Life hasn't always been easy for Ellie Sanders. Abused constantly by her mother since she could remember, she faced the challenges of survival in the humbling streets of Coney Island, New York. Ellie, accustomed to fending for herself, struggles to adapt to her father’s new life, which includes his new wife, a move to the luxurious side of Manhattan, and worst of all, the addition of her step-brother Aiden, but after being forced by their parents to get along, Ellie and Aiden soon discover their feelings for each other transcend that of step siblings. In her quest to suppress her growing affection for Aiden, Ellie explores relationships with other guys, only to discover that Aiden’s got some tricks up his sleeve to scare them away. Together, they confront the difficulties of concealing their love and as hearts entangle, the fears of family and society finding out loom large, and Ellie’s past waits to pounce on her, her life becomes an overwhelming roller coaster. Can their love withstand the pressures that surround them, or will the outside pressures rip them apart?
View MoreELLIE“What’s going on here?” The suddenness of my dad’s voice was almost as frightening as the look of disapproval on his face. I could have sworn that he was the last person I had been expecting to run into that day.I felt like pleading with the ground to open up and swallow me in, as the humiliation that came with the moment was just too much for one person to bear all alone. There were a lot of things going wrong at the moment and it was all Aiden’s fault. How could he have grown so audacious to pull off such a stunt out there in the open? I feel like rewinding everything to when I had been deciding to come out there and see him. That was the biggest mistake of that Sunday afternoon. I should have just stayed out of their family business like my instincts had told me. But now, I was paying a much too bitter price. “Oh… Mr. Sanders… good day…” Aiden stuttered terribly as he forced a smile on his face. “I had no idea you would be coming over today…”“What are you both doing?” My
AIDENAt that point, I was praying the weekend would be over sooner rather than later. I was thinking of what could have probably gone wrong with my phone that made the pictures of the chats suddenly get deleted. It was the strangest kind of shit I had ever experienced. I was trying my best not to lose my cool just yet. Though I didn’t want to admit it just yet, my existence was beginning to get a bit boring without a friend by my side. And even worse, without Ellie. I couldn’t make any new friends, and at the same time, I didn’t want to go back to my life of being a player, even though I could easily pick up from where I had left off. Just like I had done with the basketball team and I was doing pretty good at it. All I had for the time being was that ball and there was nothing else to it. It was beginning to get quite boring, but I wasn’t ready to admit it just yet. I missed having people around me, but then I was about to also push away the last person whom I had by my side at e
ELLIE“Where did you go?” Aiden's question caused a deafening silence to fall over the whole house. I was yet to come down the stairs and I just stopped right there as I was watching the whole thing unfold. I couldn't help but wonder what it was all about. First, it had been Aiden being overly curious about seeing his mother leave, then it was him looking all gloomy all through the weekend. And now, it was him confronting her about where she had been all weekend like he was some sort of jealous lover. It couldn't get even more interesting than that. I tried my best not to feel guilty about acting like I was some onlooker, instead of trying to help them sort out their differences right there. I promised myself I would find a way to intervene after I had at least found out what exactly had been going on all through the weekend. “Aiden…? What's the meaning of all this?” Emily was looking just as confused as I was at that point. “What sort of question is that? I'm not your kid for cr
ELLIE“The rules…?” I was wondering to myself as I was making my way back to the house, feeling half disappointed and half pleased. I hadn't been expecting Dylan to be such a handful. He was making himself look like a mystery which I would have to make out time to crack. The more I told myself that I wasn't interested in digging into it, the more I found myself wanting to find out what could be going on with this mystery character that I had run into.I was almost made to feel like I was the guy trying to get a girl's attention, and I hated being put in that position. I strongly believed that it was meant to be the other way around. There were a lot of things I wanted to find out about him, but my pride wouldn't let me ask of it. I didn't want to look so desperate. He was meant to come after me with all he had and hoped that I would be able to open up to him. Why was he such an… I didn't even have the words for him at that point.“Ugh…” I sighed as I opened the door. The fact that I
AIDEN“One more…” I muttered to myself as I sunk yet another shot. I was frustrated and I had been trying to get away from it all that time. I wasn't sure what it had been, but I was sure that frustration had been setting in ever since I sent that text to my mother, who hadn't gotten a reply in almost forever.The close contact experience with Ellie also made me frustrated as I had been trying not to let it get to me. But it did get to me. “Fuck!” I yelled out loud as I went over to where I had kept my phone to see if there had been some sort of reply from my mother. ***ELLIEI had never thought that I would ever need to sneak out of the house for a man up until that moment. It felt like I was breaking some sort of unwritten rule somewhere.But at the same time, I was keeping my eyes and ears open for any signs of Aiden anywhere close. I could still hear the sound of his ball bouncing audibly, and it looked like he would be stuck there for a while. That gave me an open path to go
ELLIE“I'm sorry, Ellie…” Jasmine's apologies weren't amounting to anything as I didn't want to hear them to begin with. She sounded like she was more focused on justifying herself instead of making up for her misdeeds which had left me helpless at the hands of a stranger. I had been trying to tell myself that I wasn't affected by it, but then, I knew more than anyone that it was going to take quite some time before I would get to trust Jasmine ever again. “There were a lot of things that happened, and I was pressured into making that decision… It wasn't entirely my fault. They threatened to leave me behind if I didn't join them… Ellie, please say something…” “You know more than anyone that there's nothing for me to say…” I said as I was trying not to get even madder than I was already. It would possibly lead to me saying things that I didn't want to. Words couldn't describe how I was feeling at that point, as I was trying not to see Jasmine as an enemy even though she had treate
ELLIE“Yeah…” I had been saying yes to almost everything he had been requesting to do. I just didn't know what it was that came with the cold that made my will to resist liquidate rather too suddenly. I was watching him as he was slowly taking it all off. There were a lot of thoughts running through my head as I was invited by the cold.Aiden seemed ever-ready to fulfill every single one of those desires to the best of his ability. He seemed like he was staring at a wonder when he was glaring at my naked body. “Which dress would you like to slip into…?” Aiden asked as he knew that the weather had made me weakened and I needed someone to at least keep me warm from the cold as I was all alone there.“Just keep me under the covers while I think about what I want to wear…” I said as I let him carry me away to the bed. He slipped me under the covers and he hadn't gotten into the bed for some reasons which were best known to him. “Why aren't you joining me…?”“You want me to…?” He seemed
AIDEN“Who are you?” For the next couple of moments, I didn't look at Ellie. All my attention and hate had been directed towards the dude who had been standing there with her under the same umbrella. I just couldn't keep my jealousy from exploding at that point. It was hard to put up an act of coolness while seeing her standing so close to him. Being drenched in the rain, her clothes clung to her, and that made them a bit more revealing. That went a long way in inciting more jealousy in my heart than I could take. “Aiden, calm down…” Ellie let out, making me sound like I was some sort of mad dog who had willed himself away from its chains by mistake. “Hello…” Dylan was smooth and cool while Aiden was being as annoying as ever. “Nice to meet you, Aiden. That's quite a way to thank someone who gave your girl a ride home in this pouring rain. You are welcome and I appreciate it.”“He's my stepbrother…” she was quick to correct the impression I had created, even though she looked like
ELLIE“I fucking knew it…” Dylan said as he saw the rain had begun, and it poured heavily like it had been held back for quite a while. “Well if I had been your friend, and I knew this rain was coming, I would have left you without a second thought.”The smile on his face disappeared as he saw the annoyed look on my face, which made it clear that I was in no mood for any of such jokes.“Okay, my bad…” he said, as he took up his hands in subtle surrender. Then he started the car and was ready to move Good thing we were in the car already. I had never been glad about making any decision like I was glad that I had decided to get in Dylan's car. I would have been struggling to find some sort of shelter in the park while getting even more lost in the process. He looked pretty nice and acted pretty nice, even though I couldn't help but suspect that his niceness had been for a reason. It seemed like he had some ulterior motive for it. I still couldn't get my mind off what Jasmine and th
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