Escape: A Stepbrother Romance Novella Read Online Free PDF Page B

into a hug again.  I feel his hand slip from under my blouse and I
want to weep with frustration, but I don’t.  I let him hold me tight and I tell
him that I love him and that nothing would ever change that.  I feel his
fingers nestle into my hair and we stand like that for the longest time while
inside my heart feels like little pieces of it are peeling away, petals falling
from a wilting rose. 
    I
have this terrible feeling that when Brandon leaves my apartment I’m never
going to see him again.  I want him so much but everything feels jumbled.  Love
and sadness from our past seems to have translated itself into longing, not
just for a rekindling of friendship or a sibling relationship but for something
more.  Maybe I should just say ‘fuck it’ and lead him to my bedroom and let him
take me like I know he really wants to.  I can feel how hard he is against my
belly and the pulse between my legs is like a living thing.  But if I do, there
will be no chance of us keeping in touch.  I know Brandon.  He stayed away from
me all this time for a reason.  I don’t want to give him any more.
    “I’m
sorry,” he says. 
    “Don’t
be,” I say.  “It was me as well.”
    He
pulls away and looks over the skyline as though he can’t bring himself to look
at me anymore.  It all hurts so much.  Worse than when I watched him drive away
the first time because then I believed we would be reunited soon.  Now I have
so little hope.
    “I
should go,” he says so seriously, still not looking at me.
    “Stay,”
I say.  “We can just talk.  Or watch a movie.”  I know I sound desperate but I
can’t help it. 
    He
looks at me then with so much sadness in his eyes that my heart crumbles.  I’ve
got a molten lump in my throat and a geyser of tears waiting to be let loose.
    “I
need to go,” he says, reaching out and stroking over my hair.  Bran looks me
over like he’s trying to take a mental photograph.  With the little remaining
composure I have left, I smile.
    “Okay,”
I say.  “It was good to see you again.”
    “Yeah,”
he says.
    “Will
you give me your number?” I ask.
    He
looks down at his feet and shakes his head.  “It’s best that I don’t.  I don’t
want you getting mixed up in my life.”
    “I
already am,” I say.
    He
shakes his head again.  “You’re a sight for sore eyes, Sammie,” he mumbles and then,
as though he’s finally awakened from that dream, he heads towards the front
door. 
    When
he gets there he pauses and turns, holding onto the handle.  “What was it
like?  The wombat?”
    “It
was heavy.” I laugh, sounding slightly manic.  “It was warm and wriggly with
the thickest fur coat you ever saw.”
    He
smiles, just a small flicker of it on his lips, and then he leaves without
saying goodbye.
    I
wait, watching him walk towards the elevator, taking a mental picture of my
own.  He’s got a swagger to his walk that I hadn’t noticed before and the
longest, thickest thighs.  Everything about him is strong and powerful, except
perhaps his heart. 
    When
he’s inside the elevator he looks up at me and nods, then the doors close and
he’s gone.
    In
the morning everything seemed to be going so right.  When I saw Brandon in that
cell I thought I’d find a way to have him back in my life for good.  But now
he’s gone again and I just can’t hold it together anymore.  I cry, not just
dainty tears but terrible ugly crying because I hadn’t realized how empty I
felt until he came along and filled that gap inside me so perfectly.  And
ripping himself out again has only made it worse. 
    I
slump onto my couch, hugging my big velvet cushion and wiping my face with
tissues from the coffee table.  But as I exhaust myself, I start to feel
angry.  Who the fuck does he think he is, making decisions for us and letting
me have no say in the matter? He thinks he can just walk out of my life again
and I’m not going to fight for him to stay.  I’m feeling