“Exactly. They had no clue what the fuck that was. I'm just glad Cory finally shut it off in time, or we'd be singing a different tune right about now. Lastly, Veronica came along and unknowingly covered our tracks with that comment toward Dad. Evelyn is going to be focused on that for now, buying us a little more time.”
“I still can’t believe what happened,” I said with a gentle shake of my head. “Veronica really was determined, tracking Terry down online like that. But I just don’t understand how Terry could let himself get caught up in her web.”
Of course you know how, I told myself. He’s a man, and all men have two heads, and sometimes, the smaller head wins.
Stefan clenched his jaw. “Even though Veronica baited him, I’m going to find it hard to forgive him for what he did. Hell, I’d seen him in the office. I thought he’d been watching a few pornos or something, not online cheating. He could have easily turned her down after he found out what she was about.”
“But is it really that easy though?” I asked. “Come on, you’re a guy. My mom is getting up there in years and doesn't have the body of a young twenty-year-old. I mean, it’s not bad, but it’s not Veronica’s. What man, young or old, wouldn’t find it hard to resist someone with a body like Veronica’s?”
I had to admit, I was asking this question for my own benefit. I wanted to see Stefan’s reaction because, despite all that he’d said to me about my ever-changing appearance, I couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious about gaining weight.
Stefan stared at me. “Yeah, it is that easy. I’m a man of my word. If I commit to something, I’m in until it’s over. That’s it. I thought Dad was the same type of man, as he raised me to be that way, but I guess I was wrong.”
“I don’t know. My heart bleeds for Mom, but at the same time, I feel bad for Terry. It was kind of our fault.”
Stefan glowered. “Dad’s actions put him in the position he is in now. He doesn’t deserve your sympathy . . . or mine, for that matter.”
I grew silent in the face of Stefan’s anger. I was shocked, actually. He seemed to be more upset about what Terry did than I was.
“In fact, I’m going to need you to stay completely out of this.”
“Why?”
“Judging by how serious Evelyn sounded, things are about to get really, really ugly. I’m sorry, Bella, but I know Evelyn almost as well as you do. She won't hesitate to use you as a pawn should this come down to a divorce.”
“But Mom is going to need me—” I began.
“Have you forgotten our little secret? This whole mess has put tremendous stress on the both of us. Now add the stress of a divorce to that, and what do you think that will do to your body and the—” Stefan’s voice trailed off.
I couldn't deny the truth in Stefan’s words. I was already under tremendous stress given everything that happened, and a contentious divorce just might put me over the edge.
To punctuate Stefan’s words, the sound of muffled screaming wafted down the stairs to our ears, followed by some rumbling.
Mom must be kicking Terry’s ass, I thought in despair. Look at all the strife that bitch Veronica has caused in our family.
Stefan made a face and looked up at the ceiling. “You hear that? No telling how long that's going to go on.”
The screaming intensified, and I wondered if the neighbors down at the end of the block could hear my mother’s screeching.
“Then what are we going to do?” I asked fearfully.
Stefan grabbed the wine bottle sitting on the coffee table and poured what was left of it into his glass. Then, to my surprise, he turned back the entire glass in one gulp before replying to me.
“I have to get you out of here.”
Chapter 28
Stefan
Shortly after I had assured Bella that I had plans to get us out of the house, my dad had come back downstairs. He looked defeated and as if he’d rolled in the hay a couple of times while receiving several mean punches to the eye.
He’d looked at us once, not saying a word, and then headed to his office. As much as I wanted to stay out of the whole affair, I felt like now was the time to confront him.
I was angry about what happened. As a man of supposed integrity, it pissed me off that he’d let a slutbag like Veronica George take advantage of him.
I knew the temptation, God I knew, but that didn’t make it right. A strong man was never cowed by temptation. He was always in control of the situation, no matter what.
And as a man of my word, I'd take control of the chaos and protect Bella at all costs.
I stomped into my dad’s office and slammed the door behind me. “That was pathetic! How could you hurt Evelyn like that?”
My dad, who was sitting at his desk, looked up from his laptop at me with surprise. I expected him to explode on me in a rage—wanted him to, even—but he just sighed. “I couldn’t help myself, Son.”
I shook my head with disgust.
My dad sat back in his chair and studied me coolly. “Tell me, what would you have done? You, the ultimate jock, who has probably slept with more girls than you can even count.”
“What does the number of girls that I’ve slept with have to do with anything?”
“Don’t pretend to act like a goody-two shoes, Stefan. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“No, Dad, I don’t.”
“Stefan, we’re men,” Dad said as if that explained everything. “Young, pretty women are our weakness.”
“No, Dad, that is your weakness,” I argued. “And you should've never let that weakness get the best of you. Fuck, I thought you were jacking off to porn, not Skyping with another woman!”
Dad stared at me, and I saw anger and shame in his eyes. I felt a surge of satisfaction. Finally, the emotion I’d been hoping for. “Is that what you’ve come into my office for?” he demanded angrily. “To badger me about my mistake when I already feel like shit? Trust me, Evelyn has already let me hear it. I don't need it from you too.”
I shook my head. “No. I came to tell you that I’m moving out.”
Surprise registered on Dad’s face. “What? What for? Are you planning to go back to school?”
“Not right now,” I replied.
“Then why are you moving out?”
“To give you guys space. We're just going to complicate everything even more.”
Dad sat back in his chair. “Why in the world would you want to leave at a time like this? I’m going to need all the help I can get to keep Evelyn from divorcing me and taking me for all that I’m worth.”
“Dad, she's just pissed. She'll get over it. It was just some online thing, for crying out loud. And I’m taking Bella with me,” I added boldly, not giving him a chance to respond.
“What? Why?”
“She’s been through a lot in the past few months. She doesn’t need to be here while you two work this out.”
“I really don’t understand much of any of this, Stefan. Why would Bella want to move some place with you? Doesn’t she have plans to go back to school? And how the hell are you going to support yourself?”
These were all valid questions, but of course, I couldn’t answer them.
“You said I'm one of your hardest workers,” I explained. “I hope to still work for you to support myself.”
I hated my job working for my father, but it would do until I found something else that could support Bella and me. Although Bella wasn’t too far along yet, I didn’t want her to have to get a temporary job too. Besides, I wanted to be in control and provide for us both. It made me feel . . . powerful.
My dad let out a derisive snort. “Why the hell should I help you when you're being so difficult?”
“Because you know what you did wasn't my fault. You need to clean this up yourself. You taught me that a man cleans up his own shit.”
Dad gaped at me. “Son, my company is at stake here. If Evelyn divorces me, I stand to lose everything. Everything. That means no constr
uction company, no job, no paycheck, nothing! How the hell would I be able to pay you a salary? Huh?”
My dad shook his head. “No, what you’re going to do is stay here and do everything in your power to convince Evelyn that divorcing me is a bad idea. With your and Bella’s help, Evelyn should see reason.”
I glowered at my dad. This was exactly what I hadn’t wanted from the beginning—being used as pawns by our parents.
“We are a family unit, Stefan,” my dad continued. “I'm sorry, but I need some support. If you and Bella don't help me on this, don't expect financial help from me in getting your own place. If you do that, you're on your own.”
Silence filled the space between us and I studied my father. I could help him, of course, but I didn’t want to. Yes, Veronica had been the woman, and she wouldn’t have approached Dad if it weren’t for me and Bella. But did it matter? He still had a choice. He could have just ignored her. Either way, he’d just given me an ultimatum, and my pride demanded that I rebel just out of spite.
“Like I said, we're moving out,” I growled.
Without another word, I turned and walked out of his office, slamming the door behind me.
Chapter 29
Bella
“How’s the baby coming along, Bella?” Mother asked.
My mother smiled as she looked at me and I smiled back. The joy reflected in her eyes made my heart sing with elation, filling me with happiness.
We were sitting around a table out on the deck in the backyard with a group of women, all family members and close friends, enjoying a cup of cold, fresh lemonade. It was a warm, sunny day, with clear blue skies and soft breezes that felt soothing against my skin. The perfect day.
I rubbed my swollen belly. I was wearing a bright, yellow sundress that matched the beautiful summer day. “My little one is coming along just fine.” I glanced down at my stomach, smiling sunrises as I felt the baby kicking inside me. “Any day now.”
“Do you think it will be like it’s father?” one of the women asked, a sour-looking old woman who was dressed in a gaudy dress, topped by a stylish hat with a feather sticking out of it.
I held in a frown. The way the woman had said ‘it’s’ rubbed me the wrong way, but I brushed the feeling away. Perhaps she hadn’t meant any offense by it. “I think that it’s a he, and yes, I think he will be just like Stefan.”
The woman smiled at me, but it only made me feel more uneasy. “That is wonderful, Bella. But I have one question.”
The nausea I felt inside intensified. “Yes?”
The woman’s face became a mask of black anger. “What kind of slut fucks her stepbrother and then ends up pregnant with his bastard?”
“Bella, calm down! You’re going to wake up your mother!”
I gasped as I came awake in my darkened bedroom, my forehead and entire body covered by sweat. A dark silhouette stood over my bed. Crying out in fear, I lashed out. The shadow was quick, though, and caught my hand.
“Bella, it’s me,” said a familiar voice. “Stefan.”
“No,” I moaned softly, struggling to break free of the powerful grip. “You lie.”
I felt strong arms wrap around me, restraining me from fighting back. “Calm down, Bella. It’s me, Stefan.”
Feeling his warm flesh pressed against mine brought me back to the present. “Stefan,” I sobbed with relief into his shoulder. “I had the most terrible dream.”
Stefan pulled back and studied my face in the dark. To my surprise, he still had on his expensive clothing from the party, but now the front of his dress shirt was unbuttoned even further, teasing that beautiful chest and washboard abs of his. “Would you like to talk about it?”
I wiped away the tears flowing down my cheeks as images of being taunted and shunned slowly faded into the darkness. “No,” I said finally. “I’m just glad it’s over.”
Stefan stared carefully at me for a moment before saying, “Okay. But once you feel better, I want to know what it was all about.”
“All right.” I peered closely at him, trying to keep my eyes on his face and not his chest. “Why are you in here this late? Was I that loud?” The last time I saw Stefan was just before Terry had come back downstairs from arguing with my mom, looking absolutely defeated. Stefan said he was going to speak with his dad for a moment before going to bed. He refused to tell me what he was going to talk about, but I could only assume it had something to do with the plan he had for the both of us.
“It's not that late. But yeah, you were really starting to wail as I came in.”
“What did you say?” I asked immediately, thirsty for details. “To your dad, I mean.”
“Well, first, I told him that he should be ashamed for having an online relationship with some chick half his age, and then . . . I told him we’re going to move out together.”
Stefan went on to tell me about how Terry wanted us both to stay and help him convince my mom not to leave him.
I gaped in disbelief when Stefan was done with his story. “What? Why in the world would you tell him that? We're only going to draw more attention to ourselves.”
“Well, we're going to have to come clean eventually. At this point, I'm just concerned with getting you out of any stressful situations.”
I shook my head. “I still don’t understand. Why don’t we just help him? We know exactly why Veronica stalked Terry and did what she did. Knowing that, I have no problem with trying to convince Mom that a divorce would be a bad idea, especially when that’s exactly what Veronica would want.”
I just couldn’t understand why Stefan was being so hard on Terry about the whole situation. Even knowing Veronica orchestrated the whole thing, and given the fact that Veronica was a young, hot babe—God, I hated to admit it—why couldn’t he give his dad a break?
Stefan sure is riding on the moral high horse, I thought, while I’m sitting here with his baby growing inside me.
“Growing up, Dad always told me to take responsibility for my actions. And you know what? I listened. That’s why I’m trying to get us out of this mess. I’ve created a problem, and I intend to deal with it. Whether Veronica planned it or not, Dad created his problem, and I'm sure he'll get himself out of it.”
The way Stefan said problem when he was referring to our situation struck a chord inside me. Is that what he thought of me and the baby? As a problem?
Was that all I was to him, some problem to deal with?
Stefan must have seen my worried expression. “Bella, what’s wrong?”
“Should have never done it,” I whispered, black depression washing over me.
“Should have never done what?”
“Any of this,” I replied. “That stupid contest, the Sacrifice. Look at everything that’s happened. We’re hiding a secret from our parents and Mom is threatening to divorce Terry. Jesus, Stefan, Terry is going to hate my guts when he finds out the truth behind all of this.”
“Don’t say that,” Stefan pleaded. “Haven’t I told you before to stop being so hard on yourself? No matter what reason Veronica came after Dad, whether we caused it or not, his actions are his own. It could just have easily been some other girl. He has no one to blame but himself, you hear me? Himself.”
But I still couldn't get over the feeling that we were responsible. “Fuck her,” I hissed angrily. “And fuck this whole, fucked-up situation!”
Stefan placed a hand on my arm. “Stop it, Bella. You’re losing control.”
I brushed Stefan’s hand away. “No! I’m tired of all of this shit!”
Stefan remained calm in the face of my fury. “Bella, you’re getting too loud. You’re going to wake Evelyn.”
“I don’t care! I doubt she's asleep anyway,” I snapped.
Stefan gripped me by both arms firmly and stared me straight in the eye. “But I do. Get a hold of yourself and stop this nonsense now.”
After defiantly staring him in the eye for a moment, I looked away with a sigh. He’d won. “I’m sorry,” I said
softly. “I’m just so stressed about this whole situation and I’m feeling overwhelmed by it all.”
“I know. That’s why I’m trying to get you out of here.”
“I just wish there were some other way . . .” my words trailed off as my eyes drifted down to the opening of Stefan’s shirt, where his powerful chest was on display.
I ran my fingers down the opening of his dress shirt, enjoying the feel of his flesh against my fingertips. Hungry, I continued all the way down until I hit the waistband of his dress pants.
Stefan looked at me with confusion. “Bella? What are you doing?”
My nightmare had shaken me to the core. All of my fears were haunting me, and the lies we were telling our parents were starting to get to me. I needed to feel something, anything.
Stefan placed his hand over mine, halting me at his zipper. “Bella, we can’t do this now.”
Unheeding, I shoved his hand away and began unbuttoning his pants anyway. It took me nearly thirty seconds to unzip them—I swear the expensive material had a safety lock on it—and then I managed to pull his pants and underwear down slightly.
I was disappointed to see that he wasn’t rock-hard and ready when his cock came out, but my breath caught in my throat anyway.
Even flaccid, it was a wonder to behold, with the perfect-shaped mushroom head that looked juicy and oh, so succulent.
I grabbed ahold of it, relishing how it felt in my hands. It was warm. Hot. A jolt ran up my fingers as his cock twitched and blood began pumping through it.
A desperate note had entered Stefan’s voice. “Bella . . .”
I ignored him, daring him to stop me. For some reason, I felt powerful holding his dick in my hands, feeling the blood plump through it.
Some say a man’s dick was an extension of his ego, and for Stefan and his nearly 8-inch cock, it had to be a major source of his confidence. It thrilled me to be holding his symbol of pride in my hands, having him completely at my mercy.
Swiftly, it grew inside my grip until his luscious head was fat and swollen.
Alpha's Baby: A Secret Baby Romance Page 17