

This time I didn’t hesitate.

“Yes.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

BRAD

“No.”

I waved away my frat buddy, who was dangling a lit joint in front of my face.

“You sure?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’m good.”

“All right. Have another beer instead,” he said, reaching over to the drinks table and throwing me a can.

“Thanks, man.”

It was my fourth beer for the night, and it was only seven P.M. I was getting absolutely blasted at the frat house to try and forget all the shit that had been going on recently. I’d spoken to Mom and Michael in the last couple of days, and thankfully they’d been pretty understanding about the whole thing with my father…but that wasn’t my only concern.

Right now, Mia was arriving at a ball with all her college friends. Without me. I knew why I couldn’t be there, but that didn’t take the sting away. She had no idea how hot she was, and that hotel ballroom was gonna be crawling with guys, all trying to get a piece of her seeing as she’d shown up without a date on her arm.

I knew she’d never cheat. That wasn’t my worry. What I was worried about was sleazy douchebags hitting on her and potentially hurting her. I’d seen firsthand what some guys could be like around women they were interested in, and I knew that a lot of guys had a problem with women saying no to them.

I knew that because when I first met Mia, I’d become one of those guys, as much as I hated the memory of it. Within five minutes of meeting her, I’d refused to take her ‘no’ for an answer, and while she’d handled it fairly well and told me to shove it, I had no idea if other guys would handle her rejection so well. Some dudes could get pretty violent when they were drunk, and Mia was pretty small.

I knew I was probably just worrying about nothing, hence the drinking. I was just being paranoid, and a few beers would help me relax and quit stressing about it. Mia would be fine.

I didn’t want her to miss out on a good time, so I’d left my phone on the table a few feet from me
—
close enough so that I’d hear it ringing if she called, but far away enough so that I wouldn’t be tempted to text her every hour and make sure she was okay.

I lasted one more piss-warm beer before checking my phone. No calls or messages. Bored with the conversation going on around me, I mindlessly scrolled through Instagram, and I sat up straight when I saw that Mia had uploaded some photos. She was wearing the dress I’d bought her for Christmas, and she was standing with her arm around Tamara and another guy who looked familiar. He must’ve been Tamara’s boyfriend; I thought I might have seen him arriving with her to the Halloween party last October.

In the background, I saw another familiar face. That smarmy prick Jeremy. Great, so he was at the ball. No doubt he’d be trying to get his claws into Mia again.

“Hey, handsome, what are you doing on your phone? Stop being so antisocial!”

I glanced up to see Rose, staring down at me with her hands on her hips. She was wearing a short, tight white bandage dress which she probably thought made her look sexy. Honestly, it just made her look like a bastardized version of an Egyptian mummy.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, rolling my eyes before returning my gaze to my phone screen.

“Everyone’s here, silly. So are you ever gonna tell me why you keep pushing me away, Brad?”

“Nope. I’ve already told you. I’m just not interested in you anymore.”

Jesus, how much clearer could I make it?

“Carter told me you have a new girlfriend. Someone called Mia? But that can’t be true…otherwise she’d be here. Right?” she said, arching an eyebrow.

“Christ, Rose, how many times do I have to tell you? It’s none of your business. My life isn’t your concern anymore.”

She pouted. “Don’t be like that. Look, let’s just try to be friends. We know all the same people, and we’re all going to be stuck at USM for a while longer, so why not?”

Fuck, if it’d get her off my back, then sure…why not? Anything was worth a shot to get her to quit bugging me.

Unfortunately, while it got her off my back, it also got her into my lap. The second I nodded and said ‘fine’ just to shut her up, she jumped into my lap, giggling like a schoolgirl.

“If we’re gonna be friends, you have to hug me!” she said.

“No, I don’t. Get the hell off me,” I replied.

I tried shoving her away, but she held on like a fucking squid. An overly-perfumed, overly-made up squid.

“I will, but only once you take a party selfie with me,” she simpered, false eyelashes fluttering. “That’s what besties do.”

“Shit, fine, if that’s what it takes to get you off me. Hurry up.”

She grabbed my phone out of my hand before I could stop her and then turned the front-facing camera on. “Say cheese!”

I glared at the camera and didn’t say anything, and just as it clicked, Rose planted her hand right on my crotch.

“That’s it, get the fuck off me!” I said, pushing her harder.

She giggled and jumped up, and I glared at her. “Give my phone back, Rose. Fuck, it’s like dealing with a four-year-old.”

“Hold on…I’m just forwarding the picture to myself so I can put it on Facebook and Instagram,” she said, deftly tapping on the touch screen of my phone.

“No, don’t do that…ugh, for fuck’s sake.” By the time I’d finished telling her not to bother, she’d already handed my phone back. I slipped into my pocket to make sure she couldn’t grab at it again, and she smiled.

“Bye,
friend
!” she said.

With that, she vanished into the crowd of drunken frat boys and sorority girls, and I rolled my eyes again. At least she was gone. I just hoped to God she was so drunk that she forgot to upload that selfie to Facebook or whatever other apps she used. The last thing I needed was anyone seeing it and thinking we were back together…and they’d definitely think that, judging by the fact she’d grabbed my crotch just as the camera flashed.

Manipulative bitch.

Glancing around, I noticed that Carter wasn’t around. He should’ve been home by now. Usually he was the life of the party with hordes of sorority girls surrounding him. Taking my phone out of my pocket, I decided to text him, and as soon as I got into my messages, I noticed that the last-sent text had a time stamp of 7:15. Tonight. What the hell? It was only twenty past seven now…goddammit, Rose must have texted someone when she had her grubby mitts on my phone.

My heart sank when I saw who the message had been sent to. Mia.

My stomach filled with dread as I opened up the message and confirmed my suspicions. Rose had sent the selfie she’d taken of herself on my lap to Mia, with a message underneath which read ‘
This is what happens when you leave your man alone all night’.

God-fucking-dammit. As if it wasn’t bad enough that Mia and I had dealt with Amanda trying to split us up, now we were dealing with Rose as well.

Seething, I dialed Mia’s number, and she didn’t pick up. Three calls later, she still hadn’t answered. Her phone was probably in her purse, and the music at the ball was likely too loud for her to hear.

Fuck it. I wanted to go and see her before she saw that message, so I could explain to her what it was really about before she got the wrong idea. Unfortunately, I’d had five beers now. Or was it six? Shit. Either way, I was in no position to drive up to Overton.

Seemingly on cue, Carter showed up, and I pulled him aside. “Hey, man, are you sober?” I asked.

“Yeah, my group study session ran late,” he replied. “But fuck, do I need a drink after all that.”

“I know this is a huge favor, but I’ve had too much to drive. Could you take me to the Ziva Hotel in Overton?”

His forehead wrinkled. “What? That’s almost two hours away.”

I nodded impatiently. “I know, I know, but it’s kind of an emergency. I need to see Mia.”

His eyes crinkled up around the side. “Mia, huh? All right. But only for you, man. And you’re paying for gas.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rose watching me as we left, a triumphant gleam in her pale green eyes. Bitch. She wasn’t going to get away with this shit. If she actually thought Mia and I would break up over this and I’d go running back to her, then she had another thing coming.

Carter slid his key into the ignition, and we headed onto the main road out of town. “So what’s this big emergency?” he asked, giving me an inquisitive side-eyed glance.

“Rose went through my phone and texted Mia some shit. It looks pretty bad, so I wanna find her at this ball she’s at before she sees it.”

“What time does the ball end?”

I shrugged. “Dunno. Midnight, maybe? I’m hoping she doesn’t check her phone in between now and then.”

“Right.” He was silent for a moment and then spoke again. “Brad, I’ve gotta ask – is Mia your stepsister?”

My body froze, and I kept my gaze on the road. “Huh?” I said, trying to buy time to think of an excuse.

“You were acting kinda weird and avoidant the other day when I asked her name. Made me wonder. So I looked on your Facebook, and I found Mia in your friends list. Mia as in the girl you’ve been seeing. Her last name is Williams. And I know your Mom married Michael Williams, so…”

Shit. He knew. I was actually surprised he hadn’t figured it out sooner, to be honest.

“Look, I know it’s none of my business,” he continued. “I shouldn’t have pried. But your girlfriend and your sister are one and the same, right?”

“Stepsister,” I corrected him.

“Right, stepsister. But am I right?”

“Yeah. Who else knows?”

“No one. Jeez, man, how bad do you think I am?” he replied. “You’re a good dude. I’m not going to blow up your spot. Hey, it’s not even that bad. I know I was joking about it a while back and saying how fucked up it’d be, but honestly, it’s okay. She’s not a blood relative. So who cares?”

“Our parents,” I said. “They’ll care.”

“Maybe. Or maybe not. Either way, you’ve gotta tell them. Otherwise it’ll come out some other way, and that’ll make things more difficult for you guys.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “We’re gonna tell them soon.”

He nodded, and we lapsed into silence. I was glad he agreed that it wasn’t
that
screwed up that Mia and I were together. It wasn’t like we were actually related, and we were consenting adults when we met. We hadn’t grown up with each other or anything creepy like that.

So why did it still feel so wrong?