Stepbrother Bear: The Complete Set

by Rosette Bolter

  “What?” he snapped at me.

  “The people are here for you.”

  His head jerked back in alarm, and then he jumped off me.

  I sat up, my body shaking. Feeling loved and rejected all at the same time.

  “This is all your fault,” he said to me. “If you hadn’t touched me –”

  “Hey, fuck off you bastard,” I yelled back.

  He crouched grabbed hold of my dress. He threw it to me.

  “Put it on,” he said.

  As I was doing so, Aiden rushed to the window to peer out whilst pulling up his jeans.

  Then he turned back at me. “Go downstairs. Hide in one of the rooms. Hope they don’t find you.”

  “What about you?” I replied.

  “Will you just do it?”

  “No,” I said rushing over to him. “I don’t want to leave you.”

  “Stop that talk!” he shouted at me. “This means nothing! This is all in your head! It never happened!”

  Banging at the front door.

  “Go!” he shouted.

  I let go of him and ran in the direction he ordered.

  Before I even got to the room, I could hear the sound of glass being smashed and Aiden crying out.

  I didn’t know what was happening.

  If they were attacking him. If he was fighting or allowing it to happen.

  Trying to not make my sobs any louder than they were, I climbed into one of the bedroom closets and closed the door behind me.

  And then I waited.

  Ten minutes later, and there wasn’t a sound to be heard in the house. I quietly opened up the cupboard door and walked back up towards the stairs. No sign of Aiden in the kitchen or lounge room. No sign of anyone.

  I looked out the window and saw that the gate was standing wide open. Aiden’s bike was still in the driveway, but the two men who had first attacked him had vanished.

  Whoever that was after Aiden had come from here and taken him.

  “Oh…” I said, trying to hold it together.

  What was I to do now? Just forget about him? Believe that he hated me, and that he should be abandoned all over again.

  I shook my head violently. I wanted to scream.

  Eventually I straightened myself up.

  “I’ll find you sweet brother,” I whispered through the broken window. “I don’t know how. I don’t know what I’m going to have to do. But I’m going to find you.”

  Because even though we might still hate each other…

  I knew he would do the same for me.

  PART TWO

  CHAPTER ONE

  I’d seen Aiden die a dozen and a half times before today. Suicides. Fake ones. Now that we’re all grown up and far away from that, it sounds so ridiculous in my head. Like it never happened. But there we were one Saturday afternoon arguing over who kicked the ball over the neighbor’s fence. I wasn’t even out in the yard when it happened, let alone playing with the ball. But Aiden demanded I was the one to go to Mom and Dad and say I was sorry. He wanted me to take the blame for what he did.

  It was really weird for me at the time. The argument was weird. Aiden didn’t believe I kicked the ball over the fence, nor did he pretend to. He was just absolutely furious with me that I wouldn’t do what he wanted. Like, for me to be a good sister to him, I should just put my hand up and take the blame for any of his mistakes. Perhaps he figured I wouldn’t get into as much trouble as he would.

  About an hour after I refused to do what he wanted, I walked into the bathroom to find him in the bath covered in dark red liquid. His eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving. On the counter behind his head there was a large knife with what appeared to be blood on it.

  I screamed.

  High pitched, top of my lungs, this is the end of the world, type of scream. I was in such shock that backing out of room I tripped over and fell to the ground, in a distraught mess.

  About ten seconds later, before anyone had even responded to my cries, Aiden was getting out of the bath and trying himself off with a towel. Completely fine. A-Okay.

  “Aiden…” I gasped in surprise.

  He looked down at me, his face twisted into a dark, begrudging stare.

  “One day it will happen,” he told me. “One day you’re going to hurt my feelings so much it kills me.”

  And he left me on the floor with that.

  It was a whole month later before he started speaking to me again.

  By that time I’d almost forgotten about the incident. It wouldn’t be the last time he’d do that to me. Sometimes because he had a message he wanted to share.

  Sometimes just for kicks.

  With each time though, his control over my psyche became more entrenched.

  Until the day he went away.

  And we never saw him again…

  CHAPTER TWO

  Until this afternoon. The day of our sister’s wedding day. It had been on the verge of dusk when I’d left the wedding whisked away on Aiden’s motorcycle. Now it was almost eight o’clock and sky had become rich with its atmospheric darkness and the light of the stars. The reception after party, in the hall where we were to be served dinner, was now full of disco lights and loud pop music. I was standing by my car having just paid off the taxi driver, and not sure whether I should go back in. Really, after what had happened to Aiden I should have been calling the police. But would he even want that? He’d obviously been through some seriously groundbreaking and top secret science experiment which if reported could put him in more danger, if not danger to myself. I had to be smart about this. I refused to be so powerless that I’d do nothing for him, but then … what could I do?

  Still standing, I closed the door of the car. I realized I needed to talk to Dad about this. Find out what he knew. If he could do anything about it. Of course, I wasn’t looking forward to going back in there. I still looked like shit with my raspberry stained dress and frazzled hair, but it wasn’t even that. People were going to be upset with me. They would call me a drama queen. A selfish bitch.

  Fucked in the head.

  Yuck. I didn’t want that. Not to mention I’d just sort of had sex with Aiden and there was no way I even wanted to think about that let alone discuss it with them. I knew they couldn’t read minds, but what if they smelt him on me…?

  Okay. Now I’m just being paranoid.

  Get it together, Bianca.

  I took a deep breath and then started making my way across the parking lot towards the resort.

  Upon entering, no one immediately noticed me. Lara and Ryan were in the centre of the dance floor bopping away crazily to the music, with many other couples doing the same thing in a circle around them. Plenty of people were just standing around with their drinks, watching it all unfold. Others at the tables were just finishing desert and talking through the thick of it. I spotted Dad on the other side of the room and began making my way towards him.

  I didn’t make it though.

  Before I could get very far Lara’s friend Nicole, the annoying one who was sitting next to me during the ceremony, came out from nowhere and grabbed my wrists. She started squealing.

  “Hey! You’re back! Hey everyone! Bianca’s back!”

  She pushed me out into the middle of the dance floor where Lara and Ryan were. Lara’s head reeled back in surprise and then she turned to her new husband and smiled.

  “Be right back, love.”

  Ryan eyed me suspiciously.

  Nicole let go of one hand and Lara grabbed me by the other. She dragged me out to the room behind this one, which incidentally was where the after ceremony drinks had been served. It was quiet here. Empty.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Lara demanded, giving me a huge shove to the chest. “Taking off like that!”

  “I’m sorry,” I yelled back. “It wasn’t my fault.”

  “Well, whose fault was it?”

  I stared at her, genuinely stumped with how stupid she was.

  “Don’t look at me li
ke that,” she growled.

  “Aiden’s fault,” I gasped after a moment. “Are you blind? Are you deaf? Hello?!”

  Lara rolled her eyes. “How was it Aiden’s fault?”

  “Well – he was the one who made me come with him. There were these other guys here. Friends of his…”

  Lara stared at me blankly. I was giving too much away and yet not saying enough.

  “Where the hell is Aiden?” she asked.

  “Not here,” I answered.

  She crossed her arms. “Is he coming back?”

  “No.”

  “What did you say to him?”

  “Huh? I didn’t – I didn’t say anything. What? Why are you –?”

  Lara’s lips twitched. “No. You said something.”

  She brushed past me and went back into the reception.

  “Lara,” I called. “That’s not fair.”

  She kept walking. A few seconds later she was already in conversation with Nicole.

  I saw Nicole look over Lara’s shoulder, and cover her mouth to suppress a chuckle.

  If looks could kill, I swear to God.

  She’d be dead right now.

  CHAPTER THREE

  It took some persistence to get Dad to move from his chair. He was sitting with my stepmom, a couple of other relatives, and Ryan’s parents who had come over from their table for a chat. Apparently I’d shown up right when they were in the middle of it. I had Mom’s attention to begin with. She asked, “Is Aiden with you?”

  To which I replied, “No.”

  And from there it was hard to get them to even look at me at all.

  After opening my trap and not being heard a few times, I grabbed a hold of Dad’s arm and whispered in his ear.

  “We need to talk. Now.”

  He took another drink from his glass and excused himself for the table.

  He walked over. “Sorry I haven’t spoken to you that much,” he said. “Are you having a good night?”

  I blinked. “You do realize I haven’t been here the whole time, right?”

  “Where were you?”

  “I went outside. I was with Aiden.”

  “Oh right,” he nodded. “And you’re back now.”

  “Yeah.”

  “What is it you wanted to talk about?”

  “Let’s go outside,” I said. “I don’t want anyone to overhear.”

  He frowned, but didn’t put up a fight. We made our way back out the entrance and when we’d cleared enough space from the resort, I turned around to confront him.

  “So Aiden never went to military school?”

  “Huh?” he said, looking confused. “What do you mean?”

  “He said that he was sent to some research facility? Where doctors examined him and conducted experiments?”

  “Oh,” Dad said. “He told you.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, it was military school, and it wasn’t.”

  “What?”

  “There were certain programs that were handled with a military backdrop. We felt that he could use the discipline and life skills while his care was ongoing.”

  “Have you any idea about what happened to him there? Like, any idea?”

  Dad shook his head. “The main thing was that he was away from you and Lara. So you could get on and live normal lives.”

  “But what about Aiden?”

  “You know what he was like. He was … I don’t know how to say it without sounding cruel. He was insane.”

  “Insane to live with.”

  “I mean, he was actually crazy. That’s what the lab told us after a few months. If we didn’t sign the contracts, give permission for certain measures, then they were going to turf him into the street. Your mother … Diane … Well, she’s been all happy to see him today. Because it’s been so long. But can you imagine what it would be like if he came into our lives again for good?”

  “What if they cured him? What if he got better?”

  “Aiden will always be Aiden,” Dad said.

  I nodded. “I just … I found some stuff about him tonight.”

  “What stuff?”

  “He has people after him. Like soldiers and stuff.”

  “Aiden can look after himself.”

  “You don’t understand,” I snapped. “What they’ve done to him…”

  “He looked healthy to me,” Dad said. “Wild as ever.”

  “He’s in trouble. A bunch of people came to see him. They took him to where they were –”

  “Please,” Dad said. “I’m sure he’s fine, Bianca. He’s a grown man now. He does what he wants. Now, can we go back inside? Can we enjoy what’s left of this momentous occasion?”

  I stared at him, feeling like my head was about to explode.

  “Come here,” he said.

  “Oh, that’s okay.”

  Big hugs.

  Father trying to comfort his little girl, but there’s so much the father doesn’t know.

  So much the little girl does…

  “You see?” Dad said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  “Like that solved anything,” I replied sarcastically.

  “No,” Dad said. “Look over there. It’s Aiden. He’s okay.”

  I looked where he was pointing.

  And my father was right after all.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Aiden was okay. I was ready to tear someone’s face off, but there he was perfectly fine and okay.

  And it wasn’t just Aiden.

  With him, were the two soldiers who had chased us back to his place. Both of them alive, and unscathed. I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. They were actually…

  Laughing.

  “Bye,” I said to Dad and began my full flight run towards the resort where they were entering.

  “Be nice,” Dad called after me.

  Nice. I didn’t really think now was the right moment to censor myself. This was seriously doing my head in. It had to be explained.

  By the time I reached the inside Aiden was already maneuvering around the floor. Shaking hands with people. Speaking with Lara and Mom. He didn’t seem upset. He seemed normal.

  “Hey,” I shouted at him from across the room. “Hey!”

  I was loud, but not loud enough. A few people at the nearest table looked up at me, but the music drowned it out from going any further. As I attempted to chase after Aiden I was blocked by one of his buddies.

  The one who had pointed the gun at me.

  “I’d stay away from him if I was you,” he said.

  “What?” I spluttered. “I’m not listening to you.”

  I pushed past him and he reluctantly gave way.

  Aiden was at the bar now. Ordering drinks for him and the other soldier.

  Just in front of me Nicole had stepped in to his side to enter the conversation. I stood behind her, breathing heavily, thinking about how I was going to get rid of her.

  “My ex used to have a motorcycle,” Nicole said flirtatiously. “I used to wait until he was asleep before grabbing his keys and having some fun with it. Till this day, he never knew about the times me and the bike shared.”

  “Well, I guess I better watch my bike then,” Aiden remarked. “Otherwise you might steal it.”

  “Not so fast,” Nicole replied. “We’re not even dating yet.”

  “Okay, okay, that’s quite enough,” I blurted out.

  Nicole turned to face me. “Oh. It’s just you.”

  Aiden didn’t turn.

  I tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey.”

  He glanced back. “Hey.”

  “What the fuck?”

  “Pardon me?”

  Then right in the middle of our convo, Lara got hold of a microphone and started calling to everyone. “Attention… Attention… Hey there. I just wanted to say a few more words…”

  God, does it ever end?

  I turned back to Aiden and he and Nicole were brushing me aside to stand at the edge of Lara’s circle. I look
ed to the second soldier, seated at the bar. He shook his head at me.

  “Don’t get uppity with me,” I said. “I know your secret. I’m onto you guys. I don’t know what you’re up to, but –”

  “He made us a bet,” the guy said. “He said he could have any woman he wanted. Even his sister.”

  “What…? But we didn’t –”

  “We heard everything,” he said. “We have to hand it to him. Aiden is a ladies-man.”

  “Are you saying…? You guys were in on it?”

  The guy blinked. Then took another drink.

  Before I could press him further, Lara’s voice was echoing in my ear –

  “… that’s why even when we have our differences, it’s important to put the past behind us and forgive and forget. So I’d like to thank two very special people who are here with us tonight – my brother Aiden, and my sister Bianca, without whom our lives would … never be the same. Come on guys – get up here! Let everyone see how pretty and handsome you are!”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Was this her revenge against me? For running out on her earlier?

  Or was she just drunk and oblivious?

  Too late now. I wasn’t going to get away. Those expectant eyes all over me. All over Aiden. Before I was even in the circle with them, Aiden had taken the mike from Lara and was getting ready to give a speech to the crowd. “Thank you, thank you,” he said. A pause.

  He was waiting.

  Waiting for me to be in there with them.

  And twelve hours ago this situation would have been nervous for me. Him being there, and everyone watching me. Even if I hadn’t embarrassed myself already. Even if my dress wasn’t ruined. Twelve hours ago this would have seemed like difficult situation.

  Even if I hadn’t fucked him.

  “A lot of people here know who I am, but you don’t actually know me,” Aiden said. “Other than a guy who takes a piss whenever he feels like.”

  Laughter.

  People actually found that funny.

  “It’s true that I haven’t been around for either Lara’s or Bianca’s lives growing up. In some part, that really wasn’t my fault. And in some ways it was. Because I was an absolute terror.”