I couldn’t look either of them in the eye. I couldn’t let my stepbrother know the truth.

“I swear to God, if I see you lay so much as a hand on her again, you’ll be rolling across the graduation stage with a pair of broken legs.”

“Big talk,” Michael sneered, though from his expression he didn’t look to be in the mood to test that threat.

“We can take him!” one of Michael’s friends said, but Michael put up a hand to silence him.

“No,” he snarled, “we’re leaving. There’s plenty of ass on this campus—this one’s not worth the trouble.”

“You sure, Mike?” asked the overweight frat boy at his side.

“I said no,” Michael said, glaring at Richard. “We’re done… for now.”

Without another word, Michael turned and walked away, casting a venomous glare back over his shoulder at the two of us as his toadies fell in line behind him. It was around that time that I’d begun to wonder when I’d fallen into some bizarre dream world where my stepbrother wasn’t at some college across the country, and had even arrived in the nick of time to save me from danger.

“Are you okay?” Richard asked once Michael and his goons were safely out of sight. He knelt down next to me as I took an account of myself to make sure I hadn’t hurt anything worse than I’d realized.

“What’re you doing here, Richard?” I asked quietly, taking his offered hand as he helped to pull me up from the floor. “You don’t even go here.”

“Right now I’m saving you from that little sniveling shitlord. And for your information, I do go here. I’ve been up here for the last few days, in fact.”

“I thought that you’d told Dad you had a better offer.”

“You’re looking at it,” he replied, shrugging. “UCLA offered me a starting position on the team. Beats the hell out of bench warming on the east coast. Now let’s get you out of here and you can tell me all about what that was about.”

I frowned, but took his hand as we made our way out toward the one of the parking garages. I had the feeling that things were going to start getting much stranger after all of this. If only I’d known then how right I was.

Chapter 8

Richard

“What’re we doing here?” Jessica asked as we stepped into the crowded off-campus restaurant. She’d wrapped herself up tight in her arms, doing her best to cover up the rips in her clothes in the hopes that no one would notice. But despite her best efforts, the tears brimming in her eyes were a dead giveaway.

“We’re here to calm you down,” I said, leaning close to her so that she could hear me over the chatter of the various tables. “You’re a wreck.”

“Welcome to Bobby’s!” said a bubbly young waitress, her top unbuttoned just enough to give a great look at her plentiful cleavage. “I’m Sasha. Are there just the two of you?”

“Yeah,” I said, keeping my eyes from staring too blatantly at the girl’s large breasts. “Just the two of us. Is it possible to get a corner booth?”

“Sure is!” she said, flashing a set of white sparkling teeth. “Just come on and follow me, and then we can get you two some drinks.”

The waitress led us into the back portion of the dining room where only a few other parties had been seated, which was more than ideal. I wanted privacy to get to the bottom of what was happening between Michael and Jess, and being hidden back away from the crowds was exactly what I needed to get her to open up.

Jessica and I slid into the plastic-upholstered benches that surrounded the table, which was thankfully hidden away from most prying eyes. The restaurant was bustling, but not terribly crowded, which kept the staff busy enough to give me and my stepsister time to talk.

“So, what happened back there?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, fighting back a sob as she wiped at her eyes. “These guys were calling after me, calling me names, telling me to come talk to them. I wanted to just ignore them, but they were all over me… then they called Michael over. I didn’t even know he was going to school here,” she said, putting her face in her hands. “I mean, God! If I’d known, then I’d—”

“You couldn’t have known, Jess,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “And anyway, it’s not your job to be looking over your shoulder for a jackass like Michael. Especially not while I’m here.”

“Why are you here?” she asked, frowning as she lifted her head up out of her hands. “Is this really where you want to be? Seriously?”

“Of course it is,” I replied. “But we’re not talking about me right now. How about you tell me what the deal is between you and Michael.”

Jessica froze for a moment, tensing as though I was about to hit her right then and there. I frowned, turning to face her in the booth. Had their relationship really done so much damage that even the thought of it put her on edge? Maybe more had happened between them than I had imagined. If not sex, then something more sinister.

“It’s not something that I normally talk about, not even with Becky,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself more tightly. She was definitely afraid, scared of the very thought of her time with Michael and what him being here now might mean to her. I frowned, reaching over and gently touching her hand, trying to assure her that everything was going to be okay.

“You can tell me,” I said, trying my best to sound comforting. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

Jess sighed, wiping yet more tears from her eyes, though not once moving her hand away from mine. I could tell it was hard for her to even consider talking about something so personal, especially with me. Somehow I needed her to understand that I wasn’t there to be the jackass I’d been to her, and that for once in our lives, I was going to be the supportive person I was meant to be.

“I don’t know, Richard,” she said, swallowing hard as the waitress came back, setting our drinks back down on the table and quickly rushing to see to another table.

“Trust me,” I replied, trying to calm the mood with a smile.

“I’m not sure if I can tell anyone about what happened,” she whispered.

“But if you don’t tell me, then there’s no way that I can help you, Jessica.”

Once again, my stepsister fell into silence, swallowing her sobs. I hated to see her like this, especially the effect Michael had over her.

“Everything was good when it started,” she finally began, a faint smile on her face as though recalling a happier time. “He was so sweet and charming. He’d give me presents and take me to so many places. He was smart and witty. I felt like I could talk to him about all of the things that I’d thought would scare boys away… Like… Things I enjoy…”

She was freezing up. I reached over and touched her hand, catching her eyes. “It’s ok, you can talk to me.”

 “It was nice, at first. We started with some things I was curious about… We weren’t having sex. It was just… You know…”

She squeaked the last word out beneath her breath, unwilling to catch my eye.

“I don’t understand,” I said, staring at her.

“It’s just... I like to give up control sometimes. It feels right.”

“But he went too far?” I asked.

“He started to change,” she said. “He wanted more. It was little things, at first. He’d start to criticize the way I was dressing and how I did my hair… it made me feel like I wasn’t good enough. I changed myself whenever he told me he didn’t like something. I wanted to please him. That’s when he started getting… worse,” she said, swallowing again, her gaze flitting around, as though to ensure Michael wasn’t nearby. “He hurt me. Not badly at first, just a slap across the face when I told him no… but then he started leaving marks. I’d ask him and beg him to stop, to tell him that I just wanted things to go back to the way that they were… He thought it was just part of the game.”

“If that asshole took advantage of you…” I began, but Jessica cut me off.