Romance: Untamed Stepbrother

By Elizabeth Wilde

All Rights Reserved

Adults Only

CAUGHT
between the hard path of right and wrong Jonathan leaves home and the girl he’s always loved, but shouldn’t. 

Tragedy strikes and forces them back into each other’s lives.

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Jonathan was just a farm boy when he left all those years ago but standing before Zoey now was a cocky, broad shouldered muscular cowboy.  

Renewed feelings of lust awaken within her…

The question is, will admitting and accepting their feelings bring them closer together, or just push them apart?

As he waited on the street for his ride back home, he thought about what Zoey had to go through while he was gone. He hoped that she didn’t hate him for all that he had done and for what he had not. He just wanted to see her and have everything be okay. It was an unrealistic fantasy but he thought about it all the same. As the hour ticked on, he constantly checked his watch and scanned both sides to the road for any signs of his ride.

Zoey on the other hand was freaking out. Once she heard her brother would be coming home, she practically peed herself. Her moments of anger were quickly swept away by her longing to see his face. It was only when she began to think about what had happened while he was away did she feel the most sad and an absurd amount of loneliness. She asked herself if he would blame her for what happened. She decided that she would leave out the part of the story that involved her in the hopes that she wouldn’t have to feel any more guilt that she already was experiencing.

She lost track of time as she readied herself. She finally agreed to pick Jonathan up from the train station after fighting with her cousins as to who should do it. They knew how terrible she had been feeling and knew it would be good for them to get their thoughts out in the open. Zoey fretted over which sundress she would wear. She stood in front of the mirror and scolded herself for not leaving the house for so long. Her skin had turned much whiter than she liked and her red hair looked like it was practically on fire.

Her green eyes looked puffy from all the crying she had done that week and tried some eye drops to help alleviate the redness. As she looked at her curvy body, she noticed that her backside and her breasts had become larger than she remembered. It had been some time since she last looked in the mirror and thought she probably gained a ton since then. She contemplated whether to wear heels or not. She was a bit shorter than Jonathan at five feet four inches but she felt she needed to see him standing tall. She decided on the tallest heels she had.

After choosing a bright white dress with a soft floral pattern, she slipped into it and took one last look in the mirror in her bedroom. She sighed deeply and wondered if Jonathan would still find her attractive. She then started to worry about what he looked like. She pictured him ballooning up in the last two years and she imagined arriving at the train station looking for him and walking right past a very portly man who looked strikingly like her step brother. She shook her head and thought about how silly she was being. She still wasn’t sure if she would feel anger when she saw him for the first time in forever.

She acted elated for the sole purpose of being completely prepared for any eventuality. She knew she would feel happy or angry and she was ready for either. She felt it was entirely up to how he presented himself. If he acted cold or distant, her anger may boil over. If he felt warm and loving, she might still be mad but would eventually give in. However, her emotions were unpredictable at best since the accident and it was anyone’s game.

She looked out into the hills of the countryside and wondered how things got to where they were. She started to reminisce about the past two years and what led up to the accident. Tears began flowing down her cheeks, ruining the makeup she had just applied. It was then that she realized she just wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear. The more she thought about the past, the larger her tears grew.

Even though their family was wealthy and had many people under their employment to run the ranch they lived on, Zoey’s parents always wanted them to learn what it was like to work hard and be proud of their accomplishments. Jonathan loved technology and learning about computers. He spent his summers outside of school learning to code programs with the hope of starting his own company one day. Something his step father wasn’t very receptive of. However, if there was one constant on the farm that anyone could attest to, it was the relationship between Jonathan and Zoey. Even though they were step siblings, they couldn’t deny their feelings for each other. Although, Jonathan knew it was wrong of them to feel that way about each other.

Zoey grew fond of Jonathan when they were young. They played together as children and grew up always looking out for one another. As they crossed their eighteenth birthdays, their fondness turned into something more. Something they both knew was wrong but could not fight. That summer, Zoey professed her love for Jonathan and he reciprocated. It was the night before he was to leave for the big city that the unthinkable happened.

Zoey and Jonathan almost made love in the barn during a particularly severe thunderstorm. It was then that Jonathan decided to tell her he would be leaving and not coming back. After having an awful fight with his step father, Jonathan was disowned. He knew he wouldn’t return unless he was prepared to make amends but his pride kept him from swallowing it. His need to make his own path was far greater than even his love for Zoey, and she hated him for it.

She watched as the love of her life, her soul mate drove off and out of her life the next morning. She cried herself to sleep every night for weeks before she realized he wasn’t coming back. Slowly, she returned to her routine and her parents went back to believing their children only had platonic feelings for each other. It was two years later when tragedy struck. Late one night, a fire broke out in the barn.

Zoey’s father joined the other farm hands to help keep it contained while they waited for the fire department to show up. Zoey could hear her horses neighing in fear inside the barn. She decided it she needed to rescue them and ran to the opposite side of the barn. Her mother followed and begged her to wait but she wouldn’t listen. She climbed a rope up to the upper level and peered down to see that the fire had not spread to the horse stalls yet. Her mother yelled in vain for her to jump back down out of danger. Her father ran around the other side of the barn after hearing his wife scream.

By the time he ran around to the other side, he saw that Zoey had climbed up into the barn. He also yelled for her to come down and decided to climb up to her when he heard her yelp in pain. Once up inside the barn, he saw that Zoey had fallen partially though the wooden planks and twisted her ankle. He brought her back to the rope and against her protests; he tied her around her waist and lowered her down to the ground. She begged him to save her horses as tears flowed heavily down her cheeks. It was then that her father decided to play the hero.

She grabbed a nearby axe and began chopping the lock to break it just as Zoey’s father opened the horse’s stalls. Her mother managed to break the lock and pulled opened the doors at the cost of receiving burns to her hands. As the doors opened, the horses raced into the open. Out of fear, they paid no mind to Zoey’s mother and trampled her into the ground as they escaped. Zoey had just limped around to the front of the barn to see her mother fall. She looked to her father as he ran to his wife’s aid, only to have a large, burning beam fall on him, pinning him to the ground. Zoey tried reaching him but the fire grew too intense. She was pulled away by a firefighter as the fire truck arrived.

Zoey’s mother was taken to a hospital outside of town and even though they managed to put the fire out, by morning it was determined that her father didn’t make it. Her mother also passed away from her injuries that day. She felt the most powerful loneliness anyone could ever feel. Her brother was contacted by another family member as she couldn’t muster the courage to speak to him. She felt resentment for him leaving and blamed him partially for not being there to help. She felt if he had been home where he belonged, he could have prevented their deaths.

Jonathan couldn’t face his sister when he discovered his parents had died. He knew she would hold him responsible and decided to wait before he returned home. He made excuses that he was too busy to come back right away. In reality, he just didn’t want to see his family get put into the ground. He hated himself for not making amends before they died. Once he received a call from the family lawyer regarding the will, he knew he couldn’t stay away.

When Zoey heard that he would be coming back, a range of different feelings washed over her. Her heart yearned for his love and his touch but it also resented his absence, especially when she had to attend her parent’s funeral alone. She didn’t know how she would react when she saw him again. She asked herself if she would slap him or embrace him.

She blamed herself more for her parent’s death. She felt if she had not begged her father to save her horses, her parents would still be alive. Knowing that she could have prevented their deaths, haunted her. And though she was happy that her horses survived, she couldn’t bring herself to care for them like she used to. She stopped riding them all together as well.  A part of her heart died and she didn’t want to bring back those moments of happiness when riding out in the country, as she felt she didn’t deserve them. 

Jonathan felt the same way. He felt guilty for not being there and felt selfish for wanting a different life. He lamented over his father’s last words telling him to leave and to never return. He had vowed to make everything right when he made something of himself and return in the hopes of making his father proud. With that possibility gone, he felt he lost his purpose. He could now only think about Zoey. His conscience told him that he should treat her like his sister but his heart needed her now more than ever. In reality, they needed each other and only their love could heal their souls.

The connection they felt for each other was something they had never experienced before when they were together. It was only when they spent time apart did they feel the emotional withdrawals. They had both chalked it up to different things and never made the connection that it was their need for each other that made them feel unhappy to be apart. With one part of their lives drawing to a close, they then faced the next biggest challenge. One thing was for certain, it would be a reunion that they would never forget.