Forbidden Sext (Accidental Stepbrother 1)

I sneered. “None of this changes what you did—”

“I didn’t come here to excuse myself,” he cut in. “There’s no way I can do that. And I know you can be unforgiving sometimes, but Sophia, it’s not like it was all a lie. I fell in love with you. Can you honestly tell me you didn’t feel the same way?”

I looked away from him, mouth set in a stubborn line, even as I felt my face warm up a bit. That was the first time I’d heard the words for him, and of course, I’d fallen for him, too. If I didn’t love him, even pregnant, I would have been even angrier. What I felt underneath, though, was fear that it had all been a lie. It was one thing for him to lie. I wouldn’t mind so much if he didn’t like X-Men and the books and music that I did. When we talked, it was over a variety of topics, like our lives and our plans for the future. Even outside the dating site, I’d come to realize that Elijah and I were really compatible.

But if he only got together with me as a joke, that would hurt.

“I don’t know what happened between you two,” Mom said.

I whipped my head around because I hadn't noticed she stayed at my door.

“But Sophia, considering the circumstances, it would be easier if the two of you tried to fix your relationship, okay? I’m not saying you forgive him, but he’s ready to apologize and explain himself, I think you should give him a chance. A child is too big a responsibility for you to remain petty.”

I frowned at my mom. It wasn’t like I needed her to tell me this for me to figure out that much. I sighed and looked at Elijah.

“You, sit.” Then I turned to Mom. “Could you please give us some space? We need to talk.”

She smiled, then closed the door as she left.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Elijah

We stayed with our parents for a couple days, but we couldn’t wait around much longer. We both had exams to get back to, and Sophia needed to study for them, since all she did after getting home was get a lot of rest.

I’d caught a bus, but Dad let me take his car back. The drive was about four hours to the school, and about six hours to my house. It was still a little hard to believe that Sophia and I had only lived six hours away from each other our whole lives. Though since our parents went to high school together, maybe it wasn’t so odd.

“Nice of Ted to give us the car,” Sophia said.

I glanced over at her. She sat beside me, with her arms folded over her chest, leaning back on the headrest as she looked outside. We’d talked over the past two days, and we were okay, but she was obviously still put out with me, and I’d have to earn her forgiveness. I was relieved, though, because if that was all I needed to do, then I could do it, no problem.

“He’ll probably have someone come take it back to the house. It would be nice if they’d bring mine over…”

“That reminds me. Is your house empty right now or do you have any other family?”

“It’s only Dad, myself and my brother, but we do have a bunch of staff at home, and they look after the place when we’re both away.

“You also have your car,” she muttered. “You’re rich, then again you have more than one house, your dad has a few cars. Kinda surprised he moved in with us.”

“Is money a problem for you?” I asked slowly.

Sophia just shrugged. She still didn’t look at me, but I let it go. She’d come down when she was ready.

We didn’t meet much traffic on the way, so we made a good time. About an hour away from school, Sophia suddenly said she was hungry and asked if we could stop. Usually, I would have just found a fast food place and gotten something quick to eat on the way, but after listening to Emma talk about balanced diets for the past two days, I looked for a restaurant instead, and we went in to eat.

Not long after we sat down, a waiter came to pick up our orders. We looked over the menu and made our decisions, then waited.

“Have you thought about going to see a doctor yet?” I asked after a moment of silence.

“I stopped by the clinic at school,” she admitted. “After I took a pregnancy test and it came out positive. But then I kinda panicked, so I didn’t hear a lot of what I was told and left school not long after that. It was the day I slapped you in the cafeteria.”

“Right,” I muttered. “Anyway, I talked to Dad about it, and after we pass by the office, I could accompany you to see one. Your mom will probably have an opinion on it…”

“Mom has an opinion on everything,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But I’m really worried I might have to drop out.”

“Let’s go to the office the moment we get back. It’ll be early in the afternoon still so we should find someone willing to talk to us. I’m sure you won’t have to drop out.”

She sighed. “I hope so. Not after all the effort, I put in.”

The food came, and I watched Sophia as she ate. She was eating for two now, but she just kept picking at her food with her fork, probably because she was nervous. I was almost worried she wouldn’t be able to eat, but then she started to. And I relaxed enough to enjoy my meal. Then I paid, and we got back on the road.

I slowed down as we approached the school.

“Are you ready for this?” I asked Sophia, glancing over at her.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she murmured.

We were stopped at the gate. After showing the guard both our IDs, we were let inside.

“Do you want to stop by your dorm?” I asked.

We’d both left school with a bit of luggage, and I had our bags in the trunk. I figured she’d like to have some time to herself before we went to the office, so I was surprised when she just shook her head.

“Let’s go directly. I’ll only keep freaking out if we delay this.”

“All right,” I muttered.

I found us a good parking spot that wasn’t too far from the office. I’d have to move the car closer to the dorm sides once we were done, though, since students weren’t technically allowed to park so close to the school’s administration offices.

“Do you have any idea where we’re going?” Sophia asked.

I shrugged. “I figure we could ask at the reception, say you want to take academic leave and where to go to get that done. They’ll ask for reasons there, I think.”

“What if I get expelled or transferred out for being pregnant, though?” she fretted.

“This school isn’t like that. Everything will be fine, okay? You wanted to get this done quickly, right?”

I ran my fingers through her hair and gently patted her back. She took a deep breath then nodded at me. When she reached for her door, I did the same. We walked side by side as we went into the administration building.

Asking at the reception led us to an office on the third floor. We had to wait a bit before we were let in, and Sophia tugged on my arm so I wouldn’t leave her alone. I kept my mouth shut and listened to the conversation as Sophia explained everything, and we waited.

Lucky for us, there were options. It turned out that academic leave was possible, with some paperwork to fill out, and it wouldn’t affect her too much. She had to finish the semester, and as long as her request was granted, she could take a year off then return after that. We were led to a different office to get the paperwork, and I helped Sophia fill everything out.

The whole thing took us less than two hours, and when we left, Sophia looked a little dazed, clutching the papers in her hands a little too tightly.

I pulled the documents from her hands and led her over to the car. I got her inside and drove us to a parking spot close to my dorm. Then I led her out of the car and to my dorm room. I sat her down on my bed, then pulled my chair in front of her.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She didn’t move at first, but after a little while, she nodded her head. Then her eyes met mine.

“I’m just a bit surprised it was that easy,” she admitted. “I thought I would at least get in trouble, but they didn’t mention anything.”

&n

bsp; “This probably isn’t a new case for them,” I guessed. “Anyway, this is good for us. You’ll go home, and I’ll stay here, I’ll keep a car around so I can visit you when I’ve got the time. Your mom already said she could look after the baby, so you’ll be free to return to college…and I can still be a professional hockey player like I always planned.”

She nodded slowly. “Still seems too good to be true.”

I ran my hands up and down her arms, then pulled her into a hug.

“But it is,” I whispered. “We can do this, Sophia. You and me. What do you say?”

She hadn't said anything about forgiving me for my lie, so of course, I was still worried. The worry only grew when she didn’t give me an immediate answer, but then I felt her arms wrap around me. It still wasn’t an answer, but my eyes slipped closed as I breathed a sigh of relief, holding her tighter.