“No, he’s just plain crazy,” I tell her as I pull my hair up into a bun to prepare for my shower making sure not to get too undressed around my mother so as to not reveal the ink on my side or the ring through my nipple.
Yeah, there was no way I’d be ready in twenty-five minutes.
“Watch it. Overprotective and you know why.” She shoots me her signature mom look and I resist the urge to roll my eyes. She must know it too because she raises an eyebrow as if to say try me.
I turn towards her and sigh. “Mom, can you please talk to him about the car? Furthermore, can’t you just get me a car? You make more money than he does!”
“It’s not about the money, baby. It’s your attitude.”
“I don’t have an attitude!” I hear the whine in my voice, which rarely works with my mother, but sometimes I have a chance. “Dominic just…irks me.”
“He irks you? Stassia Rae, if I ever said that about my stepfather, my mother would have put me over her knee. Hell, if I said it now, she’d put me over her knee.”
“That’s different, Grandpapa is the best thing that ever happened to Grandma and you.”
“No, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.” She stands and presses a kiss to my forehead. “I’ll work on D about the car, if you work on your attitude, and not skipping French club.” She points at me before holding out her pinky for us to link just like we always do. I oblige, wrapping my pinky around it and we kiss our fists. “Have a wonderful day at school; I’ll see you later.”
“Not if I see you first,” I reply my usual response.
My mother was barely twenty years old when she had me. She was a young mother; and learned the very tough lesson that putting herself through college and then med school was no easy feat. But my grandparents are actual saints, and my mother worked her ass off, with two day jobs and night classes. They say it takes a village, and she certainly had one supporting her, rooting for her, and a long nine years later, she graduated top of her class. I still remember sitting at her medical school graduation, cheering as she walked across the stage. I was her number one fan, and for as long as I could remember, she was mine.
The sound of my name over the loudspeaker causes the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. A shiver snakes down my spine instantly as a frown finds my face. I recognized the voice as the school secretary; a voice that is usually cheery and full of enthusiasm that causes a class full of apathetic teenagers to roll their eyes. Unlike all those other times, her voice is morose and glum making me wonder briefly who died?
I pack up my stuff quickly, avoiding the eyes of all my peers as I make my way out of third period Chemistry. I’ve made it no more than ten steps when my phone buzzes alerting me of a text.
Kate: Heard you got sprung from Chem. What gives!?
I roll my eyes at the thought that word spreads faster than wildfire at this school. I punch out a text to my nosy best friend letting her know that I’m not sure but I’ll keep her posted. I’m looking down, not paying attention when I walk right into something hard and firm. Hands grip my biceps, forcing my gaze upwards and away from my phone and straight into the eyes of my stepfather.
“Oh hey—” I start until his eyes give it all away. Something’s wrong. “What…what’s wrong?”
“Stassi—” His voice breaks and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was about to completely break down.
He pulls me into a hug in the hallway, rubbing his hand down my back so slowly and in slow circles that it sends a lightning bolt of tingles through me. I snuggle my face into his chest, loving the feeling of his strong hands around me. A taboo thought floats through my mind, wondering what it would feel like to brush my lips against his throat and taste the skin there.
Fuck.
I shake my head and take a step back, away from the embrace of my stepfather and bite my lips nervously. Well, that was new.
He cups my cheek and rubs his thumb over it as he gives me a