Stepbrother Bestie (A Stepbrother Romance Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page A

on the time when Shawn and I still drove together to school,
so I figured that I didn’t need a car.
    It wasn’t just about the ride though, it
was the whole experience. It was the idea that technically, we could do
anything once we pulled out of that driveway. We could go anywhere and the
reason we chose to go to school was because we were good kids.
    Still, that didn’t stop us from being late
every now and again to go to breakfast.
    I sighed and shook the recollections out
of my mind as I made my way over to Zachary.
    “So, how’s the tooth?” he asked, smiling
knowingly as he spoke.
    I shrugged. “Not too bad now, even though
it still looks like a bomb went off in my mouth.”
    Zachary squinted and stared at me with a
hinged neck. “No. It doesn’t look like a bomb…exactly.” Then, as though he knew
he shouldn’t have said that he shook his head. “Wait…No…I’m sorry. That was
insensitive…I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry…” He smiled, as though trying to make
amends.
    I just snickered while I nudged his
shoulder with my arm and shook my head. “It’s all right. I get it. I really
do.”
    He caught my eye and beamed proudly.“You’re
beautiful.”
    The stark sense of ease with which he
spoke the words caused me to stop short. I stared back at him for a long while
before I answered, “Thank you.”
    However, with that, we heard the telltale
signs of the large school bus screeching to a halt and so we did our best to
take off running to catch it.
    Later on that day during lunch, I got my
opportunity to speak to Shawn. He was eating lunch with his friends, but
normally, he didn’t mind me stepping in.
    After all, before I was his stepsister, I
was his best friend and everyone at the table knew that.
    Still, recently, I had shied away,
thinking that he didn’t want me there. But after the weekend we had shared, I
thought that I might try to break the ice, while we were both in our right
minds, devoid of any laughing gas and fully aware of what was going on.
    “Hey!” One of Shawn’s friends,, who we
both believe had a crush on me since the first day he met me exclaimed as I
walked up to the table. “I thought you were never going to come back.
    Quickly, he slid over in order to allow me
a spot to sit down.
    I did so carefully and spread a smile
around the table. “Hi guys!”
    Shawn usually sat with two girls, as well
as his group of guy friends, but either they weren’t there today, or Shawn’s
crazy girlfriend had mandated that he not be seen with any other females, other
than herself. I certainly wouldn’t put it past her.
    I tried to catch Shawn’s eye, but he
ignored me completely. In fact, he made it a point to turn and engage his
friend in a conversation that I was immediately ejected from, since I had no
knowledge of the game that they were talking about.
    I couldn’t help but wince, knowing that he
was trying to avoid me. Yet, I stayed at the table, spoke to the friends that
remained, and tried my best to figure out what was bothering him so much.
    Before this, I had known that we had grown
apart, but this seemed different. This seemed like he was obviously trying to
avoid me and that, I really wanted to get to the bottom of.

 
    Chapter
6
    Shawn

 
    Well, lunch was awkward.
    I remembered what I had said to Valerie
during our time in la-la land together and it wasn’t as though I didn’t
actually feel that way now. But I was just so angry, more at the situation than
at her, but that still didn’t mean that I wanted to have a heart to heart and
talk about my problems. Really, all I wanted to do was get through the rest of
the day and go home, to my mother’s house and just enjoy the silence.
    At least there no one was hassling me and
demanding things from me that I didn’t want to give. Granted, no one was there,
but there still wasn’t anyone who would be able to bother me, which I liked.
    However, I would not be able to get there
ultimately without a fight. I tried