CARMEN“I’m getting married to Jasper right after I graduate high school.”Dave looked up from the book he had been pretending to read ever since I walked into the dining room and found him sitting there on his own.“I don’t understand.” He shook his head, a frown of genuine confusion stuck on his face.“It’s been settled between me and my mother.” I sat beside him so that I could lower my voice and the staff walking around would not have to hear the conversation.“You told me you were going to convince her. You said you wouldn’t marry him,” he said, staring at me as though I had committed the ultimate act of betrayal.“I know what I said, Dave, but I also know that I have certain responsibilities. There are things I’m supposed to do for my sake as well as that of my mom,” I spat out, just as I had rehearsed for a better part of the morning.“And getting married to Jasper is one of them?” He raised his brows.“I believe so, yes.” I nodded, looking down as I served myself food and did
CARMENI stared at Dave, deciphering his facial expression and looking for one sign that told me he was joking with me.“Get married to Jasper, Carmen,” he said again as if reading my mind and trying to prove to me that his words were anything but punchlines.“What are you talking about, Dave? Why should I get married to Jasper all of a sudden? It doesn’t make sense.” I shook my head, placing my hand against the doorknob just in case he suggested something even more outrageous so that I could leave without having to hear it.“Just hear me out, Carmen.” He raised his hands as if signalling me to calm down. “If you get married to Jasper, what hold would she have on you? Agreeing to the wedding and going through with it will only put her guard down, and she wouldn’t even think I know about the video, let alone have plans to delete it.”“And what about the marriage? You delete the video and I’m stuck married to Jasper?” I questioned.“Six months. You can wait it out for six months, and you
CARMEN“Oh, my goodness! Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?!” Mom gasped, standing up and pulling Kate into a hug. “I can’t believe this! It’s such a small world. We’re all connected in one way or another, don’t you think?”“That’s right,” Kate replied with a bright smile on her face.“This isn’t something I expected this soon, really,” Steve Wilmer laughed, standing up and taking Kate’s hand in his. “My son never got along well with girls. At a point in his life, I thought he was terrified of girls, even.”Everyone laughed at his joke.“You’re welcome, Kate. You know, Kate Wilmer does seem like the perfect fit,” Steve said.Kate looked down at the floor, her cheeks turning an aggressive shade of red.“Are you too shocked to say something, Carmen?” Mom questioned me.I was the only one who was not standing and joining in on the small gathering of celebrators.“I’m sure even your children will be best of friends, just like you two were when you were little. In fact, I suggest you both
CARMEN“What the fuck, Dave?!” I raised my hands in the air as soon as Dave and I finally had a moment of privacy.It was late at night, Kate had returned to her house long ago, and he had pulled me out of the hallway and into one of the many bedrooms which didn’t have a specific use.“Lower your voice, Carmen,” he warned.“Why should I? Do you think people are going to suspect us for being in here together? It’ll be hard for them to have solid suspicions, trust me. I mean, I’m getting married soon, and you’re dating my childhood friend, Kate.” I didn’t mean for my words to come off as spiteful and bitter as they did, but I couldn’t help it.“I know how you must feel right now, Carmen.” He tried to reach for my shoulder, but I stepped away. “Whatever you think this is, it’s far from what it really is.”“Okay, let me take a wild guess.” I crossed my arms. “You asked me out to prom, you had sex with me and got your fun, you found out that I’m your stepsister, then you went along to slee
CARMEN“We haven’t talked in quite a while, Carmen.” Frank took one step towards me, causing me to take large steps backwards.I started to hyperventilate, looking around and calming myself down as I assured myself that there were people around us. My mother was only one scream away; he couldn’t possibly try anything funny in public.“What do you want from me?” I demanded.“Not much. In fact, it’s the smallest favour I think I’ll ever ask of a person.” He stopped walking towards me as he noticed that some people, as they walked past us, stared at us longer than he probably would like.“Just tell me what you want and leave me alone,” I ordered.“You remember me from that night, don’t you?” he asked.“How could I forget? You perverted piece of—”“As you can already tell, I have a family that I need to protect,” he said. “My wife is bedridden. She’s been bedridden for a while now, and I am all my son has as a standing parent.”I almost scoffed at the pity party he was trying to throw, wa
CARMEN“Will you be free tomorrow?” I asked Jasper out of the blue when he dropped us off at home. My mother had gone out of the car, still having a conversation with Frank.“Does this mean what I think it means?” Jasper grinned. “Carmen Wilmer is asking me out on a date?”“My last name is Cartier,” I corrected him. “And is it such a bad thing to ask you out on a date now?”I figured that if I was going to get through this, there was only one way – getting to know the man I would be spending my life with. From the way things were being arranged and thrown in my face, I had a feeling that I would be married to Jasper for longer than six months as Dave had assured me.“I just wanted to expect it from you.” He shrugged. “By the way, I will definitely be free tomorrow. My schedule isn’t exactly tight enough that I can’t make adjustments or go around it.”“Good. I’ll be ready by twelve. We can have the whole day to ourselves. I need to know who I’ll be getting engaged and married to, right
CARMEN“Are you out of your mind?!”Dave’s eyes widened, and he placed his palm over my mouth to keep me from making a lot of noise and drawing attention.“Keep it down, Carmen. The last thing we want is for someone to see us. We’ll be put under the radar. The more times they start to see us together, the more suspicious they’ll get. I need you to hear me out for a minute, okay?”I nodded, defeated.He finally let of me, and I took a deep breath as I whispered: “Are you insane? What do you mean by that? We can’t just kidnap her, what is wrong with you? Has this been your plan all along?”He folded his arms, watching me as I threw questions at him from the left and right.“Are you done?” he asked when I fell quiet. “Are you going to let me tell you what the whole idea entails now?”“I won’t be done if you keep talking about getting my mother kidnapped. What kind of an idea is that anyway?”“When I said we could get her kidnapped, I didn’t mean hiring a bunch of thugs and capturing her
CARMENThe world seemed to stop when Jasper kissed me, but it wasn’t because I enjoyed the kiss.As his lips grazed mine, his tongue getting shoved down my throat, images started to flood my head. Images of everything I had shared with Dave – and then, they all disappeared.I opened my eyes and broke the contact with Jasper, taking a deep breath and moving away from him even though we were at the top of a Ferris wheel, and there was no taking back what had just happened.“I’m sorry. I just…I didn’t want to leave without having to do that first. I really wish you would open up to me completely without having to run away from me, Carmen. I don’t understand you and why you pull me close one day and push me away the next.”I could have told him that I didn’t understand why either. I knew why, but I didn’t understand it. I knew that I was involved in a closeted affair with my stepbrother, which was abominable enough to even think about. I knew that even though my stepbrother and I had part