Filed to story: Crushing on My Enemy Stepbrother
I glare at Caleb with fury, ‘you know what Caleb? You can f*ck right off, oh, and guess what? When you get there? F*ck off some more, keep f*cking off until you get back here and then f*ck off again.’ Flipping them all the bird for good measure, I turn on my heel and storm out, wanting to be as far away from them as I possibly can. If they want to have little secret meetings without me there, they can go right ahead, but if they think for a minute that I’m going to be coddled like a child, they have another thing coming.
Storming up to my room, I kick the door open, shoving inside and shutting it behind me, clicking the lock for good measure.
My gaze falls to the bed, still rumpled from where Caleb had been curled around me not two hours before.
Dropping onto the bed, his scent immediately wraps around me from the sheets, that familiar muscular scent that both aggravates me and calms me in equal measure.
Growling loudly, I stand up and start to rip the sheets from the bed, bundling them up and throwing them into the corner of the room before dragging out clean bedding and remaking it.
Once I’m done, I strip off, rummaging in a drawer for some sleep wear that doesn’t have bunnies on it for no reason what so ever, and pull it on before climbing under the blankets that smell of nothing but detergent.
Rolling around, I try to sleep, telling my mind to push away everything that’s swirling around inside. Stupid Caleb, Stupid Gage, Stupid Callan, they can all go and take their misogynistic bull and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.
Caleb’s POV
F*ck, she’s pissed, and not just normal Tessa pissed, but really pissed. Why is it such a huge problem that I’m trying to protect her? She’s in danger, it’s my job to keep her safe.
‘Dude’ Callan’s voice cuts through my internal monologue, ‘you f*cked up.’
‘What? Why is wanting to keep her safe a bad thing?’ I demand, my best friend’s smirk getting under my skin.
‘It’s not, big bro’ Gage replies tiredly, wriggling his shoulders slightly, ‘but you should have told her what was going on. What were you going to say when she went back to college?’
I frown at him, ‘nothing’ I reply in confusion.
Callan is outright laughing now, ‘you were just going to sit in her classroom, and you didn’t think she’d ask why the hell you were there?’
I scratch the back of my neck awkwardly, when he says it like that, it does make me feel like I might have got this wrong.
‘Shit’ I growl.
‘Yup’ Callan agrees, taking a sip of his coffee, ‘good luck hitting that a second time mate.’
I’m in front of the man in three strides, my fist gripping his shirt as the cup wobbles in his hand and he quickly places it back on the counter.
‘Don’t talk about her like that’ I snarl angrily.
Callan glances at Gage who is silently laughing, ‘dude got it bad’ my brother shrugs.
‘Just teasing brother, no disrespect meant, you know I care about that girl, she’s family’ Callan soothes me.
I slowly release him, sucking in a calming breath, trying to wrestle myself under control. Callan, Gage and I had been tight since childhood, I know he’d never disrespect anyone, but something inside of me just takes control when it comes to Tessa.
‘Jesus man, I knew you were in to her but this is a whole other level, I’ve never seen you like this over a woman before’ my best friend murmurs as he smooths a hand down his t-shirt, brushing out the wrinkles.
I back off, taking a seat on the stool that Tessa vacated not long ago, Callan picking up his mug again as he shakes his head, amusement dancing in his eyes.
‘OK, let’s move on’ Gage grumbles, ‘why are we here? What happened?’
I fish out my phone, bringing up the photo of the note again and hand it over to my brother who moves closer to Callan so they can both read it.
Our best friend lets out a low whistle, looking up at me, ‘so you are being targeted’ he mutters darkly.
I nod, ‘and I think Tessa is caught in the crossfire’ I reply. ‘Whoever is pissed at me, has realised that she’s important to me.’
Gage tilts his head, ‘that’s a bit of a stretch from one rock’ he reasons.
I shake my head, ‘she was not only rammed off the road, whoever hit her was trying to push her in front of a semi’ I growl. ‘That’s not accidental and now this, I’m not taking any chances.’
Callan nods, ‘I’m with Cale’ he says, ‘we could be wrong, but do you really want to risk Tessa’s safety on a what if?’ He focuses back on me, ‘I assume the police came after the alarm went off’ he asks.
I nod agreement, ‘yeah, I told them about Tessa’s car incident, gave them the name of the officer who responded so they could connect the two cases.’
‘Did they ask about anyone who could be behind it?’ Gage questions.