Stepbrother Bear - Complete (3 page)

CHAPTER NINE

That was enough. The final straw. It
had been hard enough getting this far, but now circumstances had changed. As I
stood from the table my eyes watching the entire room full of family and
friends, laughing it up, poking fun at me, that was when I realized that it
wasn’t worth fighting for. I didn’t care how funny it was. Just because it’s
your wedding day doesn’t mean you get to treat everyone else like shit.

“Whoa, where
are you going?” Aiden said grabbing my arm as I sulked by him. “The bathroom’s
that
way.”

I picked up
my glass from the table, and dumped the contents on his head.

This shocked
everyone. Their laughter was immediately cut short.

I ripped my
arm away from him and staggered back out towards the entrance. I pushed the
doors open and was hit was the crispness of the outside air trudging forth.

The sky was
orange and pink. The sun was going home for the night.

My high heels
scraped along the car park’s asphalt as I made my way to the car.

Heavy boots
hit the pavement, running behind me. Aiden, of course.

“Ugly,” he
called. “Come on, ugly, don’t be like that. I was just mucking around.”

I turned to
him, my whole body shaking. “I don’t know you anymore. You don’t know me. I
don’t know how you can just walk in here and start treating me like –”

“Look, I’m
sorry, ugly. Sorry about before as well. Your face is just so funny to me when
you get upset. I mean, you have to trust me, ugly, when I –”

“Stop calling
me ugly!”

Aiden gave a
short laugh, as though he wasn’t even aware of it. “Yeah, I know your real
name. Beautiful Bianca. But when I call you ugly, you make ugly seem not half
bad at all.”

My head
jerked back.

What was
this?

Another mind
game?

“Come
inside,” he urged me. “Be with your family. You can check my pockets if you
like.”

“Why would I
–?”

He unzipped
his jacket to reveal a black t-shirt with heavy chest muscles protruding behind
it. I thought I might like to dig my finger nails into them, so I could scratch
him. Hurt him like he hurt me. And I wondered why that might feel so good…

“You see? No
more fake mice. No more whoopee cushions. I’m done with the pranks. I see I
went too far.”

“I believed
you last time,” I said. “And since then you ruined my dress, and made everyone
laugh at me. How can I believe a word you say again?”

“Because I’m
your brother,” he grinned. “You know I would never
really
hurt you.”

His eyes
circled me. Sizing me up.

Waiting for
me to relent. Waiting for me to give in.

To let the
guard down. To trust.

And then like
a predator in the night, he would seize me up …

“Wait,” he
whispered. I realized he was looking behind me. “Just, wait…”

I peeled
round to see what he was staring at.

In the gaping
distances between the car park and the long driveway between here and the road,
there appeared to be two men on motorcycles approaching.

I looked back
to Aiden. He had frozen completely still.

As the bikes
came a bit closer, I saw his eyes widen with fear.

“Shit,” he
muttered.

Then he
grabbed a hold of my wrist.

“Let go,” I
screeched, pushing him away.

He grabbed
hold of me again, with a strength that could snap my body in two. “Follow me
now. I ain’t fucking with you.”

“Okay,” I
winced.

He pulled me
across to the other side of the car park where his bike was. He picked up the
helmet from the ground and fastened it to my head.

“I’m not
coming with you,” I gasped. “I have my own car.”

He
aggressively grabbed hold of me and placed me on the back of the bike.

The two men
on the bikes were now right next to us. I could see both were wearing green and
brown camouflage jackets consistent with the military.

One of them
pulled off his helmet and stared at us. He was young, about our age, with a
buzz cut and very clear face.

“Aiden,” he
said.

Aiden wasn’t
on the bike yet.

Just standing
beside it.

“I hope you
had a good day today, Aiden,” the man said.

“Get fucked,”
Aiden replied.

“But now it’s
time for you to come in. We need you, Aiden.”

“I said get
fucked.”

The man
laughed and turned to his helmeted sidekick behind him. After a nod of
recognition he turned back to Aiden.

“Come on,” he
said. “You don’t want it to go any further than this. You know you can’t win.
If you come in with us, then at least –”

“Get fucked!”
Aiden jumped on the front of the motorcycle and kicked the ignition.

The man
didn’t make a move, other than to shake his head.

And then, for
the tiniest of seconds, I saw a bright flash of green light in his eyes.

Before I
could have another thought about it, Aiden accelerated past them, launching us
out through the driveway at enormous speed.

CHAPTER TEN

My heart was racing out of my chest.
My fingernails digging into Aiden’s flesh, not quite the way I imagined, but
happening nevertheless. Did I want off the bike? Did I want out of this
journey? No, not really. Perhaps it was against better judgment, but I was kind
of thrilled by this chase. I knew of course that one misstep or agitated twitch
from Aiden could send the bike spinning handstands across the road, blowing
both of us into a bloody fireball. Forever dead. Forever gone from the world.
When your mind pictures that image and it doesn’t even seem like the worst
thing, you know your young life doesn’t really have that much to live for in
the first place…

“Are you okay
back there?” Aiden asked gruffly.

“I think so,”
I called back, watching cars sailing across the road to either side of us.

“Can you see
if they’re still following us?”

“You want me
to turn around?”

“If you can.”

I buried my
hands into his body further, and then slowly twisted my neck.

I couldn’t
see the bikes.

“They’re not
there,” I said. “As far as I can tell.”

“Good.”

Aiden peeled
us off the freeway and we took a turn down another broad road. To either side
of us, dark trees surrounded.

“Where are we
going?” I asked.

“Back to my
hideout.”

“Well, can
you drop me home first? I can show you how to get there.”

“You can go
home when it’s safe to.”

“Tonight,
right…?”

“Why? Afraid
of what might happen if you stayed over?”

“Huh? I …
What…”

“You don’t
have anything to be afraid of, ugly.”

Oh great.
Back to the name calling again. Jesus Christ.

Now I wish I
didn’t have touch to him like this.

Not that I
wished I was touching him in the first place. God – just what is wrong with me
at the moment –?

We took
another turn off this road with the trees and wound up in a busy suburban area.
We went through a number of roads and side streets before we came to his
‘hideout’ – a double story house secured by an electronic gate. We stopped at
the entrance and he fumbled at the bottom of the bike to produce a clicker to
open the gate. We both looked back as he did so, half expecting the two bikers
from before to show up, but it seemed they really were gone.

The bike
descended down the driveway and then Aiden closed off the gate again. We both
got off the bike and I removed the helmet by myself.

I handed it
to him.

“So are you
going to tell me what the hell just happened?” I demanded.

“Inside,”
Aiden replied.

I gave an
annoyed sigh and he turned to the staircase leading up to the front door of his
house. I followed him up there and he opened the front door to the place.

Inside we
passed a cloak hanger area and walked up an additional set of steps where Aiden
switched on the light. To my left I saw a large balcony bearing the moon
surfacing between the clouds, the shimmering waters of the distant ocean
reflecting up to the starry sky.

This room we
were in was furnished with a lounge and entertainment system on the balcony’s
side, and a kitchen to the right. Two additional staircases led down to other
areas of the house on opposite sides of the room.

“Sit over
there,” Aiden said indicating to the lounge suite.

I walked over
across the carpet and sat down, a little surprised by the expensiveness of
everything in here. I hadn’t even moved out of home yet.

“Do you like,
rent this place or…?”

“It belongs
to a friend,” Aiden said reaching into the bottom of the fridge. He came back
over with a bottle of premixed vodka in each of his hands. He tossed one to me.
“I didn’t shake it up this time. Promise.”

I eyed him
suspiciously.

Upon twisting
off the lid, I saw he was telling the truth this time.

I put the
bottle to my lips and drank.

“I have to
call someone up and find out how my location was compromised tonight. If they
knew where to find me at the wedding, they might know where we are now.”

“Who is
they?”

“The less you
know, the less danger you’re in,” Aiden said.

“Well, you
have to offer me some explanation. Or are you just going to be a dick about
that too?”

“We were
fucking having fun before, weren’t we?” Aiden grinned. “But this is a whole new
door you’ve just walked through. I need to get you out as soon as I can, but
only once I know we’re safe here. So … sit tight, if you can. I have to make my
call.”

He set his
unopened bottle to the floor and stood up. He went down one of the sets of
steps and disappeared behind a closed door.

I wiped my
forehead.

Put my hand
to my heart.

Still racing.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

A few more gulps of my drink, and I
was feeling light headed. My mind drifted away to what had happened back at the
wedding and how I had left it. Had I overreacted again? Would Lara and my
stepmom hate me for it? I didn’t know. I could always say I was just getting
some air after being humiliated, and Aiden made me come with him on his bike.
He
had
made me come after all. It wasn’t my choice to be here … was it?

I stood up
from my place and moved towards the stairs where Aiden had gone down. I could
see a light in coming from underneath the door in the middle of the passage. His
voice could also be heard. Muffled. I turned back to the lounge area and then
looked out the glass door to the balcony. Darkness was just about upon on us.

I thought
about Aiden. My feelings about him. Had I forgiven him? Was I over his abuse
already? I wasn’t sure. There did seem to be some good in him, for all the name
calling and childish pranks. I didn’t know why I cared so much about what he
thought about me. I guess I was after the validation he never gave me when we
were younger.

He’s just
toying with you
,
a voice cried inside me.
He doesn’t think you’re beautiful. He’s just saying
that to get under your skin.

And you’re
not beautiful anyway, are you?

“Shut up,” I
said out loud. I moved back to where I’d left my drink and picked it up.

Turning now
to the balcony, I was given the fright of my life as I saw the young man who
had led the chase against us, standing there, staring directly at me.

His green
eyes blazing.

“Aiden,” I
whispered. “Aiden!”

The man’s
friend, now helmetless appeared behind him. He had a less attractive, rounder
face.

The first man
pulled a black pistol from his pocket and tapped the glass with it.

“Let me in,”
he demanded.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

I was paralyzed. Completely terrified
and cold.

“AIDEN!” I
shouted from the top of my lungs.

The man
looked right at me, and shook his head. “You’re finished now.”

He pointed
the gun at the window and fired a bullet into it.

I dropped to
the floor and remained there as the glass shattered and he pushed through the
remaining fragments with his arms.

His companion
joined him as they entered the house, both walking slowly towards me.

The first man
stopped where I lay and pointed the gun at me.

“Where is
he?” he asked.

Before I
could answer, our attention was redirected to the stairs Aiden had gone down.
From the darkness, a pair of wide open, shimmering blue eyes moved slowly
through the darkness.

A low growl
came from the bottom of the creature’s throat.

“Oh my God!”
I shrieked. “What is that thing?”

The first man
turned to his companion. “I think he wants to fight.”

The companion
nodded.

He then,
inexplicably morphed into the body of a wolf, and charged directly at the
creature at the stairs.

I must be
dreaming. I’m hallucinating or something. He put something in my drink. This
isn’t real it can’t –

A giant bear
ripped up from the stairs swinging his arms out to fend off the attacking wolf.

The wolf
climbed on top of his lumbering mass and bit at his neck. The bear’s claws
grasped hold of him and threw him – so hard he flew over our heads and
shattered the window behind us, falling into the driveway outside.

The bear then
omitted a thunderous roar at the first man who had his gun trained on me.

“Come on,
Aiden,” he said. “Another step and I’ll blow her brains out.”

The bear
lowered his hands.

Then he
looked at me.

Those
blinking, familiar eyes.

With a surge
of resilience, I smashed my heels into the back of the gunman’s legs, causing
him to cry out in pain.

As he fell to
the floor next to me, the gun still firmly in his hand, I saw the dark
emergence of the bear’s wide body descending upon both of us, with a deafening
crash.

My body was
knocked right across the kitchen, and my head smashed into one of the
cupboards. It caused my eyes to immediately well up in pain.

I watched as
the man tried to sit up and the bear just kept hitting him. Over and over
again.

Once
satisfied, the bear picked him up by the throat and sent him flying out the
same broken window his friend had gone out.

I looked at
the bear, wincing in terror.

“Aiden,” I
tried calling. “Aiden where are you? Save me…”

The bear
looked at me, a disturbingly confused expression its face.

Then it back
away and descended towards the stairs to the front door.

After a
moment of silence, I heard the it open and shut.

I reached up
to the counter to pull myself up and then looked outside to where they had
fallen.