Stepbrother Inked(36)

I went down the stairs slowly, my hand caressing the familiar dark wood  of the banister, my stomach fluttering and my knees going weak as I  contemplated facing Flor again. I had sex with my stepbrother. I  clutched a hand in the red fabric of my tank top. No, I had sex with  Florian. Flor. The guy I've been in love with for years. Why then did I  still feel so nervous, so unsure?

I walked into the kitchen and found my dad pouring himself a glass of  wine while my stepmom worked to make some coffee. The time on the stove  was eleven thirty, late but not too late. I wrapped my arms around  myself and sat down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar, glancing  over my shoulder to find Flor smoking in the backyard. Fortunately he  didn't catch me looking at him and I turned around, finding my dad  staring at me instead.

"Are you and your brother both planning to spend the night here?" he  grumbled and I shrugged, noticing the way his blue eyes took in my  attire, his brows pinching. "You both parked in the driveway," he added  randomly. I gave him a look and shrugged, not sure what he was getting  at. "So how did Flor miss the fact that you were here?"

Uh oh. Five minutes in and my lies were already falling apart.

"And what was he doing in your room?" Crap. My dad was staring at me,  really staring at me, and it was sort of freaking me out. He'd always  been a little wary of Flor, but did he really think  …  ? I felt my face  flush, shrugged again, and glanced away, reaching out to grab an apple  from one of my stepmom's decorative fruit bowls. I guess my dad was  right on the money if he was really worried about anything happening  between Flor and me. Because it had. It had. It had.                       
       
           



       

I swallowed hard and bit down on the apple as Flor came in the back  door, still shirtless, still achingly beautiful. I glanced sidelong at  him and immediately my eyes caught on the protrusion of purple coming  from his pocket. My panties. Flor has my panties in his pocket. I looked  back over at our parents in alarm, but neither of them were paying him  much attention. My dad was still looking at me funny and my stepmom was  smiling to herself.

"What do you guys want to talk about?" Flor asked with a yawn, running  his fingers through his mussy hair. "I didn't mean to fall asleep here,  and I really gotta get going." I forced myself to take another bite of  the apple and stared at the white countertops, at the veins of gray that  wove through the stone. My mind wouldn't stop pulling at the feelings  inside of me, the memory of Flor's body hot and wanting. For me. Just  for me.

"Patience, Florian. Good things come to those who wait." River smiled  and turned to my dad who, finally, decided to pull his interrogating  gaze away from me. When his eyes met my stepmother's, they both smiled  and little crows feet pulled at the edges of both their gazes. They even  looked like a couple who'd been together a long time. Ugh.

I put a hand over my belly and leaned forward, barely tasting the sweet  acidity of the apple in my mouth. Flor was definitely making an effort  not to look at me, so I stared at the panties in his pocket instead. I  really, really wanted to talk to him, to figure this out and see where  we were, what was going to happen from this point on. Please make this  quick so I can get out of here.

"Florian," River began, clearing her throat. "Abigail." I looked up and  found our parents still gazing into one another's eyes. "I'm sure you've  been wondering where we've been going for all of this out of town  business." Neither Florian nor I said anything. I don't think either of  us had even given it a second thought, considering everything else that  was going on between us. "Well, we haven't been going far. There's a  …   clinic in Portland we've been going to."

I glanced up sharply and Flor took a step forward.

"A clinic?" he asked, alarm in his voice. I knew that Flor really loved  his mom, that even though he treated her with disrespect at times, they  had a close bond, forged hard as steel long before my dad and I had ever  entered the picture. It made my chest ache, not because I wanted him to  hate his mom, but because I was mad at myself for simply seeing their  relationship as an obstacle. It made me feel like a bad person, and I  didn't want to be. "Are you okay? What's going on?"

"I'm fine, Flor," she said, her eyes shining as she looked from him to  me and back again. "I  …  I know it's a little late and some people might  think I'm a little old, but  …  "

I saw where this was going long before Flor did.

My heart literally shattered and I felt my blood go ice cold. No.

"What?" Flor asked, scratching at the side of his head, looking between  the two of them like he knew in his heart what his head refused to  accept. "What are you talking about? You're only forty-eight. Too old  for what?"

"Flor, I'm pregnant. Your father and I are having a baby."

I saw the second the implications registered on his face. No.

"Flor, wait," I said before I could stop myself. Both our parents looked  my way with puzzled expressions. I saw a flash of disappointment on  River's face before she hid it away. My dad and Flor's mom were having a  baby. Now. This late in the game. No, no, no.

"That's great, Mom." His lips pursed and his green eyes crackled with  frustration and anger, but he leaned over and kissed her cheek before  turning and heading right for the dining room and the front door. "I've  gotta work early, so I'm taking off."

I scooted off my stool and realized that our parents were waiting for me  to say something. What was there to say? That an obstacle I'd already  thought impossible to overcome was getting even bigger? If our parents  had a child, a biological child, then Flor and I would be even more  carefully locked into this cycle of taboo.

"Congratulations," I blurted before chasing after him. I knew I'd have  plenty of questions to answer later, but I couldn't let him go. I felt  my fingers curl around his bicep as he paused in the entryway, his hand  resting on the doorknob. "Flor," I whispered, already feeling tears  prick the corners of my eyes. "Please. Please don't go like this. It  …   it doesn't have to change anything."

"Abigail," he said, his voice cold, nothing at all like it had been on  the rooftop as he filled my body with his own, as he held me, kissed me.  "It changes everything."                       
       
           



       

Flor opened the door and continued walking. I had no choice but to let  go of him or be dragged along, and I refused to let myself fall to that  state. The tears fell then, cascading down my cheeks in a salty storm.

"I'll call you later, 'kay?" he said, unlocking the doors to his car and  climbing in, barefoot and shirtless. He left without even bothering to  say goodbye.



I went home and crawled into bed, fell asleep to A Christmas Story. When  I woke up, Addi was sitting on the edge of the bed with a frown curling  her lips, like she already knew what had happened between Flor and me. I  struggled up against the pillows, suddenly desperate for a shower. I  hadn't showered since  …  yesterday, and I could still feel Flor on me, in  me. I swallowed hard.

"What?" I asked, managing to sound somewhat nonchalant as I stared back at my best friend.

"When I woke up, I had a text from your mom."

"Stepmom," I corrected automatically.

"Abigail, she said she's worried about you. That you bolted out of the  house last night in tears. And she also confided in me that she thinks  it's because you're jealous."

"Jealous?" I asked, completely missing the point.

"Of the new baby."

"Oh."

I leaned back and closed my eyes, laying an arm across my face as I struggled with a whole new set of emotions.

"Oh? That's all you have to say? Nothing else? Like maybe how weird it  is that your dad and stepmom are having another kid now? Maybe what this  means for you and Flor?"

"We did it last night, Addi," I blurted and then cringed. In the  background, I heard some hooting and flung my arm back, sitting up to  see Theo, in full drag mind you, sauntering into the room with a smile.  He really did make a beautiful woman with those round brown eyes, long  lashes, and impeccable makeup.

"So you finally banged your brother?" he said, and I cringed, covering  my face with both hands. Addi was so shocked that she just sat there in  silence for several seconds.

"Abigail?!" she finally blurted, taking hold of my shoulders and forcing me to look at her.