Forbidden: Ultimate Stepbrother Collection (19 page)

Chapter 22

Beck

The doctor gave me a quick look over and took care of the cut inside of my cheek. The auditorium had cleared out, and the cleanup crews were hard at work. I sat on the table waiting for Dugard to come in and tell me all the things I’d done wrong in the octagon, a traditional lecture and debriefing I could definitely do without tonight. Dugard was in charge of locking the place up, and he was taking his sweet time. The door opened and Hailey walked through it. Cody walked in behind her. He held the door, and Jessa stepped into the room, the dark, stark room that suddenly looked way better with her standing in it.

I raised an angry brow at Hailey and realized that the side of my face was swollen. “What the hell, Hailey? Why didn’t you tell me you guys were coming?” I spoke to Hailey, but my entire attention was on Jessa. She looked so sweet and feminine and inconsistent in the locker room that I had to smile. She wasn’t smiling though. She looked as if she’d rather be standing anywhere but the locker room.

“We thought we’d surprise you,” Hailey said hesitantly.

I looked toward the door, even though I knew no one else was walking through it. “Dad didn’t come?” My dad had never come to see me fight.

Hailey fidgeted with her purse. “No. He would have, but he was busy.”

“Right. Busy.” I scrubbed my hair back. It was sticky and wet with sweat. “Can’t believe you guys came.” I looked over at Jessa again. “You all right, Ducky? You look pale.”

She crossed her arms around herself, and I wanted to grab her to me. I never liked seeing her uneasy or upset.

“I’m fine. I was just a little overwhelmed by it all.”

“She didn’t like to see you get hurt,” Hailey said. “I, on the other hand, discovered that I have a much stronger stomach than I realized.”

I gazed at Jessa, no longer caring if it seemed overlong or strange to Cody and Hailey. Jessa’s fingers trembled as she tucked a long, auburn strand of hair behind her ear. She was wearing tiny gold hoops in her perfect little ear, and I badly wanted to trace that ear with my tongue. I’d just fought and the bout had gone on long enough that I was physically spent, yet I wanted Jessa badly. I’d been denying myself her sweet body for a number of reasons, least of which had to do with getting ready for the fight. The picture of Jake had stirred up some uneasiness in my conscience. It had reminded me how complicated this all was. But, now, seeing her standing completely beautiful and heartbreaking in the locker room, it was all pretty damn clear. I needed her.

“Now that you’re here, I won’t have to wait before I hit the road. The doctor wanted me to rest for an hour before I made the long drive. Now I have a ride back.” I looked pointedly at Jessa, but Cody stepped forward.

“I can drive you. The girls can take Hailey’s car home.”

I looked at Jessa for a second longer before turning to Cody. “No offense, buddy, but if I have to choose, then I’ll pick the cutie in the sundress over you.”

Hailey rolled her eyes, but she still seemed completely clueless about what was happening between Jessa and me. Sometimes ignorance really was bliss. It was something Hailey would not be happy about, but I didn’t give a damn anymore. I was through torturing myself.

“Jessa wasn’t feeling well,” Hailey reminded me.

“No,” Jessa said quickly, “I’m fine now. I’ll drive Beck home. You two go on ahead. We’ll be right behind.”

My sister stared suspiciously at me, and she shot the same odd look at Jessa. Maybe she did have a clue. As far as I was concerned, it always seemed pretty fucking obvious that there was something between us.

Hailey and Cody left reluctantly.

Jessa walked over. She leaned forward and kissed the bruise on my face. “How do you manage to make battered, bloodied and bruised look this sexy?”

“Yeah? You like this look, huh?”

“Oddly enough, I do.” She leaned closer, and my hand went to her thigh. I pushed the dress up and smoothed my palm over her silky skin.

“Well, I could go over to those lockers and smack my face against them a few times to really get the look going.”

She laughed. “Don’t think that will be necessary.”

The door opened. I reluctantly pulled my hand out from under her dress. Dugard looked at Jessa like a wolf looking at Red Riding Hood.

“And who is this?” Dugard asked.

“This is Jessa. My girlfriend.”

Dugard’s eyes popped open as wide as Jessa’s. But she recovered quickly with a blushing grin.

“Girlfriend?” Dugard laughed. “Don’t hear that word coming out of Beck Grady’s mouth too often.” He shook Jessa’s hand. “Mike Dugard, I’m Beck’s manager.”

I hopped off the table. “You’ll have to follow me to the showers.” I pointed to Dugard. “You, I mean, although I’d much rather have her follow me. Jessa is waiting to drive me home, so to save time, you can scold me while I shower.”

Chapter 23

Jessa

Beck walked out with his wet hair combed back and a tight black t-shirt and jeans. A tiny, involuntary sound came up from my chest at the sight of him.  He looked every bit the invincible fighter I’d watched in the octagon, but at the same time, he looked like the incredibly handsome, green eyed man who had completely stolen my heart.

He picked up the orange sports drink that his manager had left for him in the locker room. He watched me with that steely green gaze as he opened the cap. Briefly, I smiled thinking that a life with Beck meant never having to struggle with a pickle jar again.

“What that’s grin about, Ducky?”

I shook my head. I was feeling shy and unsure around him. The last twenty-four hours had seemed tenuous, as if all this could just slip away again. He drank half the orange drink with one lift of the bottle. Everything about him, even the way his throat moved as he swallowed, stirred me physically, emotionally.

He sighed as he lowered the bottle and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Most of the swelling had been replaced by light purple bruises. His bottom lip was still bigger than normal.

“Dugard has everything locked, so we’ve got to go out the side exit.” He finished the drink and took my hand to lead me out of the locker room. The only lighting came from a thin row of lights along the floor like the tiny lights that illuminated the stairs in a dark theater.

The stadium and octagons looked scary bathed in dark shadows. “It’s so much bigger when it’s not filled with people,” I said.

“Yeah, it was bursting at the seams tonight.” Instead of heading to the exit, he walked me up several flights of seating. We sat down on a bench. “Still can’t believe you guys drove up here.”

“It was Cody’s idea. I think it was cool of him to take in interest in watching you.” I looked at him. “He’s trying really hard to get you to like him.”

“Yeah.” He rested his arms on his thighs and crossed his fingers. “I need to try harder too. For Hailey’s sake. I want her to be happy.” He looked over at me. “I want us to be happy too. My head’s been fucking spinning all weekend. I knew that was the way it would be with you, Jessa. I’ve felt that way about you since we were teenagers.”

“I feel the same way.”

He looked down at his hands for a long time before speaking again. “I hesitated,” he finally said. “That day on the cove, I’d gotten you safely on the boat, and I turned back around to find Jake. But I hesitated. It was only a fucking few seconds, but those few seconds have been eating me up inside.”

I could hear the anguish in his tone and see the despair in his face, but it didn’t make sense to me. “The waves were violent. Anyone would have hesitated.”

He shook his head. “I’m not convinced it was fear. I was pissed as hell at the both of you. He knew how I felt about you, and you—” He finally looked at me. “You were driving me fucking nuts and taking a lot of pleasure in it.”

“I was sixteen with a wild, insatiable crush on my stepbrother, a boy, who I was never supposed to fall for. I was so confused.” I reached up and tucked his dark hair behind his ear before lightly grazing the bruises on his face. His eyes drifted briefly shut at the feel of my touch, and it only made my heart ache for him more. “Making you jealous was the only thing that made me feel as if I’d made a connection with you. Except for those fleeting moments when you would let your guard down, you were cold and harsh to me. You ignored me, and it felt as if all the breath had been sucked from my lungs. I just wanted you to notice me.”

“Shit, notice you? I couldn’t stop thinking about you. But you were the double no-no. Sixteen and, technically, a stepsister. I was fucking out of my mind with it.”

“I still don’t understand why you never told me that you pulled me from the water.”

“I was dealing with a lot of guilt.” He got up and took my hand, leading me down the steps. He opened up the panel on the octagon, and we stepped inside.

I walked around it and ran my fingers along the thick plastic roping on the side panels. “I still don’t understand.”

He took hold of my free hand. “Those few seconds that it took me to go back into the water for Jake—” He swallowed hard. “We had a big fucking fight before he took you out there. I was pissed at him for paying so much attention to you. I was so fucking jealous.” He shook his head.

It was becoming clearer. “You’ve convinced yourself he died because you were pissed at him. You hesitated because you were mad at him.”

He didn’t respond, but the profound look on his face told me I was right.

“A few seconds wouldn’t have mattered, Beck. Jake slipped overboard a good five minutes before I lost my grip. By the time I landed in the water, he was gone. His shoe floated past me, but I never saw him again. And anyone would have hesitated before jumping into those waves.”

Beck was quiet. He stared down at the padded flooring beneath our feet. “When I fired up the little fishing boat, I could still see both of you on deck. I thought you’d gone over together. When I got to the sailboat, you were both overboard. I saw you just below the surface. I was sure Jake had to be nearby.”

I shook my head. “The current had taken him long before I went under. You had just as much chance of drowning as both of us. What you did was beyond brave. Not one in a thousand people would climb into a small boat and head into a storm surge like that. You went in after your best friend, but he was already gone. That hesitation didn’t mean a damn thing. In the end, you risked your life to save him. It was just too late.” I took his hand and kissed his swollen knuckles. “Thank you for saving me.” I put his hand on my waist, and I hopped up on my toes to kiss him.

His arms snaked around me and we kissed, firing up a smoldering need that had to be dealt with way before we could take a long drive together.

I pulled my mouth from his and cast him a slightly wicked grin. I sashayed in my flirty dress over to the cage and grabbed hold of it with my fingers. I looked back at him over my shoulder. “Hey, extremely hot fighter boyfriend, ever fuck anyone in an octagon?”

“Shit,” he growled and came at me with such speed a small cry squeaked from my mouth. He snaked one hand up my dress and beneath my bra, while the other took care of removing my panties.

He leaned his mouth next to my ear. “Hey, extremely hot and especially fuckable girlfriend, ever been spanked in an MMA cage?”

I held my breath in excited anticipation of the stinging slap. He delivered it, leaving a nice pink sting on my ass.

“You like that, my little cock tease, don’t you?” He spanked me again, and my pussy ached with wanting him. I heard his zipper open, and I shuddered thinking that he’d soon relieve the pulsing need between my legs.

He wrapped his arm around me and pushed his hard body next to mine.  “Not that I mind the cock teasing thing one bit.” Without warning he pushed inside of me and my fingers tightened their grip on the cage as I cried out. His face was next to mine. “As long as it’s my cock you’re teasing.”

He leaned back and took hold of my hips, impaling himself deeper and reaching every sweet spot inside of me. He reached down to find my clit and, with little effort, brought me to a raging orgasm. “Yes, Beck!” My scream echoed off the stadium walls as he continued to fuck me. His grip tightened and he groaned as he spilled his seed inside of me.

My fingers were stiff from holding the cage as I pulled them free.

He spun me around and rubbed his thumb across by bottom lip. “Best fucking time I’ve ever had in an octagon.” He wrapped his incredible arms around me and kissed me.

Chapter 24

Jessa

The house was bustling with people getting ready for the graduation party. Hailey’s dad had spared no expense for the occasion. We’d spent all morning getting her hair just right, only to realize that it would just get smashed under the graduation cap. I finally got to wear the sweet little confection of a dress I’d bought for the occasion. I walked out onto the veranda with Hailey for pictures.

Cody was in his suit and tie looking very handsome and very proud. He truly seemed to care for Hailey, and she seemed to love him. I was happy for her. Beck and I had talked about many things on the way home, including how we might break the news of our relationship to his family. We talked about how any of this would work. We lived about four hundred miles apart, too far for a commute, even by California standards. We’d never actually come up with any real plan. Then we woke to party preparations. I’d spent the rest of the morning with Hailey and hadn’t seen Beck at all.

“At least the weather is perfect for you graduation party,” I said. I pointed to the best spot on the veranda as I looked at the camera monitor. “Cody, put your arm around her and lean in.” I took a few shots. “Now, both of you sit against the wall.” I was positioning my camera for the perfect shot when I noticed Hailey’s face light up.

“Oh my god, who the hell are you and what did you do with Butthead?”

I turned around. Beck Grady could suck the oxygen out of any room just by stepping into it. Dressed in a suit and tie, he had the same impact outside in the wide open.

“You look better than a candy store,” I said.

He raised a brow. “Shit, maybe I should change.”

“No!” Hailey and I said simultaneously.

Hailey grabbed the camera. “Let me get a few pictures of you with Beck. You know, something to take with you to remember Butthead.”

I smiled slyly at Beck as I walked over to him. He reached his arm behind my back and stroked it lovingly as we plastered on smiles for Hailey’s
souvenir
pictures. She still hadn’t figured out that anything was happening between Beck and me. Which either meant that we were exceptionally stealthy in our little secret affair or that my dear stepsister, Hailey, wasn’t great at noticing small details. Not the best trait for a future lawyer.

Hailey’s dad came out onto the veranda. “Dad,” she said excitedly. “Get in a picture with Beck. I noticed when I was going through the old albums that there are hardly any pictures of you two together.”

Both men looked uneasy at the prospect of standing together in a photo, but they weren’t going to disappoint Hailey. They stood awkward and stiff next to each other, and Hailey, oblivious to their discomfort or possibly just ignoring it, snapped a round of photos.

Hailey handed me back the camera, and I took some family shots.

“We should get going,” Cody said.

“Wait,” Beck said. “Just one more picture of me and Jessa standing in front of the ocean.”

It seemed like a strange request, but Hailey grabbed back the camera. Beck took hold of my hand and walked me to the front of the veranda where the white sand and blue water became the backdrop. His dad and Cody looked on while Hailey positioned the camera. Then Beck pulled me into his arms and kissed me.

Suddenly, the only sounds were the ones coming off the beach. The kiss ended. With absolute terror, I turned to face them. Hailey blinked at us almost as if she was trying to figure out if she’d just seen the kiss. Beck’s dad had a much sterner and more composed expression.

“Dad, Hailey,” Beck spoke up. “I love Jessa. I’ve loved her from the first moment I met her, so deal with it.”

My face was hot with a blush. I couldn’t look Hailey in the eye.

No one said anything at first. Cody sort of backed out of the way, figuring this was a family thing.

“Beck,” his dad was the first to speak, “you’ve made a lot of decisions that have disappointed me. But this isn’t one of them.” He smiled and walked inside.

It took me a second to comprehend what he’d said.

I looked at Beck. His shock mirrored mine. A huge weight had been lifted, but Hailey had still not said a word.

I finally worked up the courage to look at her. She took a deep breath and walked over to hand the camera to Cody. My chest felt heavy. She was hurt. Hailey turned to me, and I waited for tears. Instead, she shrieked and raised her arms as she ran toward me. “Now we’ll really be sisters!”

We hugged and jumped around in a circle. Tears filled my eyes. The two biggest hurdles had been cleared.