Bastard SEAL: A Bad Boy Forbidden Baby Romance (Contains bonus book Based!) (34 page)

I
hated feeling jealous
.

There was nothing worse than jealousy, especially when you knew that there was no real reason for it. Still, I couldn’t help myself. I remembered what Misty looked like, and when Lincoln was forced to go on his date with her, I wanted to hide under my bed.

I knew I had nothing to worry about. I was just being stupid. He didn’t want to go on that date.

But there was still that nagging sense of jealousy looming over my shoulder. He must have sensed it, too. Before he left, he found me in my room, pointedly trying to ignore everything around me.

“How do I look, Brie baby?” he asked with a grin.

I glanced up. He looked amazing as usual, especially dressed up in his suit.

“You look fine,” I said.

“Playing it cool. I like it.”

He walked across the room and sat down on my bed, pulling my body against his. He laughed and kissed my mouth and my neck.

“Don’t you have a date?” I asked him.

“Am I sensing a little jealousy?”

“Not at all. Just reminding you.”

“Don’t worry. You’re the only thing I want.”

I pushed him back. “Cut it out.”

“Really. Hey.” He grabbed my face and pulled me toward him. “I’m not happy about this thing, either, but it’s only a few hours.”

“I know. It’s not a big deal. You’ll be on camera, anyway. So it’s not like you can screw up too badly.”

He grinned. “You’d be surprised.”

“Okay, go annoy someone else.”

“You mean, go annoy my date?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

He kissed me one last time and stood up.

“See you when I get home.”

“Sure. Whatever.” I gave him a wave and went back to checking Facebook.

He laughed as he turned and left.

And later that night, after the house was quiet and everyone was asleep, he snuck into my room. At that point, he had gotten me off a dozen times. But that night, for whatever reason, he was insatiable.

Which is why I woke up sore the next morning. It was a bittersweet soreness, the kind of dull pleasure you got from hard work. All jealousy had been completely and thoroughly banished.

I stretched and climbed out of bed. The hardest part about my relationship with Lincoln, or whatever we were calling it, was that he could never stay over. Everything between us was hidden, secret gestures and looks during the day, and sweaty and rough touching at night.

Even then we had to be quiet. As much as I wanted to scream his name, I had to settle for digging my nails into his back and whispering it into his ear. The last thing we wanted was to wake up his mom or my dad.

I slowly got out of bed and walked out into the hall, heading to the bathroom. I went through my usual morning routine, my mind still lingering on the night before.

Lincoln’s arms wrapped around my body. His tongue between my legs. His strong hands grabbing my hips as he thrust himself again and again into me. The sheets grasped between my hands. My face pressed down into a pillow, trying not to moan too loudly.

I finished brushing my teeth and washing my face, pushed open the bathroom door, and nearly jumped out of my skin.

“Hey, Aubrie. Good morning,” Jess said.

“Jesus, Jess, you scared me.”

She was standing across the hall, leaning her back against the wall. Under her right arm was a gray plastic square that I didn’t recognize.

“Sorry about that. I was just looking for you.”

“What do you need?”

I glanced around the hall. No cameras. That was good at least.

“Well, I wanted to show you something.”

“Can it wait? I haven’t even dressed yet.”

“It can, but I think you’ll want to see this.”

“What is it?”

“Footage. From Lincoln’s date last night.”

I blinked at her. “Why would I want to see that?”

“I’ve noticed how close you two are getting. I figured you might want to know what kind of guy you’re dealing with.”

I stared at her, my heart suddenly racing. Did she know about Lincoln and me? No, there was no way she knew anything. She couldn’t possibly know.

“Sorry. I don’t really care, honestly. We’re not that close.”

She smiled. “I know. I have to admit, I have an ulterior motive here. I was hoping you’d give me your opinion on it.”

“Why?”

“I can’t tell if it’s a little too much. And everyone else around here is afraid to say no to me.”

She gave me a big, winning smile, and I sighed. I had to admit, I was pretty damn curious about the footage, but I was finding it hard to believe that she gave a shit about my opinion. Still, if I really didn’t care about it, then it might be best just to sit through it anyway. Just to throw her off my scent.

I had nothing to hide. Or at least that’s what I was telling the world.

“Okay. Fine. Let me get dressed real fast.”

I moved past her and walked into my room, throwing some clean clothes on.

“Okay, come in.”

Jess walked in and sat down on the bed, placing the gray thing flat on the comforter. She flipped open the top and I realized that it was a portable DVD player. I laughed.

“I haven’t seen one of those in a while.”

She grinned at me. “Yeah, I know. The film industry can be a little backward sometimes.”

I sat down next to her. “So what’s the point of this again?”

“No real point. Just trying to get a second opinion. Ready?”

“Sure. Ready.”

I wasn’t ready. Not even close to ready.

She hit play.

I watched as Lincoln and Misty walked into an expensive-looking restaurant and were lead into a private room. Lincoln looked like his usual confident self, despite the cane, and Misty was dressed in an entirely inappropriate outfit. She clearly was trying to shove her tits in Lincoln’s face.

He pulled her chair back like a gentleman, and they settled down to order drinks.

“Dirty martini for me,” Misty said. “Extra dirty.” She gave Lincoln a look as she said it and winked.

The camera cut to Lincoln. He was giving her his usual grin. Was he seriously falling for that bullshit?

Next, Lincoln ordered a whisky, and the waiter left.

“So, Misty,” Lincoln said. “Let me ask you something.”

She leaned forward, batting her eyes at him, pressing her tits together. It was almost disgusting the way she was throwing herself at him. “Okay. Ask me anything you want. I’ll tell you absolutely anything.”

The camera showed Lincoln’s satisfied grin again, his eyes clearly raking up and down her body.

“How old are you, Misty?” he asked.

“Twenty-three.”

She was clearly lying, but Lincoln just kept smiling at her. The waiter returned with their drinks, and they ordered their food.

Of course she gets a salad at a steak house, I thought to myself bitterly.

Once the waiter left, Misty spoke.

“So, Based. What do you like to do?”

“I like to play the piano.” The camera cut to Misty’s reaction, a big smile, and then back to Lincoln. “What about you?”

“I like to party. Do you like to party?”

The camera cut to Lincoln. “Sure, that’s great.”

I narrowed my eyes. Was he serious? Was this whole thing for real? Did he seriously spend the whole night flirting with this girl only to come home and fuck me? For a second, I was beginning to feel dirty. I was finding the whole thing really hard to believe, but the evidence was right there.

The camera cut to Misty. “You’re so funny!”

Lincoln just grinned at her and sipped his whisky.

“What is your favorite drink, Lincoln?”

“I don’t know. I’ve always been a whisky guy.”

Suddenly, the camera cut and showed Misty’s foot slowly move up Lincoln’s leg. It cut again and showed Lincoln’s grin as he sipped his whisky, clearly not minding her advances. I felt a little sick.

“You’re so much like Daddy,” Misty said.

I groaned out loud, and Jess gave me a little smile.

“There’s something sexy about a man drinking whisky,” Misty continued.

“Why do you think that is?” Lincoln asked.

“It’s masculine. I love men when they’re manly.”

She might be the dumbest person in the world,
I thought to myself. And yet Lincoln seemed to be eating her cutesy bullshit up.

“What do you think is manly?” he asked.

“I love tattoos, like yours. And men that aren’t afraid of anything, like you.”

“So you think I’m manly?”

“Extremely.”

The camera cut, and the waiter appeared with their food. Misty ordered another drink, “just as dirty,” and Lincoln just smiled at her as she winked again.

The waiter left. “You know, Lincoln, one of my favorite things in the world is wearing silky, sexy underwear,” Misty said.

“Right, totally,” he grunted.

“I think you’d like it. Pink and easy to rip off.”

“Sounds nice,” he said. The camera cut to him grinning.

“I can be very convincing,” she said, her foot running up his thigh again.

“I’m sure you can be, Misty.”

The scene ended with them eating and smiling at each other.

Jess closed the player. I sat back, shock rolling through my body. I resisted the urge to wretch.

“What do you think?”

I looked at her, struggling to keep my face passive. “Looks like they had fun.”

“Crazy, right?”

“I guess so. Isn’t that Lincoln’s thing?”

“Totally. Do you think it’s too much though?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t know anything.”

I wanted to run. I wanted her to get the fuck out of my room.

How could he flirt with a huge whore like that? I was livid and hurt, but above all, confused. He didn’t seem like the type of guy to go for that sort of obvious and stupid flirting. And yet according to the video, he did.

Worst of all, he went for her and came home to fuck me later.

“Is something wrong?” Jess asked.

“No. Just not feeling good. You caught me at a bad time.”

She smiled. “Sorry. I can get a little excited.”

“It’s fine. I think I just need to lie down.”

“Sure, no problem. Maybe I’ll show you the rest of the footage later. It’s pretty insane.” She stood up and smiled. “Thanks for your help.”

“Of course.”

She turned and walked out of my room.

I put my face into a pillow and screamed. For a second, that made me feel a little better. I was itching with anger and nervous energy. I wanted to run downstairs and confront Lincoln in front of everyone, but I knew that was insane.

Why would Jess even show me that? I was supposed to be his stepsister. The more I thought about it, the weirder that whole exchange was. She didn’t actually care about what I thought of the scene. In fact, when I said I felt a little sick, she looked absolutely pleased.

Had that bitch showed that gross scene just to get a rise out of me? I couldn’t rule that out.

But that didn’t make it any better. As much as I wanted to do something about how I was feeling, I couldn’t risk giving Jess exactly what she wanted.

Instead, I sat back to kill time until their break. I knew where I’d find him then.

The asshole better have something good to say.

I found him playing pinball. Inevitably during the break between the morning and the afternoon session, Lincoln would go into the game room and take out his frustrations on the pinball machines. He used to play piano, but ever since we started sleeping together, he went into the music room less and less. I watched him a few times, but mostly I left him alone, not wanting people to notice us spending time together.

But it was probably too late for that, considering Jess had probably noticed something.

I stood leaning against the pool table watching him play the machine, my emotions a mess of confusion and anger. I had a hard time believing it, but I had seen it with my own eyes. Lincoln flirting with the dumbest girl alive, right there on camera, completely shameless.

Finally, I cleared my throat loudly. Lincoln looked up, surprised.

“Brie baby. When did you get here?”

“Not long ago. We need to talk.”

His grin faded when he heard the tone of my voice.

“What happened?

I paused. “Jess came to see me this morning?”

“What did she want?”

“She showed me something.”

He sighed, smirking and crossing his arms. “You gonna keep beating around the bush, or are you going to tell me what’s up?”

“I’m pissed, Lincoln,” I snapped. “I mean, seriously? Misty?”

“Misty?” He cocked his head and then laughed. “You mean the idiot from my charity date?”

“Yes, that Misty,” I spat at him. “Jess showed me the footage of your date.”

“Okay. So I don’t get why you’re upset.”

I gaped at him. Was he insane? “Look, I get that whatever is going on between us has to stay secret, and we’re not really dating or whatever, but it was disgusting watching you flirt with that moron.”

He looked even more confused. “Flirt with her? Are you nuts? That girl was repulsive.”

“That’s not what Jess showed me.”

“Fuck,” he said. “Tell me exactly what you saw.”

I made a face. “I’d rather not.”

“Listen to me, Brie. This is important. Tell me exactly what you saw in that footage.”

I stared at him for a second, not sure what to do, but something in his gaze convinced me. I began to recount the whole thing, starting from the beginning. He listened, nodding, until I got to the part about him flirting back.

“That didn’t happen,” he said.

“What part?”

“Her foot on my leg? She did that. And I moved it immediately.”

“The footage made it seem like you were into it,” I said slowly.

“What else happened?”

I finished off the narrative, and his face grew angrier and angrier as I went.

“That fucking cunt,” he said.

“So you’re saying she lied somehow?”

“That stuff happened, but she left a lot out. And it wasn’t all in that order.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Fuck.” He moved closer to me. “Listen, Brie, that girl was insane. Yeah, she came onto me. But I turned her down, flat out, and she lost her shit. I bet Jess didn’t show you that part.”