Forbidden: A bully romance (An Academy Twin Rivalry Series Book 2)

by Taylor Blaine

  About fifteen minutes into the scanning, I felt a presence at my shoulder. Whipping to the side, I stared at Chad who stood beside me. He wasn’t looking at me as he watched the laptop. Shaking his head, he furrowed his brow. “That’s messed up. Where is that from?”

  I shook my head in agreement. “It is messed up. I’m trying to figure out what is worth hiding on this video. Someone is trying to hide some of it.”

  Chad leaned forward, pointing in the general direction of the screen. “Do you really wonder why? Maybe they’re trying to hide all of it.”

  “Are you busy?” I glanced again at the empty café and then at him.

  He side-grinned, folding his arms as he shifted his gaze to mine. “Nah, man, I’m just trying to stay awake.”

  “Why don’t you pull up a seat and watch the right side of the screen. That’ll help me get through this faster. We’re looking for anything that might be illegal, considered scandalous, or out of the norm.” Not counting the orgy room, of course. But I’d already put that frame away. I didn’t want to see it and I didn’t want Chad to be distracted by the activity on that screen.

  He did as I suggested and pulled another stool over to sit beside me.

  I pushed the laptop between us so we both could see easier and we leaned forward, trying to see as clearly as we could on the seventeen-inch screen.

  In my frames, people walked around, holding drinks, laughing, talking. One girl walked up to a boy and dropped his pants, following suit to her knees where she gave him head right there in the hallway. His friends guffawed in silence since there was no sound.

  “Crap, do they really do that on the west side?” Chad breathed beside me. For a second, I thought he was talking about my screen until I glanced at his and blinked at the image of two guys surrounded by four girls in one of the bedrooms. All of them were missing their clothing.

  “It’s not as glamorous as you’d think. There’s something going on over there that isn’t right.” But what?

  The sex alone couldn’t be the problem. It looked like Donnie had no reason to hide any of the orgies or other sexual exploits running rampant at one of his parties.

  I knew the second Olivia showed up. There was a concerted shift in the way the party-goers acted. Their body language tightened, stiffening as if they were afraid of whatever germs Olivia carried.

  Was I watching an older version of Girls have Cooties? What a ridiculous thought and yet that’s exactly what it looked like.

  She entered the front hall and the way people looked at her before turning their backs sizzled with contempt. She moved as if she wasn’t aware, wiggling her fingers at Stephanie as they parted ways. I had a feeling, I needed to follow both girls. Something that happened to them had been what Donnie wanted deleted. But what?

  I already knew about Ryan raping Stephanie in the bedroom. I wasn’t sure of the details, but that had to have been something that was triggered before Olivia went upstairs which happened after or around the time I’d left. She’d said they weren’t at the house long after she’d found Stephanie.

  On the stairs, Stephanie climbed, smiling distractedly at the random girls she passed. Most of the guys would be downstairs drinking, smoking pot or whatever else they could find, or in the orgy area.

  Stephanie strode down the hall, stopping at a door and knocking as she looked around the hallway as if she’d been followed.

  Braddox opened the door, grabbing her arm and yanking her inside.

  I stared, flipping to the bedroom screen and scrolling backwards the few seconds before he’d opened the door. Both he and Donnie were inside the room. Where I’d thought it was a bedroom, it looked more like a play room with swings, harnesses, and other things.

  Braddox crossed to the door and opened it, yanking Stephanie inside. He pushed her against the wall and kissed her in a way that left me feeling dirty watching it.

  He pulled back. The way his head moved and the back of his jaw moved, he was saying something to her.

  Stephanie nodded, her eyes wide with fear and awe. She glanced behind him at Donnie as Braddox continued speaking. Her eyebrows knitted together and she shook her head.

  Braddox pulled back his arm, backhanding Stephanie hard enough she stumbled to the floor. Braddox pointed at Stephanie and looked at Donnie, saying something I couldn’t make out.

  Braddox stormed from the room and Donnie moved toward Stephanie, pure disgust twisting his features.

  Braddox’s longer hair matched mine moving over his shoulders.

  Was my twin a monster? He’d kissed Stephanie like she belonged to him. I’d never seen that kind of territorial ownership before.

  Donnie dragged Stephanie from the room, taking her down the hall to a different bedroom and tossing her inside. He said something and slammed the door. He didn’t lock it, but walked away with a purpose.

  Where were they going?

  I moved to the frames where Olivia was and rewound them to watch everything around her.

  “What are the old dudes doing?” Chad pointed at his bottom screen.

  I paused the videos on my side and watched as an older guy I didn’t recognize did things in the dark alley between the house and the bushes close to the fence.

  Zooming that screen out, we watched as individuals and groups made their way around the side of the house and then came back out with items in their pockets or hands. Were they dealing something harder than pot there? Obviously, something was going on.

  “Keep watching that. See if we have any more information.” I unpaused the video of Olivia and followed her through the dance room where she’d been blackballed, and then outside.

  Her outfit showed all of her assets and yet, she still looked virginal. No wonder Braddox wanted her so bad. She was like a cake with a secret middle. Delicious on the outside but sure to have more surprises inside.

  Visibly upset and more than a little lonely looking, Olivia made her way to the fencing. I couldn’t see against the house, where I would come from no matter what angle I looked at. Donnie and Braddox weren’t trying to hide my presence.

  That much was clear. I hadn’t seen me running into the pool house or even escaping. I ignored the scene as Braddox interacted with Olivia. I’d already seen it live and I wasn’t interested in the replay.

  Shuffling through the frames, I found the pool house view and ran it through the same time stamp.

  There I was, watching at the window. My clothes were obviously not of West Shore caliber. I wasn’t surprised anyone had actually been fooled into thinking I was Braddox. He was dressed in better clothes than me and carried himself like someone with money. I stood like I’d had to work for my confidence which I had.

  The on-camera me watched for a few minutes and then walked toward the back of the pool house where I left through the back door.

  I turned my attention back to Olivia and Braddox as they parted ways.

  Braddox went back into the party and ran into Ryan Beetham. He narrowed his eyes and took the guy’s drink from his unsteady fingers. Braddox pointed upstairs and bent his head close to Ryan’s ear. When they pulled apart, Ryan looked self-satisfied and he turned from Braddox with purpose in his eyes.

  “This is messed up. Hold up. The phone is ringing.” Chad rushed to the counter, his voice carrying to me as he answered. “Yep, you called me. Let’s just go with wrong number, dude. I don’t have time for a coffee order right now.” The phone clanged as he hung the ear piece back into the base. He joined me seconds later, waving his hand toward the counter. “People are annoying. No one needs coffee this early.” He shook his head as he leaned back into place.

  I blinked at him, then realized it was helpful having someone else watching with me. I didn’t trust myself to watch it alone and Chad was loyal to me because of something I’d done for his sister.

  “You were there and then you weren’t and now you’re back in there?” Chad pointed at the screen where the pool house view was still on screen.

  O
livia had gone inside and walked toward the bathroom.

  A guy rushed her from behind, tearing at her skirt and manhandling her against the door.

  I pressed pause as the face came into focus and I stared at the guy. Absolute hatred twisted his features but I’d know him anywhere.

  “Holy shit, man.” Chad murmured beside me, but his words weren’t for my screen.

  No. He was watching the room where Stephanie had been taken to. Ryan had made his way in there and the evidence that he’d raped Stephanie played right before my eyes.

  Braddox had set that in motion. Braddox had done a lot of things evidenced on the drive.

  I swallowed as I closed out the program and disconnected the USB drive. I turned to Chad and waited until he faced me, his gaze meeting mine. His features were pale and his eyes distraught.

  “Listen to me, I wasn’t here. Do you understand? You didn’t see that. Any of that. I’m going to go out the back. There’s a lot here that could get you in some serious trouble just for knowing I was here. Do you understand?” I waited for him to nod. I glanced at the curtains drawn over the majority of the windows in the front and I patted Chad’s shoulder. “Thanks.” Folding up the laptop, I tucked it against my side. Treading toward the back, I held my breath as I left via the employee entrance. The sun was still down enough people wouldn’t know to look for me there. It wasn’t my normal stomping grounds.

  Crenshaw’s was and that was burned down.

  I couldn’t go back to the apartments, even if the place hadn’t been released by the police. I didn’t want to see where my mom had died. I didn’t want to be reminded of my oppression.

  And I didn’t want to go back to Dad’s. Except…

  I had to go back to check on Olivia. I owed her an explanation for why I didn’t go to her the night before. It seemed like I was constantly letting her down.

  Maybe she wasn’t meant to be mine.

  Mine or not, I wasn’t going to let what I’d seen go unpunished.

  No, he had some shit to answer for and I was going to make sure he paid in the worst ways.

  Ryan had nothing on him.

  I started the long walk back to the O’Donnell house, sticking to the trees. Part of me just wanted to turn and run. I didn’t want anything to do with the people or the lifestyle I’d been thrust into. I almost preferred going back and living with the wreck that Norman was.

  One way or the other, I had to warn Olivia. She wasn’t safe and I couldn’t leave her in that situation.

  Chapter 23

  Olivia

  Stephanie got wasted. I’m not judging though. I helped her to her room after she finished a few of Trenton’s almost-empty bottles. I left a note on his desk that I owed him one.

  I didn’t necessarily want my new step-dad to know I was stealing his alcohol, but at the same time, I didn’t want him to think I was a liar on top of it.

  After securing Stephanie in her room and in bed, I wandered almost aimlessly toward my room, pausing outside the door.

  The sun would be coming up soon and I wasn’t sure where Jaxon was.

  I trailed my fingers over my door and then continued walking to Jaxon’s door. I knocked softly, glancing at Braddox’s door with a tremor of fear.

  Jaxon didn’t answer. My stomach clenched. What if he was inside and he was hurt?

  I knocked again, a little louder, nervous that Braddox was going to hear me out there. I was suddenly unreasonably afraid of him.

  What if he told Jaxon what happened? I wasn’t going to lie to Jaxon but a truth like that needed to be told in a delicate way. I didn’t want to just drop it on Jaxon out of the blue. I had to tell him what had happened leading up to it. I had to make him understand that I hadn’t known which one it was – actually, that wasn’t true. I’d thought it was Jaxon. In my mind and heart, I was making love to Jaxon.

  It hadn’t been my fault that Braddox had lied and twisted my reality.

  Cautiously, I dropped my hand to the doorknob and twisted it, pushing the door open and poking my head inside. “Jaxon?” I licked my lips.

  What would I do when I saw him? Would I tell him right then?

  No. I couldn’t. But then, if I couldn’t tell him the truth then what was I doing there?

  I glanced around his sparsely decorated room and ducked back out. I didn’t want to be in there without him. I didn’t want a lot of things without him.

  Braddox had taken the specialty of my first time with Jaxon away, but that didn’t mean he was going to get any of my other moments.

  Stephanie had handed me the paper after I’d changed into some clothes. I’d folded it up, tucking it in my jeans pocket before going downstairs to drink. I ran my hand over the denim. The pocket over my right butt cheek, grateful to hear the crinkle of paper beneath my hand.

  There was a lot wrapped up in that stupid piece of paper. I loathed it, even as it burned a hole in my jeans, as if I could feel it scorching my skin.

  I didn’t want to go back to my room. I just wanted answers.

  With the paper in one pocket and my phone in the other, I worked my way downstairs, finally coming to a stop in the kitchen.

  My lack of sleep was getting to me. That and the fact that I felt different but I couldn’t pinpoint why I felt that way. Maybe because I wasn’t a virgin anymore? I was fixated on that and not for the right reasons.

  Or maybe because I’d found out about a half-sister I’d known nothing about.

  Or maybe it was because when I tried getting the images of the time with Braddox out of my head, I was faced with the rest of the crap I’d seen and heard at Staci’s house.

  I couldn’t even think of it as mine anymore.

  Did I think about Staci differently now that I knew she was my sister? Or at the very least, a blood relative.

  Did she know about me? Was it possible that’s why she hated me?

  I couldn’t believe that Dad had a daughter. I was starting to think I didn’t want to call him Dad anymore, in all honesty.

  I didn’t want to face my emotions about the truth. His lies made me consider that maybe he wasn’t dead. Maybe he had another family somewhere else he’d disappeared to. One that wasn’t Hispanic in coloring. One that wasn’t slutty and manipulative. Hell, once you betrayed one woman and child, what stopped you from doing it to more?

  I settled into the cushioned seats at the kitchen counter, leaning my elbows and forearms on the counter.

  What was I going to do? What was the plan?

  First, I had to tell my mom. What good would it do, though?

  No. First, I needed to look and see if there was a wedding announcement or something in the news. There had to be a public record or something that I could look into. I had to be able to find something besides the blue paper Stephanie had handed me.

  For some reason, that didn’t feel solid enough to me. When I told my mom, it was going to devastate her. More than it had me. He’d only lied to me. He hadn’t cheated on me, stolen from me, and created a family behind my back.

  No. He’d done those things to my mom.

  Righteous anger welled inside me. I didn’t want to breathe because it hurt too much to let my body feel normal. Breathing was normal. Blood pumping through my body was normal. There was nothing normal about me anymore.

  Not now.

  The last twenty-four hours had destroyed all of that.

  I pulled out my phone. Swiping through Google, I typed in my dad’s name.

  Pages and pages showed up. Why hadn’t I ever done a search like that before?

  Dad in newspaper articles, interviews all over the world, announcements on businesses. I had to change my search keywords to include wedding and marriage and that’s when I hit the jaw-dropping truth.

  Maybe I’d been holding onto some misinformed possibility that I was wrong or that the birth certificate was a forgery. I don’t know! That was the problem. The truth was a lot to swallow and I couldn’t even imagine what the full truth really was.


  Part of me blamed my mom. Part of me blamed me. I couldn’t listen to the part of me that blamed my dad. I couldn’t. He wasn’t around to defend himself. He was dead. He wasn’t there and I couldn’t do anything to get the truth from him.

  I pulled up the wedding announcement from the same year Dad had married my mom.

  Not Dad. I couldn’t think of him that way anymore, or I would never be able to see the things for the way they really had been.

  Everything about my life had been a lie.

  The overhead light in the kitchen flipped on. I blinked, turning to meet the gaze of my mom as she stood in the doorway with a soft pink robe over black fuzzy slippers. “Olivia? Are you okay? What’s going on?” She’d braided her thick hair back from her face, similar to the way she’d taught me to keep mine at night.

  I hiccupped, trying to hold in the rush of emotions.

  If I told her. What would happen? She would be crushed. She would know how she’d been betrayed. She would never be the same again.

  If I didn’t tell her… She would be stuck in the stage of not-knowing.

  I swallowed and slid the paper across the counter toward her. I leaned on my hand, resting my cheek in my palm as I left my elbow on the counter.

  “What is this?” Mom moved slowly into the kitchen; her steps silent as she slid her slippers over the tiled flooring. She reached for the paper, carefully taking it in her fingers, pulling it painstakingly slowly toward her.

  I considered ripping it from her hands and running from the room. I really did. I didn’t want her to know. I could at least protect her from that much about Johnathan. But was that fair? Would I rather know the truth or would I rather continue on in ignorant bliss, if it was me?

  Truth. In all its ugliness was vastly preferable to the sickly-sweet darkness of being blind.

  I even lifted my hand, letting it hover in the air before dropping it back to my side. “Look at the name.”

  Mom glanced at me and then shifted her gaze to the paper. Her eyebrows knitted together as she studied the sheet I’d given her.

  “Anastasia Ann Stabler? What is this?” She scanned the information, slowly absorbing what was on the paper.