Biker Stepbrother

by St. James, Rossi

  “You’ve been framed,” she said. I didn’t want to believe it, but hearing the words said aloud reinforced the reality of the situation. She curled up next to me, wrapping my arm around her shoulder the way she did when she was just a little girl. “We’ve got to get you out of this.”

  I leaned down and cupped her face with my hand, staring hard into her deep, brown eyes. “There is no ‘we’. You have nothing to do with this. I can handle my own mess.”

  She shook her head, her bottom lip beginning to pout out. “Gray, you protected me when we were younger. You looked out for me. It’s my turn to repay the favor.”

  I shook my head. “Can’t allow that. I can’t let you get tangled up in all this.”

  She leaned her head against my chest, pressing her ear against my heart as it loped like a runaway horse. Being with Everly felt like home, and I hadn’t felt that way in a long time.

  “Let’s not talk about me anymore,” I said. “Tell me about you. You happy, Everly?”

  Her body tensed and her arms gripped me like a vise before she drew in a long breath and let go of me. She situated her body against a pillow and stared up at the popcorn celling.

  “I’m miserable, Gray,” she said with defeat in her voice. “If we’re being honest.”

  Her finger innocently trailed down the cleavage of her chest until her hand came to a rest on her flat belly. She turned to me, her face a vision of a bittersweet kind of toughness.

  “Someone hurt you?”

  “No,” she sighed. “Not really. You ever feel stuck, Gray? Like you’re just treading water and you’ve got nothing and no one to hold onto?”

  “I know the feeling well.”

  She turned on her side, resting her head on her elbow. The warmth of her hand found mine again. “You were always my life preserver. Ever since our lives took different paths, I haven’t had anyone else there like you. Nobody to turn to when the water got too rough.”

  “What about your mom?”

  She shot me a look. We both knew Tammy-Dawn Conners only really gave a shit about one person and that was herself. “What about her?”

  Everly rolled back over, staring up at the ceiling and pulling her hand off mine.

  “She married some rich bastard. She’s officially a Stepford Wife now,” she said with an eye roll. “As long as Sterling is happy, that’s all that matters.”

  “The last ten years pretty hard for you?”

  “Not by most people’s standards, no. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. Please don’t think I’m a snob. I’m not.”

  “I know you’re not.”

  “I mean, I spent my teenage years in a mansion in Brentwood. I attended the best schools. Sterling paid for my Pepperdine degree with his pocket change. My first car was a Range Rover.”

  “But…?”

  “My future isn’t mine. That’s the problem.”

  I shook my head. “Your future is yours.”

  “There are expectations about what I’m supposed to do next,” she said, treading carefully with her words. “I don’t want to bore you with the details.”

  I studied her lips as she spoke, two full rosebuds belonging to one of the most beautiful women I’d ever laid eyes on.

  “God, I’ve missed you.” I tensed my body, forcing myself to restrict the bizarre urge I had to claim her mouth. A decade had passed, and my urge to love and protect her with every fiber of my being had never left. And this time we were two adults, two passing ships in the night, searching for a safe place to drop our anchors.

  My good intentions betrayed me, and my hand found the side of her face as my body inched closer to hers. I breathed her in; flowers, money, trepidation. Before I had a chance to change my mind, my thumb traced the soft bud of her bottom lip and I leaned in to taste her.

  FOUR – EVERLY

  “You’re late.” Holden stood up from the table at La Blanca where I met him for lunch on Monday. He pulled back his sleeve, revealing a boldfaced diamond encrusted Rolex, and frowned. “I’ve been here twenty-three minutes, Eve.”

  “Sorry,” I gushed, eyes averted. I ran my hands over the back of my thighs to smooth my dress as I took a seat across from him. I glanced up quickly enough to see his jaw tense and release. Holden was a stereotypical Type A control freak. He hated when I was late, and I was almost always late. L.A. traffic was unpredictable, and it took time to primp and preen enough to meet his impossibly perfectionistic beauty standards.

  “You look lovely.” Just like that, Holden flipped a switch. His hand crossed the table and rested on top of mine the exact same way Gray’s did the night before when we were laying in his hotel bed. I swallowed the lump in my dry throat and fought off the confusing thoughts that had flooded my mind in the twelve hours that had passed since Gray kissed me.

  My eyes lifted to meet his gaze. In the golden, midday sun, Holden flashed a million dollar smile. He was truly happy to see me, only I couldn’t say the same. My stomach rolled, and I questioned how I was going to be able to eat that day when all I could think about was that kiss.

  In all my life, I’d never been kissed the way Gray kissed me. Hard. Passionate. Animalistic. And though I kissed him back, I stopped it from going any further. It was the right thing to do as hard as it was.

  “Eve,” Holden said, his tone stern. “I said you looked lovely.”

  “Y-yes,” I stammered, trying to force my mind into the present moment. “Thank you. So do you.”

  His face returned to a smile as he slipped a pair of thick-framed, Warby-Parker glasses over his perfectly straight nose and perused the lunch menu. “Hm. I think the pesto salmon salad sounds good. Eve, what are you going to order?”

  I hadn’t even touched the menu. “I’m not that hungry. Maybe a cup of the soup du jour?” I reached for the still water in front of my napkin and quenched my parched throat.

  “What’s gotten into you?” Holden put the menu down. “You’re acting different today.”

  Funny he noticed for once. Holden usually had his nose buried in his phone, and when it wasn’t there, it was buried far up Sterling’s pale, wrinkled ass.

  “I’m fine,” I lied. “I have a job interview next week, just thinking about that.”

  Sterling offered me a job at his company right after graduation, but I refused it. I’d studied graphic design, and had my eye on a few large design houses. I wanted to get ahead on my own merit. I never wanted to feel like I owed him my livelihood when I already felt as if I owed him so much.

  “You’ll be fine, dear,” he said.

  I inwardly cringed. I hated when he called me dear. We weren’t some fifty-year-old married couple. We were just a couple of fresh-out-of-college kids living in the lap of luxury in the year 2015.

  “Remember, don’t make any plans for tomorrow night,” he said with a twinkle in his blue eye as he tried to stifle an excited smile. “I’m throwing a small party at Café Su for our friends and family.”

  My heart sunk. He’d been talking about this party for months, saying it was just a small gathering just for fun. No reason behind it. I wasn’t stupid. I knew exactly what he was planning. I’d accidentally stumbled upon the red Cartier box in his dresser drawer when I was searching for a pair of cashmere socks to borrow one night when my feet were cold.

  I’d cocked the box open, greeted with the biggest, most fiery cushion-cut diamond I’d ever seen. It was even bigger than my mom’s. Sterling had to have paid for it. Holden made bank, but he couldn’t afford a ring of that caliber, and if he could, he’d have spent the money on himself anyway.

  “Aren’t you excited?” Holden asked, slightly bouncing in his seat like a child on Christmas Eve. He raked a manicured hand through his sandy blond hair, gently brushing it into place.

  “It’s just a party,” I said with a shrug, pretending like I didn’t know a damn thing.

  ***

  “You look stunning!” my mom showed herself into my room and shut the door the next night as I prepped fo
r Holden’s party.

  I stood in front of a full-length mirror in a pale pink chiffon dress that hugged my curves and hit just above my knees.

  Chanel perfume filled the space between us as my mom stood in a custom Armani pantsuit. She placed her hands on my bare shoulders and stood behind me. Our eyes met in our mirrored reflections. “Are you excited for tonight?”

  She was going. Sterling was going. Holden’s parents were going and his siblings too. Even Skylar was going.

  I never did get a chance to talk to Skylar about anything the other night, but even if I had, I’m sure she would’ve told me I was just scared. She loved Holden. Then again, she never saw the side of him I saw. He was a professional at manipulating everyone else’s perception of him, which was how he got me to fall so hard for him in the first place. It was also the reason Sterling was borderline obsessed with him.

  Holden was wonderful to me once upon a time. He made me feel safe and loved. He promised me the world as long as I stayed by his side. Though his words sometimes felt hollow against his shallow gestures. Lavish gifts and vacations didn’t fill the deep, gaping void inside me the way my mom assured me they would.

  “I don’t love him, Mom.”

  My mother’s face fell and then tightened. “Sure you do.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t marry him.”

  Her lips pursed as her hands gripped my shoulders tight. “You can and you will.”

  My eyes burned with hot tears, and it took all the strength I had not to break down any further. I lifted a tissue to my eyes in an attempt not to ruin the makeup job I’d spent an hour perfecting.

  “Don’t ruin this for us, Eve,” she said, squeezing my shoulders so tight I thought for sure I’d have bruises the next day.

  “I don’t understand how me marrying Holden has anything to do with you and Sterling.”

  “It has everything to do with me and Sterling,” she said.

  “Care to elaborate?” I crossed my arms.

  “This is what Sterling wants. He’s done so much for us. For you especially,” she said. “Holden’s a nice boy. He’ll give you a good life and this will make him very happy. You’ll never have to want for a thing, Eve. And you know Holden’s like a son to Sterling.”

  I hated how she never stood up to Sterling. I’d witnessed too many times how he’d kindly ask her to do something and she’d willingly oblige with a smile and a kiss, like a trained puppy, even if it was something I knew she didn’t want to do. And believe me, I knew. Our bedrooms shared walls.

  “Holden can still be in Sterling’s life even if I’m not with him,” I objected.

  Mom’s eyes squinted, as if she were about to reveal some top-secret information. “Sterling and I have been talking. I know he’s not legally your adoptive father, but he thinks of you as a daughter. If you marry Holden, he’s going to leave everything to you and me when he dies, and he wants Holden to take over the company.”

  Sterling wasn’t a fool. When he married Mom, he made her sign an iron-clad prenup, leaving her with very little. She needed to secure her future, especially since he had a quarter century’s worth of years on her, and I was the golden ticket.

  “So that’s what this is about?! His legacy? Your security? What about my life?” The voice leaving my throat was not mine. It was high-pitched and nearly shrieking.

  “Keep your voice down.” My mom grabbed my arm, yanking it the way she used to when I was young and I’d ask a question she didn’t feel like answering.

  “I can’t say yes, Mom.”

  She released my arm and threw her hands in the air. “This isn’t up for debate.”

  I could go all night with her, round after round and point for point. There were a million reasons why I couldn’t marry Holden, and not all of them had to do with him. I was young. I didn’t know what I wanted. I wasn’t in a rush to get married or lock down a future for myself.

  And then there was the fact that Gray had just returned to my life. I wanted to get to know him again. I wanted to spend time with him, and there was no way on God’s green earth that Holden would be cool with that. He had no idea about my childhood. Mom told me to lock those years up in a tight box with a key and throw the key away. As far as she was concerned, that lifetime was dead and buried, like it’d never happened at all.

  “The car’s here,” Mom said as she lingered in my doorway. “Let’s go. You’re going to be late.”

  Thirty minutes later, I walked into Café Su behind Mom and Sterling, entering a reserved party room with tea light candles and an overabundance of pricey white flower arrangements covering the tables. The eyes of at least fifty guests were upon me, watching my every move as if they knew what was about to go down.

  “There she is.” A hand on the small of my back turned my attention towards Holden, who looked undeniably dashing in his gray suit and skinny navy tie. His hair was combed and slicked with brill cream, with nary a strand out of place. His mouth widened into a pretty boy smile as he leaned in and kissed me. “Looking stunning as usual.”

  “Thanks,” I said, forcing an appreciative smile as he ushered me to our seats. He pulled my chair out, the picture of a perfect gentleman. I scanned the room for Skylar. If I could find her in time and run off with her, I just needed five minutes of her time. Five minutes to spill my guts to her and get everything off my chest.

  “I think everyone’s here,” Sterling said to Holden, nudging his shoulder and flashing a wink.

  I wanted to throw up. Small, quick breaths left my mouth as the walls began to close in.

  It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.

  “Can I get you anything to drink?” a server asked.

  “Yes. Please. Amaretto and diet,” I said. “Double please.”

  I brushed my pale hair off my shoulder as my neck began to permeate with a nervous heat. My eyes danced around the room as echoes of dozens of conversations filled the air. Everyone was smiling. Laughing. Drinking. Watching me.

  Against my better judgment, I looked over at my mom. She threw me a look and then smiled before anyone had a chance to notice.

  I just have to get through tonight, then I can figure this out.

  I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. The image of Gray came to my mind, almost bringing a smile to my lips. I wondered what he was doing and if he was thinking about me too, about that kiss.

  My fingers found my lips, tracing over the soft pillows Gray had claimed two nights earlier. I’d let him. I wanted it just as bad as he did, I just didn’t know how to reconcile those feelings at the time. Relief washed over me the second his lips found mine that night, and I took refuge in the fact that I wasn’t imagining the intensely unexpected magnetism between us.

  The clinking of a butter knife against a crystal water glass jerked my attention towards Holden, who was standing next to me like a king greeting his people. “Everyone, if I could just have your attention for one moment?”

  The room quieted. All eyes focused in our direction.

  “Thank you all so much for taking time from your busy schedules to join us tonight,” he said with a proud smirk. “I’d like to take this opportunity to ask a very important question to a very beautiful young woman.”

  A few sighs from women in the room filled the spaces between the silence. Holden reached into his left breast pocket and retrieved a blue Tiffany box.

  Wait? What happened to the red Cartier box?

  I knew I hadn’t imagined it. I saw that box. I saw the ring; the sparkling, dazzling, multiple-carat cushion-cut diamond. I forced a smile on my face and clasped my hand over my heart as if I were shocked.

  But what I really wanted to do was crawl into a hole. Hide away. Escape. Anything but be there right then, staring into the eyes of the man who I did not want to marry.

  “Eve Chadwick,” he said as he dropped to one knee. “Will you marry me?”

  I stared into his deep blue eyes and met his smile with a contrived on
e of my own. I could practically feel the stars of every single person in that room as they burned into my back. I couldn’t say no. I couldn’t embarrass Sterling or my mom or make a scene. People like us didn’t behave that way. We dealt with our issues in private, and we were to always pretend as if everything was perfectly fine at all times otherwise.

  “Yes,” I said. The words left an sour taste in my mouth, and I wished I could take them back. I didn’t want to marry Holden. I didn’t even want to be with him anymore.

  Holden slipped the simple, round diamond onto my finger and stood up to kiss me. I felt nothing.

  Our group of spectators erupted in classy claps and polite cheers. Mom and Sterling’s faces were covered in the happiest grins I’d ever seen.

  “Champagne toast!” Sterling yelled. Out of nowhere servers appeared with tray upon tray of filled champagne flutes, and knowing Sterling, he’d spared no expense and splurged for Cristal.

  I spent the remainder of the evening gushing about how happy I was. It took all of my energy to sell myself enough to convince everyone that I wasn’t planning on leaving him the next change I got.

  I watched Holden throughout the night, asking myself if he really was happy. Holden loved a lot of things, but I wasn’t sure he was truly capable of loving someone the way you should when you want to spend your life with them. He’d always made me feel more like an accessory than anything else. A pretty girl on his arm at parties. A piece of ass to keep him warm at night.

  Mom always told me that’s how things were. True love didn’t really exist. It was all a bunch of chemicals and hormones that went away eventually, so women may as well marry for money.

  “Only stupid women marry for love,” she’d told me more times than I could count.

  By the end of the night when everyone had parted ways, Holden’s charismatic persona began to fade and my face hurt from fake smiling.

  “I booked us a room at the Belmonte Hotel,” he said. “Thought we could celebrate all night long...”