Redeemed Complete: A Military Stepbrother Romance (8 page)

“Let her go.” The voice had darkened in tone, if that was even possible.. “Last time I warn you.”

“Oh yeah? And then what happens?” Steve sneered. Clearly he was not used to people trying to intimidate him. I’m guessing most of the time it was the other way around, and Steve usually got his way.
 

He definitely could be charming, as I’d found out, but now I saw that it had only been a facade - just barely underneath the surface, Steve was a manipulator who got his way through force. I didn’t know how such a terrible person could be wrapped up in such a nice package, but I didn’t have time to figure that out, I just needed to get away.

“You may not walk away from this,” the voice said, stepping forward. The low curtain of light illuminating his shoes on up as he moved closer to us. I felt Steve’s muscles tense against me as the man came into view, the light slowly revealing him.
 

The new man was strong, definitely in shape, and dressed like he’d come from a fancy party. The dark cut of his suit hugged his muscles and looked fashionable at the same time. He stopped just before the light would let us see his head.

“I said, let her go.”

“And I said, stay out of it. What part of that didn’t you understand, fella?” Steve’s voice was higher than before. He was definitely getting nervous. I wonder how often anyone in this town stood up to him. Judging by how he sounded, it wasn’t often, if ever. Maybe that’s why he liked staying in Summitville. Must be good to be the big fish in such a small pond; maybe it came with a lot of perks.
 

I wasn’t going to be one of them.

“I can’t do that.” He stepped forward and Steve and I saw who the new man was. I shrieked, unable to contain my surprise. “Even if you weren’t assaulting my sister.”

Shit. It was Harrison. My stepbrother.

“Harrison!” I called out, relieved to see him. “What’re you doing here?” I sputtered, unable to believe what was happening. Not only had this seemingly-nice guy turned on me and pushed things way too far way too quickly, but my evil stepbrother had shown up and was defending me?! Him of all people. I didn’t know what to think, much less what to say.

Harrison was shaking. I’d seen him angry before, but he was different now. Back then he would rage around the house and the town, and had gotten in trouble for fighting more often than I could count.
 

This new Harrison was trying to keep that inside. I looked at his hands, clenched tight together in fists, so tight I could see his skin turning white. His suit clung to his body like a vice, showing off every twist and movement of his muscles.
 

It was almost erotic.

“Sister, eh?” I felt Steve relax his grip. I took my chance and shoved him as hard as he could. Steve laughed as he easily absorbed the force of my attack and came in close. “Relax, princess, I’ll get to you in a minute.” My cheeks burned in shame that I couldn’t protect myself better against this loser.

Then he turned around and faced Harrison. I was free, but I couldn’t move. I had to see what happened next.

Harrison and Steve stood there, a few feet apart, under the low light of the parking lot. Snow started to fall, a light dusting to herald the oncoming holidays. Steve tried to look tough, puffing himself up, like some warped and twisted version of the All-American boy. Harrison stood across from him, outwardly calm except for the clear tension in his hands. I was shocked that Harrison was able to keep it together like this for so long. This was definitely not the same guy I lived with in high school.

That guy would have come out swinging and probably ended up in the back of a police car. I couldn’t hear any sirens this time.

“Laurel,” Harrison said, his voice measured. I could see the steam coming out of his mouth in the cold night, “Come over here and get behind me.” I started to move away, as much as I could, to the side so I could make my way toward Harrison, toward safety.

“She’s not going anywhere. Harrison, was it?” He stepped back a step, almost pushing into me. “I heard about you.” His words held a twinge of respect. “You used to be a real hellion around these parts, yeah? I heard stories.” He stepped forward toward Harrison. “Well, this is now. Stories don’t count for much around here anymore. Not unless you can back them up.” I couldn’t see his grin, but I could tell he was smiling. “So what’ll it be, tough guy? You just a story or are you a little more than that?”

Harrison smiled too and moved forward, so quickly I couldn’t even believe it. Closing the distance between him and Steve, Harrison took the first swing, right toward Steve’s stomach. The speed of his punch caught Steve off guard, and Steve doubled over in pain, giving me the perfect chance to get away and run around the circle the two gladiators had created.
 

I stopped just behind Harrison, wanting to get close to him, but staying away while he took care of Steve. Already I could feel some of the tension drain out of me, replaced by a new kind of fear - wanting to make sure Harrison was OK.

I shouldn’t have worried, though. Harrison was a trained soldier and had been getting in fights as long as I’d known him. Steve looked like he’d been in a scrape or two before, but I also got the impression Steve wasn’t used to someone fighting back.

Or making the first move, like Harrison enjoyed doing.

Harrison stood over Steve’s groaning body, in a stance that suggested he thought a counterattack was coming. He’d read the situation right; Steve came back swinging from his leaned over position, trying to catch Harrison square in the jaw with a blow that would have knocked him over like a video game character.

Harrison saw it coming and pushed it away easily, deflecting it away with some sort of martial arts move with his hands. He must have learned that in the military. I could see a smile on his face; he was almost laughing. That seemed much closer to the Harrison I knew from way back when. Maybe the calm and collected Harrison I’d heard about from our parents, and seen so far on this trip, was all a facade too, like Steve’s had been?

Maybe underneath the cool exterior Harrison was still a monster inside?

“You heard stories about me? Huh?” Harrison scoffed, kneeing Steve in the groin, causing him to keel over in renewed and obvious pain. Steve was in no shape to retaliate any further. As quickly as this fight had begun, it was over, and there was no disputing who’d won. I looked down at Steve - feeling nothing of the attraction and excitement I’d felt just a few minutes earlier.

Harrison bent down with his powerful legs, crouching over Steve’s hapless body as he slowly moved back and forth, breathing deeply and moaning softly. Harrison watched him, his eyes gleaming in the low light. He had the look of victory on his face.

Harrison whispered something, and I picked it up, just barely. “All the stories are true.”

He crouched there over Steve for a few more seconds before standing back up tall in a quick motion. He turned to me, adjusting his tie and smoothing out his suit. Despite the fight, he looked like he was barely breathing heavily. Harrison looked gorgeous, and not just because he’d gotten into a fight to defend me.
 

That he’d won the fight and still looked clean and sophisticated was amazing too. He pointed back toward the lights of the bar. “Let’s get out of here. Come on, Laurel.”

Harrison put his arm around me, and I clung to him like a life preserver. We left Steve lying there in the low light, and headed towards Harrison’s car. I didn’t even look back.

Chapter 06 - The Kissing

I thought we were going back into the bar, but Harrison had other ideas. “I’m taking you home, Laurel.” His voice brooked no discussion, and to be honest, I didn’t want to go back in there anyway, with the low lights and smell of cheap beer. Whatever enticement it had held just a few minutes earlier was gone now. My night was definitely over.

But Maggie was still inside, and by now she’d be expecting me back. “I have to tell Maggie I’m going home,” I remembered. Otherwise she would be worried; we’d already been gone a long time.

“Text her right now. I don’t want to let you out of my sight, and I don’t want you going back in there.” Harrison’s face was cloudy, like he didn’t want to talk about it. I nodded, staying silent. Neither of us were any mood to talk yet.

I pulled out my phone as we stood there in silence in the cold. Maggie would be worried, but I didn’t want to tell her exactly what had happened. I’d give her the full breakdown soon, but not right now. I texted her saying I was calling it a night early, going home and going right to bed.

Hope things went well with Steve
, came the quick reply.

I’ll tell you about it soon.
I didn’t want to say too much. Maggie would run out of the bar after me, and I didn’t really feel like explaining the whole thing right now.

Sounds good. Don’t worry about me, I’ll roll myself home just fine.

Great, sorry to bounce out on you like that, I’m just feeling really tired.

You’ve got a ride home? Not with Steve, I hope.

Harrison’s taking me.

Harrison came out tonight? Whoa. Alrighty then. Stay safe. Oh, and don’t forget the baby shower tomorrow!
Right. The baby shower. It had slipped my mind. Blergh. I couldn’t get out of it now.

I’ll be there,
I replied hastily. I still had to get her a present, too. Plenty of time for that tomorrow morning, assuming I didn’t sleep through the morning.

Harrison watched me, a question on his face. “It’s all taken care of,” I reassured him. “We can go now,” I added, just above a whisper.
 

“Maggie can get herself home?” He sounded concerned. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d heard Harrison sound like that. It felt nice, even if he wasn’t talking about me.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine. She’s gotten herself this far.” That was a loaded statement. Maggie was in the business of taking care of herself and the people she cared about.

“Let’s get you home, then. At least, out of the cold.” With that, he turned away and started off.

We kept walking through the slowly accumulating snow. As my adrenaline from the lead up and eventual confrontation with Steve faded away, I started to notice how cold I was, and I shivered despite my coat. This dress was not helping me stay warm at all. That’s what I get for dressing like a tramp.

I felt Harrison’s hand on the small of my back, guiding me toward his car. It felt reassuring and warm, and I liked how protective of me he was acting, even if I had no context or basis on which to understand it. This was totally unlike him.
 

Like, I understood that he was not the kind of person to stand idly by and let someone be attacked like I was, but this tenderness, however small and meager, was everything to me. It was a totally different side of my stepbrother, and I was still trying to piece it together, trying to integrate it into what I knew about him.

Everything was out of whack. I wasn’t myself, Harrison wasn’t himself. Nothing made any sense anymore.
 

“Where did you come from?” I still had no idea how Harrison happened to be there just when I needed him most. I wasn’t complaining, not at all, but I was curious. Was he following me?

Why?

He stayed silent, still pressing his hand against my back, still guiding me through the parking lot. I looked around as I shivered - the cold wind crept all over me, the snow landing on my hair and melting instantly. Not enough to leave too much on the ground yet, but if it picked up, we’d have to do some digging to get cars out in the morning.

After another minute we got to his car. It was the same one he drove in high school, but now it looked a whole lot better, like he’d been putting serious time into fixing it up. It looked clean and sleek and commanding. A big change from the last time I’d seen it, years ago.
Just like it’s owner,
I guessed. I remembered the car back in high school, and how often it had broken down. Harrison had always insisted he knew just the thing to fix it up.

Cars had always been the one thing that seemed to give Harrison peace. I’d figured out that he’d learned to work on them with his father when he was a kid, and to this day I remember him in high school working on that car. Nothing at the time had made him happier than to spend those days tuning things. Mostly with his shirt off, muscles ripping in the summer sun as he tinkered with the entire engine block. Nothing at the time had made me more turned on than watching him, though I tried not to let him catch me staring. I was mostly successful.

Not the right time to be thinking about that, Laurel, jeez. I couldn’t help myself, though, despite the other thoughts running through my head. When I saw that car, I thought of Harrison doing Harrison things. And I turned to jelly. I had no idea what he was talking about half the time when he talked about cars, but just seeing him so passionate and animated always had made me swoon.

The car held memories. Memories that I was scared of, but were inexplicably drawn to at the same time. Much like me and Harrison.

We stopped in front of the car. I turned to Harrison. I needed to get some information before I got inside with him, despite how much I wanted to go home and forget about what had happened with Steve.

“Were you following me?” I asked again, still not sure if I wanted the answer. Whatever the reason was, I was more thankful than ever that Harrison had been around.

He stared at me, as if through me, like I wasn’t there. No words, no sense of what he was thinking. Like the old Harrison again. I looked him up and down and to my surprise and horror, I could see him standing like he was a few minutes ago when facing off with Steve.
 

Outwardly calm, but I could see the tension in his hands, like he was holding himself back from unleashing all the anger inside him.

“Get in the car, Laurel,” his voice was soft, but suggested I should listen.

“I want answers, Harrison.”

“Get in the car, Laurel. I’m taking you home.” His voice was getting harder.

“Were you following me?”