I watched his entire face turn a bright shade of red, blood rushing up to declare his rage. He didn’t know exactly what I had tried to do, but knowing that I’d come with some kind of plan against him was enough to raise his ire to levels I’d never seen before.
“I’m going to fucking kill you, bitch—”
His breath caught in his throat as something massive slammed into his side. All of a sudden I could draw breath, taking air greedily into my lungs as I crumpled against the wall. I blinked away the stars that had forms in front of my vision as I looked up to find out just who my savior had been.
“Richard?” I whispered, watching in awe as my stepbrother reared up and began slamming his fists over and over into Michael’s prone form, the wet sounds of his knuckles meeting his flesh filling my hearing. I’d never seen my brother so enraged, roaring as he grabbed Michael’s now limp form and tossed it against one of the closed bedroom doors, caving the wood in with a loud crack!
Satisfied with the unconscious form of my former boyfriend at his feet, Richard turned toward me, his expression immediately softening as he knelt down to check on me.
“Are you all right?” he asked, cupping my face in his hands.
“I am now,” I whispered, smiling up at him before pressing my lips to his.
Chapter 20
Dick
“The jury came back today,” Jessica said as she cuddled up to me in my bed. It had been a long trial, even with the evidence arrayed against Michael and his goons. With his parents’ money, he was more than able to hire himself an attorney willing to stall for as much time as possible to get him acquitted.
“Good news?” I asked, running my fingers through her silken hair. I’d given up on watching the trial myself, unable to stomach seeing that bastard sitting there day after day, convinced this his daddy’s money would save him. Jessica however had stayed glued to every bit of news about the proceedings, even going to one of the sessions of court when Becky was called to testify about the night she was raped. “They’re not letting him go, are they?”
Michael had been given bail, but kept on house arrest while the trial was going on, leaving him trapped far away from the two of us while the trial went on and his lackey’s were all on trial alongside their little ringleader. With half of AEΩ’s pledges on trial, the fraternity was under some serious investigation into past reports that had “slipped through the cracks.” I couldn’t help enjoying the sight of a fleet of black and white cop cars all parked outside of the Omega’s frat-house, its members displaced out onto the sidewalk to watch as their little club house was turned upside down.
“Just the opposite,” she said, looking up at me with those warm, loving eyes. “Michael is being charged with Becky’s rape, along with a charge for being an accessory to every single one of the Omega’s who were in that room.”
“Sounds like justice to me,” I said, smiling as I leaned my head down to brush my lips against her own. “How’s Becky taking everything?”
Jessica gave me a half smile and gently shrugged her shoulders. I knew that the trial had been hard for Becky, it always is for women who go through trauma like that. She had to relive her rape again and again, and even while she was staring right at Michael in the courtroom as she gave her testimony.
“Becky’s doing okay. As well as anyone could be after something like this,” she said. “I don’t think it gave her the closure that she was hoping for. It’s not like what everyone keeps telling girls in this situation. It doesn’t get easier. It stays painful forever.
I nodded, gently caressing her cheek as I looked out toward my window from my bed. I’d never be able to understand the kind of pain Becky had gone through or the hurt that Michael had inflicted on her—a hurt that would follow her into every relationship for the rest of her life. It would always be there, like a shadow hanging over her view of men. And I didn’t blame her one bit if she never trusted anyone for the rest of her life.
“It looks like we’re out of the woods, then,” I said, entwining my fingers in her soft hair. “We’re free.”
“In some ways, yes.” Jessica turned her gaze away from me, a frown marring those pretty features. “Not in others.”
I frowned, sitting up a little straighter in bed, looking down as she set her head in my lap.
What could be wrong now? I wondered, gently rubbing my thumb over her shoulder. We were free to be together again, with no threat looming over our heads that could expose our secret to the world. From what I could tell the two of us had gotten out of this with our lives intact and no worse for wear.
“What you do mean, babe?”
Jessica sighed, nuzzling gently against me.
“I mean that we’re still living like we’re some shameful tryst. We’re still in the shadows, even after what we’d just been through. I feel like if Michael had posted those picture then at least we wouldn’t have to hide from the world. I love you, and I want to the world to know that I love you.”
I sat there, my arms draped across her body as I thought on her words. She definitely had a point—hiding ourselves from the world didn’t appeal to me, but the shame of what others might think had always kept me from declaring my feelings from the rooftops. And there was always our parents, who might not be happy about this…
They would understand… Love is blind.
“I do too, Jess,” I said, reaching down and gently squeezing her hand. “I hate hiding it… but I’m afraid, too. It’s scary to think what might happen if anyone back home found out about who we were to one another.”
“All the more reason to be done with it!” she exclaimed. “If we tell everyone ourselves, then at least it will be on our terms. We’ll be able to face them, and now that Michael and his pictures aren’t going to be an issue any longer you and I don’t have to worry about a huge scandal, or the embarrassment of our parents seeing second hand what we were doing. I don’t like sneaking around. I’m ready to face up about who I am and the man I love.”
“You’re right,” I whispered, closing my eyes in thought. I could practically see the look on my father’s face—all red and practically steaming like a boiler. But his momentary anger was something I was more than ready to deal with when the time came.
“What was that?” she asked, turning around to look up into my eyes, a wicked grin on her lips. “Say that again.”
I smirked, caressing her cheek as I drew her in for a soft, tender kiss.
“You’re right.”
Jessica purred against my lips, pressing deeper into the kiss, her arms sliding around my neck. I chuckled, wrapping my own arms around her waist and pulling her in nice and close. The covers fell away easily, revealing that perfect body underneath. I allowed my hands to wander along the smooth line of her back, caressing and teasing on her pale skin. I could never get enough of her against me.
“I love it when you say that,” she cooed.
“I bet you do,” I laughed, pressing our lips together again in a slow, passionate kiss. I’d never been happier than when I was with my stepsister in my arms, her lips locked with mine and I had no intention of letting that feeling ever slip away.
“Who should we tell first?” she asked, biting on her lip as her hands slid over my shoulders. She had an all too familiar hungry look in her eyes as she began to kiss along my neck. Jessica had turned into quite the little animal in the sack since we’d first started, eagerly jumping at the chance to fuck even at a moment’s notice especially if I made it an order.
“Probably mom and dad,” I said, closing my eyes as she caressed my skin with her soft, succulent lips. “I mean, it would be kind of rude not to tell them, if we’re going to be out in the open about all of this, right? They should be the first to know that their own kids are sleeping together. Right?”