Free Stepbrother Bestie (A Stepbrother Romance Novel) by Alycia Taylor

jawline. “I just can’t bear to see you hurt again, when that woman
turns around and stabs you in the back. You know she will…” She smiled. “As
long as you remember that I’m the only girl for you, then you’ll be okay.” She
grasped my hand and pulled me toward the car, saying, “Come on! Let’s go home.”
    While she pulled me away, I thought about
what she had said and suddenly, I wasn’t so sure.

 
    Chapter
13
    Valerie

 
    I hadn’t said much on the ride home. In
addition to being completely angry over what Dalilah had said to me and about
us and the fact that Shawn had just stood there and took it, even though there was
no way he actually thought that was true, caused me to not only be lost for
words, but severely hurt.
    I had said goodbye quickly to Zachary when
we arrived at the house and went in after just a brief kiss. I hoped he
understood that my sudden plummet in mood had nothing to do with him, but right
now, I was even too upset to care what he felt.
    He had done what I had hoped he would and
that was to care for me, without engaging with either Shawn or Dalilah and so,
I was actually very happy with him. I was just far too upset to show it.
    I raced up to my room as soon as I got in
the house, thankful that I didn’t have my mother standing there waiting for me
again. I decided that the best thing to do was just to go to bed.
    Another saving grace was that tomorrow was
Saturday and therefore, I didn’t have to see anyone if I didn’t want to. I
could sleep in, forget about what had happened and hopefully be good to take on
another week by Monday.
    However, when I went to plug in my phone,
I saw a text message on it from Shawn. I thought that was strange and wanted to
ignore it, but my curiosity got the best of me.
    I opened the message, which read: I am so sorry. I don’t know what got into Dalilah.
I was in shock and didn’t know what to do…I know it’s a lame excuse, but it’s
the truth. I know this is random, but I want to talk to you. I miss you and I
think that maybe we can work something out.
    In that moment, I went from feeling like I
was drowning in the changing currents of my life, to being able to see a light.
    I knew that I was far from safe and my
life was far from going back to what I would consider normal and had considered
normal since kindergarten; but at least now, there was hope and that was really
all I needed.
    I texted back: Meet you tomorrow at noon. After all, I still wanted to sleep in as
much as I could. If he was still anything like the Shawn I grew up with, he
wouldn’t have to ask where.
    When I woke up the next morning, I was
happy to see that I had not received a text back from him. It made me feel as
though, despite the craziness in our lives, I had not completely lost him. I
was excited to get ready and meet him.
    Still, I didn’t tell my mother where I was
going. I was very aware that everything might not work out and so, I didn’t
want to get both of our hopes up. I also knew that if I didn’t say anything, I
wouldn’t have to explain myself when I got home.
    I figured if things went really well, I
might mention that I saw him and that we were trying to work things out, but
that certainly wasn’t a guarantee.
    When I got to the park around the corner
from my mom’s old house, where Shawn and I had spent most of our afternoons
during childhood, I continued to feel excited, but also nervous. I was scared
of what might happen with the two of us and in a way, I didn’t want to go
through with the conversation; I didn’t want it to end badly.
    Still, I knew that if things really were
going to work out, it would probably rank as one of the best days ever.
    I was happy and encouraged to see that
Shawn was already at the park when I arrived.
    He walked up to me awkwardly, though, and
smiled in a goofy way. “Hi. How are you?”
    I smiled back at him and wanted to give
him a hug, but I resisted. “I’m good…really happy that you texted