The Other Brother Part 2: Taboo: Stepbrother Billionaire Romance

by Lauren Hawkeye

  “Allie…” A chill skates its way down my spine. This changed everything for me, but I’m beginning to see that it didn’t do that for her, not at all. If anything, I’m thinking it made it worse.

  She still doesn’t look at me, but retrieves her shoes from where she kicked them off, bracing herself with a hand on the wall while she slides her feet back into them.

  “Allie, look at me. Talk to me.” I’m not going to let her turn away from me now. We may not have intended this to happen, but it did. No going back.

  She pins me with a cool look that I know is a front. “What exactly would you like to discuss, Seth? How incredibly fucked-up that just was? How we’re both going to hell?”

  I almost laugh at that last part because she looks so hopeless when she says it. Plus I’m pretty sure that she still doesn’t believe in things like devils and pitchforks.

  “It was not fucked-up.” Irritated, I sit beside her and try to grab her hand but she pulls it away. “We’re not related, Allie. We have a history, but so what? No one is going to hell.”

  “I am. I’m going there.” She covers her face with her hands and groans. “Oh God, I can’t believe we just… fucked.”

  “Allegra!” This time I do chuckle a little as I grab her hands and pull them down. “This has been coming since the day we met. You know that. There’s always been something between us. And if you try to tell me it was brotherly love, I’ll spank you again.”

  I’d hoped to make her giggle. Instead, the way she looks at me breaks my heart.

  “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t wanted to do that for a very long time.” I catch her by the chin. “And I won’t regret it.”

  “I can’t say I won’t regret it.” Her lips twitch up a little. “But… I won’t lie to you. I wanted that. I… I think I even needed it.”

  Her admission soothes the beast inside of me. I smile and smooth away the hair that wants to hang in her face again. Her face is too spectacular to cover.

  “Oh God, if Sam ever found out.” She looks up at me with wide eyes. “Or Theo. I think they’d disown me.”

  Theo.

  The last thing I want to hear right now, in our afterglow, is his name. But now… Allegra is mine. More even than she was before.

  This has to be addressed, because Theo will not touch her.

  “You need to do me a favor.” The words are light, but my tone is heavy.

  “I didn’t realize we were at the doing favors part of our relationship.” She smiles wanly. I know she’s joking, lightening up as I wanted her to, but I can’t bring myself to laugh with her.

  “I’m serious.” I pin her with my stare. “I need you to listen.”

  “Okay?” She stretches out the last syllable. “Um, mood swings much?”

  If this was another time, I might pull her over my knees for being impertinent, to show her how much fun punishment could be.

  Now is not the time.

  “Theo’s not who you think he is.” I grind my teeth together, just spitting out his name. Never, ever will I hate anyone as much as I loathe that… bug.

  “Seth, stop with the cryptic bullshit. Just tell me straight up what the hell you’re talking about. I’ve spent way too many therapy hours trying to decipher the last words you said to me about Theo. I’m not going to spend any more. I’m done trying to figure you out.” Her lightness is gone, replaced with the same weariness I sometimes see when she thinks I’m not looking.

  I groan with frustration, raking my hands through my hair. I didn’t want to frighten Allegra back then, and I don’t want to scare her now, because living in fear isn’t living.

  But it’s time she knows the truth. Theo is not who she’s always thought he was. He is not the charming, well-mannered boy that spoke politely to his elders, and did dishes without complaint and made cookies with my mom. He is a predator. And he’s a dangerous one, because Allegra will never see him coming.

  Standing, I pace back and forth while Allegra taps one foot on the ground. There’s no good way to do this, so finally I just whirl around and spit it out.

  “Theo is dangerous. You need to stay away from him. You will stay away from him. Do you understand?

  Allegra’s face is awash in disbelief. She stands too, fists clenched tightly at her sides. “Theo is dangerous? Theo? He’s not the one who tried to kill his own damn brother.”

  I open my mouth to interject but she points a finger at me. “He may have just gotten out of jail, but it wasn’t for a violent crime. It was for selling drugs. Something he got into after you almost killed him! In fact, he never acted out before you. He was always a good guy. He never used to make me feel…”

  She looks at me with wide eyes. If she really, truly believed that her brother was a good person, she’d be out the door by now. But as she stares at me, I can see a flicker of confusion, of awareness.

  She knows. Deep down, somewhere… she knows.

  “He never used to make you feel afraid?” I reach for her.

  “You’re putting words in my mouth.” She jerks away from me, baring her teeth.

  “Am I?” I step closer. I stalk her across the room, but I can see that I don’t frighten her. Me, the supposedly violent one.

  When she’s alone later, she’ll think about that.

  “He’s my brother, Seth. He would never hurt me. Not like you.” She grabs her purse from the table. “This was a mistake. A big fucking mistake. Have a good life, Seth. I’m out of here.”

  I can hear unshed tears straining her voice, and my own heart aches in response.

  Don’t let her go.

  “He was watching you. Taking pictures of you.” I blurt this out before I lose my nerve and she walks out of my life forever.

  Allegra slows, my words sinking in, then she turns. “What did you say?”

  I sigh. There’s no easy way to tell her this. “Theo used to… watch you. He was always watching you. He took pictures of you. Hundreds of them.”

  Allegra snorts. “Oh, I saw the pictures all right, but they were in your stuff. I found them with the shit you left behind.”

  I shake my head, trying to make her understand. “I didn’t take any pictures, Allie. You know that. I didn’t have a camera. Did you ever see me with one? I wouldn’t have wasted my beer money on something like that.”

  I can see the cogs moving around in her clever brain, trying to sort out what I’m telling her and comparing it to what she’s always accepted as the truth.

  “Then why were they in your stuff?” Her eyes are accusing.

  “Who the hell knows?” I shrug. “But coming across them somewhere in the house where Theo lived is not exactly proof that they’re mine.”

  She takes a few steps forward, then stops. “I don’t understand what you’re saying to me.”

  I scrub my hands over my face. I’m tired. I’m so fucking tired of this. I’m not sure I fully understood until right now how much this knowledge, this responsibility, has weighed me down over the years.

  I’d thought that purging it, telling the truth, would set me free. Instead I feel even wearier.

  “That last night, I ran into Theo at a party. He’d been drinking. Well, we both had been.” I sink down onto the couch once more, wishing I had the whole damn bottle of scotch in my hand.

  “Yeah, I know that part.” Allegra doesn’t sit, instead crossing her arms over her chest defensively. “Then you dragged him outside and beat the shit out of him. Tristan and Gavin tried to pull you off after the first few punches, but they couldn’t do it. You kept going until he was almost dead. In front of a whole crowd of witnesses.”

  “There’s a part of that story that’s missing.” Here it comes. No going back now. “Nobody else knew what he said to me before I threw that first punch.”

  She puts her hand on her hip and glares. “What could have been so bad that you would’ve nearly killed him?”

  I groan, then bury my face in my hands.

  “He told me to back off. He to
ld me that you belonged to him. And that one night, he was going to slip into your bed and take you for his own.”

  Chapter Seven

  ALLEGRA

  What?

  No.

  My gut roils. It feels like I’ve been punched in the stomach a few times. Blindly, I reach out for the sofa and sit before I collapse onto my ass.

  “You’re lying.” I look at Seth with disbelieving eyes. “I don’t believe you.”

  “I think you do.” His voice is cautious. “Or you wouldn’t look like you’re going to get sick.”

  “Theo would never…” I stop as I think about last night. About the years before he went to jail, how he’d grown increasingly crueler.

  “Hurt me. Yes, I know you’ve said that again and again, but I don’t think you really truly believe it.” He sits beside me.

  “You’re just saying this to exonerate yourself, for what you did to him.” I have to believe this. I have to. Because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate.

  “I could’ve told the truth six years ago, you know. Probably would have still gotten some time, but not as much.” Seth says this quietly, and the torture on his face stops me in my tracks.

  “Then why didn’t you?” I can’t hold still, so I stand and start to pace. My head starts to spin. I’m having a hard time focusing on Seth’s words. This feels like a dream, a nightmare really. One where I find out the monster under my bed is my brother.

  Because… I don’t think he’s making this up. Whether Theo meant what he said or not… I at least believe he said it.

  “I wanted to spare you this.” Seth scrubs at his stubble, stubble that just minutes ago was scraping against my neck. “I told Theo to stay the fuck away from you. That if I found out he ever hurt you… I would kill him. That I’d always be watching.”

  He laughs sarcastically, shaking his head. “I thought I’d saved you, you know, and that the best thing for you was for me to just disappear from your life. I knew you would never be able to forgive me for hurting Theo, especially not if you didn’t know the truth. And then he went to jail, and I knew for sure you were safe, and it didn’t make sense to come back.”

  There’s a tightening in my chest. I can’t catch my breath. I rub between my breasts, trying to get my lungs to work. Seth must see my distress, because he tugs me back down to the couch, grabs me around the neck and pushes my head down between my legs.

  “Just take in a deep breath and let it out slowly.” He rubs my back gently. “You’re all right, Allie.”

  Except I’m not all right. Nothing is all right, or ever will be again. How can I possibly function with this knowledge?

  Theo… wanted me. Like that. And I wanted my… other brother.

  Oh my God, how fucked up was this?

  Sitting up, I push him away. I can’t breathe, I need space. I get to my feet and my legs shake, making it difficult to stand there and look down at him. “What the fuck am I supposed to do with this, Seth?”

  I can tell he doesn’t have a clear answer. Of course there isn’t an answer. This is a clusterfuck of epic proportions.

  “I don’t know.” He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. The man who loves to be in control, clearly not feeling as if he is. That terrifies me as much as anything.

  “Great. Perfect.” I throw my hands in the air. Not reasonable, but I don’t care. “Why did you tell me then? You obviously came back to Galveston with some kind of plan.”

  He jumps to his feet and paces the room. “My plan was to persuade Theo to leave town for good.”

  “How? With your fists again?” Then a thought surges through my mind and I pale. “You… you aren’t planning on killing him, are you?”

  He whirls on me. “Jesus Christ, Allie, no, of course not. I can’t believe you’d even think I could.”

  Looking at him, and the barely banked fury I can see in his eyes… I think he could.

  For me. Only for me.

  It’s a chilling realization. And I’m not entirely sure that I believe him. “I don’t know what to think about all of this, Seth.”

  I need to go. This is too much.

  “I planned on paying him off. To go quickly and quietly.” There’s pain in Seth’s voice. “I don’t care how much I have to give him to keep him away. It would be worth it.”

  It probably would have worked, too. Might still work. Theo’s always been one to take the easy road.

  “Were you planning on seeing me?” This is somehow more important to me.

  He looks at me, guilt painted on his features, and then shakes his head. “No. I didn’t think it would be best.”

  “Well, sorry to fuck up your covert operation.” Tears that I don’t want rise to clog my throat.

  He reaches for me, but I dance back. “Allie, you haven’t. This… I think it was meant to be.”

  “Yeah, I bet you do”

  He sighs angrily. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Well, you were able to satisfy some sick fantasy you always had about me.”

  He takes a step back, as if I’d slapped him. And I had. That was unfair, not worthy, and I know it.

  But I don’t want to be the only one in pain.

  I turn on my heel. “I have to get out of here. I can’t talk about this anymore.”

  Before I can open the door, Seth is next to me. “Go home, pack a bag and come back here. I’ll pay for a room for you to stay in. Just until I can do what I came here to do.”

  He’ll pay for a room. He’ll pay Theo to go away. He’ll pay to make things better.

  Money won’t fix this. Nothing can.

  “I wish you’d never told me this. I wish you’d never come back.” The words come out in a rush, fueled by anger and hatred. Once they are out, I realize I don’t really mean them, but the damage is done. My words have hit their mark.

  Seth’s eyes darken. His face shuts down. He’s back to being the guarded, stoic boy I remember from all those years ago.

  “That’s fine.” His voice is cool, aloof. “You can hate me. I expected as much, but just do what I tell you. If you want to stay out of danger, don’t spend another night in that house with Theo.”

  I don’t hate you. I could never hate you.

  But I don’t say that. I don’t say anything.

  I just go.

  Chapter Eight

  SETH

  “Damn it!”

  The words aren’t enough to release everything I’m feeling. Needing more, I slam my fist against the door. It jars me all the way to my bones, and pain radiates up my hand from the scrapes on my knuckles. It’s nothing compared to other wounds I’ve gotten over the years, but at least it’s something to concentrate on. Instead of dwelling on Allegra.

  She’s gone. She’ll never be back. Not the way I want her to be.

  Instinct tells me to open the door and go after her.

  Something tells me that right now, that will only make things worse.

  I’ve dreaded telling her about Theo for years. Now, though? She had to know the truth so she could protect herself. I don’t know what I would do with myself if something happened to her.

  She is, has always been, my first thought when I wake up and my last when I go to bed. There can be no chances with her. I have to do something.

  Grabbing my phone, I make a call.

  “What’s up, Fancypants?”

  Just hearing his voice lightens my heart a bit. Tristan never seems anything but chill. “I need a big favor.”

  “Spill.”

  “Pick me up at the Tremont.”

  “Just let me finish this sandwich, and I’ll be there.”

  “No. Now.”

  Forty minutes later I’m sitting in the passenger seat of Tristan’s Camaro cruising down Broadway. I’m angry enough that I didn’t trust myself to drive.

  “You’re kind of being stalkery.”

  “That’s not a word. And I’m not a stalker,” I say for the second time.

  “You w
ant to sit outside Allegra’s house in the car in the dark so she doesn’t know you’re there.” He smirks at me. “And that’s not creepy?”

  I just turn and glare.

  Tristan settles back in his seat. “This about Theo?”

  I’m floored. “Why do you say that?”

  “Well, dude, you went to jail for beating the shit out of him. I figured it was for a good reason, even though you’ve never bothered to tell me.”

  Well. I’d never thought of that.

  “I—”

  But apparently he’s not done. He slaps his hand on the steering wheel. “One phone call, dude. One. Six years, I don’t see you. Jesus.”

  “Do we really need to do this now?” What is this, pick on Seth night? I won’t tell him that I’ve kept tabs on him too. That I’ve been to more of his MMA matches than I can count.

  Tristan jerks the car over to the side of the road, nearly hitting a trash can on the sidewalk. He parks and turns to glare at me. “If you want me to do a stakeout in front of Allegra’s with you, then yeah, I need to know the score.”

  “Fine.” I scrub hard at my face. I really need some sleep, but know I’m not getting any tonight. “Remember the party?”

  “Yeah, how could I forget?”

  “Well… Theo said some things about Allegra that I didn’t like.”

  “What kinds of things?” He eyes me, but I’m pretty sure by the look on his face he knows exactly what I’m talking about.

  “Things no brother should say or think about his sister.” I bite the words out. They taste dark and bitter.

  Tristan just shakes his head. “I always thought he wasn’t quite right in the head.”

  “Really?” This is news to me.

  “Yeah, the couple of times I met him, he just… rubbed me wrong.” Tristan looks at me from the corner of his eye.

  “Oh, he didn’t rub you the right way?” I can’t help the knee-jerk insult—it’s how we communicate. It’s not the best time to laugh but I can’t keep it in. Tristan’s face is way too serious for me. It’s not a look I often see on my carefree friend, who is so laid back he sometimes seems like he’s going in reverse.