Free HUGE X3: A MFMM Menage Stepbrother Romance by Stephanie Brother Page B

know my dad,” he says, sounding defeated.
    “I think I’ve sized him up pretty well in the last
half hour, though.”
    Bryan shakes his head ruefully and it pisses me off so
much that my strong, confident friend is so curtailed by a man who seems to me
to be a bit of a bully.   I’m starting to
wonder what the hell my mom sees in him.  
    It doesn’t take long for Bryan to reach my house. He
parks a little before my driveway and turns off the engine.   We sit in silence for a while and my mind
races through all the things I want to say but nothing seems right.   Bryan rests his hands on his thighs and
stares straight ahead.   I wish I knew
what he was thinking.   Mindreading has
never been a superhero trait that I’ve been particularly interested in before
but it’s making its way to the top of my list right now.
    “So you have an appointment tomorrow?” he asks.  
    “Yeah.   10am.”
    “That’s good.”
    “I guess.”
    We sit for a while longer and I watch the breeze move
the shrubs at the front of our yard and the next door neighbor’s cat prowling
along the sidewalk.   The night is quiet
but I’m so restless.   I can’t sit in this
car any longer and deal with all these emotions bubbling inside me but still
feel so unbelievably empty.   No matter
how I look at things, I feel as though Bryan has let me down. He may have had
his reasons but I think about what I would have done if the situation was
reversed and I know I wouldn’t have made the same choices. I would have been
honest and I would have fought for him.   As much as I understand his loyalty to his father, I just can’t get past
the fact that he didn’t feel enough for me to stand up to his dad.
    “I should go,” I say, needing desperately to get out
of the car before I say all the things I’m thinking and ruin whatever
friendship we have left right now.
    “Katy,” he says, taking hold of my hand.   We both stare at his grip on me and I can
hear his breathing quicken.   I wait
because I need him to step up here.   I
need him to make the first move to break free from his father’s shackles
because if I push him and things go as badly as he predicts with regard to his
family and financial situation, I know he’ll blame me in the future.   “You know that I care about you…so much.”
    I exhale the breath I didn’t realize that I was
holding and tug my hand from his.   It’s
funny how empty words can sound, even when you’re desperate to hear them.   “But that isn’t enough, is it?”
    I don’t wait for him to reply.   I’m out of the car and running towards my
house before he can say a word, and as soon as I get the front door open, I let
the tears I’ve been holding in finally fall.

 
    10
    Mom
and I are pretty silent on the drive to visit the specialist.   Neither of us mentions her confession the
night before; me because, as much as I don’t want to be angry for the effect
it’s had on me, I can’t help it.   I’m
guessing she’s too concerned with the outcome of the appointment to think about
anything else.
    Dr. Abbott is the doctor that treated my aunt.   I wasn’t sure mom would consider bringing me
to see her because she hadn’t been successful in curing Auntie Marie.   The smell of the hospital takes me back to
the dark days when mom’s sister was going through the harshest part of her
treatment and I shiver, remembering her pallid skin and the gauntness of her
previously rounded face.
    “She’s one of the best,” mom says.
    “I know, mom.”
    We sit in the waiting room and thumb through
magazines, both of us too preoccupied to make conversation.   When my name is finally called it’s like we’re
both frozen to the spot.  
    “Hey, Katelin,” Dr. Abbott says breezily as I enter
her office with mom close behind.
    “Hi,” I reply, trying to sound upbeat.   I remember she had a thing about positive
thinking and its effect on successful outcomes.  
    “Take a seat and tell me