“But this is much worse than that,” I pointed out, not in a million years willing to say that I knew exactly why Bella had been acting that way, or that I’d been treating her like shit intentionally because of our mutual desire and inability to do something about it. Instead, I fell back on our cover story, which wasn’t really all that much of a cover. “Bella was harassed by a pack of assholes the entire time she was at NSU. She’s traumatized and is having trouble dealing with it.”
Evelyn gave me a hard look and I tried to quell the surge of anxiety that rose inside.
I’d been hoping that my parents wouldn’t question my story about what had happened back at NSU. While they both seemed to eat it up, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before more questions arose.
One thing that we had going for us was the fact that they had no idea of how Bella and I felt for one another. I mean, to them, there had never been any signs of inappropriate attraction. I was too busy trying to bang any girl with two legs, and Bella was too busy being a cold-hearted bitch to me.
So, I was pretty sure that even if the rumors of Bella and me having sex ever made it back to their ears, they'd just dismiss the notion.
After a moment, Evelyn glanced at my doorway and then bit her lower lip thoughtfully, the anger dissipating from her face. “Was it really that bad?”
“It was,” I replied.
“My God.” Evelyn lowered her voice to a whisper. “Do you think your father and I should file a complaint against the school?”
“No,” I said quickly.
Evelyn raised an eyebrow. “Why not? If those boys you were talking about caused Bella this much distress, they deserve to be punished.”
I shook my head. “That’s not going to happen. Those guys are like the most popular dudes in the school and they have rich parents. You’d just be wasting your time filing against them.”
Evelyn scowled. “Your father has money too. He can make things happen.”
“I know, but it's probably better if we just let it all be in the past. You know the Governor won’t want to risk a scandal at a state school, and Bella wasn’t hurt. It sucks, but it’ll be fine.” God, I can bullshit when I need to.
Evelyn, for the first time, looked hurt. “But I’m her mother, Stefan. I should be the one she comes to first with these types of things.”
“I know.” I said, placing a reassuring hand on Evelyn’s shoulder. “But don’t worry. I’m sure Bella will come to you with everything that she’s going through when she’s ready. In the meantime, I’ll continue giving her the support she needs. Trust me, I won’t let any harm come to her. In fact, I kicked the living shit out of one of the dudes who was harassing her.”
Evelyn’s face lit up like a light bulb. “Did you? We aren't going to be hearing threats of a lawsuit like before, are we?”
“No, it wasn't that bad. But he got the message.”
“All right, Stefan, I hope that's the case. I really do appreciate your being there for Bella,” Evelyn said as she pulled me in for a warm embrace.
“It's no big deal,” I told Evelyn as we pulled apart. I beamed at her to make her feel even more at ease. It was hard not to gag on my next words. “As her stepbrother, it’s my duty to be there for her.”
“And that’s all I can ask of you.” Evelyn turned to leave. “I’m going to go talk to your father about Bella. Maybe he’ll know what to do.”
Shit.
The fraudulent smile on my face was frozen. “You do that.”
When Evelyn was gone, I returned to my bedroom to find Bella sitting on the bed, staring at the flash drive resting in her palm.
She looked up at me as I closed the door behind me and locked it. “How’d you get rid of her?”
“I just told her that you were going through some things and that I was providing the shoulder you needed to cry on, and that you'd come to her with your problems in due time.” I approached the bed, my eyes on Bella. “It’s not too far from the truth when you think about it.”
Bella stared at me. “And what did she say?”
I paused in the middle of the floor. “She mentioned talking to my father, but I’m not sure what else. Look, Bella. We’ve got to be strong. We can’t crack under pressure. Besides, Evelyn just asked me that as a question. I told her that you were fine, so I doubt she'll make anything of it.” When Bella refused to look my way, I sat down next to her, took two fingers, and lifted her chin toward me. “Can you be strong for me? For us?”
Bella stared at me a long time, her lips quivering, tears in her eyes. Finally, she sniffed. “I’ll try.”
I kissed her softly on the cheek, still mindful of the taste of her juices on my lips. “Good.”
Bella held out the flash drive to me. “But what are we going to do about this? And what about the threat? Who knows what they have planned for us—”
“Shh.” I took the drive from her hands and set it to the side.
“One problem at a time.” I moved my hand down to Bella’s thigh and gave it a light squeeze. “Did you come before your mom came barreling her way in here?”
Surprise flashed in Bella’s eyes. I knew what was she thinking—how could I be thinking about her sexual needs after what had just happened? “No,” she replied softly.
Grinning wolfishly, I pushed her back onto the bed and began tugging at her jeans. “Then let’s handle that first before worrying about anything else.”
I slid Bella’s jeans off her long legs, the smell hitting me like a drug right in the nose. Bella could see it too, and she smiled, getting into it. We scooted down to the edge of my bed, taking the time to arrange ourselves so that if someone did decide to barge in again, I could drop behind my bed and even roll under it while Bella had her back turned to the door.
“I love you,” I whispered, looking up into her eyes as I brought my head forward and kissed her still moist lips. Bella moaned softly, running her right hand through my hair as the first shocks went through her and I buried myself in her wet folds.
Bella was delicious, moist and tender, and as I licked and nibbled on her pussy, I lost myself in pleasuring her.
“Oh my God, Stefan,” she whispered as I found her clit and nibbled it. Her thighs quivered as she wrapped her legs around my head, and she leaned back, unable to control herself any longer. “That’s it, eat my pussy.”
Her nasty talk made me grin and lick harder and faster, wanting to wash away all her worries, all the stress from her body. Somewhere inside this luscious frame, my child was growing, and I loved it. I loved her, and I wanted to show her just how much.
Bella’s clit swelled and her heels dug into my back as she pulled me in. She was trembling on the edge and wouldn’t be able to take much more. I sucked on her button, and she exploded, biting her forearm to keep her screams inside as her thighs clamped around my head and cut off my air for what felt like eternity while she came on my tongue and lips.
When it passed, Bella lay back, her eyes dazed as I got up, wiping more of her delicious juices off my lips and licking my fingers clean. “Feel better?”
“You do that to me every morning, and I think I’ll never be stressed for the rest of my life,” Bella whispered, wiping her forehead. Her eyes drifted downward, where my cock had shifted in my jeans, no longer running down the leg but totally making a tentpole. “You look like you need some help now too.”
“No time,” I whisper, glancing at the clock. “You know they’ll be calling for dinner soon.”
Bella sighed and reached over, cupping my cock and making me moan. “Then as soon as I can, I’m giving you dessert. Or maybe I’m getting dessert, a thick load of Stefan’s cream in my mouth.”
I grin, knowing that whether she’d been one before or not, my stepsister was an amazing cock sucker. That she was eager for me too was just the cherry on top. “We’ll see. For now, though . . . I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Chapter 18
Bella
“I’m going to need you to come work for me tomorrow, Stefan,” Terry said over breakfast the next day.
We were all sitting at the kitchen table, having cheese-covered eggs, buttered toast with jam, sausage, and bacon. I was particularly hungry, digging into my eggs. I’d slept well, even if Stefan and I hadn’t had the chance to let me return his oral favor. I’d been hoping to get the chance today, so Terry’s words didn’t make the morning begin well.
“What?” asked Stefan, a look of surprise coming over his face. He looked sexy as usual, dressed in a wife beater and pajama sweats, his hair tousled from just waking up.
He had the biggest plate at the table, piled high with sausage and eggs. Stefan liked to eat meats since he followed a low-carb diet.
I could have just stared at him all day if not for the fact that it would rouse suspicions with my parents.
Terry paused in his sip of his steaming morning coffee. My stepfather was dressed up in a nice business suit, ready to go to work for the day. Despite that, he had bags under his eyes and looked like he hadn’t gotten a good night’s rest. Apparently, running a construction business was a stressful job. “You didn’t think I’d let you come back home and just do nothing, did you?”
Stefan looked appalled. “Of course not, but—”
“I spent a lot of money on your and Bella’s tuition. While I understand how things can happen unexpectedly and cause a change in plans, I’d fully expect you to have a damn good reason for quitting mid-semester and coming home. And thus far, the reason you both have given me isn’t good enough.”
“But I had plans. I was going to get a job so I could move out and get my own place,” Stefan protested.
“And I had plans on you and Bella finishing your degrees and not wasting my damn money too!” Terry snapped. “And how do you expect to get a job that’s worth a damn with just a high school education, huh?”
Stefan’s features became tight with anger, and I took a small break from stuffing my face, fearing that there was about to be a big blow-up. “I have every intention of going back to school.”
“You do?” Terry asked, looking unconvinced. “When?”
Stefan glanced at me and fell silent.
Terry continued on. “We're finishing up the theater. My entire company is riding on this, and I sure can use an extra hand.”
“I don’t want to work construction,” Stefan said flatly.
“Why not? You’re physically fit and in tiptop shape. It'll be no problem for you.”
“It’s not what I want to do, Dad,” Stefan said firmly. “It’s not my style. Construction is a poor man’s job.”
Terry paused, and a glare so vile twisted his face that I actually felt goosebumps rise on my skin. “I don’t give a shit what you want to do. The moment you left that university, you gave up that right. You’re going to fucking work for me as long as I need you or until you take your ass back to school.”
“Fuck you!” Stefan rose from his seat so fast that he knocked over his chair and it clattered against the kitchen floor.
“Stefan!” my mother cracked. This whole time, she had been sitting there quietly, watching the exchange—a miracle for her, let me tell you—but now, she had an expression of alarm on her face.
Looking like she’d had a better night’s sleep than Terry, Mom looked well put-together as usual, her hair done up in a sophisticated bun, her makeup immaculate. She was wearing a nice business suit, but I had no idea why. Actually, I did have an idea why. My mom was a housewife who didn’t work, but for some reason, she liked to pretend she did.
Stefan froze, trembling with anger. I fear that if Mother hadn’t said anything, Stefan and his father would have come to blows.
“Stefan,” I chimed in softly. “Please sit down.”
My words seemed to have an incredibly calming effect on him. He swallowed audibly and then picked up his chair off the floor and sat back down.
“Fine, Dad,” Stefan said quietly, his demeanor subdued. “I’ll come in to work with you today.”
Both of my parents tossed curious glances my way, amazed at how easily I had calmed the situation.
“Glad you saw it my way, Son,” Terry said with a nervous chuckle.
After that, we all ate without saying a word until my mother broke the silence.
“I scheduled an appointment with a psychiatrist for you, Bella.”
I froze in the process of stuffing my face with a mouthful of eggs. “What?” I asked.
“You have an appointment this Friday with Dr. Kern.”
“But I don’t want to see a psychiatrist!” I cringed at how shrill I sounded.
My mother took a sip of her orange juice and then wiped her mouth with her napkin and set it down to study me. “Stefan told me that you had a very hard time while at school. I'm just trying to help.”
“But I don’t need a . . .” I paused mid-sentence when I felt a sharp nudge against my leg underneath the table. I glanced around the table. Stefan had his head lowered, but I knew it was him.
I swallowed angrily. I didn’t know why he would want me to go along with my mom’s desire to send me to a psychiatrist. The only thing that I could figure out was that he didn’t want me to arouse suspicion.
“Is there going to be a problem, Bella?” Mom asked me. She was leaning forward in her chair, gazing at me with an I’m-ready-for-your-bullshit look.
She was clearly expecting me to have an outburst, and I had been seconds away from proving her right. As I thought about it, I realized that arguing with my mom in my current condition would only cause more stress and make my situation worse.
Since my mom had impressed upon me that stress had caused her to have a miscarriage when she was younger, I was absolutely terrified.
I needed to minimize stress at all costs.
“No, Mom,” I replied finally, my eyes going back to the eggs impaled by my fork. Food was just about the only thing that gave me comfort these days. “I'll go.”
“Dad is totally busting my balls,” Stefan said as he brushed past me to grab a box of tools off a shelf. We were in Terry’s shed that sat at the very end of our back yard, able to get a private word in together for the first time all day.
After breakfast, Terry had told Stefan to go get himself re-acquainted with a set of tools because it would help him ease into the tasks he would have Stefan doing at the construction site. He’d stop by after lunch to take Stefan to the site.
Back when we were younger, the shed used to be one of Stefan’s favorite places, and he would take delight in building stuff with his dad. But much to Terry’s disappointment, it was a pastime Stefan soon abandoned when he came of age and got into sports.
Up until that point, Stefan had assured Terry that he would go into the construction business when he got older, but he changed his mind not long after.
“There’s no glory in it,” Stefan would say back then, infuriating my stepfather. “I’m going to be something much greater.”
Stefan, it seemed, had a huge ego even then.
“You'll be fine,” I said, leaning against a metal shelf filled with equipment, tools, and screws. “At least, for now.”
Stefan set the box of tools down on a table in the middle of the room and glanced at me. Dressed in a tank top, his powerful biceps were on display. I had to admit, he looked right at home amongst all the manly tools. “Are you just saying that because you want to side with Dad? Because I remember how you used to side with him back in the day when he complained about me not following in his footsteps.”
“I’m saying that because you would probably excel at anything Terry tasks you with.”
Stefan opened the toolbox and grinned at me. “You have a honey tongue, you know that?”
I laughed lightly. “When it comes to you, yeah, I do.”
“That’s why I love you.”
A feeling of warmth spread through my chest at his words.
“I always feel so good when you say that,” I said softly.<
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Stefan pulled a large hammer out of the box and examined it.
“Do you, now? Well, you’d better get used to it—you're going to be hearing it for a long time.”
Even though his words sounded kind of corny, they filled me with hope for our future. Stefan’s attitude, at least so far, had been one of protective assurance, and it made me feel safe that I could trust him not to abandon me when things got rough.
Setting down the hammer, Stefan walked over to one of the shelves filled with dented metal shavings and brought a large sheet back to the table. “But you know what? After thinking about it, maybe this is what I need for right now. It will get my mind off all the problems that are going on with us and provide me with an outlet to relieve some stress.” Stefan gripped the hammer tightly and brought it down on the metal, filling the shed with a loud clang.
I jumped at the sound. “I think it will be good too. But it can’t last for long.”
Stefan studied the dent he had made in the metal and then looked over at me. “I’m aware of that. We have, what? Two, maybe three months before you start showing enough for it to be a problem?”
I almost burst out laughing. With the way I’d been eating, I wouldn’t be surprised if I started showing as early as next week. “Maybe a little less than that.” By now, my pants were already starting to feel a little too snug around my hips, ass, and thighs. It would only be a matter of time before I had to go up a size. Having always been a size two my whole life, the thought horrified me.
Stefan’s expression grew thoughtful. “I’ll just have to think of something before then. In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye out on how you’re growing. If it starts looking like it'll be a problem, we’ll just have to try to conceal it with bigger clothing. You know those baby doll dresses that flare out that you used to like to wear?”
Alpha's Baby: A Secret Baby Romance Page 11