Wrong: A Stepbrother Romance

And the reality was that he did.

“Look at her. Sweet girl.” Ethan gazed at Daisy through the bedroom doors. His split lip spread in a smile that had fresh blood trickling down to his chin. “Do me a favor and let her out, Sash? She’s been freaking out for hours in there. Poor girl.”

I hated myself for obliging, but I felt a desperate need to comfort the terrified puppy. The bottoms of my shoes made sticky, peeling sounds as I walked across the floor over Ethan’s blood. But when I opened the bedroom door, Daisy cowered more fiercely, painfully ducking her head lower and lower to avoid my touch.

“Your boyfriend scared her.”

I turned around to face Ethan. I kept my distance from him, standing at the bedroom door. “Why did you do it?”

“Why did I do it? Unless you haven’t noticed, Liam was the one who came in here and tried to break every bone in my body.”

“Why did you put those letters up online? Why did you have to humiliate me like that when you knew everything about my history? You knew exactly how fucked up it was, and you still did it.”

Ethan blinked at me a couple times. “Are you saying that he was justified in nearly killing me?”

“Don’t dodge the question. I’m not talking about what Liam did after the fact. I’m talking about you being so remarkably cruel and unfeeling. It’s not like you went around telling people I cheated on you – that, I could handle. But you didn’t do that. You dug into the most painful part of my past that you personally knew I still hurt from. And not only did you show everyone I knew, and everyone in the world, you decided to put your own flair to it. Just to make it that much worse.” I shook my head in disbelief of him as he stared blankly down at his hands, refusing to meet my eye. “Trust me. I wish Liam didn’t come here and hurt you. I wish he didn’t so much as lay a finger on you. But it’s not because I don’t believe you deserve to be hurt, because I do. I really do.” I felt nothing when Ethan looked up at me with a shocked, almost wounded expression. “The only reason I wish Liam didn’t come here is because I know what you’re going to do now that he did.”

“What would you expect me to do?” Ethan asked. Wincing, he spit blood straight onto his light blue sweater. “That fucking psychopath came into my home and beat me nearly fucking blind for half an hour. Am I supposed to just roll over and pretend it didn’t happen? What, am I going to just go to the hospital for these fucking broken ribs, broken nose – a whole bunch of other fractured shit and just tell them I fucking fell? How do you think the world works?”

“How do you?” I countered. I cocked my head just a bit. “I broke up with you, Ethan. I moved out of your house, I gave back your ring, I paid you the next month’s rent to be kind. When you came to my bar, I believe I made it quite clear that I never wanted to see you again. I ignored your calls. Aria told you I had

no interest in your contact. So what world do you live in thinking that despite all that, you still have the right to hound me? To pretend I’m lost property rather than a living, breathing woman who made her choice?” I paused for him but I wasn’t sure why. I knew he had no answer for me. “I never once insulted you, Ethan. I never stole from you, or deceived you. All I did was leave you, and considering the way you treated me for years, I had every right to that. If you think about that – about how you harassed me for months and then topped it all off by posting a sex tape I didn’t film, and letters from my childhood abuser – I think you might understand why I’m here wishing you might finally put an end to your quest for revenge. You already got it, Ethan. You humiliated me, and you unleashed a world of hell on Liam. He defended me because you did something despicable, and he cares about me in a way that you’re physically incapable of. I have the same deep love and respect for him too, and that is why I’m standing here in front of you praying that you’ll take this opportunity to redeem yourself.”

Ethan stared up at me for a silent minute. The end of his sleeve was dirty and brown with dried blood, but he used it again to wipe the blood that seeped from his mouth.

“You know that’s quite a favor,” he said finally. “He could be in jail for five, seven years because of this.”

“I know.”

“If I let this go without saying a word, I’d end up forgoing a shit ton of money. A shit ton of satisfaction. I’d have to watch highlights of his stupid goddamned fight on ESPN while sitting here recovering from my injuries. I’m not a doctor, but he fucked me up pretty bad, Sasha. And I have a feeling my healing time’s gonna take longer than the month it takes for people to move their interests from him to some football player who beat the shit out of his wife. Am I not right?” He raised his eyebrows at me but promptly winced, a thin line of fresh blood streaming down to his eye. I opened my mouth to speak but it was then that Daisy dared to step out of the bedroom, her paws padding slowly toward Ethan, her nose sniffing his blood every inch of the way over.

“Yes. You’re right,” I finally said. “It would be quite the sacrifice. But it would almost come close to making up for everything you did to both him and me. He hurt you, Ethan. But you hurt us both – me especially. The girl you once loved and said you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. I spent nights in your arms crying to you about my memories of Owen, and you rubbed my back and said ‘it’s okay.’ And yet you still had the stomach to pull your stunt yesterday and tell the entire world what I suffered through. You made it a joke. All things considered, I think your silence is more than a fair price.”

Ethan stuck out his lip the way he did when he was considering things. “True. Very true.” He licked the blood from his lips. “Thing is, you can say all that and try to pull at my heartstrings, but the truth is, you’re still at my mercy here. I don’t have to redeem myself. I don’t have to play fair.”

I was shaking inside but I refused to show it. “Then you’re exactly who I expected, and I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Well, that’s where you’re also wrong.”

“What are you talking about?”

Ethan heaved a sigh, trying to smile down at Daisy as she finally approached him with her bloodstained paws. “I won’t press charges on Liam,” he said, scratching under her chin with his good arm.

I didn’t move. I stood still because a part of me feared he’d overturn his decision if I did anything sudden. My breath hitched in my throat and I wouldn’t let myself breathe, suddenly superstitious over my unexpected and incredible luck.

But Ethan dropped the other shoe fast.

“I’d expect to be rewarded for that though.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“No.” Pulling Daisy onto his lap, Ethan gazed up at me. “No, I’m not. I’m not blackmailing you into fucking me, Sasha. All I’m asking for here is a second chance. The biggest mistakes in my life involved you, and the way I mistreated you. What I did last night online is something I’d never forgive myself for if the roles were reversed. I know that. But I hurt like you wouldn’t believe. I miss you like you wouldn’t believe. The way you see me now – broken, battered and bruised – that’s how I’ve looked on the inside every day since you left me.”

I turned away in disgust. I wanted to roll my eyes out of my head.

“Please, Sasha. Let’s just be real here. You and him aren’t going to work. Regardless of what I did, something would have come out eventually, and something would have torn you two apart. It would get too hard for you two to survive, and you’d just cause him endless trouble, babe, that’s the truth,” Ethan said plainly. “Maybe you don’t think I’m your soul mate, but admit it, we work together. The world doesn’t complain when we’re together. Nobody gets hurt. But when you and Liam are together? Half the bullshit that happened to you two had nothing to do with me, and you know that. You know you can’t possibly be good for him.”

My stomach turned at the familiarity of his sentiment, because I’d thought it a thousand times, too, and as recently as last night. But I still searched myself for a counter argument. “I love him. He loves me. And I know that because what I feel with him is beyond a million times stronger than what I ever felt for you.”