by B. B. Hamel
But I didn’t have to make that awful choice. He came back to me, just like he promised, and brought my parents with him.
“What are you thinking about?”
I turned and saw Emory standing in the kitchen, grinning at me.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Liar.” He came over to me and kissed me. I felt a thrill run through my body, the same thrill I’d first felt. It never got old, Emory touching my body that way.
“Just reminiscing about the past,” I admitted.
“Oh yeah? Thinking about that time I fucked you in the rest stop?”
I laughed. “Emory, Mason is right over there.”
“He can’t hear me.” He kissed me again.
“I was also wondering about those tomatoes,” I said as we finally broke our kiss off.
“They’ll come in. Don’t worry.” Emory pulled me close against him. “Listen, I have something for you.”
“What’s that? You didn’t need to get me something.”
“You finally graduated. I sure as hell had to buy you a present.”
I laughed, shaking my head. After everything, I finally went back and finished my degree. It was a long time coming, but it felt so good finally finishing it.
“What’s this present then?” I asked.
“Go out front.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
Emory walked over to Mason and swooped him up. Mason giggled and laughed as Emory lifted him into the air.
I smiled at them. Emory was an incredible father. He’d had some catching up to do, had to figure out how to change diapers and what it meant to really take care of a child, but he took to it so fast. I was so proud of him.
I touched my stomach, smiling. He was going to be a great dad to our next child, too. A little brother or sister for Mason, only a few months away.
“Come on,” Emory said.
“Come on, Mommy,” Mason cheered.
I laughed and followed my two favorite men through the house, our house. When Emory told me he was retiring from the SEALs, I’d argued against him for hours, but he was such a stubborn man. He got a job working for the Navy Intelligence as an analyst, and I had no clue what that meant. Apparently he looked at data and helped determine threat scenarios, whatever that was.
But even better, he’d bought a house near my parents in Dayton. It was only a few minutes by car to get to my parents, and that couldn’t have been more perfect. Lindy was still living in the area in her own apartment, and so all of my favorite people in the world were still living in one small town, all near each other.
I’d always wanted my own house, and Emory had made that happen. I never asked it of him, but he said he had a ton of money saved up from years of SEAL pay. He sold his apartment and all his stuff back in California and moved into the house with me.
We never looked back. I got pregnant again not too long after that, after a long discussion. We both wanted a big family, and we knew that we needed to get started right away. Which wasn’t exactly a chore, since I was constantly in and out of bed with Emory. Every spare second we got, we spent in bed together, our bodies sweating together. Emory taught me so much about what it meant to get off, what my body could do, what I could feel. His fingers, his mouth, his muscles, everything about him drove me absolutely wild.
It was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for more. When The Network was after us, I’d thought my life was over, but my real life was just getting started. I could have gone without all the violence and the terror, but I was so beyond happy that Emory was brought back into my life.
Emory pushed open the front door and I followed him out.
I gasped at what I saw.
“Emory!” I said. “You didn’t.”
“Happy graduation, mommy,” he said, grinning.
“Happy gradation!” Mason cried out.
I walked over to the blue car parked in the driveway, shocked. I’d never owned a new car before, and this was perfect.
“It’s a Prius,” Emory said. “I’d rather a big black truck, but I know how you’re all environmentally conscious.”
“Emory, how can we afford this?”
He smirked at me. “The Navy pays pretty well, and I have a lot more saved than you realize. Trust me, you’re worth it.”
I shook my head, on the verge of happy tears. How could this all be happening to me?
The man of my dreams, a perfect, happy son, a beautiful house, another child on the way, and now the exact car I’d always dreamed about. It felt like none of this was real, but it was my life, my real life, and none of it was going away.
I walked over to Emory and kissed him hard. Mason made a noise, not happy to see us kissing, but that was okay.
“I love you,” I said to him.
“I love you too.” He grinned hugely and put Mason down. “Now, Mason,” he said, “remember what I told you? Like we practiced?”
“Yeah!”
I stepped back. “What are you doing?”
Emory faced me on one knee. “Tara Bright, I love you, and this was a long, long time coming.”
“No,” I said, shocked.
Mason walked over to me and took a little box from his pocket. “Marry Daddy?” he asked.
I took the box. “Thank you, Mason,” I said.
He ran back over to Emory, who swooped him up.
I opened the box and gasped, shocked again. It was the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen, a cluster ring with perfect, shining diamonds. I slipped it onto my finger.
“Yes, of course,” I said.
Emory put Mason down, wrapped me in his arms, and kissed me hard.
“Now I’ll make you mine forever,” he said.
I kissed him again. “I already was yours forever.”
I knew it was true. Perfect house, perfect husband, perfect children. It seemed too good to be true. I was having such a hard time wrapping my head around all of this, but it wasn’t going away. Emory was here to stay, and that meant my life was going to keep feeling like a lovely waking dream.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go call your parents and Lindy.”
We moved toward the house, our home, the place where I felt the happiest, the safest, because of him. Because of Emory.
He wrapped his big, strong arms around me and we walked toward the house together, Mason in tow.
This was my family, my joy.
I couldn’t ask for anything more.
Stiff: A Stepbrother Romance
Prologue
I was stuck in the dark.
He was so far away and his touch was like a distant memory. I could just barely feel the soft slip of his lips against my skin. I wanted that feeling again, needed it badly, but I couldn’t reach him. I wanted his muscles, his skin, his lips, his leg-shaking grin. He made me squirm with sweet agony. He was the light, the opposite of where I was.
The darker one was just down the hall.
I could hear the water drip down the walls of my cage, my body contorted to fit comfortably while my hands were locked up above my head.
He hadn’t touched me. Not yet, at least.
But his whispered words were almost worst: I’m going to kill him slowly, and I’m going to make you watch.
He was always just a shadow, just a small motion in the corner of my eyes. I never thought I’d be taken, never thought I’d be held somewhere against my will.
I also never thought I’d be begging for my life in the den of a serial killer.
Still, Easton was out there. It was him that I needed, his strength that kept me from screaming out. I remembered the way his arms grabbed me against his body, the way his tattoos snaked in and out of his sleeves, and that wicked, teasing grin.
I thought of him over and over, locked in that cage.
I’m going to cut his throat for you, Laney. I’m going to make you watch.
Shivers ran down my spine.
Open your mouth, Laney. Scream for me.
Quiet as a mouse.
Still as the dead.
I wouldn’t give him what he wanted.
1
Laney
I hadn’t been home in almost three years.
Once I got out of Mishawaka, I thought I was gone for good. I never wanted to go back to my small, backwoods town in the middle of Indiana.
But, unfortunately, it was hard not to come home when your dad just got married without telling you about it.
Mishawaka. Town of a few thousand people, and a few thousand more lies. It was every single small-town stereotype all rolled into one very real place. I loved it back when I was a little kid. My mom was alive back then, and Mishawaka felt like a real home. Things changed after she passed away and I began to realize that small-town life wasn’t what I thought it was.
College was my way out. When I got my scholarship to study criminal justice at the University of Chicago, my whole world changed. Suddenly it wasn’t just the same three places and the same old people, but it was an entire city. I was both surrounded and alone, and it was totally amazing. Nobody knew me and I knew nobody, and I liked it like that.
Of course, I made friends. College was just like that. You had to really hate people if you wanted to make absolutely no friends. I fell into a comfortable life in the city, working a decent job during summers to afford my apartment and going to school.
Up until I got the call, at least.
Summer had just started and the city was coming alive after a particularly brutal winter. It was early and I had just finished my finals. I was looking forward to finally taking it easy and not working while going to classes every single day.
But that was a pipe dream, of course.
My cell phone rang, but I didn’t recognize the number. I considered not answering, and in retrospect I wish I hadn’t. That one phone call would lead to everything, to working side by side with the most frustrating man I’d ever met, to helping people in ways I never realized I could, to getting locked in a cage.
But that wasn’t for another few weeks.
“Hello?” I said, picking up the phone.
“Sweetie, it’s Dad.”
I paused, surprised. I hadn’t heard from him in a few months. “How’s it going, Dad?”
“I’m fine.” There was another awkward pause. Why had things gotten so strained between the two of us?
I knew the answer to that question. I moved away from Mishawaka and never looked back, and in a lot of ways Dad felt like that was like turning my back on our family. He had lived in town his whole life and so had my mom, and he never really understood me moving all the way to the city to get away from town.
I should have kept in better touch with him, even went home a few times to visit, but it was so easy for time to get away from you. One day I hadn’t been home once during freshman year, and the next day it’d been three years, all in the blink of an eye.
“I have to tell you something, kiddo,” he said.
“Okay. What happened?” I felt nervous, like I had somehow done something wrong.
“I got married.”
My eyes went wide and I took a short breath. “Are you serious?” I asked.
“Yes, dear, very serious. Do you remember Mrs. Wright?”
“Sure, I remember her.” She was blond, tall, and infamous. Her husband had died years before I was born, but she’d kept his name. She was a popular lawyer in town and sat on the council, the only woman with a recurring seat. In a lot of ways, Susan Wright was the most powerful woman in town.
“Well,” Dad continued, “her and I have been getting very close over the past couple of years. Last weekend, we decided to finally make it official.”
I shook my head. “This is pretty hard to believe.”
“Listen, sweetie, I know we haven’t seen much of each other lately, but I’d love it if you could come home and spend some time with us this summer.”
I bit my lip. “I don’t know, Dad.”
“Please? It’d mean a lot to both of us.”
“I have a lot of work to do here. I have a job. I can’t just leave, you know?”
“Actually, about jobs,” Dad said quickly. “Susan heard you were a criminal justice major, and she pulled some strings. If you want, there’s an important internship with a detective that would be perfect for you.”
“An internship with a detective?”
“Sure. It’s part of a new program at the sheriff’s.”
I was completely blown away and speechless. I had barely spoken to my dad in the last three years, and suddenly he was dropping bombshells on me one after the other.
“Let’s slow down,” I said.
“Hold on, honey,” he replied. I heard some sounds on the other end of the line. “I’m sorry. I have to run. I’m at a job site right now.”
I sighed. “Okay, sure.” Dad was one of the most famous and influential property developers in our area, and he was pretty much always working.
“Please think about it.”
“Okay. I will.”
“Good to hear from you.” He hung up the phone.
I leaned back in my chair, tossing my phone onto the couch. I barely understood what I was feeling as I took a few deep breaths.
My dad had remarried. He hadn’t even told me about his relationship before that point. Not that I could blame him; I was pretty much estranged from him. But suddenly he wanted me home and had even found a job for me?
I sighed, looking out the window. It had been a long time since I was home. Things had to have changed. At least, I had certainly changed. There were friends back home that I hadn’t seen in a while.
Plus, if Susan Wright had gotten me a job, it was probably pretty serious. I was working as a waitress at a local upscale bar, and while the money was good, it wasn’t exactly helping my career at all.
My long-time goal was to go into the FBI. I didn’t necessarily want to be a field agent, but instead I wanted to work as an analyst or something like that. Ideally, I’d work as support for agents, providing intelligent analysis on field reports and cases, essentially acting as an extra brain for stuck agents.
Unfortunately, splitting the bill thirty ways on thirty different credit cards for drunk assholes didn’t exactly give me the skills I needed.
It was a tough decision. I had left Mishawaka for a lot of reasons, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to go back. Then again, I had changed. That town didn’t have control over me anymore.
It was a tough decision either way.
I stood up and stretched. I decided that there was only one way to figure things out: I needed to order a pizza.
Two weeks later, I climbed out of the cab and looked up at my Dad’s house.
I paid and tipped the cabbie and watched as he drove off, leaving me standing there regretting every decision I had made leading up to that moment.
The pizza hadn’t worked, unfortunately, and I had still been without any clue about what to do when I’d got another call I didn’t recognize.
It was Susan herself, as it turned out.
And she was very lovely. We had a long chat about her and my father, and she even gave me more details about the internship. Apparently, it was with a private detective that used to be a prominent FBI member, which seemed pretty much too good to be true.
After that conversation, and after another frustrating shift at the bar, I pretty much made up my mind. I gave my notice the next day, and I was headed home not too long after that.
It was a crazy decision. My friends all thought I was nuts for just up and going home for the summer, and especially for giving up my job.
But as soon as I heard that I would be working with an FBI agent, even if he had left the bureau, I knew I had to go. I knew I couldn’t turn down an opportunity like that.
Plus, I wanted to see my dad, of course. I felt bad that the job was what really changed my mind, but I couldn’t deny it. I planned on making it up to Dad by spending plenty of time with him, or at least
as much as he wanted.
I took another steadying breath and trudged up the stairs, ringing the doorbell. It felt weird to be ringing my dad’s bell, but it wasn’t the same house I had grown up in. So much had changed, and yet nothing ever really does.
I waited a few minutes before ringing again. Eventually, I heard someone yell from inside, and slowly the door pushed open.
“Hey—” I started to say, expecting my dad, but stopped mid-sentence.
The guy looking back at me with a small smirk on his face was tall. His green eyes pierced into mine, and I took a small, unconscious step back away from him. I was surprised at the way my heart suddenly began to hammer in my chest as my eyes looked up along his muscular body and lingered on the hints of tattoos at the edges of his long-sleeve dress shirt.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah. Hi. I’m Laney.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Hi, Laney. I’m Easton.”
The name suddenly clicked, and I took a sharp breath. “You’re Susan’s kid. Easton Wright.”
“That’s right.”
“I’m Alan’s daughter.”
Recognition bloomed across his face as he stepped out of the door and onto the stoop next to me.
“Well, Laney, I guess this makes you and me stepsiblings.”
“I guess so.”
“Good to meet you. I was just leaving.” He glanced back inside. “Susan is just inside, in the kitchen.”
“Okay—” I started to say, but he was already walking off. “Nice to meet you,” I called after him.
He raised his hand in a small wave but kept walking. It was a little rude the way he just walked off like that. He had stared at me like I was a total idiot for a second. Maybe Susan hadn’t told him about me.
I barely remembered Easton from high school. He was a few years older than me, probably three or four, and I only knew him as a legend. He was an athlete, though not the star of anything, and pretty popular. But he was best known as being the king of the debate team.
In our town, you weren’t popular, athletic, and on the debate team. It just simply wasn’t done. The fact that Easton somehow managed to do all of those things was impressive in itself. There were also other stories about him, mythical kind of things, mostly stuff that was probably made up.
