Free Stepbrother Dearest by Penelope Ward Page B

Elec. He’d not only gotten under my skin tonight, he’d hijacked my
    entire mind.
    My phone chimed just as we were getting ready to pay the bill.

    I need you to come home.

    Greta: No.

    Elec: I’m not messing around this time. Something’s happened.

    My stomach suddenly felt unsettled.

    Greta: Everything ok?

    Elec: No one hurt or anything. We need to talk.

    Greta: Ok.

    Elec: Where are you? Will it be faster if I come get you?

    Greta: No, Corey will take me home.

    Elec: Ok. Don’t take too long.

    My heart was pounding.
    What was this about?
    I’d made up a story about severe stomach pains and asked Corey if he wouldn’t mind driving me
    straight home. He wasn’t too thrilled, but then again, the whole night was shot after what Elec pulled.
    I couldn’t get home fast enough.
    Corey hadn’t even waited for me to go inside before he drove off. I headed straight up the stairs and
    knocked on Elec’s door before opening it.
    He was sitting on the bed waiting for me with a troubled looked on his face. Actually, I’d never seen
    him look so upset. He got up from the bed and caught me off guard when he immediately pulled me into a
    hug. “Thank you for coming back.”
    His heart was beating through his chest as he held me firmly. My body yearned for him to hold me even
    tighter.
    “What’s wrong, Elec?”
    He released me then led me by the hand over to the bed where we both sat down. “I have to go back to
    California.”
    All of the food I’d just consumed felt like it was coming up on me at once.
    “What?” I put my hand on his knee because it felt like I was losing my balance. “Why?”
    “My mother is back.”
    “I don’t understand. She was supposed to be in England until the summer.”
    He looked down at the ground and hesitated before looking up at me with melancholy in his eyes.
    “What I’m about to tell you can’t leave this room. You can’t tell your mother, and you absolutely cannot tell Randy. Promise me.”
    “I promise.”
    “My mother wasn’t in England. Shortly before I came here, she checked herself into a hospital for
    severe depression and substance abuse out in Arizona. It was supposed to be a six-month program, and
    then she was going to stay with a friend for the remaining time until the end of my school year.”
    “Why didn’t she tell Randy the truth?”
    “My mother is a very talented painter. I know you know that. Anyway, she was offered an opportunity
    to teach in London for a year and used that as the excuse she gave Randy even though she turned it down.
    She’s ashamed to let him know how bad things have gotten. Before she decided to check herself into the
    program, she’d overdosed on some sleeping pills, and I found her on the ground. I thought she was dead.”
    “That was the nightmare you were having.”
    “What?”
    “The night you were yelling in your sleep, you were saying ‘Mami, wake up.’”
    “Yeah. That makes sense. I dream about it a lot, actually. My mother is a weak person. Ever since Randy
    left her, she’s never been the same. I was afraid I’d lost her. She’s all I have.”
    I squeezed his knee. “Do you really think our parents had an affair and that he left your mother for
    mine?”
    “I know he cheated on my mother, because I hacked into his computer. He met your mother online
    while he was still married to mine. He’d say he was going away on business, but he was really coming to
    Boston to visit Sarah. I wouldn’t lie to you about that.”
    “I believe you.”
    “In Sarah’s defense, I’m not sure what story he fed her. He may have tried to play it off like he was
    separated. You know how you told me your father was your mother’s one true love?”
    “Yeah…”
    “Well, that’s what Randy was to my mother even though it may not have been reciprocal. He’s a horrible
    father, but that didn’t seem to matter to her. She’s basically obsessed with him and has always based her
    self-worth on his actions toward her.