HIM—A Stepbrother Romance: With BONUS NOVELLA: PERSONAL by Stephanie Brother

deserve to be locked away like that.”
    He stood up and looked at me square in the eyes. He made me tremble, he was so creepy. His dirty fingernails twirled that disgusting mustache as he used his tongue to clean across his teeth, making the grossest sound ever. Ugh, creep!
    “Listen very carefully, ma’am. There’s nothing to be done. Now I believe it’s best you be on your way.
    “No! You can’t just leave him in here overnight. Has he even eaten? Does he have a blanket? It’s freezing in here.” I wrapped my own jacket around me tighter. Mr. Fox lightly tapped my shoulder as if to say to calm down. He cleared his throat to emphasize the point.
    “You are disrupting my establishment.” He stood up with his hands flat across the desk.
    “Your establishment? This isn't your establishment.”
    “Do you question an officer of law?”
    “Well, yes I do. You have no right to—”
    “When you enter this line you enter the law. And I’m the law.”
    I looked quickly around to see if there was any other officer I could speak with. It was eerily empty and I wondered if he was the only officer on duty. “I’d like to speak to someone else! I’d like to—”
    The cold metal against my wrists caused a shiver to run down my spine. I was handcuffed. By this creepy man who probably belonged to be locked up himself, with anger like this.
    “You can't cuff me. I didn't do anything wrong. You can’t do this! I didn’t do anything wrong! Mr. Fox, please call my mother! Or get ahold of her somehow! You can’t just keep me in here for no reason.” My voice was high and I was screaming. If anyone else was in the county jail office, they heard me. I’m sure of it.
    “You’re interfering with the law. That’s obstruction of the law.” He forcefully pushed me down a hallway and Mr. Fox was now left behind. “Get my mom!” Everything was happening so fast, I couldn’t believe my own eyes that I was being led down a dimly lit hallway past creepy, small cells.
    “You people think you can get away with anything and get whatever you want. Well, I’ll tell you what.” The iron bars slid open before me as he pushed me in. “You wanted to see him. Now you see him.”

Chapter Fifteen
     
    Kate
     
    I spun around to see the iron door slid shut. And there across the hallway laying on the ground, curled up in a ball, was Bradley. Naked. His eyes were shut and he looked oddly pale.
    “Bradley! Oh my god. You animal! You have him locked up without a blanket like that! He could die! He could die!”
    “You two are perfect for each other.”
    “What the fuck! Look at him! Look at what you’re doing! He’s freezing to death!”
    “Yeah, well, not my problem! Not so tough are you now, huh, tough guy?”
    “Hey! Hey!” I called out after him, screaming at the top of my lungs. “There’s a very hot place in hell for people like you!”
    My hands grabbed the iron bars  and I could just stare at him. He looked so freezing and his lips looked blue. There was blood everywhere and I couldn’t stand to see him like that.
    “Bradley! Bradley! Can you hear me? Can you hear me? It’s Kate! Don’t think you’re getting away with this, you asshole! You just messed with a Rainshaw.”
    “Well, Rainshaw or no Rainshaw, enjoy the blizzard. See you when the city opens back up. Might be a few days.”
    The door slammed shut.
    “Wait, what! You can’t do this! You can’t do this!”
    After yelling until my throat ran dry, hearing my voice echo off the walls of this cold and sterile cell, all I could do was cry and visualize warmth around him as I called out to him.
    “Bradley! Bradley!”
    He’d moan occasionally and say odd things.
    “I’m soo….soo….” His head rested against the wall. I shivered as I called out to him, which worried the hell out of me because he wasn’t covered up, himself. “It’s going to be okay! It’s going to be okay,” I called out a thousand times but deep down inside, I didn’t have a