ROMANCE: MC Romance: Owned by The Bad Boy (Stepbrother Bad Boy BBW Ménage Mafia Romance) (Contemporary New Adult Alpha Male Billionaire Romance Short Stories) (4 page)

Mom sat in silence as we drove back home.  The plan to tell us had failed miserably and neither of us felt like discussing it.  As we got to our building and I parked the car in the garage.  She blurted out, “Did you see Kevin’s face when you slapped him?”

This is when I turned to look at her, she was laughing.  Hard and loud, throwing her head back in hysterics.  I couldn’t believe that she found it funny. I thought she would tell me off and was waiting for us to get inside to give me a peace of her mind.  Or even worse tell me to get out of her life.  Instead she was flicking her curls back and trying to contain her laughter.

“You should have –“

I just looked at her, rage was still pouring through my veins at the events that had just taken place. We were far from gold diggers.   I knew it, mom knew and so did the twins.  They said the one that they knew would get my blood boiling and it worked.

My hand was hurting me.  I was glad my little golf was an automatic.  So, I didn’t need to be changing the gear much with my bruised hand from smacking Kevin Evans round the face.  Well, there was one thing for sure.  It shut him up.  I left before I even heard him say one more word about us.  I noticed that he never said anything.  In fact Alex stopped following us.  Which was a good thing.  One thing for sure, we all needed our spaces right now.  Well, I did anyway.

“Mom, you don’t need that. Why marry into a family that are going to treat you like that? Dad would –“ she stopped laughing as I hit a nerve.  We hadn’t talked about dad in years.  Since she started dating Alex he hadn’t been mentioned at all.  The first year of dad’s death was hard.  So, hard for both of us. We couldn’t get over the fact that he complained about his headache for days and then within a week, we found out that he had a brain tumor and died.

Dad was always complaining about something.  His neck if he spent too long in the same position watching a game.  His eyes if he had to spend a few hours on the Net.  His legs if we had to walk more than five minutes from where he parked the car to the entrance of the restaurant.  So, when he said he had a headache.  I never heard him the first time, because there was always something.  The second day, mom told him to take ibuprofen and on the third day he kept on taking it.  He said it helped a bit, but on the fourth day, he said he could hardly think straight.  His head felt as if someone had bashed it with a bat several times during the night.

This was when we learnt the truth.  That it was more than a headache and he had a few days left.  All the aches and pains that he had experienced for years could have helped with the diagnosis, but he had dismissed them as the joys of being in his fifties.  They were more than that and as the days flew by like the wind.  We soon discovered that we could no longer enjoy his laughter or anything else.  He was dead.

I cried so much at first. I was the typical daddy´s girl.  He was a geek like me and loved to do the odd equation.  I used to love getting the Sunday papers and us sitting down and trying to beat each other at Sudoku.  We used to have the odd nights at Scrabble, he would always win and I would never give up trying to beat him.  That was the beauty of him, having someone on the same level as me.  Mom used to be the kind of person that never got it.  I used to wonder how they got together.  The love was there, but their interests were worlds apart.

My dad who used to tuck me in my bed at night and promise me that he would let me win the next, Sudoku puzzle.  He never did, he was a typical Weakes always wanting to be first.  Even when I was only ten years old.  We started playing together from a young age and when he left my world fell apart.  He left a big hole in my heart and I found it hard to fill it.

The nights came and went.  Mom and I shut the door to the world.  She has lost her first love. They had met back in high school and she told me that she had never been swept of her feet by any man the way dad had done.  Then, there we were without him.  The laughter that used to go through the walls, died.  The smile that used to greet me when he beat me at Sudoku, was no longer there.  I missed him and I felt that nothing could surpass that loss, nothing.

Grandma, dad´s mom came to live with us and we started to laugh again.  She looks so much like dad, so part of me felt as if he was back in the house.  With her cooking, cleaning and beating her at Sudoku.  The house felt alive again.  Mom and I once again started to get back into a routine.  We started to accept our loss and realize that we had to get on with our lives. Grandpa was complaining about not having grandma being home to cook his meals and clean for him. 
What a life?
No, he is not that bad. We knew the real reason.  He missed grandma.  We did the moment she left, the house went quiet again.

Back then we lived in Jersey.  We both agreed, both mom and I that we wanted to sell the house.  Too many memories of him and as long as we lived there we could never get over our loss.  This is when we packed up and came to live in the Big Apple.

That felt like a lifetime ago and sitting in the car, mom sighed and said, “The time I had with your dad was special.  I never thought I could love again.”  She cleared her throat.  The laughter she had expressed only a few seconds ago, were gone.  “Now, I want to spend the rest of my life with Alex.  You and the twins need to get used to it.” 

I sat shocked, by her change in heart.  I jumped out of the car and blurted out as I locked it.  “You don’t want respect mom?”

She stopped in front of me.  I stood towering over her, yet she still had the upper hand. 

“You think a bunch of spoilt twins means that I don’t get respect?”

I didn´t know how to reply to that question.  Maybe I was no better than them.  I was being selfish too.  Thinking of myself and no one else.  She stood still as if time had frozen waiting for an answer. I searched for an answer avoiding her eyes.  Looking at my feet.  Hoping someone we knew would come by, but she didn´t move as she firmly had two hands on my arm waiting for a reply.  I hated that she had me in a spot. I wanted to break free.

Her light blue eyes shone as she waited for an answer.  I shrugged and I knew that once we were inside we had to talk.  It started with the past and would end up with the future.  Her future as one of the Evans.  An unnerving feeling shot inside of me as I knew it would result in me having to do some groveling to the guys who would be in the near future my stepbrothers.  I hated the idea of it.  I had to face the reality that I wasn´t behaving better than they were, I was being selfish.  I needed to set aside my feelings about them and do what was best for my mom.  She was happy with Alex.  I would focus on this point and the future would be bright.  For them at least.  Not for me.

I had to eat my words. 
Brenda you can do this!
I repeated in my head over and over again.   It was clear from mom´s instructions that the words had to leave my mouth. We were soon going to be one big happy family and I had to make it happen.  She expressed her love for me and my ability to do the right thing in the same sentence. 
Yep, emotional blackmail. 
  How could I let her down? I couldn´t she had always been there for me and supported me throughout my life, all twenty one years.  I had to do this one thing for her and make things right.  I knew it was going to be tough, but I had to set my personal feelings aside.  Even though, it was going to be tough.  I hesitated entering their building and took a deep breath as I approached the stairs.  Manhattan is so different to the Upper West Side.  Sure, we had a doorman, but nothing like the wealth that split over these walls.  I greeted, Carl the doorman as I normally did when I came to the building. 

“Morning, Miss Weakes” he said as he opened the door.  No one really called me by my surname.  Yet, they had to be so formal here.  Trent and Kevin would probably report him if he called me, Brenda.

Carl hated Kevin and Trent too.  He never said it, but it was obvious from the stone cold look on his face every time he saw them.  They had insulted Carl on more than one occasion and they even reported him one time, because his shoes were slightly dirty.  Their words were, ´With the money we pay to purchase a property in the building.  It is downgraded by having people on the door that can´t even afford a decent pair of shoes.´

Mom told me about the incident and I couldn´t get my head around it.  Apparently, after twenty five years of working on the door Carl was told to buy a new pair of shoes or he was out.  I could imagine, his tired face looking even worse when he was told the news.  He works long hours, I am sure he is past retirement age.  He always greats me at the door with a smile.  Even the Evan brothers. 

I had better get used to it, for in a few short weeks, we would have to move from Manhattan to the Grand Tier on Broadway.   Carl escorted me to the elevator as the replacement doorman took his place alone outside the building. 

“Carl, I am not looking forward to this.” I needed to talk to someone and in the absence of my best friend, Katie.  Carl was the only person I could converse with, he knew what the brothers would like.  I needed someone to put my mind at ease.

“Why what is wrong?” he said with a troubled expression.

“I need to apologize to Trent and Kevin, I –“I hesitated saying my actions yesterday.  I still couldn´t believe the effect the twins had on me.  I have never wanted to hit a man so badly.  I took a deep breath and spat it out, “I slapped Kevin.”

Carl started laughing and covered his mouth. 

“Don´t tell anyone I said this.”  He looked around the elevator.  Then he nodded remembering the camera inside it.  “Good.” He whispered as he got close to me.

I smiled at Carl´s revelation.  It made me feel more relaxed as the elevator stopped at the penthouse. 
Maybe I´ll be lucky and this weekend they are going to a party on a yacht or they are not in!
  I knew that was not the case, but a girl can dream.  Mom made sure they were in, so did Alex.  

Alex words were clear, “We´re all going to live as one family. So, we all need to get along.”

I wondered if he said the same thing to the boys.  The words felt like a joke when they said them out loud.  Running them through my head it felt surreal.  Did they both not know the truth behind Trent and Kevin?  My mom´s happiness is at stake as don´t want to be here right now. I have no choice.  Putting her first is the answer to my prayers.  She is all I have left.

“Good luck,” Carl whispered as the doors opened.

“I´m going to need it,” I replied as I stepped out of the elevators.

As soon as I stepped out, Trent stood with his hands on his hips, “Look who’s come back for forgiveness.”

How did he know that I was coming up now? I never gave a time. 
I went to class, to try and calm my nerves.  Also, with my finals and trying to get my portfolio finished this whole episode never helped,  I couldn´t focus.  There was only one thing on my mind, or rather two. 

I walked up to him with my head bowed down, I couldn´t even look him in the eye. I smelt his strong musk and I felt sick.  How could someone so hot, smell so good and still be an ass?  My eyes slowly went up to his chest and then he did the strangest thing.  He held his hand out and gently stroked my face.

“You´re beautiful when you are angry,” he hissed.  I looked up wondering if he was mocking me or if he was serious.  Kevin came behind me.  “That ass is mine.”

Trent nodded in agreement.  I had an unnerving feeling that things were going to change.  The guys had gone from being arrogant and cruel to being nice.  I thought they didn´t do nice.  The confident Brenda Weakes spoke out in a whisper, “I came to apologize.”

They both laughed. Mocking me and they motioned their hand for me to follow them.  We were heading, not to the golden lounge, but to the terrace. I moved with them and they had an evil twitch in their eye.  I started to shake my head at the idea that they were up to something, I planned to give them the benefit of the doubt.  Just so I could get this over with and make sure that my hands stayed in check.  Not slapping another one of the Evans.

***

“What made you change your mind?” Trent questioned with his legs crossed in a black suit, which made him look sexy, but evil at the same time.  He had a smirk on his face as he spoke.  I sipped on the wine that was put in front of me by one of the girls.  I could never remember which one they were, they all looked the same.  Blond haired and blue eyed, it almost felt like a pre-request to work in this house was you had to be stunning.

I noticed that as she bent down, Kevin looked up her short shirt.  She smiled and he returned it as she did a fake curtsy and left us.  She hesitated at the door whilst we were shielded from the beaming summer sun. 

“Will that be all, Mr. Evans and Mr. Evans?” she asked as she paused waiting for a response. I thought they were going to ask her to take her clothes off and have it with her.  There was too much testosterone in the air as she spoke.   She started fanning herself with her hand as she pushed her tits out.  I could see her nipples through her thin, white shirt.  Kevin licked his lips as she said, “Later. Much later.”

She bit her lip and skipped as she shut the terrace door.  I watched as she walked, wondering in my mind if you could call it a skirt.  It was so short.  I watched as Kevin adjusted himself in the chair whilst watching her fade away.

Trent started to unbutton his shirt.  I gasped as the thickness of his chest was revealed. I felt like a naughty school girl in the men´s changing room as Kevin followed suit.

“You not hot in that?” Kevin asked as he eyed my jeans and shirt.  Sure, I was hot.  For some reason, I was sweating more up here then I did when I was in town earlier.  The humidity was intense.  I nodded, wondering if they expected me to start stripping too.

“Take it off. We´re all going to be family soon.” I was just about to get up when Trent said, “Calm down, I was only joking.”

Maybe I did need to lighten up, with the wine soon going to my head. It was hard to be so aggressive.  I did the craziest thing, when I saw they were both sitting with no shirts. I took my shirt off too.

I grabbed the bottle of wine and said, ”One big happy family!”

They both laughed, but Kevin moved his chair closer and whispered, “Yes, happy!”