Beware of Bad Boy

by Brookshire, April

  “What am I supposed to do about this? You’re my son and she’s my wife. I also care about Gianna and Chance and how they’re affected.”

  “We aren’t doing anything wrong.”

  “But if you hurt her. . . .” he trailed off.

  “I won’t.”

  “Does she plan on telling her mother?”

  “Not yet,” I told him. “We wanted to give ourselves time to adjust to the relationship ourselves.”

  My dad gripped the arms of his chair. His agitation made me feel bad. “Okay, I won’t say anything to Julie yet, but this can’t stay a secret forever. Her mom has a right to know. I have a feeling things may get bad when she does find out. We’ll just deal with it when the time comes.”

  “Thanks, dad.” My dad appeared surprised by my gratitude and a little pleased. We hadn’t been close since he and my mom divorced so maybe sharing this secret would be a good thing.

  I found Gianna in the living room and related the conversation I’d with my dad. She was relieved he’d stay quiet about it for now. They may be worried about Julie’s reaction, but I hardly knew the woman and she wasn’t my mother. For their sake, I’d let it be a secret for now, but not for long.

  Later that night, when Julie and my dad were downstairs watching a new Disney movie with Chance, Gianna and I were in her room. I sat at her desk as she stood behind me, looking over my shoulder. Following her instructions, I’d drawn a sketch of the tattoo she wanted. She seemed kind of shy about it and I almost had to force the details from her. It was cute. She had me draw a boom box with wings.

  “Where are you getting it?” I asked her.

  “I’m not sure yet,” she said, looking down at her clothed body. “Definitely somewhere my mom won’t see it.”

  “All this hiding things from your mom is really getting on my nerves,” I mumbled. “Maybe we should just lay it all out. She’s a big girl and she has to find out eventually.”

  “You can’t do that!”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. Was this about more than me being her stepbrother? Would her mom think I wasn’t good enough for her precious angel? We weren’t really related! Julie would have to be delusional to protest for that reason.

  “Fine,” I said. “What about school? Are we going to hide it there also?”

  “I’ll let you decide. I don’t care either way,” she conceded.

  “Well, that makes me feel good, you not caring either way.” I turned back to the sketch, touching it up.

  She wrapped her arms around my neck from behind and kissed me on the cheek. “I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t care because there’s no one there that’s important enough to me.”

  “What about the misfits?” I asked, mostly forgiving her.

  “The what?”

  “Our new friends.”

  “Oh yeah, we’ll tell them, of course, but I could care less what anyone else thinks.” When she nibbled on my ear she was completely forgiven.

  “Now, about that cuddling we discussed earlier,” I reminded her, making her giggle in my ear.

  *****

  As was our new habit, I drove Gianna to school the next morning. I’d decided she’d be coming to and from school with me from now on. Things would be unpleasant when I gave Desiree the brush off today and let Seth know to back the fuck off. Josh had better not try any shit either.

  I chose a spot far out in the parking lot. Before Gianna got out of the car, I grabbed her waist to pull her onto my lap. I’d miss her lips and wanted to get my fix before the faculty’s judging eyes killed the mood.

  Breathless, she rested her head on my shoulder. “I’d be okay with skipping today.”

  “Me too, but I think we should get this over with. Give a big screw you to anyone who has a problem with it.”

  “You can give them a screw you attitude and I’ll give them a leave me the hell alone attitude,” she informed me.

  “You do that, little badass. Come on, I’ll walk you to first period”

  Holding hands as we walked through the parking lot, we drew stares and whispers right away. It was like being in a bad teen movie. Didn’t they have classes to get to? We passed by Seth and Josh where they were leaning against the back of Josh’s truck. Their dirty looks made my day. Perhaps Seth wasn’t such a nice guy after all, at least not when it came to me. My smart-ass grin didn’t help matters.

  Gianna didn’t seem fazed by it all. My girlfriend was so beautiful and brave. Walking past people, she acted as if we weren’t the focus of their attention and conversations. But then, our classmates had gossiped about Gianna in the past.

  We spotted Kara and the other misfits standing near the front doors. Kara greeted is with, “Hi,” then took in where our hands were joined and shouted, “Oh my god! I knew it! Didn’t I tell you guys?”

  “How’d you know?” Gianna asked Kara while I wondered if they’d taken bets.

  “Duh! By the way you two acted around each other,” Kara explained, clearly enjoying being right.

  “You don’t think it’s weird?” I asked her, not beating around the bush.

  “Why would it be weird? It’s not like you guys are blood-related.”

  “Well, I think it’s sick!” a high-pitch voice sneered from behind us.

  Desiree stood there, staring daggers at Gianna. I was about to give her a piece of my mind, but Gianna beat me to it. “Desiree, you’re just mad because you threw yourself at Caleb and he threw you back.”

  The crowd forming around us laughed, mocking Desiree. “You bitch!” Desiree shrieked.

  Gianna ignored her and turned to me. “Walk me to class, Caleb?” The sugar-sweet voice was a nice touch.

  “Sure,” I replied, pulling her close as we entered the building. Outside her class, teachers be damned, I went in for another kiss. Let everyone see, the sooner they got used to it, the better. “Bye, princess. See you next period.”

  “Bye,” Gianna sighed, leaving me to go in and take her seat. I traveled to my first class with a big grin on my face.

  After first period was over, I hoofed it to my second class which I had with Gianna. She still hadn’t shown up yet when the final bell rang. Feeling that something wasn’t right, I grabbed my backpack and didn’t stop to let the teacher know where I was going. I stepped into the hallway calling her phone, but there was no answer. I didn’t even know where to begin to look. Maybe it was a girl emergency? If so, wouldn’t she at least text me to say she wasn’t coming to class?

  I first checked out the parking lot to see if she was by my car. No sign of her. Circling around the school, I was figuring out my next move when I heard from around the corner someone yelling.

  “You’re mine!”

  I ran around the corner and saw Josh holding onto Gianna’s upper arms as he shook her. Before I could reach them, he slammed her against the wall making her head bang hard against the brick.

  “Hey!” I growled.

  Josh turned his head to sneer at me. Releasing his hold on Gianna, she slumped to the ground. I rushed at Josh and slammed him against the wall. He punched me in my side, but I ignored it and grabbed his big head. I started banging his head against the brick until he was knocked out by the impact. As he fell to the ground, I kicked him in the stomach, putting all my strength behind it. He’d be waking up with a bitch of a headache and a gut ache to match.

  I bent over where Gianna was on the ground. Enraged and wanting to go back and stomp on Josh’s balls, I pushed it back so I could take care of my girl. Carefully, I picked her up and carried her to my car. She opened her eyes a crack as I buckled her in.

  “I guess we’re ditching after all,” she mumbled and passed out again. Grabbing a sweatshirt from the back of my car, I bunched it up and used it as a pillow for her.

  I didn’t want to take her to the house. I was pissed at everyone in her life: her mom, Josh, the kids at school. Getting on the freeway south, I headed for downtown and my mom’s apartment. At least there no one would bother us. />
  Gianna woke up before we were out of Broomfield, but she didn’t have much to say. Knowing we both needed the quiet, I let her be. In the shade of the parking garage, I leaned my head against the steering wheel, trying to get control of my turbulent emotions.

  Shaking off the need to go back and pull Josh out of whatever class he was in, I opened my door, going around to her side to help her out. She was a little dizzy on her feet, so we moved with my arm around her waist.

  Once in the apartment, I stretched across the couch with my back to the armrest and her in front of me so her back leaned against my chest.

  Hearing her finally cry, I was glad to hold her. “It’s gonna be okay, Gianna.”

  She sniffled, her voice weak. “No, it’s not. Everything is so messed up right now. Maybe we shouldn’t be doing this.”

  “Yes, we should.” Turning her around in my lap, I kissed her gently on the lips.

  “What happened after I passed out?”

  Playing with her hair, I filled her in. “I banged Josh’s head against the wall until he was knocked out.”

  She gasped. “Are you serious?”

  “Yep, and I’m not done with him either.” It apparently hadn’t gotten through to Josh to stay the fuck away from Gianna, so I’d be bringing in reinforcements.

  Her head dropped against my chest in a trusting move. “I need to text Cece and Jared. I promised them I would let them know if Josh did anything else.”

  I clenched my teeth to hold back a rude remark. She’d just been through a lot and she didn’t need to hear me complain about her friendship with Jared right now. It didn’t mean I couldn’t get things done on my terms.

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket and said, “I’ll text Cece for you. You just lay back and rest. You may have a concussion so I’ll have to keep an eye on you for the next 24 hours.”

  “Okay,” she agreed and turned back around to fall against me. I didn’t have Jared’s cell number, but Cece would most definitely pass on the information.

  Me: Josh hurt Gianna again. I took care of it. She’s resting now.

  About thirty seconds later my phone beeped. Jeez, she must have had turbo fingers.

  Cece: OMG! Where is she now? Home? Jared and I will come up there after school. I’m going to do something really bad to Josh!

  Me: No, I took her to my mom’s

  Cece: Address?

  Fuck, I didn’t want Jared coming over here. Seeing no choice, I texted Cece the address and let Gianna know that they’d be over later. I could tell she was sleepy, but I made her eat some toast before she took a nap in my room.

  Still wound up, I watched TV on the couch, making sure to wake her every so often in case she did have a concussion. When Gianna woke for good, I ordered a pizza and called my mom to let her know we were at the apartment.

  After eating, we cuddled on the couch under a blanket, watching an action movie. Just before four o’clock my phone rang. Cece and Jared were downstairs so I rang them up and let them know the apartment number. I still wasn’t happy about Jared coming over, but I knew if I didn’t respect his and Gianna’s friendship, she’d be upset with me. Which would only work in his favor and I couldn’t have that.

  To me, the knock on the door was obnoxious, so it must’ve been Jared’s weak fists. I got out from under Gianna to let them in. Cece practically trampled over me in the doorway to get to Gianna. Jared and I just gave each other a nod, no love lost there. Right now was about comforting Gianna, not beating the shit out of each other again.

  “Gigi! Tell us what happened! I’ll run that jerk over with Caleb’s car! What did he do?” Cece raged. My car? She could just leave my baby out of it.

  Gianna calmly explained to them that while she was walking to class, Josh grabbed her from behind again and forced her out of the building. He went crazy finding out she was dating me and kept yelling at her, demanding she break up with me and give them another chance. He slammed her against the wall like last time, but harder, so that she was knocked out. By the end of her story, Gianna was crying again and I let Cece comfort her.

  I picked up the story from there, letting them know I beat the crap out of Josh in an eye for an eye style. I also told them I planned on getting Dante and Taye to come with me to have a nice long talk with Josh sometime in the near future.

  “I’m coming with,” Jared insisted.

  Grudgingly, I bit out, “Fine.” I did respect the fact that he was always looking out for Gianna, but I still didn’t have to like him. It was the principle of it. He wanted what was mine.

  The four of us hung out for about an hour, trying to cheer Gianna up and make her forget about being attacked. It worked mostly because Cece was a little ball of hyper energy. However, Cece didn’t like violence in movies, so we switched it to one of my mom’s indie flicks.

  It was getting late, so I told them Gianna and I had to get home before Julie and my dad god worried. We said our goodbyes and on the drive home Gianna was in much better spirits.

  At home, my dad gave me a disapproving look and Julie questioned us coming home so late. I wondered if she was starting to get suspicious. They bought our excuse of an afterschool homecoming project. I’d been smart enough to call in to the school’s office earlier pretending to be my dad to excuse our absences.

  Upstairs in my room I called Dante. He’d already heard about what happened from Taye, who found out from Jared. The plan was for the three of them to meet me at my school sometime after they got out tomorrow. Then we’d wait for Josh at his truck after football practice. He didn’t see me by myself as enough of a threat, so we’d see how he liked the threat of four of us.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “It seems like the chaos of this world is accelerating, but so is

  the beauty in the consciousness of more and more people.”

  -Anthony Kiedis

  GIANNA

  Caleb slept in my bed with me last night, waking me up every hour just in case I had a concussion. He slipped out of my room before dawn and went back to his own so my mom wouldn’t catch us. In the morning, he drove me to school again. He insisted on driving me everywhere nowadays, but I didn’t mind. But would I ever drive my Jeep again? Maybe I should’ve demanded we take my car sometimes.

  Caleb told Kara and the misfits, as he’d so fondly nicknamed them, about Josh attacking me twice at school. It was kind of embarrassing. He left out the first incident before I broke up with Josh when he tried to force himself on me.

  They agreed to help keep an eye on me at school which made me feel like a helpless wimp. As if knowing about my ex-boyfriend drama weren’t bad enough. Even if it was pathetic, it’d make me feel safer to always have someone with me.

  Josh scared the crap out of me yesterday, acting like a psychopath. Caleb was so sweet through it all, taking care of me at his mom’s place, feeding me and trying to get my mind off what happened. Maybe he was capable of being a good boyfriend after all.

  Caleb drove us home after school but made no move to get out of the car. “I’m going back to the school to meet Dante, Taye and Jared. We’re going to wait until Josh is out of football practice then confront him.”

  “Do you think this is such a good idea Caleb? I mean, what if he gets crazier after this? Maybe we should just call the police on him.”

  “We could do that, but they’d want to speak with your mom and Josh. Josh knows we’re together and it may get back to your mom. Are you ready for her to find out about us yet?”

  Some choice. “I’m not looking forward to that confrontation,” I grumbled. “Fine, do it your way.”

  “Good, we’ll take care of it ourselves.” He sounded so confident that roughing Josh up would work. I wasn’t so sure. If I had any more problems with Josh after this, I’d go straight to the cops and risk my mom finding out about me and Caleb.

  Kissing him goodbye, I said, “Be careful.” Necessary or not, I didn’t like the idea of Caleb fighting. Even after everything he’d done, I didn�
��t want Josh beaten up either. But I’d like to be able to walk down the hallways at school without worrying about him attacking me.

  I was going to be a nervous wreck until Caleb came home. My feelings for him were getting stronger every day, which scared me, because he now had the power to really do me damage.

  CALEB

  I only had to wait thirty minutes for the rest of the guys to show up in the school parking lot.

  Dante strolled up to me wearing a shit-eating grin. “So, you have a girlfriend?”

  I should’ve seen this coming. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve already heard it from everyone else I know. I’m a player. I’ll only hurt her, blah, blah, blah.”

  Dante held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, man! I was just saying. You aren’t exactly the boyfriend type.”

  “I agree,” Jared butt in. “You should just stop wasting your time and let me have her now.”

  “Gianna isn’t a possession. Even if I wanted to, which I don’t, I couldn’t just hand her over to you. Besides, she chose me, so stop wasting your time.”

  “I never said she was a possession. And don’t act like you know her better than me, Caleb. Gigi and I go way back,” Jared reminded me.

  I mimicked him in a girly voice, “Gigi and I go way back!” His face twisted in annoyance at my mocking. “Well, Gianna and I go forward together from here on out.”

  Taye stepped between us with a hand on each of our chests. “Hey, we’re here to beat up the guy who’s been messing with her, not fight amongst ourselves.”

  “You don’t want her too, do you?” I asked Taye. Jared was making me suspicious of all Gianna’s guy friends.

  He laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, Gigi is beautiful, I just like a different flavor. I’m only here to hurt the guy who’s been hurting my friend.”

  Dante pounded me on the back. “I’m just here to back up my boy, Caleb. Plus, maybe Gianna will put in a good word for me with that hot friend of hers, Cece.”

  “Ugh, man! That’s my sister!” Jared exclaimed in disgust.