Chapter Nine
Ashley
As I laid in bed that night, my stomach churned into knots and my breath was rapid. I was terrified of what I had almost done and of what I had wanted to do.
I knew, deep down, that what I had done was not a complete and total accident. Even though I knew I could barely admit it to myself, much less anyone else, I was sure that at some level, I had let him get that close to me.
I had fair warning and I hadn’t stopped him. Instead, I just enjoyed the feeling in my stomach and the pang of excitement that rose up in me. Why didn’t you stop him? I thought to myself as I smashed my fists into either side of the bed, while tears streamed down my face in the dark room.
I was sure of one thing though. No matter how I felt or how tempted I was, there was no way that I was ever going to let him get that close to me again.
With this in mind, I tried to stay away from him for another week.
The feelings that I had for him, in that moment, scared me to death and I was sure that if I spent time with him again, I could possibly do something that I would regret. I knew that I was vulnerable and I was sure that he had skills of persuasion that I couldn’t even begin to imagine.
How else could he have made me hate him, to possibly have intense feelings for him in a matter of weeks?
However, every time I thought about that, I cursed myself.
You do not have feelings for him! I insisted, wondering exactly how many times I had to tell myself that before I had a prayer of actually believing it.
After all, Tyler was my stepbrother and no matter what he said or how I felt, that just wasn’t right.
Besides, even though he seemed to make an effort to be nice to me, it didn’t meant that he was making an effort to be nice to everyone else. I was sure that the way he acted around me was simply that; an act and therefore, I was sure that I didn’t want to be associated, especially romantically, with someone who made a lifestyle out of being an asshole.
It was bad enough that he was my stepbrother.
However, one day, about a week after the incident, Tyler walked into my room, unannounced.
When I glared at him, he said, “Hey...The door was open. I don’t know what the hell you’re giving me that look for.” Then, before I could respond, he added, “Come with me,” before he made his way out of the room.
No, I told myself as I readied my mind to ignore him. I moved back to focus on what I was doing, which wasn’t much.
In fact, while staying clear of Tyler was a lot of work in one respect, it had also made things incredibly boring.
I had returned to being a recluse and was even starting to lose my tan.
Yet, I was sure that it was for the best, since I was sure he didn’t really need anything important; he was probably just trying to get me alone so that he could lay another move on me.
Still, after one more look around my room, I groaned and swept myself off of the bed, moving into the hall where he was waiting.
He led me into his room and closed the door.
I glared at him suspiciously as he turned to face me, but when we were alone, he immediately pulled out some kind of card and pushed it at me.
“What is this?” I peered down at it. Immediately, I recognized that it was an obviously fake, but very convincing identification card. The name on the card was fake, but my picture stared back at me.
“I know you’ve been avoiding me,” he said as the whole situation sunk in. “And I never meant to make you this uncomfortable, but I figured I would try to make it up to you by showing you a good time.”
Intrigued, I looked up at him and smiled. “You did this for me?”
He shrugged, like it was nothing. “Shit, don’t get all fuckin sappy. It’s just the clubs around here are always fun and I thought you might enjoy having a real good time.” He smiled at me in a devilish way.
Feeling an involuntary pang of excitement rise up inside of me, I quickly stared down at the card, trying to get the thought of how attractive he was out of my head. Usually, I tried to walk the straight and narrow, but that certainly didn’t mean that I wasn’t interested in the chance to go to a good party.
Before he could change his mind or say anything that would make me want to slap him, I smiled up at him and answered, “Thank you. That sounds fun.”
“You bet your nice, tight ass it’s gonna be fun!” He walked out of the room before I had the chance to smack him.
That night, I took him up on his offer. I had actually looked forward to it all day.
The two of us had a great time and the fake IDs worked great.
However, it didn’t take me long to realize that, even in the short time they had stayed at the beach house, Tyler had managed to earn quite the reputation for being a tough guy.
While we were at what I was sure was going to be my last stop for the night, Tyler went to get us drinks and I was sitting down at the bar. A man walked up behind me and I heard a deep voice say, “Hello Beautiful…”
When I turned around, I could smell the alcohol on his breath and I saw the signs, even through my own intoxication, that this man had way too much to drink.
“Hello…” I said, automatically getting a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach.
At first, I wasn’t sure if the feeling was actually nerves or just the alcohol taking its toll. Yet, when he sloppily placed a hand over mine and leaned into me, I was sure that the root of my feelings was the latter.
“What do you say you and I get out of here?” he asked.
I slid my hand out of his and answered, “No, thank you. I’m here with someone.”
He laughed in a belligerent way, before he answered, “Well, I don’t see anyone…” and grasped my arm.
“I’m right here, shithead!” I was never so happy to hear Tyler’s voice.
The man immediately turned around and stared at Tyler, taking his hand off of my arm. The drunkard had a pugnacious aura about him, until he realized who was talking to him.
Once he realized that it was Tyler, he backed away. “She’s your girl?” the man stuttered. “I’m sorry…”
“Never you fucking mind whether she is my girl or not. The point is, I’m telling you stay away from her or I will kick your ass,” he sneered as his eyes glimmered, almost as though he was anticipating the fight greatly. “And if I do that, you probably will not recover.”
The man’s eyes grew wide. Even in his current state, he was convinced of exactly how serious Tyler was and so, he nodded, before turning around and making himself scarce.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, ya pussy!”
Being that I was a little tipsy, instead of insisting I was fine, regardless of how I really felt, I showed that I was flattered by his act of what I considered, in my current state, a sense of heroism.
Doesn’t every girl want a guy who is willing to fight for them? I thought as we watched the man walk away.
Little did I know, that sense of what I thought was heroic went far deeper, into a cavern of secrets that was completely unimaginable.