Shackled: A Stepbrother Romance Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

shrill scream slipped past my lips. He winced and raised a hand to cover one ear. “ Jesus . Please don’t do that again. I’m rather fond of my ability to hear, thanks.”
    “What are you doing in—”
    My question cut short when I tried to stand up, only to feel that same pressure on my wrist again. When I looked down, there was a thick metal band snapped around my wrist and a chain attached to it.
    My eyes widened with horror as I followed the chain, quickly realizing that it was attached to another cuff on Jonathan’s own wrist. The silence was thick as I dragged my eyes up to his, my mind not working fast enough to come up with a response.
    Jonathan did, though. He smiled brightly and shook his hand, the long, thick chain that tethered us together jingling from the movement.
    “I think this is a great way to kick off our bonding session, don’t you?”
    Every frazzled emotion that I felt melted away all at once—too weak to compete with the sheer amount of rage I felt boiling my blood. I watched his smile fade as I snarled and lunged towards him, knocking us both off the bed with the sudden force.
    I was sure that he was trying to calm me down, but I couldn’t even register the words. I raised my fists and beat them as hard as I could on his chest, feeling hot tears of frustration pooling in the corners of my eyes when he just laughed at my attempts to hurt him.
    “Let me out of this thing right now or I swear I’ll—”
    “You’ll what? ” he mocked, roughly gripping my wrists and flipping us over until he had me pinned to the ground. I squirmed in his grasp as I felt the tears overflow, turning my head to the side so he couldn’t see them. “Tell me what you’ll do, Fiona.”
    “I’ll call Mom,” I whispered pitifully.
    “Oh, will you? I mean, sure, I’ll probably get into some deep shit, but you won’t be immune to it when I tell her that you weren’t even going to attempt to make up with me. You were going to call Brenda and run off, weren’t you?”
    “I was not!” I argued, defiantly turning my head to meet his gaze.
    But I knew this was a battle I couldn’t win. I wound up biting my lip and looking up to the ceiling, knowing that he would instantly recognize the tell. I was a terrible liar and he fucking knew it. He knew exactly what to look for to call my bluff. That just made me even angrier.
    “Oh no? So all those sexy outfits you packed are for me?” he asked, smirking triumphantly as I renewed my efforts to squirm out of his grasp. It was no use, though; he was far stronger than I was. “Sweetheart, I appreciate it and all, but you don’t have to go through so much trouble to impress me.”
    “They aren’t for you ,” I hissed. “Fine! I was going to call Brenda. Excuse me for not wanting to spend my winter break being forced to bond with you. I don’t want to do anything with you!”
    I spat the words out with disgust, hoping they would hurt him. Make him feel anywhere near what I had when he blew me off right after I told him I loved him. He knew me far too well not to realize how hard it had been for me to say those words to him.
    Yet, he still broke my heart without a second thought.
    Asshole.
    “You wound me. But don’t act like I’m particularly happy about this shit either.”
    Despite the fact that every damn logical part of my brain screamed at me not to rise to the bait, I couldn’t convince my body to stop itself. I shifted my hips, let my legs fall open, and pressed up. I smirked when I felt the very obvious bulge in his jeans directly against my core.
    I couldn’t help but to smirk as I said, “I don’t know. You seem pretty happy to me.”
    Just like my brain had tried to warn me, it quickly became obvious that it had been the wrong thing to do. Jonathan’s eyes narrowed even as his pupils blew out, zeroing in on my face. I swallowed hard, hoping he wouldn’t see the movement, but he did. One corner of his mouth turned upwards and he leaned just