“Pancakes would be great, Mom,” Eleanor says. “Tanner’s bed had tons of springs sticking out of it, so I let him sleep in mine.”
Her eyes dart around the room. Our clothes on the floor, my underwear at her feet, the tissues crumpled up on the nightstand, the way we’re both holding the blanket so tightly under our chins.
She knows what’s up.
And she’s horrified.
More footsteps coming down the stairs. My father bursts into the room. “What happened? I heard screaming?”
His face goes through the same range of emotions when he sees his son in bed with his new stepdaughter.
“You,” he hisses as he glares at me. “First you steal a car, now you defile your stepsister?!”
“He didn’t defile me!” Eleanor snaps. “I was the one who came on to him.”
“Oh my God!” Linda turns around with her hand over her eyes.
My father isn’t even listening. He’s glaring at me in hatred and disgust. If he had a gun in his hand, I’d be dead.
“You are an embarrassment of a son,” he hisses. “I thought you couldn’t top it when you stole the car, but here you are, taking advantage of your innocent stepsister!”
“He didn’t take advantage of me!” Eleanor shouts as she sits up in the bed, holding the blankets to her chest. “I wanted it. And he didn’t steal any damn car! He broke a window trying to save a dog from the heat. Maybe you’d know that if you didn’t always think the worst of him!”
My heart jumps in my chest as I turn and see the fire in her eyes.
“Is that true?” Linda asks as she turns back around. She sees us in bed and then quickly turns her back to us once again and says a prayer under her breath.
“Yes, it’s true!” Eleanor snaps. “Now get out of my room! Both of you!”
Her authoritative tone seems to shake them and they both drop their eyes and leave the room, closing the door behind them.
I’m staring at her in shock as she rips the blankets off her naked body and explodes out of the bed. She looks furious as she pulls her clothes on. I’m too stunned to move.
“I can’t believe he blames you for everything!” she hisses to herself as she yanks her t-shirt on. “What a jerk!”
“You…”
She looks at me. I can’t get the words out.
No one has ever done anything like that for me before. No one has ever stood up for me. I’ve always been on my own.
“What?” she says, turning her fire onto me. “Are you mad that I told him? Because I don’t care! He should know that he’s wrong! He thinks he knows everything!”
I get out of bed and go to her.
“You can be mad all you want,” she says in an aggressive tone as she grabs her pants and kicks her leg into them.
“I’m not mad,” I say in a low voice as I arrive in front of her.
She stops and looks up at me, the anger drifting out of her. “You’re not?”
“No.” I take a deep breath as I try and collect my thoughts. I cup her cheeks as she looks into my eyes. “You just told my dad off for me. No one has ever been in my corner like that. No one has ever fought for me before. I love you, Eleanor. I fucking adore you.”
The anger melts away and it’s replaced with a look of love. “I love you too, Tanner. I want to be with you. I don’t care if it’s wrong.”
“It’s not wrong,” I tell her. “Something this beautiful can’t be wrong.”
I kiss her softly on the lips and then we hold each other for a long while, enjoying the moment and just focusing on each other. Focusing on our newfound love.
“Want to get out of here?” I ask her.
She nods.
“Good. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Eleanor
* * *
Eight Months Later…
* * *
“I’m going into class with you,” Tanner says as his possessive eyes dart around the campus at all of the students flooding toward it. It’s the first day of college at Princeton and everybody is looking so eager and full of life as they head to their first class of the day.
“You can’t,” I say with a chuckle as I put a calming palm over his heart. “You have work.”
His jaw tightens when he spots a group of student athletes walking by, talking and laughing. “I’ll quit.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I say with a laugh. “You can’t follow me for the rest of my life!”
“Wanna bet?”
I shake my head as I stand on my toes and give him a soft kiss. “I’ll be fine. Go to work and I’ll meet you for lunch. Okay?”
He doesn’t like it but he eventually agrees.
That’s one thing about Tanner—he’s incredibly possessive of me. He even claims that I’m his, like I’m his property or something medieval like that. But the thing about me is that I love it. I secretly adore it when he gets all growly and possessive. I love it when he does his whole ‘you mine’ caveman routine. I shouldn’t, since I’m a strong independent woman, but I do. It’s the best.