Baby for My Stepbrother

BOOK 3 Chapter 1

I wasn’t sleeping well that night. But it wasn’t the nightmare that bothered me. My stomach felt sour and my thoughts were racing. My body stirred over the mattress of my bed, a faint light flickering in front of my closed eyelids. It was arose color from what I could see, but I knew that as soon as I opened my eyes, it would be a bright white or hazy yellow – more jarring to my eyes, and not as soft as I hoped it would be.

Although I wanted to refuse to open my eyes, wanted to deny attention to whatever was moving in my room, I knew I couldn’t ignore whatever was beside me. Finally cracking them open, I suddenly remembered what I’d done before falling asleep – what I’d left in the center of my stepbrother’s bed.

Dread consumed me, but I blinked a few times to bring the room into focus, finding Dane standing in the doorway, the light of the hall shining in from behind his large frame. He completely filled the doorway, his broad shoulders damn near the same width as the opening into my room.

I sat up in bed, rubbing my eyes with my hands and staring at him silently as he stared back at me.

He was motionless, completely immobile as he stood back lit by the light of the hall. Shadows covered his eyes and face, and in his hands I saw the glossy squares of paper that contained the images of a small bean – my Bean – the child we’d created together.

I didn’t know what to say, didn’t want to be the person that began a conversation I feared. I wanted to know what he was thinking, but I was too afraid to ask. So, I took the coward approach and stared at him without saying anything at all.

Taking slow, measured steps into my room, Dane held up the sonograms. He cleared his throat before saying, “Found these on my bed.” The faint light of the room flashed in his blue eyes as he blinked, his voice eerily calm considering the fact that he just found out he would be a father.

“I put them there,” I said with a weak voice, unable to add any strength behind my words. I’d never been so afraid before – never been so unsure about where I stood in my own life.

“Yeah,” he said, “I figured that.”

Sitting on the edge of my bed, the weight of his body dipped the mattress and I scooted away, too afraid to accidentally touch him when I didn’t know what he was feeling or thinking.

He glanced down at the sonograms, his sculpted lips pulling into a thin line. Without his shirt on, I could see the way his muscles softly flexed and released, and I could see the strong but steady pulse in the artery of his neck. His body was struggling to accept what his mind was telling him – what his eyes were showing him.

He was going to be a father – the father of my child. What that meant to him, or what that could mean, I didn’t know. But I wasn’t going to break the silence between us until he was ready to tell me himself.

Dane was a quiet person naturally. He was a thinker. He harbored everything inside of him and only revealed what he wanted people to see. It’s what made him dangerous. You never knew who you were dealing with until it was too late.

I knew him well enough to know that in a moment like this, silence was always the best option.

Minutes ticked by, the soft green light of my alarm clock barely illuminating the room and Dane’s body. I swallowed hard to calm my own heart, my hand reaching beneath the blanket to softly caress my stomach. I couldn’t feel Bean inside me, but I still knew he or she was there.

“It’s mine?” Dane finally asked. “Whose else would it be?”

His head snapped around, his blue eyes locking to mine with an arrogant grin pulled beneath his straight nose. “Jack. I know you were still seeing that little punk. I kicked him out of my club the night you decided to show up. Little bitch decided to cause trouble after you took off, so I took out some of my aggression on him.”

My eyes widened, my thoughts drifting back to remember the black eye Jack had been sporting at school a few weeks prior. “That was you?”

Dane smiled wider. “Yeah, that was me. The asshole had it coming. As soon as I dragged him out ofthere, he started running his mouth about you. Thought I’d get a kick out of hearing how slutty my stepsister was in bed. I didn’t appreciate the comments, so I shut him up.”