My Forbidden Stepbrother

I was already hearing the envious whispers from the next three rooms as my evil stepbrother walked in like he owned the air around him.

"She is so lucky," Rexa's voice carried through the wall.

The music had died down and murmurs of excitement filled the dorm.

Normally the girls' dormitory didn't allow boys inside. But rules meant nothing here, not when his father had practically built the school.

That's right. My arrogant, annoying, impossible stepbrother could walk into the girls' dorm because his father had helped establish it.

He should not have come. Why did he come, and why today of all days?

"What is she waiting for?" another voice slithered through the wall. "If he were going to be my stepbrother, I'd have him in a heartbeat."

I wanted to disappear. Maybe into the sea. Maybe to the middle of nowhere. I hated the attention he brought me.

A small, sad spark warmed my stomach while a cold bitterness crashed through the rest of me.

I wanted more than their gossip. I wanted him to love me, and that was never going to happen. He wasn't capable of love. Did he even know the meaning of the word?

Here, in my room, I was invisible and hidden from the cruelty of the campus. At least on my graduation day, I deserved a little quiet. I didn't want to be "the girl who got lucky."

There was nothing lucky about my life. Trouble and I were practically related.

And Aaron Helios was the unluckiest thing that had ever happened to me.

His father was married to my mother. Now I was stuck wanting him and never having him.

A girl could dream.

But I still didn't want him here.

"You shouldn't have come," I whispered, embarrassed.

Aaron only smiled. He loved doing this to me. Flustering me every chance he got was one of his favorite hobbies.

He walked into my room and shut the door behind him. The lock clicked. He crossed to the window, closed it, and lowered the blinds.

My heart pounded against my ribs.

"There," he said easily. "Privacy. Just like you wanted."

My knees went weak at the sound of his low, rough voice.

"I see you're packing." His eyes moved around the small room I had chosen so I could stay away from him and our family.

My freedom was slipping out of my hands.

I steadied my breathing. "I was going to leave as soon as I finished. That's why I was shocked to see you. You caught me by luck."

His eyes traveled slowly up and down my body, and it felt like he was undressing me with them. I hated it. I loved it. Both at once.

"I'm always lucky," he said, and licked his lips. He walked to my desk and leaned against it.

Aaron was broad and solid, all muscle. His wild hair fell past his shoulders. His silver eyes pinned me where I stood.

"Now," he said, "I want to collect my luck."

I swallowed. How could I have been so stupid? Why did I make that bet with him?

I wanted him to love me, and still I couldn't keep my end of a bet.

"Collect?" I asked.

"Yes." A devilish smile. "Collect."

"We don't need to do that, Aaron," I pleaded. "I was drunk when..."

"You were drunk when you made it," he said. "You were sober when you studied for it."

"That's not the same thing."

"It's exactly the same thing. You worked for this. You earned it."

"You're twisting it."

"I'm collecting it."

"Tell me you don't want it." He said it seriously, watching me.

I said nothing.

He smiled.

"You're a terrible liar. If you didn't remember the bet, you would have walked away the moment I locked the door. If you really didn't want me to taste you, you'd already be gone."

I blushed and my head spun at how shamelessly he said it.

I sighed. How could I forget? I'd drunkenly agreed that if my grade average came out above four points, he could have me on my own study desk until I begged him to stop.

That was the evil thing about Aaron. He knew exactly how to push people into doing what he wanted.

And honestly, who could say no to Aaron Helios? I had yet to meet the person.

He'd insulted my intelligence. He'd laughed and said I'd never get over four points in my veterinary courses.

My new mother and my stepfather had no idea I planned to leave this house right after graduation. I'd secured a job at a vet clinic in Carolina. I had signed the papers in secret. I had even picked out the little apartment above a bakery, in my head, a hundred times.

Nobody had to know. Not Catherine. Not Anthony. Not him.

Especially not him.

Except he was standing in my room, and I had the horrible feeling he already knew everything.

"Remember what you told me?" he asked, smiling.

I clamped my lips shut. Somehow I found myself nodding. Even if I wanted to be defiant, I always ended up falling the other way.

"Say it to me. Right here, right now." His voice had lost its humor.

Serious Aaron was the worst Aaron. Especially over something as stupid as a bet.

"I..."

"Cassandra." He said my name firmly. "You don't want to play this game with me."

"I'm not playing."

"Then say it."

My mouth was dry. Outside, someone was laughing in the hallway, and someone else was shouting about missing photographs. Ordinary graduation noise. Meanwhile I stood in the middle of my room being stared down by the one person I could never refuse.

He was right. If I wasted his time, he'd make me pay in some other way.

"If I got over four points," I said quietly, "you'd show me things I'd never experienced."

I cringed. I wanted the floor to swallow me.

"Don't worry," he murmured, leaning closer. "Think of it as your graduation gift."