Stepbrother Trouble_A Taboo Stepbrother Romance

by Nicky Harmony

  “Sophie, stop behaving like a child,” Daniel sighed.

  “You think I’m behaving like a child?” Her voice was getting shrill. “Do you know what?”

  “What?” His hand reached over his face. Lucy watched as he squeezed the bridge of his nose between his fingers. He was stressed. Faint lines were pulling together on his forehead and Lucy felt guilty that she’d started the fight. She didn’t want to be the reason that he was tense. She didn’t want to be the reason that he wasn’t happy, even if that meant that he was with Sophie and not her.

  It wasn’t like they could ever be together anyway. It wasn’t like he’d even want to be with her after the court case. So, why was she pushing so hard on Sophie? What did she expect from Daniel? It wasn’t like he was going to stay single for the rest of his life. It wasn’t like there wasn’t going to be another Sophie, somewhere down the line.

  “You either get in that pool with me now,” Sophie’s tone was sharp and cold, “or I’m going.”

  “Then you should probably go,” Daniel said without hesitation.

  “What?” Sophie took a stunned step backwards. “What did you just say?” she demanded. “How can you tell me to leave? I’m the best damn thing that’s ever happened to you.”

  Daniel laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

  When they had been arguing she had looked like a spoiled toddler. Sophie didn’t look like that anymore. Instead, she looked like a beauty queen who had just broken her winning streak. Lucy could see it happening in her eyes. She could see the doubt creeping into Sophie’s eyes about her own self-worth.

  “If that isn’t true,” her bottom lip was trembling, even though her eyes showed no sign of tears, “then why did Josh contact me? Why did he beg me to get back together with you? Why would he do that if I wasn’t the most important girl in your life?”

  Daniel showed a slight flicker of confusion over Josh’s name being mentioned, but he hid most of it well. “I don’t know why my brother told you that, but I think it’s time that you go,” he told Sophie coldly.

  “You’re kicking me out?” She didn’t move. “You can’t do that. What about us? What about what we have together? You can’t end things like this. I won’t let you.”

  “You won’t let me?” Daniel shook his head softly. “You don’t really have a choice. Now, here’s something you do have a choice about. You can either walk out of that door yourself or I can call my guard to come and escort you out. Which would you prefer?”

  *******

  Chapter 16

  Friday morning had come, well before Lucy was ready to deal with it. She spent the night before counting down the hours and then minutes of sleep she could have before she would have to get up. When she realized that she had less than half an hour left, she gave up completely and went to take a shower.

  The court case didn’t start until early afternoon. That left Lucy sitting in the purgatory of the morning. The hours seemed to slow down when the sun came up. It was like time itself hadn’t started to torture her. She didn’t think that it could get any worse—that’s when the knocking started at her door.

  “What’s up?” she asked, taking in Daniel’s clearly angered state. She stepped back, so that he could come into the room. He walked in with the anger of ten men. His shoulders were pulled back, his breathing quick and sharp.

  “Please tell me that he’s lying,” he demanded.

  “What?” Lucy asked, confused. “Tell you that who is lying?”

  “Josh.” He was glaring at her. He’d come in demanding that she claim innocence, but he’d already judged her as guilty. That was clear. There was no room in his eyes for doubt.

  “I don’t understand.” Lucy shook her head. She wanted to back away from his glare. It was intense as it seared against her skin. She didn’t move, though. She barely even dared to breathe. She didn’t want to do anything that might make him think that she was guilty. She didn’t want to do anything that would intensify that look of betrayal in his eyes.

  “He told me about the Thai place.”

  It took Lucy a second to work out what he was talking about. There had been so much going on in her head already, without the addition of Daniel and his anger. “Oh.” Her eyes dropped down to his chest. “What did he tell you about the Thai place?”

  “He said that you both saw Sophie there with some other dude.”

  Lucy nodded. “Sure, I did see that.”

  “He also said that he wanted to tell me, but you told him not to.”

  “What?” Lucy could feel the color draining away from her face. “He told you what?” she repeated when Daniel did nothing but stare at her.

  “You heard me.”

  “That’s not what happened,” Lucy said quickly.

  “You just told me that it was.”

  “Sure, I saw Sophie there with another guy, but I wanted to tell you.”

  “If you wanted to tell me, then why didn’t you?” Daniel’s words hung in the air because Lucy didn’t have an answer for them. “Well?” he pushed her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I don’t know,” Lucy told him weakly. “I don’t know why I didn’t tell you. I just didn’t.”

  “You don’t know?” he mocked her. “You let me stay with a girl who was cheating on me. You forced my brother to keep it a secret from me. What kind of person does that?”

  “I didn’t force him to keep it a secret. He’d talked me into not telling you. He said it was for the best. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to see you getting hurt, but I figured that it was best that I stayed out of it.”

  Daniel laughed. “You thought it was best that you stayed out of it?” he copied her. “I needed you, Lucy. I needed you to tell me the truth, so that I wasn’t made a complete fool out of.”

  “I’m sorry.” She meant it. She meant every little syllable, but that didn’t change anything. How could it? When had the words “I’m sorry” ever actually made anything better?

  “You know, you can count me out today.” He brushed his hand through the air. “I don’t see why I should be there for you, when you weren’t there for me.” He walked over to the door. Lucy could feel her heart hammering against her chest. She couldn’t let him leave. She couldn’t let their conversation end on the note that it had.

  “Please come,” she said desperately. “I know that what I did was wrong. I know that I should have told you, but I need you today. I know that I’m being selfish, but I really need you. I wasn’t there for you and you’re angry. I get that. But, please, be there? I don’t know if I can do this without you.”

  Daniel shook his head. “Lucy, why do you even care? You’ve gone your whole life without me in it. You’ve spent years avoiding coming home. Don’t act like you care just because you’ve been forced back into the family.”

  “It’s not that,” Lucy said. She stopped herself from saying anything else.

  “Then what is it?” he asked her with frustration. It was obvious from the way that his weight was shifting between his feet that he wanted to leave.

  She wanted to tell him the truth. She wanted to tell him that it had nothing to do with him being family. She loved him. She’d known that from the moment that she’d seen Sophie’s arms wrapped around his waist. He made her a better person. He made things easier for her just by being around. He was the only person in the world that she’d entrusted with her secret. She trusted him.

  “You know what, it doesn’t even matter,” Daniel said when Lucy had failed to say anything. “I’m getting out of here.”

  Lucy opened her mouth. She wanted to call him back. She wanted to sort things between them, but she closed it again. She knew that there wasn’t anything she could do. She’d known since she’d asked Daniel to come to the courtroom that it would be her last day with him. She just hadn’t realized that he’d walk away from her before it even started.

  ********

  Chapter 17

  What was happening with Daniel did
n’t change anything. Lucy was still sitting in the courtroom. She was still being held as a witness to what had happened. The ceilings in the small courtroom were high. The empty space between them and the ground made everything that happened in between echo out. It made everything that was happening in it seem surreal. It made time go slower, as words refused to end.

  Lucy hadn’t seen Logan since the night that it had happened. She hadn’t wanted to see him. She still didn’t want to see him. The courts didn’t care about that, though. That was why he was sitting across the room from her. His blonde, perfectly brushed back hair, sparkling under the intense lighting. Lucy could feel herself frowning at him. She didn’t understand. She didn’t understand how someone could look so good but be so bad.

  The judge came out of a wooden door that was built into the back of the room. Silence fell. The sharp and sudden stop of conversation wasn’t reflected with the echoing. That went on until the judge had taken his seat. Lucy scanned the crowd. Daniel had meant what he had said. He wasn’t there. The guard at the back of the room locked the door when the judge tilted his head. It was too late. Daniel wouldn’t be able to get in, even if he changed his mind. Lucy was going to have to do this alone.

  The court started out slow. Lucy was surprised to find that the first two hours were filled without anyone other than the lawyers speaking. It reached midday before all of the official stuff was over and the questioning was about to start. Lucy watched as Logan took the stand. He looked confident, but it wasn’t an obvious kind of confidence. He was too smart for that. He knew that he’d have to convince everyone that a terrible accident had happened. Lucy could see it, though. She could see the way that he leaned back in his chair. She could see the steadiness of his breath.

  After Logan was questioned, the judge broke for lunch. Lucy was relieved to find that the doors were unlocked and she was allowed to leave the room. She knew that when she went back in, it would be her turn to take to the stand. She knew that the small recess for lunch was only prolonging the moment that she was dreading the most. It was prolonging it, though, and that was what mattered.

  There was a small garden running down the side of the court house. Lucy sat down on one of the benches and tried not to wrinkle her suit. The day was bright. So bright that it hurt her eyes, but the garden had enough overhanging bushes to provide some shade. She tried to look out at the sidewalk, but it was too bright to make out anything properly.

  She thought about what she was about to do. She knew what she had to do. She knew that, even without Daniel, she had to do the right thing. If Logan’s life was ruined, then it was ruined. That was his fault. He’d gotten himself into the situation he was in. If he was found guilty, then maybe that was for the best. Maybe that would stop him from going too far in the future.

  Lucy’s watch beeped and she stood up. It was time to go back. It was time for her to do what she needed to. The court room looked just the same, but it felt smaller when she walked back in. The high ceilings that carried echoes seemed closer to her. She tried to breathe, but the air felt stiff and heavy compared to what the outside world had to offer her.

  She forced herself to take her seat and waited. The judge reappeared from behind the wooden door and the room dropped silent again. The thud of the locks being turned told Lucy that it was time to start. The judge looked down at his papers and then down at her. “Lucy,” he nodded, so that she knew it was her time.

  The walk up to the stand was long. Lucy could feel every head in the room locked on to her. She sat down on the small, metal chair. It creaked under her weight. Maybe it was time that they replaced it. It didn’t seem safe to sit on. What if it broke while she was sitting on it? Could she sue the courts? Was that a thing? Who would take the case? It couldn’t be a court judge, because they would be biased.

  “Lucy,” Logan’s lawyer broke through her chair-related thoughts. “Is it true that you were there on the night of Miss Goodson’s death?”

  “Yes.” Lucy kept her eyes firmly on the lawyer. His hairline was receding. It made his forehead look abnormally large.

  “And what did you see that night?”

  “Well, we were all down at the beach.”

  “We were all?” he asked in an attempt to get her to be more specific.

  “Me and some friends. Logan was one of them and Miss Goodson was another.”

  “So, you went down to the beach,” he brought Lucy back to the story she was telling.

  “Yes, we went down to the beach. We were all drinking and having a laugh. It was all just standard stuff, really. Anyway, later on that night, we all thought it would be a good idea to go swimming.”

  “So, did you all get into the ocean?”

  “No.” Lucy shook her head. “It was just Logan and Miss Goodson, in the end. Most of us had drunk too much. We’re idiots sometimes, but we’re not totally stupid.”

  “So, Logan and Miss Goodson went out into the ocean together. What happened after that?”

  “Well, it was pretty dark…” Lucy faltered. This was it. This was the moment. This was when she had to pick left or right and stick with it. “They swam out pretty far, but I could still kind of see their shadows. They looked like they were just messing around in the water. You know, having fun?”

  “And then what happened?” the lawyer pushed her to get to the point.

  Lucy tore her eyes away from him. The room was all staring at her. Every eye she turned at was focused right in her direction. She could hardly breathe. She could feel Logan willing her to stick to his story. She didn’t look at him. She brought her eyes back to the lawyer. “It looked like he held her head under the water,” she told him quietly.

  “And when you say he, you mean?”

  “Logan.”

  “So, you’re saying that you saw him holding her head under the water?”

  “Yes. I saw him doing it. I thought at first that he was just messing around, but then time went on and he still wasn’t letting her up. I wanted to swim out and help, but I couldn’t. I was too drunk to.”

  “What about the other people you were with?” the lawyer asked her skeptically. “Why didn’t you alert one of them to what was happening? Maybe one of them would have been able to swim out and help?”

  “Maybe,” Lucy agreed. “I was drunk, though. I wasn’t thinking properly. If I’m honest, I couldn’t really believe what I was seeing.”

  The lawyer nodded. “I understand.” He looked over at Logan and then back to Lucy. “So, if you were that drunk, can you really be sure that you saw Logan pushing her head under the water?”

  “Yes.”

  “How can you be certain, though, when you were so drunk at the time that you could do nothing to help?”

  “Because, I’m sober now. Drinking might mess you up, but it doesn’t change your memory. I saw what I saw,” Lucy told him angrily. “He’s trying to make out that she died because of an accident, but it isn’t true. He killed her on purpose.”

  “Why would he do that?” the lawyer asked her calmly. “You were all friends, weren’t you?”

  “Yes, we were all friends, but that doesn’t change the fact that he did it.”

  Lucy looked back at the crowd. Did they believe her? Did they think that he did it on purpose or did they believe him? Her eyes drifted around the room, until they came to a dead stop. It couldn’t be. She blinked. Her brain was playing tricks on her—had to be. It could sense that she wasn’t coping, and it had shown her his image to try and calm her down. She opened her eyes. He was still there. It was Daniel. His eyes met hers and he smiled supportively. “You can do this,” she watched him mouth, before the lawyer dragged her attention back to what was happening.

  “I’m sorry, but I find it a little hard to believe that he would kill a girl for no good reason. I think it’s clear that what’s happening here is that we have a bitter ex, out with a grudge.”

  “A bitter ex with a grudge?” Lucy repeated back to him angrily. “Are you kidding me?�
�� she demanded. “That guy over there took a girl’s life. Whether it was an accident or on purpose, he did that. Look at him.” She turned to the jury. “Look at how he’s sitting. He doesn’t care about what he did. He doesn’t care that he took away a girl’s entire life. The only thing that he cares about is walking out of those doors at the end of the day. Does he deserve that? Does he deserve his freedom, his life, when he took away somebody else’s?”

  The crowd started to mumble around her. “I have no further questions, your honor,” the lawyer said weakly.

  ********

  Chapter 18

  Lucy felt good. She’d done the right thing. Logan had been locked up. He’d been given a life sentence. She wasn’t sure whether the jury believed her story, but they’d listened. They’d listened to her when she’d pointed out Logan’s sheer lack of caring. They’d listened to her and they’d reacted. She’d done all that she could to bring Goodson justice.

  Daniel was waiting outside for her. She felt her stomach turn when she saw him standing on the stairs. He was leaning against a pillar that was holding a roof over the front of the building. “Well,” he said when she was close enough to hear him, “that was quite a speech you gave in there.”

  “Do you hate me?” she asked him without even smiling at his compliment. “Do you think I’m a terrible person?”

  “Why would I think that you’re a terrible person?”

  “I watched a girl die and I did nothing,” Lucy told him without meeting his eyes. “Why would you want to have anything to do with me?”

  “You did everything you could.” He reached out. His hands took a hold of her shoulders and he forced her to look at him. “You got justice for that girl. There was nothing you could do that night. You were drunk. If you had tried to save her, you could have drowned. Maybe he would have hurt you too. You don’t know. It wasn’t your fault that it happened, though. It wasn’t your fault that you were drunk. You were just doing what people do. Logan is to blame for all of this. You need to remember that.”