RICHARD (A BAD BOY ROMANCE) (7 page)

“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.

_
EIGHT
_

Dick

“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.

“It wasn’t like that… God…
Why am I so fucked up?”

“Don’t blame yourself for
this. There’s nothing wrong with you. I’m so sorry, Jessica,” I said, my heart
aching as I watched her tears begin to well up once again. I’d never known that
their relationship had been so awful—sure, I knew they fought, but I figured
that it had been the typical high school drama that you always heard about.
Jessica had hid her pain away for all the time she’d spent with Michael—or
maybe I just wasn’t looking hard enough.

“After a while, Michael
started wanting more stuff from me… like my virginity,” Jess said, wringing out
her hands nervously. “I told him no, and he’d hit me worse than he ever had
before in our entire time together. That was the last time we broke up, and
ever since, he’s been acting like I don’t exist. Until today.”

“None of this is your
fault,” I told her, taking her hand once more, “and what Michael did to you was
beyond terrible. You should never have been treated that way, not by anyone. He
hurt you, and he had no right to do that. You deserve to be treated better than
that.”

“Do I?” she asked, shame
descending over her pretty face. “I don’t think that’s true most days,
especially because… I mean, I can’t really talk about it.”

“You can talk about
anything with me. I won’t judge you, Jessica. I promise,” I said, squeezing her
slender fingers in mine. It made me feel horrible that I’d never made myself
open to Jessica to confide in me, to tell me when something so awful as being
abused by your own boyfriend. Her face softened slightly and she gave a faint,
almost imperceptible, nod.

“The truth is that I
actually liked some of the things he did to me,” she said, her voice soft. “I
liked the way he’d order me to do things, making me obey his commands. He made
me so horny that sometimes, I almost regretted not letting him have sex with
me… but I wanted it to
mean
something. I know that makes me sound like some kind of freak, but I can’t
really help it.”

“I don’t think you’re a
freak, Jess,” I said, squeezing her hand again reassuringly. I knew my sister
must have some urges, but I never imagined dominance play would be one of them.
It made sense, I supposed, the rigid control she had over every aspect of her
life needed to be let loose somehow. “Those kinds of things are completely
normal. There are whole clubs dedicated to that kind of stuff. You like being
dominated, so what? That doesn’t make you a freak. We all need to give up
control, sometimes. As long as you’re being safe and have someone who
understands how to stay in the lines…”

“It isn’t just the
control,” she whispered, cutting me off. She glanced up as a waiter passed by
our booth. “It was… some of the hitting turned me on, too.”

I felt like I didn’t really
know my stepsister at all. The more she talked, the less I was sure of when it
came to what I’d come to know over the last couple of years. I’d figured her
for a bit of a freak under that librarian blouse and horn-rimmed glasses. But
this?

“You really enjoyed how he
hurt you?” I asked.

“Not usually,” Jessica
answered, shrinking a bit, as though I might ridicule her for her desires. “But
there were times where he’d hurt me in certain ways to get me to do things that
felt so good. It was freeing…”

I sat quietly for a moment,
weighing everything that she’s just told me and thinking about how best to go
forward. I’d come here to be close to her, but now she tells me that she
actually
enjoyed
the way he hurt her.
I knew there was nothing inherently wrong with enjoying a little pain with sex,
but to hear it from her lips felt like my world had done a complete one-hundred-and-eighty
degree turn.

Michael
didn’t respect her
,
I thought, glancing at her in the momentary silence that had fallen between
her.
And if I don’t do something, then
she’ll just go back to him, or find someone else who treats her the same way.

“You don’t have to be with
men like Michael if you want to be dominated,” I said after another member of
the staff walked by. “Submission isn’t subjugation. You have every right to be
respected and cared for while you’re fulfilling your fantasies.”

Jessica turned her gaze
away from me, her eyes downcast toward the table as another wave of tears
spilled down her cheek in tiny rivers. I could see the shame radiating from
her, the fact that she was even talking to
me
about this making everything that much worse.

“I know that I haven’t been
the best brother to you,” I said, moving a little closer to her along the bench
seats. “In fact, I don’t blame you for all the shit you’ve probably thought
about me. I was a massive dick from the moment we met… I didn’t want to have a
sister, but in some ways I think it’s better that we see one another as
something different.”

“What do you mean?” Jess
asked, looking up at me quizzically, her soft lips creased into a frown.

“I don’t want anyone
treating you the way Michael treated you,” I explained, choosing my words very
carefully. “Just because you liked some of what he did doesn’t mean he’s the
kind of guy you should be with.”

“Well what kind of men do
you expect me to date?” she asked, her tone incredulous. “I can’t imagine there
are too many gentlemen who would bend me over their knees. Michael told me that
no one else would ever want me. Maybe he was right. I’m fucked up...”

The image was more than
enough to rouse my since sleeping cock, which I did my best to keep under control.
It was hard not to imagine what Jess’ bare thighs would feel like over my lap,
my hand slapping against that plump little ass of hers. I cleared my throat
uncomfortably and shook my head.

“You’d be surprised by how
many men would jump at the thought of doing those kinds of things to
you—without treating you like a piece of garbage.” I sighed again, rubbing my
hand over my face in frustration. I couldn’t see a way of protecting her from
men like Michael—not without taking an active role in making sure she knew what
it felt like to be treated right even while someone was bending her over and
ordering her around like a slave.

I would have to do it
myself.