When Clodagh is forced to leave her beloved America because her mother has found love in England, it is with the only sweetness that she will gain membership to the prestigious Royal Ballet Company of London. However, when she arrives she doesn’t expect to find love with her soon-to-be stepbrother, but before she knows what’s happening, she had adjusted to her new life, but not to her new forbidden love.
Stepbrother Romance
The English air was particularly damper than what Clodagh was used to. When she lived in Phoenix in the United States, the air was crisp with heat and always had her begging for more water. She could tell that her home in London would be different from the second that she stepped off the plane. Her mother, Melissa, took off her shades and looked around at the abysmally cloudy sky that seemed to stretch for miles, and beamed, like only she could. Clodagh supposed that her mother had a great deal to be happy about, even under the dreary English sky. Her mother was getting married, and uprooting both herself and Clodagh for a new life in Manchester had been an only too-easy choice.
Melissa had offered her seventeen-year-old daughter a sweetener, however. Back home in her sunny suburban town in Phoenix, Clodagh had been a member of the Phoenix Ballet Company – a most exquisitely elite company that she had broken limbs to get into. Yet here – her mother had somehow wrangled Clodagh an audition with the London Royal Ballet Company, an even more exquisite and elite company. Clodagh had ogled when her mother had told her that she had booked her an audition (in the high season, no less) and had eagerly packed her bags.
And yet, now she was here, in a little black taxi on the way to her soon-to-be stepfather’s house, she had her reservations. Her mother and Lyle had met through an online dating site that her mother had joined only because of the pressure she felt at being single, since Clodagh’s father and her ex-husband had long since moved on. As it transpired, Lyle was a businessman for a corporate sales company, and he made it his business to fly out to Phoenix to meet Melissa several times over the course of the following six months. Initially Clodagh had merely sighed and smiled benignly when her mother spoke of her Skype dates with Lyle, though when she was asked if she would mind sharing their small house with Lyle and his three children for a week in summer, she knew things had taken a turn for the serious.
Lyle had arrived and greeted Clodagh with a kiss on the cheek and a box of duty-free airport chocolates and pralines and in tow, was his five-year-old twin son and daughter, Harriet and Henry. Both of the children sported blonde curls and dimples, and were in general, very pleasant. Indeed, Clodagh had surprised herself at how much she had enjoyed their company over the week and was excited to see them again, despite having kept in contact on Skype. However, the gaping hole left behind by Lyle’s not-so-present son Axel was obvious throughout the entire week – though Clodagh did not bother herself into worrying too strongly about her mother’s secondary anxieties. Axel was eighteen from what Clodagh had bothered to find out from her mother, and was still particularly close to his birth mother and had chosen to spend the week with her instead. This did not come as a shock to Lyle, who said that Axel was having a difficult time adjusting to the concept of his father in a new relationship. Clodagh had rolled her eyes at this – she was having a difficult time too, but she sucked it up and hung around.
It had just begun to rain as the taxi pulled into the quaint estate pillars, marking the beginning of Woodquay Houses. The houses were all ginormous – and deeply unlike that which Clodagh was used to in her hometown. From the satisfied smile on her mother’s face, she could tell that the houses were even larger than she had thought. Rosebushes glimmered in some houses, and in others foundations trickled with rain water. One look at the cars in some of house’s drives made Clodagh settle back into her seat and tug on the sleeves of her sweater anxiously. Everything seemed different here; even the sky – which was meant to be the same – looked impossibly different.
Thunder rolled in the distance as Clodagh stepped out of the car and peered up at her new home. It was indeed huge, but she couldn’t help but feel soothed at the presence of the pink bike in the drive way and the hydrangea bushes that were messily falling into the neighbour’s perfectly painted picket fence. Indeed, the house itself, all three floors, was largely covered in ivy, and swallows flew in and out of the depths of disguise chirping all the while.
Out of the stain glassed double doors, burst Harriet, her curls flying in the wind and her favourite teddy bear, Alfie, clutched to her side.
“Clo!” She screamed as tackled Clodagh, beaming. Henry was not far behind her as his sticky hands found Clodagh’s waist swiftly. Clodagh caught her mother beaming out of the corner of her eye looking at them, just as she was tackled into a bear hug by Lyle. Clodagh had never seen him dressed so casually as his rugby jersey stretched tight as he squeezed her mom.
“Hey, Clodagh!” She too was engulfed in a hug, and she couldn’t help but smile – despite all her misgivings, she did like Lyle.
Taking both Henry and Harriet’s hands in hers, Clodagh looked up as her mother followed Lyle inside. By the door, a set of dark grey eyes found hers and she froze in place; Axel. His colouring was distinctly different to the twins’ with his dark brown curls and slightly more tanned skin. Clodagh could not ignore his height, as he had to bend to fit through the doorway as he took in her hands wrapped around the twins’ before turning his back to them and going inside.
“Hey!” Lyle called from what Clodagh presumed was the kitchen, as she entered. “Can you guys show Clodagh her room?”
With this Harriet giggled with enthusiasm and gave Clodagh a mere moment to take in the large entrance hall and ornate stairs topped with marble-made bannisters, before she was tugged upstairs – Axel’s expression replaying in her mind.
*
Over the weekend, Clodagh found it easier to adjust than she had thought she would, as she learned the layout of the house with the ever-available help of the twins. It was only when Sunday evening came and she found herself faced with a full day at her new school and her ballet audition on the following day that she began to feel uncomfortable.
Lyle had sent for her room to be entirely decorated in luxurious pink, and for her school uniform to have been tailored to fit her expressed sizes. The plaid knee-length skirt seemed to jump off of her bed and grow legs until it was time for her to put it on the next morning.
“Axel will show you the bus stop okay, and the twins are already gone. Lyle said you should ask Axel if you need anything at school – like someone to show you around.” Clodagh’s insides writhed as she thought of the distance which Axel had been keeping all weekend. They had spoken briefly at each family breakfast, but only formally and Axel never met her gaze. By this time it was becoming difficult to ignore his good looks.
“He’s going to get the bus with you to your audition afterwards.” Her mother left her room and Clodagh tried to push her thoughts away. Locking the door, she packed her ballet bag to perfection – thankful that the moving van had arrived several days before they had. She took her time changing as she braided her raven-black hair down her back. She never wore make up and was keen to accept her naturally pale face. The uniform fitted her well, and she was pleased – completed with her white socks and black shoes she thought she even looked cute.
Outside on the landing, just as she was throwing her ballet gym bag over her shoulder, she collided with Axel. He was in the matching
boys’ uniform, complete with tie. She noticed his muscles tense under his school jumper.
“Sorry.” She mutter before she scooted downstairs.
*
Crawford’s Mixed Grammar School was unlike anything which Clodagh had experienced at her old high school back in Phoenix, and she had only been there several hours. Axel walked by her dutifully – and stoically – to the bus and felt his gaze on the back of her neck on the journey there. Yet once she had picked up her schedule from the office, he melted into a group of boys which were all his age. Some looked at her interestedly until Axel tugged their shoulders and they looked away from her.
She stuffed her ballet bag and new books into her assigned locker and just as she made to lock it she felt an almighty tug on the back of her neck and she fell backwards. Where her braid met her neck, a girl twice the size that she was had pulled her braid. Looking up, Clodagh saw the group of girls above her. She struggled to her feet as she took in their blonde hair and perfectly make up covered faces – they looked like clones of the girl that pulled her hair. Clodagh quickly pulled her braid over her shoulder, rubbing the sore spot on the back of her neck.
“What was that for?” She asked, her voice far more of a terrified whisper than she had hoped.
Two of the girls turned away from her and dug into her locker, pulling out the ballet bag and opening it. They threw item after item onto the floor and Clodagh was held back by the largest girl as she tried to rush forward.
The leader bent down and snatched up Clodagh’s favourite white leotard. She struggled.
“Leave that alone!” She screamed as the ripping noise began at the arm of her leotard. The girl tore it to pieces and dropped each piece on the floor, standing on each. Nodding to the girl holding Clodagh, she was released, but not before the leader could put her face close to hers and say; “Stay away from “Axel.”
The hallways had long since cleared and Clodagh sat on the floor, tears streaming silently down her face as she held the tattered pieces of her leotard in her hands. Just as she had decided that she should move on and get to her first English class, footsteps on the floor caught her attention.
“Hey, you okay?” The voice was one which she had heard only rarely, but she knew it was Axel. Ducking her head, she stood, rubbing her face clean of tears.
“I’m fine.” She said, but Axel was already bending down to place her things back in her bag. When he caught sight of the tattered leotard, she snatched up the pieces, along with her book bag. She shoved her ballet bag deep into her locker and slammed it shut, avoiding Axel’s gaze, thankful that her fringe fell before her eyes.
“It’s fine. I’m fine.” She said, looking into her locker rather than at him, before she stuffed her leotard into a nearby bin and took off down the hall, unaware of this was the right direction or not. She thought she could feel Axel’s unsaid words in the air between them, but she didn’t want to hang around for his pity.
*
Clodagh was fighting her best judgment and using all of the determination which she could muster to climb onto the city bus with Axel and head to her ballet audition. She knew she would have to dance in her uniform but she had to try. With any luck she might be able to explain.
Axel ran a hand through his wet hair and Clodagh noticed for the first time that his uniform was sopping wet. She frowned, and before she could stop herself; she asked.
“Why are you so wet?” She said as they sat at the very back of the bus. To her surprise he sat directly next to her, his thigh touching hers.
With a sigh, Axel pulled his bag from his shoulder and rested it on his lap before unzipping it and withdrawing a pale pink material. Clodagh’s heart raced as she saw her leotard – the one which she had left at home. Axel handed it to her, not looking at her and she beamed.
“You walked home to get it?” Her voice incredulous.
He nodded.
“You missed class?” More incredulous still.
He nodded, again.
Unable to help herself Clodagh sat up and kissed Axel’s cheek in gratitude. She didn’t have to dance in her uniform now, and her prospects seemed wholly improved! She set about undoing her hair and smoothening it before tying it into the perfect ballerina bun – which took three times to perfect.
Axel cleared his throat before speaking.
“Look. I know those girls did that to you. But if they ever do anything to you again, you have to come to me.” His voice was serious and his eyes seemed to play with fire and he finally met her large eyes.
She nodded, though she knew that if something ever were to happen, she would not tell him – little did he know that he was at the root of her newfound problem.
“Thank you.” She said, and she watched the fire in his eyes burn before she looked away, knowing that the blush under her skin was unlike anything she should be feeling for a soon-to-be stepbrother.
*
Axel watched her audition from the window looking into the auditorium of the Royal Ballet Company’s practice rooms. Clodagh could feel his gaze on her as she danced the Russian and Chinese dances from The Nutcracker, and even through her proud moment as Clara victorious over the Rat King. She had selected The Nutcracker for her audition dances, because of its nostalgia for her, as the first recital she had ever taken part in.
Watching her judiciously was three of the Company’s corporate teachers whose expressions gave away so little.
And yet – she was accepted into the company with enthusiasm once her audition music faded into the background and before her pants had left her.
Afterwards, on the bus home, she felt a certain tension in the air between both she and Axel. She had been too exhilarated from her audition to change back into her school clothes, but soon she grew cold from the adrenaline and was now swaddled in Axel’s large duffle coat. She smelled the scent of his aftershave and knew that it would be locked in her memory forever.
“You were brilliant out there.” He spoke lowly, but softly, a smile creeping at either side of his mouth.
“Thanks. It felt great.” Clodagh answered truthfully, looking up at him, her face flushed.
She felt her flush deepen as she looked into his eyes, and somehow she knew she should look away, but she couldn’t.
He leaned down swiftly and he kissed her once, lightly on the lips before pulling away and looking horrified at himself. Clodagh smiled before the weight of the implications of the kiss could find her fully.
*
Over the course of the next couple of months, Clodagh knew that she would find it difficult to stay away from Axel after the kiss, but she couldn’t have imagined how easy it would be consider that he was keenly keeping a distance from her. Though Clodagh could not help and wonder if Axel had said something to the girls at school because, while she had not made any particularly close friends, no one had bothered her again.
As for talking to her in the house, Clodagh’s sole company became the twins as her mother and Lyle threw themselves fully into wedding planning as they hoped to have a Christmas wedding. Lyle’s job was hectically scheduled but he always made time to go to cake tasting meetings and the likes with Melissa at weekends. Her mother herself had become a recent fanatic into the work of weddings and was considering opening her own planning business after she and Lyle tied the knot. While Clodagh usually worked tirelessly to prevent her mother’s hair brain schemes from coming into fruition, Lyle was encouraging, which Clodagh thought was nice despite its misguided nature.
There had been several awkward run ins with Axel in the house, though she tried her best after ballet practice to hide in her room swallowed by homework, or to convince the twins to watch a movie or bake with her.
There had been one such occasion when she had been watching Finding Nemo with the twins and Harriet had begged Axel to join them on the floor of their room, where they had mounted beanbags on top of each other and mounds of blankets to create the ideal home cinema. Harriet had begged until she turned blue and A
xel had no choice but to take the only available spot next to Clodagh on the floor. In the dim light, Clodagh saw him tense when he rubbed shoulders with her. This discomfort made her uneasy and she forced a smooth smile and openly relaxed her body, hoping that pretending he didn’t care of his closeness would help him too.
However, she was wrong, as this did nothing to smooth Axel’s posture. During a particularly moving part of the film, Clodagh began to cry, much to Harriet and Henry’s amusement, but she couldn’t deny that Nemo’s father’s search had gotten the better of her emotions.
In the dark light of the bedroom, she felt Axel squeezed her tear-drenched hand softly, before withdrawing it swiftly as if noting what he had done.
It took Clodagh’s hand a long time before the heat that had entered at Axel’s touch left.
*
Clodagh entered the house with burst, bounding inside, as her enthusiasm swept through the doorway. It was late October, and even the dearie rain outside and the onslaught of Halloween candy in shops could not dampen her spirit.
“Mom!” She shouted, but all she was met with was Henry’s hug around the midriff as he escaped Lyle’s intense gaze at the dining room table as he attempted to get the twins to knuckle down into some homework.
“What’s up, Clo?” Lyle asked interestedly as she hugged Henry back but he frowned at Harriet and pointed to her sums. “Your mom is just in the shower.”
“I got the part as Clara, in The Nutcracker – for the Christmas production!” Under normal circumstances, Clodagh liked to think that she was serene and quiet, but she could not help the excited news slip from her mouth as she spoke cheerfully.
“Who’s Clara?” Henry asked confused, as Lyle stood and gave Clodagh a peck on the top of her head, just as her mother came into the room, her wet hair wrapped in a turban style towel.
Clodagh turned, eyes dancing with excitement.
“Mom, I got it! I’m Clara!” She was practically inaudible as her voice turned into a squeal as Melissa caught her in a tight embrace. Over the top of her head, she could see her Axel standing in the doorway of the kitchen, watching her. He gave her a small smile.
Shifter Romance: Dragon's Bite (Paranormal Shifter Romance) (Shifter Romance, Paranormal Romance, Angels, Devils, Demons,Short Stories) Page 1
