Beware of Bad Boy (24 page)

“Oh, um, h
ey, um. . . .” Caleb’s discomfort was the only funny thing in this situation. He glanced at me and I stayed mute, merely raising my eyebrows at him.

“What’s the matter, Caleb? Are you feeling alright?”
The idiot actually had the nerve to place her hand on my boyfriend’s forehead as if to check for a fever.

I’d had enough. Grabbing her wrist, I flung her arm away.
“Nothing is wrong with him except while his girlfriend is sitting on his lap, some one night stand from his past shows up and he can’t even remember her name.”

“Oh my god!
You did not just talk to me like that! I’ll have you know that Caleb and I spent a beautiful night together! It was magical!” The idiot screeched and whined at the same time.
Talented
.

“Caleb, baby?” I sa
id sweetly.

“Yes
, princess?”

“What
is this slut’s, sorry, I mean girl’s name?”

“Hell if I know,” he
answered, shrugging.

I bit back my laughter as the girl’s face turned red
. She swiftly stomped back to her OMG posse. First thing I heard her say to them was, “Oh my God!” Then it was like, “Blah, blah, blah, screech!”

At the end of her spi
el, the volume in the room turned up. All of the OMG girls were trying to screech over each other in outrage. They were reassuring what’s-her-name that she was the best, most beautiful, better than me and didn’t need a guy like Caleb in her life. The song “Stupid Girls” by Pink began playing in my head. Unfortunately, not loudly enough to drown them out.

Caleb wa
s shaking in silent laughter. I couldn’t take it anymore. “That’s it! Caleb and I are out of here!” I announced to the room.

“Don’t leave me, Gianna!
Take me with you!” Cece shouted dramatically.

While Jared wa
s in the shower, Cece and I grabbed our things and snuck out with the guys. We ran out of the house, laughing as we saw one girl stumble into another in a drunken mess. It caused them all to start tumbling like dominos.

Jared wa
s going to be so pissed when Cece didn’t come home tonight, but he’d cover for her with their parents anyways. He was a good brother like that.

As Dante and Cece followed in his car, I finally let out my frustration towards Caleb. “Is that going to happen on a regular basis? How many girls have you slept with, Caleb?”

“Shit,” he muttered. “I was just waiting for you to bitch me out over it.”

Turning in my seat, I asked him, “Do you think I should be okay with all these damn girls?”

“No, of course not.”

“How would you feel if I’d slept with a ton of guys who all
came sniffing around trying to get seconds?”

“I’d have very sore knuckles,” he responded, staring at the road ahead.
“I can’t change my past, Gianna.”

But would he even want to?

“Never mind,” I told him, feeling ready to cry and not wanting to go there. Instead, I turned towards the window so I wouldn’t embarrass myself if a few tears slipped out.

When he parked in his spot, he unbuckled my seatbelt and dragged me over to him. I hid my face in his chest, not wanting him to see how upset I was.

“I’m sorry, princess.”

I nodded against his chest.
Reaching out, I pushed open the door and climbed out from his side. Before he could see, I wiped under my eyes. He took my hand and we met Dante and Cece where they waited in front of the apartment building.

We mostly just chill
ed the rest of the night. When Cece used the restroom, I verbally pounced on Dante. I let him know Cece started the night as a virgin and she’d better end it that way. No deflowering on my watch. During our little chat, Caleb just looked up at the ceiling like he had nothing to do with the conversation, all but whistling to himself. Dante was a good sport. I thought Taye or Jared may have already given him the same talk.

The next morning, Dante
took Cece home and I warned him to drop her off at the curb and speed away.
Beware Jared
. Caleb made me breakfast again and I cleaned up afterwards. It was homey, but I was still slightly upset about the night before.

After breakfast, Caleb asked
, “How would you feel about doing number five today?”

Number five was a big deal.
“Tattoo?”

“Only if you want to,
it’s sort of an important decision,” Caleb said seriously.

I th
ought about it for a minute. “I’m ready.”

Caleb smile
d. “Then it’s a good thing I brought the sketch, isn’t it?”

We
went to Donna’s shop and several hours later, I had a two and a half inch tattoo on my hip of a boom box with wings. Caleb planned on licking it along with my belly button ring once they were both completely healed. I could safely assume that anything I got done at Donna’s shop would end up being licked by Caleb.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE

“I think there’s a great beauty to having problems.

That’s one of the ways we learn.”

-Herbie Hancock

CALEB

I was so whipped.

How did it come to this?

I needed to reassert my manly authority in this relationship and quit letting Gianna get her way just because she was so damn hot. And Beautiful. And Funny. And Smart. Oh crap. I was in trouble.

I
couldn’t believe I was sitting in on an art club meeting after school. Wait, I could believe it because Gianna promised if I spent an hour at art club, checking it out, she’d spend an hour in my room tonight doing whatever I wanted.

Oh yeah
.

Finally, it
was over. When I left the art room, Gianna was outside leaning against the wall, smiling smugly.

“Why do you look so
pleased?” I placed my hands on either side of her head against the wall, and swooped down for a kiss.

“
Because,” she said in between kisses.

“
Because why?” I asked in between more kisses.

“
Because I can tell by your face you enjoyed art club.”

“It was alright,” I sa
id noncommittally. “What’d you do while I was in there? Sit out here, waiting for me? Yearning for me?”

“Psh, whatever! I went to the gym
to watch cheerleading practice.” She looked shy and embarrassed, avoiding my eyes.

“Thinking about rejoining?”

“Maybe,” she admitted softly as her cheeks turned pink.

“Y
ou know I’ll support whatever makes you happy, right?” I tipped her chin up to look into her blue eyes.

She sighed.
“I miss it. Plus, it was a good dance workout Monday through Friday. I’m going to get out of shape if I don’t rejoin or start going to the gym.”

Holding her hand as we walk
ed out to my car, I brought her hand up to my mouth and sucked on the tip of her index finger. “I can think of another good workout you could try.”

Gianna
gasped, yanking her hand away. “You are so bad.”

“You love it.” I ran the back of my fingers along her cheek. “And I love it when you blush for me.”

“It’s not every day that some guy starts sucking on my body parts,” she whispered as if we had an audience.

I laugh
ed at her embarrassment. “I’d hope not. Don’t forget, you owe me an hour in my room tonight. There are many parts of you that have yet to be sucked on.”

Her cheeks went from pink to red
. I imagined what other parts of her body I could make blush. Perhaps I’d find out tonight.

I tease
d my girlfriend the whole way home by hinting at all the things I was going to do to her tonight. I planned on doing everything short of actually having sex with her. I’d rather my nosy stepmother not be downstairs baking or knitting or whatever the hell she did, while I was having sex with Gianna for the first time. We’d go to
my
mom’s place for that. When my mom wasn’t there, obviously.

“
My god, Caleb Morrison! You are such a pervert!” Gianna turned the radio up to drown out my naughty words, but the song on the radio was “Bedrock” by Young Money. I laughed as she fumbled to turn it back down.

“What’s the matter, Gianna?  Does that song make you think of how I’m gonna make your bed rock tonight?” I grab
bed high up on her thigh and squeezed. She squealed and pushed my hand away.

“I’ve made a deal with the devil. B
ut it’ll be your bed rocking. Your room, remember?” Gianna didn’t seem too enthused. It hurt a man’s pride. Maybe she doubted my seduction skills. I’d just have to enlighten the poor girl.

“All this talk is making me hard-” I start
ed saying.

Gianna
interrupted so I couldn’t go on, “You are such a pervert! My virgin ears are burning!”

“That’s not all that’
ll be burning by the time I’m through with you.”

“Pervert!”
Gianna yelled, covering her ears. She was trying so hard not to laugh.

“Now that you mention it-” I beg
an, but Gianna cut me off again.

“Crap!” Gianna sound
ed panicked and I swung my head to see what caught her attention.

P
ulling up in front of the house, I understood what she was referring to. Parked right in the driveway like it belonged was a big black truck. “What the hell is he doing here?”

Gianna had
her face in her hands, muffling curses. “Take one guess.”

“I’m going to kick his ass.
Again
.” I took my time getting out of the car and going around to Gianna’s side.

“No, I’m not getting out. I don’t want to deal with her
.”

When
Gianna didn’t budge, I reached down to unbuckle her seatbelt and pull her out. “You’re making me think you’re ashamed of me, princess.”

Gianna look
ed at me with wide eyes. “I’m not ashamed of you! I just don’t want to deal with my mother freaking out about you.”

“
In my opinion, I think Josh is doing us a favor. It’s about time this came out in the open.” I guided her forcefully towards the front door.

Before I c
ould open it, Josh came waltzing out with a satisfied smile on his face. He looked momentarily surprised to see us, but his smile soon returned. I let go of Gianna to shove him to the ground.

Gianna
stepped between us, placing her hands on my chest. “He’s not worth it, Caleb. We have bigger problems to worry about.”

I look
ed at her, then down at Josh, then back at her. “Let’s get this over with.” Before going into the house, though, I kicked Josh in his knee. As I slammed the front door shut, I saw him limping to his truck. I’d still beat that fucker later.

When I turn
ed around, Gianna waited with a scowl on her face. “Are you done?”

“For now, u
nless he wants to come back for more.” Shaking off the anger, I wrapped my arms around her. “It’s gonna be alright. I’m sure your mother can be reasonable about this.”

“Doubtful,” Gianna mutter
ed.

As if on cue
, Julie entered stage left from the living room. Gianna tried to back out of my embrace but I held my arms tightly around her while steadily meeting Julie’s shocked gaze.

“Please tell me what Josh said isn’t true. Please tell me you two haven’t been sneaking around behind our backs.”

Gianna’s spine straightened as she backed out of my arms. “Mom, quit being so dramatic. You make it sound so dirty and seedy.”

“It’s wrong
! You two are stepsiblings! You aren’t supposed to date!” Julie was about to lose it, if she hadn’t already.

“We’
re related through marriage. It’s not like we’re blood-related. We didn’t even know each other until recently,” I pointed out.

Julie turn
ed towards me, eyes flashing. “I don’t want to hear your attempt to defend it, Caleb. I welcomed you into my home and this is how you repay me? By defiling my daughter?”

“Dammit
, mom, quit making it sound like that. Caleb cares about me and I care about him. Plus, no
defiling
has taken place.” Gianna then unthinkingly added, “Yet.”

I groan
ed inwardly. That was not a smart thing to say right now.

Julie’s face turned
red with anger as she practically frothed at the mouth. “This is going to stop right now! I’ve already called Scott and he’s on his way home. Gianna, go to your room. Caleb, wait in the living room for your father to come home. I’m going to go start dinner. This will all be settled shortly.”

Gianna let
out an exasperated sound and ran up the stairs. I did as my wicked stepmother ordered and sat on the couch.
This should be interesting
. Twenty minutes later, I could hear my dad pull into the garage. When he came in through the garage door, I heard Julie already bitching at him about me.

My dad enter
ed the living room with Julie at his heels yapping like a dog. “Tell him to stay away from my daughter, Scott.”

My dad look
ed tired and stressed. “Caleb, is this true?” He already knew it was true. He found out about it weeks ago, but maybe he didn’t want Julie to know he’d been keeping it a secret for us.

Standing up so we were all on equal footing, I tried to explain.
“Yes, but it’s not the way Julie describes it. She makes me sound like some sort of sexual predator. I’m serious about Gianna. We haven’t even had sex yet,”

Julie got in my face.
“
Yet
? That’ll never happen. Gianna is too good for you! Before you came along everything was perfect. It’s probably your fault she quit cheerleading and broke up with that wonderful boy, Josh.”

Now I was
pissed. “My fault? It’s your fault she quit cheerleading! Ask her yourself. And as for that prick Josh, why don’t you invite him over for another talk and ask him about how he tried to force himself on her? Or about the time that he banged her head against a brick wall and knocked her out?”

“I don’t believe a word you’re saying,” Julie stubbornly
denied.

I look
ed to my dad. “You don’t actually think I’m going to break up with Gianna just because Julie wants me to?”

I
could tell my dad was confused by the whole situation. “No, I don’t think you will.”

“Make him!” Ju
lie screamed, having definitely lost it.

“How do you sugges
t I do that, Julie?” my dad asked her. If she didn’t watch it, his temper would rise too.

“I don’t care how you do it! He’s
your
loser son! You deal with him!” Julie stalked back to the kitchen.

My dad follow
ed her and I let out a relieved sigh. It was good to have that crazy bitch out of my face. My dad and Julie were still fighting loudly in the kitchen when Gianna peeked her head into the living room. “Is it safe?”

I
held out my arms. “No, but come here anyways.” She rushed over and sat on my lap. Wrapping my arms around her, I tried reassuring her with a kiss.

Julie and my dad
stormed back to the living room. Julie zeroed in on Gianna on my lap and went ballistic. “Gianna, get away from him!” Julie tried forcing Gianna off my lap, but Gianna was holding on tightly to my neck.

“Deal with it, mom
! You can’t make us break up!” Gianna yelled.

“No, but I can make him leave!” Julie
hollered back.

My dad would only be pushed so far.
“My son has a right to be here!”

Julie got
in my dad’s face now. “You don’t seem to understand, Scott. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep a delinquent like your son away from my daughter!”

“He
’s just a kid! You make him sound like the scum of the earth!” He wasn’t backing down and it was clearly pissing Julie off.

“He’s not good enough for her! I bet she doesn’t even know half of
the things he’s gotten up to!”

Gianna interrupted
their argument, “I don’t care about his past, mom. I only care about his present and presently he’s my boyfriend. You can’t do anything about it.”

Julie
slowly looked from Gianna to me to my dad. She had a strange look in her eyes now and her face was going pale. “Take your son and leave, Scott.”

My dad
was taken aback. “What?” he asked faintly.

“I want your son out of my house and away from my daughter permanently. Take your degenerate son with you
and leave.” She moved away from him toward the doorway. “You can come home when you send him back to live with his mom.”

“You fucking bitch,” my dad whispered. Julie’s face crumpled and she left the room.

Gianna jumped off my lap to follow her mom. A few seconds later, I heard Gianna and her mom fighting.

My dad still ha
d a stunned look on his face. I didn’t really know what to say to him, so all I said was, “I’m sorry, dad.”

He cleared his throat.
“Don’t worry about it, Caleb. I wouldn’t want to stay with a woman who looked down on my son, anyways. I think it’s best if we leave right away. I still have the condo and it’s in-between renters. We’ll go there. Go pack enough for the next few days.”

M
y dad looked defeated as he climbed the stairs. I’d never wanted to hit a woman before, but I was coming real close when it came to Julie.

I d
idn’t really see any choice but to do as he asked. I ran up to my bedroom and grabbed my largest duffel bag. I was throwing things in there when Gianna slammed into my room. “What are you doing? Where are you going?” She was panicking and I wanted to comfort her but didn’t know how. Things were so fucked up at the moment. More than anything, I was hurting for my dad. He loved that crazy bitch.