Stepbrother Bestie (A Stepbrother Romance Novel) by Alycia Taylor Page B

when you came to me that day with your suggestion, I was scared. Everything
was happening so fast…and I didn’t want to have to worry about losing you too.
I thought if we could stay friends, without the complications of a
relationship, especially of our relationship, given our new parental status,
that I would have a better shot of things never coming undone between the two
of us.”
    “But you hurt me,” she said again and as I
looked in her eyes, I saw that she was remembering the words that I had said to
her.
    Reluctantly, my mind flashed back to that
as well and I heard my own, panicked voice ringing in my ears; “ Eww…We’re about to be step-siblings. We
can’t date now…Besides, I never felt that way about you anyway. We’re friends,
Val…That’s all we can ever be.” I then remembered her heartbroken
expression, which was a lot like the one she was wearing right now. When my
mind came back to the present, I grasped her hand and pulled it toward me. The
familiar feel of her skin was comforting, even though in my mind, I was a
barrel of nerves. “Look…When I said what I said, I wasn’t telling you the
truth. I only said that so that you would stop making me hope for an us , but at the time, I did mean that I
thought all we could ever be was friends.”
    “But we’re not even that now…”
    I nodded solemnly. “I know and I want that
to change.” I grasped her other hand and brought it toward me. I rested her
touch against my chest and looked deeply into her eyes before I told her
honestly, “I know I have made a lot of mistakes and I probably will make a lot
more, but I still want a chance. I want to be what I told you we could never
be…Forget what everyone has to say. I want to give it a shot.” I smiled at her,
but my heart began to ache when she did not smile back.
    I could tell that she was thinking about
it though, which gave me hope, until she lightly pulled her hand away and began
a justification of her own. “That explanation is great. I completely
understand,” Valerie answered finally and I was once again hopeful that I had
just read her initial reaction wrong when she paused; but then her voice
dropped in that pause. “But, unfortunately, as always, the truth and the
explanation for your actions came about two years too late.” She backed up from
me, ignoring the blatant sense of hurt that was clear on my face. “I’m sorry,
Shawn.” Then, she turned and walked away from me…again.

 
    Chapter
19
    Valerie

 
    I didn’t know what to do. I was so
distraught and angry, now feeling even worse than I did originally, but for
more internal reasons.
    Part of me wanted to know what the big
deal was. So, he has a crazy girlfriend
and so to get her off of his back, he told her a lie. Why does that bother you
so much? That thought was especially brought home when I thought, after all, the alternative of him telling
her the truth was far more detrimental.   Especially since nothing happened.
    I needed something to take my mind off
things so I called Zachary. He didn’t answer his phone though so I decided I
would walk around the mall.
    It wasn’t any fun by myself and I knew
that from the start, but besides Shawn, the old Shawn and Zachary, I really
didn’t feel like being with anyone else.
    Even though I couldn’t pour my heart out
to Zachary about what was going on, for obvious reasons, I still wanted to be
with him. He brought me back to reality and calmed my frantic nerves. It was
comforting to be with him. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yet, by the time I had
taken the bus to the mall, he still hadn’t called or texted back and so, I
figured   I wasn’t going to hear from him
today.
    I had noticed lately that Zachary was
acting strange, but then again, I also wasn’t acting quite myself. So I knew
that I shouldn’t really be trying to find an explanation or accusation toward
him when he could easily turn around and say the same thing about me, with more
accuracy and proof