Stepbrother Bear - Complete

STEPBROTHER
BEAR

The Complete
Set

Rosette
Bolter

Also By
Rosette Bolter

Shared By
The Dragon Clan

Badass
Dragons

Worshiped By
The Bear Kings

Engaged To
The Vampire Twins

PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE

He was a bastard to me from day one.

Not just to
me, but to me especially. You could ask the members on my side of the family
that still remember him. Or the teachers from high school. At fifteen years old
he used to skulk around the hallways there with his shaved head and eyebrow
ring always getting him into trouble. Somewhere between being caught selling
dope to seventh graders and another student finding a loaded gun in his locker,
the school coordinator was pushing to have him expelled. Right back in her
face, he launched a sexual harassment suit, going as far as to claim the
teacher had tried to blow him in detention and said once he was eighteen he
should move in with her.

All bullshit.
All lies.

He got
expelled sure enough, but not without having that coordinator resign soon
after. My father was so annoyed he sent him away to military school to
straighten him out. That was almost five years ago, and I hadn’t seen him
since.

My
stepbrother.

My arch
nemesis, Aiden Phillips.

Why oh why,
am I even thinking about him today?

“You’ll never
guess who I got a call from last night,” my stepsister Lara said looking around
the table. “Are you ready for it…? Aiden.”

A bolt of
electricity struck the back of my throat.

“Aiden?
That’s your brother, isn’t it?” replied Lara’s best friend Madison Davis. “The
one who went to military school?”

“Uh-huh,”
Lara nodded. “I couldn’t believe it. No one’s heard from him in at least two
years.”

“How
strange,” remarked another friend, Rebecca Stirling. “What’s he been doing with
himself all this time?”

“He didn’t
say,” Lara said. “Actually he didn’t say much at all. But one thing he did ask
about – was you, Bianca.”

I sat upright
in my chair. I thought I hadn’t heard right. “Pardon me?”

“He asked if
you were coming to the wedding.”

The wedding.

Yes, it was
all about to happen.

Lara, who was
a couple of years older than me, had gotten engaged last year to an up and
coming executive at an advertising agency, by name of Ryan Decker. Since then
time seemed to have rollercoastered, and now we were already here, eating
breakfast at a restaurant, the morning before Lara and Ryan’s big day.

I shook my
head, that cold feeling in my throat refusing to go away. “What did you tell
him?”

“I told him
you were coming, duh,” Lara shot back. “Then he wanted to know if you were
married as well, or if you had a boyfriend –”

“What?” I
thundered loudly. “What’s his Goddamn problem?”

“Not sure,”
Lara said. “But I think he was just trying to find someone to go the wedding
with who he knew wouldn’t have a partner.”

My mouth
dropped in front of them.

A voice
popped into the back of my head:
Don’t say or do anything stupid.

“Don’t worry,
I told him to get bent for you,” Lara said.

“Phew,” I
sighed. “After all that crap we went through when he was around before … I’m
happy to never see him again.”

“He is coming
to the wedding though,” Lara confessed. “I couldn’t say no about that.”

“He’s
coming?” I stammered.

“What table
is he on?” Madison asked. “I thought we were all full up.”

“Yeah…” Lara
muttered cutting her toast. “Mom and Dad said they’re happy to sit outside
during the reception. They really wanted to be sure he would come.”

“But Mom and
Dad are sitting next to me!” I exclaimed.

“Not
anymore,” Lara grinned.

CHAPTER TWO

I wasn’t even thinking about Aiden
when the blue motorcycle roared into the wedding resort’s car park, leaving a
cloud of smoke behind it. This wasn’t my day. This wasn’t about me. When my stepmom
asked me what was wrong later that morning as we were getting changed into our
dresses, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her. After all, how selfish of me to
even be worried about this. And the thing was Aiden would be twenty years old
now, just like me. No longer a rebellious teenager, but a grown up and
responsible adult. He probably had his whole life together now. And he’d be mature
enough to treat me with the respect I always deserved.

The wedding
ceremony was to be held outside in roughly half an hour. Ryan and his two best
men had been here all day helping set up for the function. I was standing out
in the green grassed area just opposite where the ceremony would take place.
Family, friends, everyone was already out here with just a few stragglers
arriving about now.

Laura and her
bridesmaids were in the upstairs part of the resort, inside one of the bedrooms
where she and her new husband would be staying in overnight.

I guess we
were all feeling nervous. But it was a happy kind of nervous.

This was
interrupted by the rampaging motorcycle that nearly crashed into someone’s car
as it skidded to a halt. Every single person out on the grass area turned to
the adjacent car park to see who on earth had made such an entrance. Ushered
voices were asking, “Who is that?” “Does anyone know them?” “Is it someone who
works at the resort?”

Whoever they
were, they weren’t dressed for the wedding.

Head to toe
in dark leather, the motorcyclist stepped off his bike and stared at everyone
from behind the confines of his helmet. He then put his hands together and
started clapping for an unknown reason.

And then it
hit me…

Was it?

Could it?

He pulled off
the helmet and let it fall to the ground beside the bike. Underneath we could
now see the handsomely brazen face of the young man who occupied it. His eyes
lurched forth unrelenting towards the stunned party, and then he began to make
his way over.

“Oh my gosh!”
my stepmom cried out suddenly. “That’s Aiden! That’s my son!”

My whole body
went completely numb as my stepmom ran out to him, embraced him, kissed his
cheeks, and went back for another hug. I noticed there was no sign of Aiden
hugging her back.

“Give it a
rest,” I heard him say. “You’re embarrassing me.”

“Oh right,
sorry,” his mom went on. Then she turned to the rest of the group. “It is him!
It’s my son!”

Aiden walked
in front of her and stepped out towards the group.

His first
gaze was out towards the chapel where Ryan and the best men were, still staring
at him.

He then swung
round and gazed along the rest of the group.

Even though I
was staring right at him, his eyes never met mine at all.

“It’s great
to be here,” Aiden declared. “Sorry I’m not suited up like the rest of you.”

“Oh
nonsense,” my stepmother squealed behind him. “We’re just so glad you’re here.”

“Good,” Aiden
nodded. His eyes focused on our aunt and uncles. And then our grandparents.
“That’ll be the end of it then.”

What initially
seemed like an aloof statement from him, came with it a dire warning for anyone
who chose to criticize him. Proving though that he ultimately didn’t care what
anyone thought of him, he walked out through the middle of the chairs set up in
front of the chapel, and kept going past them ignoring Ryan and the best men.

He stopped
whereupon he reached the edge of the lake, and undid the fly of his pants.

Some
continued to watch while others turned in dismay.

Once he was
finished, he walked back again the same way, his face showing no sign of
emotion whatsoever.

Although Ryan
was near seething with anger (and a friendly hand was placed on his shoulder to
calm him down), nobody, not one person, dared to say a word.

CHAPTER
THREE

When Aiden first saw me, he burst out
laughing.

No, I don’t
mean when we first met as kids – I mean right here, at the wedding in front of
everybody.

Stupid me, I
thought there must’ve been a reason he was laughing. I put my hands to my forehead
expecting to find bird shit or something else I hadn’t realized was there, but
no.

My regular,
everyday face was cause for laughter enough.

“Is there …
something wrong with you?” I asked slowly.

He shook his
head, stifling the chuckles. Then walked over from where he was.

“Bianca, Bianca,
Bianca,” he chanted on his approach. “My little stepsister. You haven’t changed
a bit.”

“Oh. And you
find that funny.”

“That dress
you’re wearing,” he said, “looks like it belongs to Mom. You should have worn
something more revealing. So you could show off that body of yours.”

“Excuse me?”

He stood next
to me, and nodded to where the groom and best men had gone back to work. “I
knew you wouldn’t be with anyone. Your face has always been a pair of glasses
away from being called ‘dorkus-malorkus’.”

Oh Jesus.
Here he comes
with the nicknames again.

“But
seriously, one of these guys would take pity on you if you gave them enough
cleavage. And then you know, you can finally show all those people that hated
you that you’re finally happy.”

“What?” I
stammered. “Who hates me?”

He put his
arm around me. “I’m serious, which one do you want? I’ll chat him up for you.”

I pushed him
off of me just as my stepmom was walking over.

“Hey Bianca,”
she said. “Be nice. Your brother was trying to give you a hug.”

I looked back
to Aiden and his face was drooped at the ground like a sad puppy dog.

“He didn’t
even say hello,” I exclaimed.

“Just give
him a hug,” Mom insisted. “He’s your family.”

He looked up
at me, a small smile forming on his face.

He opened his
arms. “Come here, Bianca.”

Oh gawd…! I
can’t believe this is happening!

He pulled me
in with his broad, muscular arms, and I landed against the hardness of his
leather jacket.

“That’s it,”
Mom purred, walking away. “Everyone happy…”

“You’re a
dick, you know,” I whispered to him.

Then I felt
his hands moving down towards my backside.

He grabbed
hold of my left buttock and squeezed it. Twice. “Honk, honk.”

“Son of a
bitch,” I squealed, pushing him away.

“Whoa, settle
down,” Aiden said, laughing it off. “Just jokes.”

“You’re
crazy,” I said, shaking my head.

“You can’t
blame me though, right?” he shot back. “Someone’s gotta give that thing some
attention.”

As I pondered
my next rage induced comeback, Aiden blew me a kiss and muttered, “Sweet
dreams, sis.” Then he turned his back to me.

Perhaps that
was the part that hurt most of all.

CHAPTER FOUR

As we made our way to be seated
before the ceremony, I could still feel Aiden’s hands all over my backside.
They weren’t there of course. But the fact was that they’d left a rather large
impression on me. To be honest, I didn’t understand why he had done it. Was it
just a natural occurrence for him to wreak havoc wherever he went? I guess he
hadn’t changed at all then. At the same time, I couldn’t help but wonder why I
felt I was being the one singled out…

Our family
was sitting on the left side. Ryan’s on the right. Before selecting my seat I
waited for Aiden to go first to be sure he wouldn’t sit next me. As far as I
could tell, thankfully, he wasn’t even remotely interested in me anymore. He was
standing at the back of the chairs where most of the taller gentlemen were. He
was on the edge of it, leaning towards Ryan’s side to chat up some young female
relatives of his.

I looked away
from him, and quietly made my way along the edge of the seating. I sat down in
one of the middle rows next to one of Lara’s friends, a girl named Nicole
Gibson.

She leaned
over a moment later and squeezed my arm. “Isn’t this exciting?”

“I’m
excited,” I said trying not to blink.

“How was
breakfast this morning? Was she nervous? Freaking out? I know I would be.”

“I think
she’ll be okay,” I said. “Lara’s a strong woman.”

“Mmm,” Nicole
nodded. She looked over her shoulder a moment.

“So was that
your brother who rocked up on the motorcycle?”

“Lara’s brother
as well,” I muttered.

“Of course.”
A pause. “Did you see him take a piss in the lake? Pretty disgusting.”

“Yeah. He’s
always been like that.”

“And he isn’t
even dressed properly.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Do you know
if he’s single?”

I stared at
her, my eyes widening. “I haven’t seen him in years.”

“I saw him
talking to you before. I thought you guys were a couple for a moment,” Nicole
joked.

“Can we not
talk about Aiden right now?” I said, holding back my anger.

Nicole bit
her lower lip while she nodded. “Aiden,” she whispered. “His name is Aiden…”

Underneath my
chair, where no one else could see, I lowered my left hand, and curled it into
a fist.

Eyes ahead,
Bianca. You can do this. Think about how much you love Lara and how happy you
are for her. Forget about him. He is nothing. He is nothing. He is just so
nothing at –

“What’s that
you’ve got there?” boomed a deep voice from behind my chair. “Is it for me?”

Before I even
had a chance to turn around, his fingers were pushing into the middle of my
fist, breaking it open.

Upon seeing
it was Aiden who was crouched on the ground beside me, I slapped him violently
in the face.

He stared
back at me, his mouth open in shock.

Several
people in the rows in front of me turned their heads.

“I’m sorry,”
I murmured. “Sorry everyone. He just gave me a fright.”

“Way to
overreact, lol,” Nicole quipped.

“Mind if I
sit here?” Aiden said, getting into his place on the grass beside me.

“Yes,” I said
firmly. “Stand up or find a chair.”

“But the
grass is so comfortable,” Aiden said. “Like, you just have to sit on this
grass.”

“Hi,” Nicole
said, leaning over me. “I’m Nicole. Friend of Lara’s.”

“Oh, I didn’t
see you there,” Aiden remarked, sitting up a bit. “You’re hiding behind this
ugly thing on the chair here.”

I looked at
Nicole, my eyebrows raised.

“Just
kidding, sis,” Aiden said and then smacked me in the arm with his fist.

“Ouch,” I
said, reeling back.

“Too hard?”
he mused. “I owed you one anyway from the time you hit me.”

“Great…”

I turned away
a moment and he punched me again.

“What the
fuck was that for?” I hissed.

“Now you owe
me one,” Aiden said. “Come on, touch me.”

“Stop it, you
brat.”

“Oh, I’m
sorry, did I … hurt you?” he said climbing to his knees. “I think I can see
tears.”

I looked away
from him.

No tears. No
tears at all.

I’m not
crying over this…

“Seriously,
there are tears. Wow, that’s so gross. Can you see them, Nicole?”

Nicole
smiled, glad to finally have some attention. “Um… She does seem a little
teary.”

“Just let it
out,” Aiden whispered, putting his hand on my leg. “Be your ugly self.”

Nicole gave a
short giggle.

“Kindly
remove your hand,” I said.

Aiden took
his hand away. “Okay.”

My eyes moved
over him, and I wasn’t sure if I was blind with tears, anger, or poisonous
hate. “That’s
enough
.”

He nodded. “I
know.”

I then heard
Nicole gasp.

“Look,” she
said. “They’re coming.”