CHAPTER ONE
ELLIOT
I will do anything for Annabelle, and she knows it. Just a few tears and I am done for. It has been the same since the day I officially met her, Owen Montgomery was giving her a hard time during lunch in high school.
“How is someone so, common, permitted to grace the halls of our fine educational establishment?” Owen smirks at his group of minions as they were circling Annabelle, trapping her against the tree she’s eating her lunch under.
Annabelle was always alone, since the day she started attending over two years ago. She was quick-witted and book smart. She never had to work for it or study. She sat in class or read the chapter, and never needed anything else. She was always at the top of the class without even trying. While that tends to make you unpopular anywhere, here at Exeter Academy, where 98% of the student population comes from money, being the smartest kid in class and a foster kid is going to make you enemy number one.
I overheard during lunch that she gave Owen, a chairmen’s son and grade A asshole, a run for his money in debate class this morning. Apparently, Owen isn’t a fan of when a poor girl proves him wrong, or better yet, makes him look stupid in the first place. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in that class.
“Well, if you really want to know the answer, I’ll tell you. I’ll make sure to use small words so that you can follow along. Unlike you, whose Daddy got him in, I was smart enough to get in on my own. I’m here to show dense, simple-minded rich boys, that normal girls like me, can kick your ass in every facet of your education.” Annabelle looks back down to her book and sandwich completely ignoring the boys standing in front of her. Man, this girl is my hero!
As I get closer, I’m pretty sure I can see the steam coming out of Owen’s ears. His face is so red it could be mistaken for a tomato.
“At least I know who my parents are, where I come from. Someone like you, who was found on a doorstep, probably the daughter of a drug-addicted prostitute, and has no concept of breeding or heritage, has no place sullying the good name of this school.” Owen spews out in anger.
“Knowing one's breeding or heritage has nothing to do with a person’s character. Much of the world's royalty have a history of incest, which resulted in all sorts of malformations and birth defects. You can be the richest person in the world, much like yourself, and still be a raging asshole.” She says with a smirk on her face.
“Well, this asshole is going to teach you a lesson.”
I heard those words come out of his mouth and took off running. I guess today was the day that I was going to introduce myself to her. I made it over to them just as his hand was getting ready to come down across her face.
“Montgomery, I suggest that you take your temper somewhere else before you have to deal with my fist accidentally re-arranging your face. We do not want to have to explain to mommy how that happened, now would we?” I said, shielding Annabelle with my body.
“Elliot, I'm not surprised that you would protect the poor little orphan bitch! She's all yours; it’s not worth the hassle to teach her her place,” Owen said with a smug smirk on his face.
“No, Montgomery, you are not worthy of the air I am permitting you to continue to breathe. Now, get away from her before I change my mind and beat your face in, just for the fun of it.”
Annabelle then proceeded to rip me a new one because she apparently ‘could have handled him’ all on her own. The memory makes me smile. She comes by her temper honestly with a head full of wild red curls.
A perfect example of the shit I do for this girl? I’m currently moving her into a new apartment. I’m doing 75% of the heavy lifting, I’m dirty, sweaty, and sore, but at least that means I won’t have to go to the gym today. I probably won’t be able to move my arms tomorrow so that the gym may be out for tomorrow too.
As I pick up the last box from the moving truck and head toward Annabelle’s new place, my mind goes to Annabelle’s asshole of an ex, Jared. She thought she could handle him as well. I knew that fucker was bad news, and I was right.
After taking Annabelle home, since he never showed up to pick her up from work, we walked in on him balls deep in some bimbo. However, my Annabelle took it all in stride, marched right up to him while he stood there like a deer caught in the headlights as she reared back and punched him right in the face. She broke his nose while he still had his dick in the bimbo, bled all over her too.
It was amazing to watch, and it took everything in my power not to bend her over that bed and fuck the shit out of her right there in front of him. Making him watch while I made her scream my name would remind him what he was losing.
I have been in love with Annabelle from the first moment I saw her, but I will only ever be her big brother. Sometimes I catch myself wishing for something more, maybe someday I will be man enough to tell her how I really feel.
ANNABELLE
“Annabelle! Where’s my beer?” Elliot yells from the kitchen.
“Um...at the store…” I whisper-yell back at him, grimacing to myself.
“Are you kidding me? I just hefted boxes, full of your shit, up three flights of stairs with the promise of beer and a burrito the size of my head. Now you tell me there’s no beer?” Elliot says incredulously, arms crossed over his chest, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe of my new bedroom.
His once white t-shirt is now dirty and covered in sweat but still fits snuggly around his chest and muscular arms. His basketball shorts sit low on his trim hips, and I can almost see the V of his lower abdomen. The sight makes me want to lick my lips, but the look in his eyes tells me that it wouldn’t be a good idea.
“I’m sorry, I was a little busy today, if you hadn’t noticed.” I respond with sarcasm, my go too when I’m uncomfortable, and a lifted eyebrow, hands on my hips.
Since the last of the boxes and furniture have been moved into my apartment, I’ve stripped down to a sports bra and athletic gym capris, both black with bright purple bands and black pumas.
Elliot walks towards me, picks up my long braid that rests over my shoulder and tugs on it. The motion makes me look up into his eyes. I’ve always thought his blue-green hazel eyes were beautiful, especially with the shaggy dirty blonde hair that always seems to be just a bit too long.
“One day, Little Girl, some man is going to fuck that smirk right off your face,” Elliot says before he turns away, tense but shaking his head.
“That’s awfully big talk from an accountant, Elliot!” I holler at his retreating back, trying not to stare at his ass.
My scalp tingles from the pull, my breathing is faster, and my nipples are hard. He’s never looked at me with anything other than friendship before, was that lust in his eyes?
He was not looking at you like he was interested. You’re just a mess from the break up with Jared.
Irritated with myself, I head back into the bathroom to finish unloading and to put away the stuff in my vanity. As I get to the bottom of the box, I see the cream cardstock and smile knowing I have a note from him. I pick it up and flip it over: “Beautiful” is written in sharp black letters. This wasn’t the first time I found a note hidden in my moving boxes…
...Jared is yelling at me to hurry my ‘pretty ass up’ to get ready for our housewarming party. We finally moved into our first apartment together. Elliot helped us find it, which was odd since he isn’t Jared’s biggest fan, but he wasn’t about to let me live in some shit hole either. Luckily, this place was close to both of our jobs, and Elliot was close by, living only about 15 minutes away. The only bad thing is he hasn’t made any attempts to contact me. Has he forgotten about me since Jared and I are so happy together? I shake that thought out of my head, being in a relationship never stopped him before.
“Jared, have you seen the pearls I got from Elliot for Christmas?”
I hear him mumble something before he pops his head through the bedroom door, “No babe, but your jewelry box is still in one of the last boxes in the bedroom. Why don’t you go check in the closet, so I can watch you bend over and check? You better hurry it up, everyone should be here soon.”
“Thanks, babe! I’ll check. I’m almost finished so get out of here. Make sure we have enough ice and light the candles please.” I kiss him on the cheek and push against his chest as I head toward the closet.
I easily locate the box and dig through it to find my jewelry box. When I open it, right on top is a piece of cream cardstock with the words “I can’t wait to see these on.” Directly underneath the note is the most amazing pair of teardrop emerald earrings. Somehow, he has picked out the perfect pair of earrings to compliment my outfit.
As always, I look around hoping to catch a glimpse of him because I know this wasn’t here earlier. However, the only thing I notice is the slightly ajar bathroom window...we do live on the first floor. I run over to the window and stick my head out before I hear a loud knock on our front door.
“Babe! Alex and Logan are here. Are you done yet?” I hear Jared yell through the apartment.
“Coming! Just putting on the finishing touches!” I quickly grab a pen, scribble the words “thank you” in my messy handwriting on the back, and deposit the note on the window ledge. Giving it one last look, I turn off the light and close the door to join our party guests...
Smiling at the memory and my current situation, it’s good to know I will always have someone who will love me for me. I know I have Elliot, but I will only ever be like a little sister, but my Psycho takes care of me. He also loves me like a man who in love a woman, and somewhere along this crazy ride, I have discovered that I love him too. Now I just need to figure out who he is.
Twenty minutes later, I’m finally finished unpacking the bathroom and head into the living room with the flattened boxes, one room down about a thousand more boxes to go.
As I come into the room, I see Elliot sitting on my couch with his t-shirt pulled up showing his deliciously muscular abs and the impressive tent in his shorts that can’t contain the head of his cock as he’s rubbing himself.
“What. The. Fuck? Dude! Are you seriously jacking off right now in my living room?” I ask him, both surprised and a little horrified by how much I want to replace his hand with my mouth. Hands in the air, the boxes that I was holding have been forgotten and land with a loud thud on the floor.
Elliot jumps up off the couch, his cheeks turning bright red in embarrassment, the front of his shorts still surprisingly tented.
“Uh. Shit. Umm,” he coughs an awkward strangled sound. “Sorry? I don’t know.” Elliot shrugs his shoulders then lowers his hands in an attempt to cover himself.
“Just...put that thing away. I doubt Burrito Bandito will let you inside with…” I look down then snap my eyes closed, and wave my hand towards the direction of his crotch, “all that, going on.”
I know my face is beet red. I’m embarrassed that I’m embarrassed. It’s not like I’ve never seen a dick before, I lived with Jared, the now ex-boyfriend, for a year. But, this is Elliot. He’s not a guy, guy. He’s just, Elliot.
I open one eye enough to see if it’s safe to look, seeing that it is, I open both eyes and look at him. Elliot is standing with his hands on his trim hips, his shirt still pulled up, with his head back like he’s asking God to get rid of his hard-on. The thought is more than I can handle while dealing with my embarrassment, so I start to giggle.
I’m trying to hold in the laughter by covering my mouth with my hand, but when he looks at me with a question on his face, I can’t contain it. Bent over from laughing, I can barely stand, and I just can’t stop laughing. This is just so weird. Elliot and I have been friends for ten years and have never acknowledged our reproductive organs.
Elliot continues to stand there, looking at me like I’ve grown a second head, apparently not finding the humor in our situation, which just makes me laugh even harder. I’m now curled into a ball on the floor, holding my aching stomach, while I continue to laugh uncontrollably.
“I think it’s time to have you committed,” Elliot comments in a deadpan tone. “What the hell is wrong with you? What is so funny?”
I can’t catch my breath, but the ache in my stomach is helping me gain some control over the laughing fit. “Before today,” I start, but another laughing fit starts.
“Before today, I never even thought about the fact that you have a penis. And now I know how big it is.” I’m laughing again, tears running down my face and onto the floor.
Elliot huffs out a breath, jerks his shirt down, and then says, “I’m never living this down, am I?”
All I can do is shake my head ‘no,’ while I continue to cackle on the floor like a crazy person.