Shackled: A Stepbrother Romance Novel

by Arabella Abbing

  I instinctively backed away, and then let out a whimper when I found myself trapped between the wall and his strong chest. He was breathing heavily as he stared down at me with desire.

  “Can’t I?” he asked, and it took me a moment to remember the context before my eyes went wide.

  Then his lips were on mine and my resistance shattered.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jonathan

  So much for apologizing.

  Fiona moaned against my mouth and I answered with a groan, pressing her harder against the wall and slipping my thigh between her legs. Her hips immediately ground down and I rocked forward to meet her, lust sending all my good intentions straight to hell.

  I hadn’t intended for this to happen, but when she called me a liar, I had been unable to stop myself. I didn’t want her because I couldn’t have her. When she accused me of it, something in my gut screamed at me to take her. To prove to her that I could have her and after I had her screaming and begging for more, I’d be right here to tell her that I still wanted her.

  I would always want her.

  When I was on top of her earlier, it had been a total accident. Between her blatant teasing and her squirming, my cock had immediately risen to the occasion. If she hadn’t pushed me away when she did, I would’ve kissed her then. Maybe I would have pushed for more.

  Okay, I totally would’ve pushed for more. That was pretty much a guarantee.

  And she probably would have slapped the shit out of me in return.

  But now? I had no idea why, but she was responding in kind to every touch of my body against hers and letting out these sexy, breathless little groans every time I pressed my lips harder against hers. I was going to take full advantage for as long as she’d allow it.

  So I used my thigh to open her legs wider and placed myself between them, letting my hands go to her ass to hold her up against the wall while I ground my lower body into hers. She broke the kiss and gasped, looking at me with wide, shocked eyes.

  “I want you,” I growled, praying to all that was holy that she wouldn’t ask me to stop. I didn’t know if I was strong enough to walk away now. I bent my neck down and softly kissed her neck before I choked out, “Need you.”

  “Yesss,” she moaned, pulling my face back up and smashing our lips together.

  My control was shot. My intentions to be honest with her and apologize like an adult were forgotten. The only thing left in my mind were the needs of my cock—the need to rut and thrust and fuck.

  But when I tried to move my hands to better grope her ass, she made a pained noise of discomfort and somehow, my brain managed to recognize it. I pulled away immediately, breathing heavily as I stared down at her flushed face. Her shaking hand was pushing at my chest and I swallowed hard as I took a generous step back to give her some space.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered into the thick silence of the room.

  Words I’d never said before. I wondered if she realized the severity of what saying them meant to me. I never admitted when I was wrong. Never owned up to it even if someone stood before me with proof that I was wrong.

  Fiona used to have my back in whatever arguments I got myself into, even though I could always see it in her eyes when she disagreed. But it never mattered.

  When I stood by my opinions, she stood by me.

  I should have stood by her in return.

  “It—It’s fine. Will you please unchain me so I can get changed for bed?”

  I narrowed my eyes, mentally going through the very few options I had. None of them would go over well with her, but I wasn’t willing to risk giving in to her wishes and having her run off on me.

  I wasn’t done trying to win her back.

  “I’ll unchain you so you can change your shirt, but I’m not leaving the room.”

  “W-What?”

  I folded my arms across my chest and stared directly into her eyes. “You heard me. I’ll take it off, but I’m watching. After I re-cuff you, I’ll turn my back so you can preserve your modesty when you change your pants.”

  She looked at me as if she was ready to blow, but I wasn’t giving in. After a long, silent debate with herself, she finally threw her hands up and sighed.

  “Fine. Here,” she said in resignation as she presented her wrist to me.

  I reached into my pocket and fished out the key, undoing the shackle on her wrist and holding it for her, watching as she absentmindedly rubbed the skin that had been trapped beneath the cuff. After a long moment of her hesitation, I cleared my throat and raised an eyebrow.

  “Sometime before Christmas would be nice.”

  Fiona scowled and the sight made me chuckle. She bent down to search for a pajama top, grumbling to herself at the limited choices. While she was turned away, I used the moment to adjust my aching dick in my jeans, attempting to relieve some of the pressure.

  Sleeping next to her without touching was going to be hell.

  “Probably should’ve packed something less slutty,” I commented with a smirk, feelings of jealousy rolling through my stomach at the idea of her going out in some of the clothes I saw in her bag earlier. “Not that I really plan to complain about whatever you choose. Or you could always go naked. I think I could handle that.”

  I prayed she wouldn’t call my bluff. I really couldn’t handle that. I was pretty damn sure my dick would explode sometime during the night.

  Fiona managed to muster up some courage and she pulled her shirt over her head, exposing the curve of her back and hips to my eyes. The sight went directly to my cock and it twitched hard in my jeans, the need to thrust demanding to be sated. I just barely managed to stifle a groan while I adjusted myself yet again.

  When she reached around her back to unhook her bra, twisting ever so slightly enough to give me the tiniest glimpse of the side of her breast, I bit down hard on my lower lip.

  Fuck, she’s going to kill me. Death by unresolved sexual tension.

  My eye twitched when she didn’t put on a bra before pulling a thin tank top that clung perfectly to her body over her shoulders. I hadn’t really expected her to sleep in a bra, but the eyeful I got when she turned back to face me was more than enough to send a shock through my system.

  Instead of letting her sense my discomfort, I forced a smirk onto my face as I stared at her tight nipples and asked, “Cold?”

  She rolled her eyes and held up her wrist, accepting the shackle back around it. When neither of us moved for a long moment, she let out an irritated huff.

  “Well?”

  She was obviously waiting for a reaction, but I didn’t have a clue what she was expecting me to do. I must have missed something while I was busy staring at her tits.

  “Well, what?”

  She held up her other hand, shaking a handful of black fabric in my direction.

  “Are you going to turn around or what?”

  Suddenly remembering the rest of our bargain, I turned around and listened as she unzipped her jeans and slid them down, imagining what type of panties she was wearing. When I subtly turned my head in the hopes of catching a peek in my peripheral vision, her jeans sailed through the air and hit me in the face.

  “Don’t you dare!”

  I raised my hands in mock surrender and waited until she came around in front of me, then lowered them and grinned at her. She was only wearing that tiny tank top and a pair of equally small shorts and I thanked all the gods in heaven that she had obviously packed to stay with Brenda and not me.

  Because… damn.

  She sat on the edge of the bed while I unlocked my own shackle and hooked it to the bed frame to keep her from bolting. She glanced at the bar, then at me, an idea forming in her mind that I had been hoping to avoid.

  “We don’t need to share a bed,” she cried happily as I shut my eyes and cursed myself for my stupidity. “You can leave me like this. I promise I won’t even try to go anywhere.”

  She was practically pleading with me. Was the idea of being close
to me really so unappealing to her now? The thought stung more than I wanted to admit.

  “And what happens when you need to use the bathroom?”

  I pulled my t-shirt over my head and tossed it towards the door, reaching into my own bag to grab a pair of shorts to sleep in. When I realized she still hadn’t replied to my question, I glanced back, smiling to myself when I caught her checking me out.

  “Like what you see, baby?”

  Her eyes shot up to mine, wide and embarrassed. I chuckled lowly, turning around a little more to give her a better look at the muscles I’d developed since she last saw me. Not to mention the tattoos. Those were new to her as well.

  “Don’t be embarrassed. If I didn’t want you to look, I would’ve left the room.”

  I waited until she took the bait—her eyes hesitantly dipping down to my abs—before I reached for my zipper and pushed down my jeans and boxers in one fell swoop.

  Subtlety was never really my specialty.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Fiona

  Oh. My. God.

  When he pushed his pants down, my eyes followed the movement out of nothing more than instinct. But then his cock sprang free and I felt damn near hypnotized by the sight of it, unable to tear my eyes away. I was quite sure my jaw had dropped open, but I couldn’t seem to control that either.

  “Like this, too, then?” he asked cockily before wrapping a hand around the shaft and giving himself a rough stroke. “Because I sure like the way you’re looking at it.”

  A full-body shudder ran through me at the combination of his words and his tone, and I slammed my eyes closed, not wanting to play this game any longer. It already felt like I had been playing with fire and just the sight of his naked body was enough to make me feel like I was burning alive.

  It didn’t help that I could still feel his lips on mine, still feel his hands gripping my ass as he ground that cock against my core.

  Damn him.

  “Just… stop. Please,” I whispered hoarsely, refusing to open my eyes even though I could feel him approaching. “It’s not fair.”

  His hand gently touched my wrist as he said, “I put my shorts on. I’m… I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.”

  I cracked open one eye just enough to see that he had been telling the truth, but the loose basketball shorts did very little to hide his obvious arousal. Up close the way he was, it made my mouth dry.

  “It’s fine,” I told him, wincing at the way my voice cracked. “I just want to go to bed.”

  Without waiting for a response, I turned away and crawled underneath the covers, arranging myself as close to the edge as I could without falling off the mattress. The chain rattled as he locked himself back up, then I listened to the soft pad of his footsteps as he walked over to flip off the light.

  When the mattress dipped beneath his weight as he got into bed beside me, another shiver of desire went running up my spine. I could feel him moving around as he stretched out, likely staring up at the ceiling in the darkness.

  I was willing myself to fall asleep when he spoke again, his voice quiet.

  “I’m sorry, Fiona. I’m so fucking sorry.”

  I burrowed my face deeper into the pillow and mumbled, “It’s too late for that.”

  “I know.”

  “You broke my heart.”

  “I know.”

  Even though I didn’t want to relive it—didn’t want to hear anything more about it—the acknowledgment in his voice was more than enough to make my curiosity win out above my better judgment.

  “Why did you do it?”

  There was a gentle movement and I imagined that it was him turning his head towards me, even though the room was too dark to see in.

  “We both know that I would have fucked it up eventually,” he whispered, voice tight with what sounded suspiciously like regret. “Better sooner than later, right?”

  I rolled to my other side, frowning in his direction and wishing that I could see his face. “You don’t know that.”

  “Sure, I do. And don’t act like you don’t. Screwing things up is what I do best.”

  My frown grew deeper and for reasons I couldn’t even begin to explain, I reached out for him in the darkness. The moment my hand landed on his chest, his own hand came up to catch it and he laced our fingers together.

  “I loved you,” I whispered harshly, wincing when I felt his fingers tighten around my own. “I told you I loved you and hours later, I walked in on you fucking some girl. Even if you didn’t feel the same way, how could you do that to me? You were supposed to be my best friend!”

  Tears were rolling freely down my cheeks even as he brought our joined hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to my knuckles. I closed my eyes and waited, counting the seconds until he finally spoke again.

  “I would’ve lost you either way,” he said quietly. “But what happened with that girl was just me being in the wrong place at the wrong time and just the right amount of drunk. It was a mistake.”

  That was something I hadn’t even considered. I could still picture his emotionless face as he stared at me, only now, the glassiness of his eyes that night made a lot more sense.

  Not that it even came close to excusing his actions, but his admission still gave me a little peace of mind. At least now, I could be certain that he hadn’t done it with the intention of hurting me, which was what I had been assuming for the past few months.

  I rolled onto my back and closed my eyes, our fingers still intertwined as I drifted into a restless sleep.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jonathan

  The darkness made it a hell of a lot easier to admit to my fuck-ups out loud, even though I knew it was a cowardly way to go about it. Not long after I admitted that what she caught me doing on prom night was a drunken mistake, I felt her hand go slack in mine as she fell asleep.

  Even though I knew it was pushing my luck, I still rolled over to face her, getting myself close to her side and trying to squint into the darkness to see her face. It was a fruitless effort, though, so I settled for letting my own eyes shut and running my thumb over her knuckles while she slept.

  * * *

  “Jonathan.”

  “Hmm?” I groaned, clearly hearing the voice whispering my name but finding myself unable to open my eyes.

  “Jonathan! Wake up!”

  “I’m awake,” I slurred as I attempted to get my body to move. I pushed myself up as best as I could with my arms and let out a grunt when I rolled off whatever I had been lying on and hit the metal below with a hard thud. “Fuck. Where am I?”

  Footsteps came closer to my side and I still couldn’t open my eyes.

  What the fuck is going on?

  “Look at me, you piece of shit!”

  Was that—

  Finally, my eyes flew open and immediately locked on a pair of angry brown ones. I felt bile rise in my throat when I realized it was Clarissa leaning over me, her hand tightly gripping her clutch like she was going to use it as a weapon. I swallowed hard when I noticed her dress, then glanced down my own body and winced when I realized I was wearing a tux.

  Prom. It’s a dream.

  “What the fuck are you doing out here?” Clarissa demanded, dragging my attention back to her. “Are you drunk already?”

  I frowned and shook my head as I glanced around at my surroundings. When I tried to stand up and found myself wobbling on my feet, I wondered if it was because I really was drunk or if it was a side effect of the lucid dream.

  “What time is it?” I forced my dream-self to ask, slurring the words so badly that I didn’t even recognize the sound of my own voice.

  “Almost time for the crowning. Come on,” she said angrily as she reached out to drag me back to the school by my arm. “I will not let you ruin the big moment.”

  Big moment? Surely, she didn’t mean becoming prom queen, because in reality, she hadn’t even been nominated. Then again, in reality, I hadn’t gone out to the football field and pa
ssed out on the bleachers.

  I was still rubbing my hand over my eyes and trying to clear my vision when she pulled me through the doors of the gymnasium. The additional lighting in the room seemed to help pull me out of the haze I was in and I looked around, trying to spot anyone else I recognized.

  But like something out of a horror movie, everyone’s faces were just… blank. No eyes. No nose. Just… nothing. It was eerie as fuck.

  After a few minutes of frantic searching, I finally spotted Chuck, one of my best friends from high school besides Fiona and seemingly the only other person in the room with a fucking face.

  I breathed a sigh of relief and lifted my arm to drunkenly wave to him as I shouted, “Chuck! Hey!”

  He turned and gave me a nod of acknowledgement, then motioned to his wrist. When I just shook my head in confusion, he called out, “They’re about to crown me king, man! I’ll catch you after!”

  “King? Chuck? No fucking way,” I said with a scoff. Chuck was a lot of things, but popular was not one of them.

  Clarissa rolled her eyes and snorted. “You’re so fucking clueless it’s almost depressing. I can’t believe I slept with you.”

  “What?” I asked incredulously, turning to her and ignoring the announcer on stage as they began reading off the list of king and queen nominees. “But—We haven’t yet. Not until after—”

  “Shut up!” she screeched, deafening me before she threatened me with a long, painted fingernail by waving it in my face. “You’re going to ruin everything!”

  “Yeah. ‘M pretty good at that.”

  “Shhh!”

  My head whipped to the right and I incredulously stared at the blank faces that just shushed me. Finger were held in front of where the mouths should have been, but how they actually made the noise was beyond my comprehension.

  “Our king and queen are… Chuck and Fiona!”

  The sound of Fiona’s name drew my attention to the stage and I watched with a slack jaw as she strolled up to the microphone, hand-in-hand with Chuck. Her face was thankfully intact and she was wearing a dress I’d never seen on her before, looking like something straight out of a high-fashion magazine. She was stunning.