TASTE: A Stepbrother Romance (12 page)

Chapter 8: The Bolt From The Blue

The drive to Kansas City was long, but I promised myself not to dwell on the events that had transpired. For a few days, I wanted to be with my mom and let the rest of the world fade away.

I was tired of my bad taste in men and falling for the wrong guy. Thinking about Nick made me weak, but in the end, I knew that I was better off without him.

I wondered what Mom had to share, because she had always been so subtle and quiet. She hardly expressed such heightened levels of excitement. I decided to try my luck one more time and texted her again.

On my way to see you, but Mom, the curiosity is killing me. What is up?

I hit the send button and then kept checking my phone twice a minute to see if she had replied. Of course, I knew she wouldn’t.

As I reached Kansas, I let myself relish the beauty of this place. I had so many childhood memories here—I remembered being on the swing and going out with my mom. For a moment, I could feel myself still little, holding on to my mom’s fingers and not having another worry in the world. I wanted so badly to go back to the old times and never grow up again. Was it possible to at least recapture that light of a heart, now, when my heart felt so heavy and broken?

I knocked on the door.

My mom came out, and I swear she looked nearly ten years younger. She was glowing with happiness and I had never seen her happier.

I hugged her and complimented her for her loss in weight and her beautiful glow.

She blushed a little and called me inside.

“Lacie, darling, it’s been such a long time since you came to see me. You should come more often. Your mom misses you.”

“I missed you too, Mom, but work has kept me so busy. But you are practically glowing! What is the secret to this shining beauty, Mom?”

“Oh dear, you were always a tease, weren’t you? Of course, I am aging, and look at all these wrinkles, but, honey, I have never been so happy in my life.”

I waited for her to continue the statement, but when she didn’t, I added in my dramatic voice, “And?”

She laughed, because she knew this was one of my childhood habits that she always cherished.

“Don’t worry. I will tell you everything. This is why I have called you here, but you have just come. Take some rest. Give yourself some time. “

“No, Mom, you are gonna kill me with curiosity. I am dying to know what makes my beautiful mom so happy.”

“Lacie, first you need to tell me what is up with you. Your face looks so tired, as if you haven’t slept in a long time, or not enough. What is wrong with your eyes? Why do they look so puffy? Is everything alright?”

This is the thing about moms, much like girlfriends. They know what has transpired even before you tell them anything out loud. I was touched by how my mom could see through me, and at that instant, I wanted to tell her every damn thing, but the story was so long and tragic, and I didn’t want to dampen her happy mood immediately. So I did what I had gotten really good at doing—I faked happiness.

I tried to rub my eyes, and I cooked up a false excuse about work taking a toll on my life and smiled unnecessarily and chipped in a few flashes of the perfect smile. I knew that she wasn’t fully convinced, but for the time being, it served my purpose.

We chatted for a couple of hours, and then she asked me to go shopping with her. I knew that something was definitely up, but I wasn’t prepared for the kind of surprise she gave me.

“Lacie, pick a wedding gown. Something that will look good at my age.”

I looked at Mom and couldn’t quite believe what she had just said. I literally had to save myself from falling, as the news blew me away. It took me some time before I could form a coherent response and all I came up with was, “Whoa, Mom! For real?”

I saw tears in her eyes, and I had never seen her so emotional before.

“Are you angry, Lacie? Your dad will always be in my heart, but you know it gets lonely. Ralph is a great guy, and I am sure you will like him too.”

“Mom! Why would I be angry? Of all people, you deserve it the most. You’ve had such a hard life, and you did every possible thing to ensure I had a good life. Now, it is time for you to roll again.”

She looked at me and smiled, and I was genuinely happy for her. We spent the next three hours looking for wedding gowns and she filled me in with all the details. She told me about how she met Ralph, about how great he was, their unexpected string of meetings, and his proposal. She didn't want something huge or fancy, so they had decided to keep it low-key, as Ralph was the owner of a huge business conglomerate and didn’t want to attract unwanted attention.

“Did you guys settle on the wedding date yet?” I asked.

“Lacie, it’s this Sunday.”

“Holy shit, Mom! That’s three days from now. What am I going to wear?”

She laughed at me, because just like always, my concern had always been what to wear. We shopped for both of us and headed home with a smile on our faces.

As I headed to my room, I saw that I had a text from Les.

Lacie babe, you okay? Need to tell you something. Buzz me when you are free.

I dreaded the worst and wondered what would have come up. I prayed that there weren’t any more troubles with the orphanage and then called her up.

“Les, tell me what it is you wanted to tell me,” I pleaded.

“Maybe, you should talk to Nick again.”

“What did he do Les? Did he hurt you or something? Is the orphanage okay?” I asked, worried.

“No Lacie, he didn’t hurt me. He came to apologize and was looking for you. Actually, he spoke to the CEO of the company who was demolishing the orphanage and paid him a hefty amount and bought the place. He then repealed the notice for demolishing the orphanage. He didn’t tell me all the details, either. I found out because I overheard him talking to the security guards to keep this whole ordeal a secret. When I confronted him about it, he simply said, ‘people change sometimes, Les.’”

I didn’t quite know what to say, my heart had definitely warmed at hearing it, but there was more than the orphanage to him. I felt like I was cheated as he had led me on. When I didn’t really say anything, Les added, “I think you guys should meet once. He told me that he was headed somewhere for urgent work, but he would be back next week. He asked me to let you know that he wants to see you again.”

I told her that I would think about it, then decide what was to be done.

That night, as I lay in my bed, I kept wondering if I had been too quick to judge Nick. Maybe he wasn’t so rude. Maybe I should have at least let him explain. He had called, but I had never picked it up. We did have a great time together, and maybe there was a part of me that still wanted to believe that he could set every wrong right.

I decided to meet him once I was back at New York City, and I eventually went off to sleep. I decided to focus on Mom’s wedding and giving her the best time of her life.
 

***
 

The next couple of days went by in a blur. There was so much to do, and Mom was always busy sharing some stories about Ralph. She was so smitten that it really looked like love had a zing to it.

I often thought of Nick, and how I would feel when I would meet him again. There was definitely something between us, and I ached to hold him in my arms, to steal a kiss all of a sudden and to just spend the night doing things and feeling the bliss of the perfect orgasm. But I knew things had to wait at least until I reached New York City the following week.

Nothing in my life had prepared me for the shock that awaited me. On Sunday morning, as we were headed to the church for the wedding, I saw Nick there. He was wearing a tuxedo and his light green eyes had the same dazzling impact on me. I couldn’t help myself from approaching him.

“Nick!”

“Lacie!”

We both called for each other at the same time and then smiled. For a moment, neither of us spoke, and then we spoke again together.

“What are you doing here?”

It looked like a beautiful coincidence of sorts, except we were both clueless. I decided to clear the matters when destiny had made us bump.

“I am sorry, Nick. I didn’t even give you a chance to explain. It is just that Les had told me about your past, and the way you reacted to her made me jump to my own conclusions. I am really sorry. I should have let you explain, but I was just too hurt.”

“Don’t be sorry, Lacie. It was my fault. It was only after you left me alone that I realized I had fallen for you. The times we had spent together have been the most precious and beautiful time of my life. I was struggling to spend my day without you, and all I wanted to do was hug you and kiss you senseless. I realized then that I was in love with you. Yes, Lacie, I should have told you
the
three words. I love you. You are the only woman who has ever made me feel this way, and the days spent without you have been nothing but a nightmare. I want you back in my life, and this time, I swear I am going to be by your side until the end of time.”

I got really teary eyed. That was the thing about weddings. Every time you attend a wedding, you end up seeing another love story blossom. I couldn’t have asked for a better place or a better setting for Nick to propose me. I could barely hide my tears and happiness, but I knew it was Mom’s day and I didn’t intend to take away the limelight from her.

“Nick, I am so happy. I would really like to kiss you right away and have some wild time, but we won’t break this news until the wedding is over. It is my mom’s day and I don’t want to steal the show. Let her enjoy the glory and tomorrow morning I will tell her and Ralph about us. I am sure they will be delighted to hear about it. Mom is going to love you.”

Nick stood there frozen, stunned and speechless. I couldn’t quite understand why he was reacting in this way. I tried to retrace my sentences and find out if I had subconsciously said something, but when I couldn’t decipher it, I had to ask Nick what was wrong.

“Ralph is my dad.”

Now, it was my time to be shocked and stunned. How could destiny play such a vile game? Just when I had reconciled with the one true love of my life, I found out that he was to be my stepbrother.

I could feel the walls shaking, and I would have fallen down if Nick hadn’t caught me in his arms.

I didn’t know what to feel or how to react. Could I ever see Nick as my
brother
? What would happen to the chemistry we had, the times in bed!

There were just so many questions and no answer.

Chapter 9: Walking My Own Path

              Life could be really cruel. I had been so happy with the news of my mom’s marriage, but nothing quite prepared me for this event. How could Ralph be Nick’s father? There are so many guys out there, why did it have to be his father!

I couldn’t understand what to do. We had just confessed our feelings, and Nick had expressed his love. To find out that he would be my stepbrother crushed me. There was nothing brotherly to me about Nick, and after having spent too many nights learning the terrain of his body, I couldn’t quite see him as a brother, no matter what.

“Nick, what are we going to do about this?”

“Lacie, I don’t know, but there is no way you could be a sister to me. Man, this sucks. As much as I love that my dad is getting another shot at his life, Jesus, why does it have to be
this
way?”

We both stood there inside the church, not knowing what to say or what to do. We were torn amidst the emotions. I was genuinely happy for my mother, and so was Nick for his father, but we were definitely worried about us, too.

As the vows were exchanged, I saw Mom smiling. They were in love, one could feel that and we were too. I realized that there was nothing wrong with my dating Nick. After all, we weren’t biologically related. It was just a weird way of destiny knocking us, but there was no way I would let some chance happening ruin the true love of my life.

I decided to talk to Nick about it before talking to Mom. Nick was my one true fantasy, and it was hard to let him go just because I had found him to be my sort-of brother.

After the ceremony concluded, Mom called me. “Lacie let me introduce you to Ralph’s family–this is Nicholas Jackson, his son, and this is Matthew, his brother.” The list of people went on and on, and despite the wedding supposedly being a low-key affair, there were close to a hundred people.

I signaled Nick not to tell anyone anything right away because I wanted to talk to him about the details before we discussed about our involvement any further. I didn’t quite have a plan, but I wanted to make us work. I knew that Mom would understand me after all; she always did. But even when I tried to come up with a plausible reason, it sounded a little weird, even to my own ears.

When I saw that the guests had started moving towards the reception area, I quickly gestured Nick to meet me at the back gate. I excused myself and headed there too.

Once we were there, I decided that I had to discuss it thoroughly with Nick. There was no way we could simply pretend and ignore the whole thing. I was pacing up and down when I saw Nick approaching and holy shit, he looked so handsome that I could still feel my toes curling. There was no way I would ever get over him, and to be frank, I didn’t want to.

“Nick, I love you. I don’t care how weird and twisted it sounds. I want to know, Nick, what have you decided? I mean I do understand that with the marriage, things have changed, but it doesn’t change the way I feel about you. I want to know, Nick. What do you think of me, now that I am, well, your stepsister?”

For a moment, Nick didn’t say anything, and I dreaded the worst. How was I supposed to know what was going on in his mind, but before I could come to a conclusion, Nick closed the gap between us and kissed me hot, firm, and deep. My mind reacted immediately to his touch, and I met him, stroke for stroke.

I deepened the kiss and let his tongue invade my mouth. I allowed his tongue to get inside me, and the kiss spoke of how much we both had ached for each other.

No, there was no way we could be siblings because there would always be this overwhelming sexual energy between us. I had the strong urge to rip apart his tuxedo and lay my fingers on his bare chest and touch him everywhere. As I bumped my body closer to him, I found that he was hard, and it pleased me to know that I was not the only one aching for the other.

He put his fingers in my hair and took out the bow pin. My hair fell and he let his fingers lose in the curls. The kiss was still going strong and we were in no mood to part. However, it was broad daylight, and we didn’t want many of our guests to see us lip-locked in this way.

Very reluctantly, we broke the kiss, but the urge to touch, cuddle, and kiss was stronger than ever.

“Did you get your answer, Lacie?”

“Yes, Nick. I did. I love you.”

“I love you, too. I want you and I don’t care what fucking weird relation we may have just gotten into. My body craves you and it always will.”

I gave a sigh and realized that we needed to tell our families about it. It wasn’t going to be easy, but as long as we were together, we would make it work, or at least, so I thought.

I took Nick’s hand and asked him if he was prepared for what faced us ahead.

“It will be challenging, Nick. They might be disappointed and shocked. Are you prepared for it?”

“I would do anything for you, Lacie. The times I spent without you have made me realize how much I love you. There is no way I can spend my life without you in it. We will make it work, honey.”

I hugged Nick, and I wanted to do a lot more so badly. The time spent without him had been so terrible that I couldn’t imagine a life without Nick in it. I had no clue how Mom would react, but I really prayed that she would understand me.

***
 

It was hard to find a suitable time to break the news to Mom. I could sense that Nick was as tense as I was, and we were both clueless of the way our parents would react. I knew that it wasn’t the best of time to break the news, but then again, we really didn’t have much of a clue when the right time would be.

I tried to find an appropriate chance, but Mom was surrounded by too many guests. I found myself getting awfully tense, and though I knew that I was grown up enough to make my own decisions, there was something that kept tugging at my heart.

“Don’t work yourself up, Lacie. I will be there for you. I am not going anywhere,” Nick said. I looked around, and when I found that there was no one there except us, I stole a kiss. I would never get tired of kissing him.

“Why did you buy the orphanage? Were you angry that I left without even letting you explain?”

“No, Lacie, I wasn’t angry,” he replied. “There is no way I could be angry with you. It was after you left that I realized that this wasn’t a casual fling for me. I won’t lie anymore. When I first started seeing you, it was nothing but a sexual fantasy for me. There was something about you that made me want to touch you. I was infatuated with you. I wanted to sleep with you, and so I pretended to be the kind of guy you would like. It wasn’t until you left me that I realized this was more than just a casual affair. I realized that the orphanage meant a lot to you.”

I was surprised to hear this, but I let him continue.

“I was looking for a way to forgive myself. I tried calling you, but it looked like you had blocked me. I went to your home, but your apartment was locked. That was when I decided to talk to Leslie. She didn’t pick up my call either. I could feel my whole life shattering, and the only person with whom I wanted to talk about how much it was hurting was you. It didn’t take me long to realize that the ache I was feeling was love,” he continued.

I was trying to hold back tears at this point as he spoke.

“I won’t lie to you. I have been with a lot of people before, but there is something about you that meant more than just sex. Of course, the mere thought of getting inside your body makes me hard, but what I feel for you is more than just sex. I love you completely.”

It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard, and I couldn’t hold back anymore. I could feel the tears glistening in my eyes. I had never felt so beautiful before, and I had never felt so sure about my feelings for anyone like this before Nick.

“Nick, you make me feel beautiful. There is no one I would rather be with. I want to kiss you and make love to you, right here, right now. I want to love you every day and every night, and I want to spend the rest of my life waking up next to you.”

Nick kissed me deeply once again, and I didn’t want the kiss to stop. We were busy touching each other and kissing when a voice jerked the two of us.

“Lacie! Nicholas! What are you two doing?”

As we broke the kiss and stared at the direction where the voice was coming from, I found my mom standing there with a flabbergasted expression on her face.

“Shit, this is not going to go well. We’re so fucked. It is going to be harder to explain,” I murmured to myself, and Nick echoed my sentiments.

Mom was fuming when she approached us, and I could see the disgust on her face. “Lacie, are you crazy? What the fuck were you doing? Don’t you now Nicholas is your goddamn brother now! Have you really lost it?”

She turned to Nicholas and hesitated, debating what to say. They didn’t quite have a formal introduction yet, and Mom wasn’t quite aware of how much she should say. However, judging from the look on her face, she was equally disgusted by him, too.

“Mom, we need to tell you something,” I said with a shaky voice.

“What on earth are you going to tell me that will justify what I saw? God forbid, have some mercy, Jesus!”

“We love each other,” Nick and I said at the same time.

The look on Mom’s face was that of sheer horror and exasperation. It was as if someone had sucked life out of her. She couldn’t quite believe what she had just heard.

Nick gestured for me to be quiet and he went on to tell her how we had met, the way we had known each other long before coming to the wedding. He even mentioned that we had slept together, and that we were in love. “There is no way we can behave like siblings, because we love each other, more than anything else.”

Mom stood there, shocked and silent.

“Lacie, you need to leave. This can’t happen. Whatever happened between the two of you is your past. Nicholas is your brother now. You simply can’t date. The sooner you understand that, the better it is for you.”

“She is not my biological sister,” Nick retorted, “and I am never going to see her as one. I have slept with her, and I intend to sleep with her again and do it for the rest of my life. Just because you married my father doesn’t mean I need to give up on the love of my life.”

I stood there looking at Mom and Nick, not knowing how to sort out the mess, but I was sure I was not letting Nick get taken away.