Stepbrother Thief(20)

All I need is him, his love.

My mom and Cliff are sitting at the dining table in the massive open room that makes up our main living area. There are no walls here, just perfectly placed furniture and accessories to designate the spaces. Mom's pretty damn stylish.

“Hey there,” she says, closing the top on her computer and smiling a big, bright wide smile at me and Gill. “I was just about to come looking for you two. Cliff and I thought you guys might be interested in going out to eat?” She raises her blonde brows at me and gestures for us to take a seat at the table. My stepdad's squinting at the screen on his phone, no doubt trolling the internet for the next best place to eat. Both my mom and Gill's dad are crazy obsessed foodies.

“Actually,” I say, my voice warbling as I struggle to pull together the words that are so desperate to escape my chest, “Gill and I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Oh?” Mom asks, leaning back in her chair, her gold Valentino sandals glinting in the bright pendant lights that hang from the vaulted ceilings soaring above us. She fingers the necklace around her throat, the one Dad gave her the year I was born. A diamond pendant hangs off the end of the silver chain, winking at me. “What about?”

I look over at Gill and find him staring right at me, his face stripped bare and full of emotion. His long, dark lashes rest against his cheek as he closes his eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath. When he opens them back up, there's a spark in there that I know exists just for me. This thing between us … I know it's more than hopeless teenage affection. I can feel it.

“Elena, Dad,” Gill begins, but I cut him off, desperate to be a part of this. I can't and won't leave Gilleon to fight for us alone.

“Mom, Gill and I are in love.”

The words break in the open air like fireworks and even though I should still be scared, worried about my mom's reaction, I feel a sudden rush of relief.

She blinks at us for a moment and then, like the sound of ringing church bells, a laugh escapes her slender throat.

“Oh, Regi,” she says, and I clench my fists at my sides, thinking she's going to patronize me, belittle my feelings. “It took Cliff and me about two weeks to see you two were crushing on each other.”

I blink back at her in surprise, the room and its tastefully exposed brick walls, white couches, perfectly placed bunches of flowers, all of it spinning around me. Gill reaches down and takes my hand, curling his long fingers around my own.

“You're not … mad?” I ask, looking over at Cliff and his gentle smile, the dark goatee around his mouth that my mom finds so attractive. “But he's my stepbrother. That's weird, isn't it?”

“Hey,” Gill murmurs, looking at me with a crooked smile taking over his lips, “don't argue a battle we already seem to have won.”

“I suppose it's not entirely conventional, but you won't find me fighting for convention even under the best of circumstances.” My mom rises to her feet, reaching out and inviting me into a rose scented hug, her perfume blooming around me as she pulls me against her. “I don't care who you date so long as they treat you right.” She gives Gill a look over my head. “And I know Gilleon's a good man, aren't you Gilleon?”

“I'd hope so,” Cliff says from behind us. “Considering the genetic blessing my genes gave him at birth.”

“You're hilarious, Dad,” Gill says, rolling his eyes as I look back at him. Holy crap. Is this all really going to work out so easily? I mean, isn't life supposed to suck? What's that phrase? Life's a bitch and then you die?

“You two can date provided, of course, that the normal rules are followed. No sleeping in each other's rooms, no locking the door when you're in a room alone, and no sneaking out of the house. If you need something, please ask. I try to be reasonable.”

I wipe a sudden rush of tears from my face. I have no idea where they're coming from, but there they are anyway.

“I thought you were going to freak,” I laugh and my mom joins in as I pull away and reach down to take Gill's hand again. His skin is warm against mine, the feeling traveling straight through my veins to my heart. I feel like it's trying to beat in time with his.

My mom tucks some honey blonde hair behind an ear and smiles at me again.

“Freak-outs should be saved for drugs, crime, and violence. As long as you're safe and happy, that's all that matters to me.”

“I love you, Mom,” I say, the words falling out before I can stop them. I blush and look away as Gill grins at me. “When you're being cool, I mean. Only then.”

“Of course,” she says, reaching out to pinch my cheek as I bat her away, “only when I'm being cool.”