TESSIE'S POVI couldn't believe I had just said that to him. I was the one running all the time yet managed to be mad at him and jealous just because of the thought of seeing him talking to someone else. Was I always this possessive person even over something that wasn't mine? Probably, because now this was the second time I had expressed myself like that. Was this even healthy?Jace stared at me with a smirk pasted on his face. He was enjoying this. He patted the space next to him on the bed without saying anything. I eyed the spot and then him questioningly. "Come on. You are not afraid of me, are you?"Was I? No. I couldn't be. I was afraid of myself was more accurate and also afraid of what was going to happen if I sat down next to him. His eyes were filled with longing and the smirk wasn't even a tiny bit annoying. If anything, I found it sexy. I couldn't tell him that now, could I? Jace scooted closer to the edge I was standing in. My eyes followed his movement, shif
JASON'S POVHer soft sighs and moans were music to my ears. I was excited. At some point, I almost lost control touching her and kissing her all over but I didn't want to scare her. From the moment I kissed her and saw her naked, I knew that I wanted to see her again. This needed to be perfect or she would want to see me again.Thankfully I had enough experience with girls so I knew exactly what to do.My hand trailed along her bare tummy. I felt her shudder as I trailed along her waistline. Her eyes flickered open forcing me to stop. I wasn't sure if I had gone too far but her eyes still held trust. I claimed her lips then slowly slipped my hand into her panties. My fingers met a wet patch. "You are so wet," I whispered with a smile. Tessie blushed and averted her eyes from me. I stroked her gently, taking my time to observe her reaction. "Is that comfortable enough for you?"She nodded, "Yeah. It feels nice." I tugged on the panties. "I'm going to take these off, okay?" She no
TESSIE'S POVI had just had my first-ever orgasm. I could swear I wouldn't have known what that meant before all this— before Jace had shown me. He was the perfect translation of show don't tell and he was really good at it.What would Ava say about this? She would definitely be happy for me and want much more details like she had always told me. But then, this wasn't something I could just run to her with. It was really beginning to hit me. I had finally taken that step and had— well, almost had sex for the first time yet I couldn't discuss it with my best friend. Where would I even start?Oh, Ava! Guess what, I just experienced the best mind-blowing, shaking hardcore orgasm given by the boy you are crushing so hard on. I could already guess how that would go and I didn't want to find out. What was even more unappealing was the giant reminder I really didn't need at that moment that he was my stepbrother. No. I wouldn't think about that at that moment.I turned towards where he was s
TESSIE'S POV I had never been one for big crowds or parties. They drained the energy out of me and whenever I made an exception for Ava and agreed to go, I always ended up alone in a corner drinking my sippy cup as everyone else ran around either having sex, making out, or playing stupid games.I counted the minutes until Ava found some boy and took off with him. It was amazing how she would be upset pining over a guy and in the next skip off with another one. She did have all the features that guys liked. She was pretty and even though she was a nerd like me, she was the popular nerd. The one who always got noticed unlike me. I was alone once again and the urge to go back to my room was too strong.However several minutes later, I saw him. He stopped at the last stair looking around the room. The moment his gaze landed on me, my stomach rolled. God, would I ever get used to seeing him in the same room with me and that feeling that always enveloped me? I took a large swallow of the d
JASON'S POVI tried to focus on the partying around me but all I kept seeing was the image of Evan, my first enemy in the new school in the field, and now also in my personal life. I couldn't tell whether approaching Tess was a way of trying to piss me off or if he genuinely liked her. While I could tolerate the first one, asking me to accept the second one was asking for the impossible. There was no way I was going to let him have even the tiniest bit of a chance with her.Just as I was about to step forward ready to take on him, two girls stepped forward and blocked my way. "Jace!" One of them exclaimed as they both smiled.I knew them from most of my classes. They had sat in front of me multiple times and their seductive smiles every time our eyes met hadn't passed me by. I had noticed them. I had experienced their "head bitch in charge" personality, they were pretty, confident, and outspoken. I couldn't lie and say that I hadn't noticed them because who was I kiddi
TESSIE'S POVI woke up the following day with a pounding head, a disoriented face and what felt like layers and layers of nausea. I sat up and held my head in my palms trying to adjust to the lighting. "Oh, God!" I swallowed a chunk of nausea. What had I gotten myself into? Right. The party the previous night. That wasn't my first party though. Why was I feeling like a zombie? I got up slowly knowing that any sudden movements could throw me off balance. If I hit the floor, I wasn't sure I could get up again for the next several hours. If that was how alcohol was supposed to make someone feel, I didn't understand how people became alcoholics. Waking up to this? Dealing with vicious hangovers and the urge to throw up that early in the morning? Not my cup of tea. The thought of tea made my stomach churn. How had I gotten here? Oh, right. Evan with his confession. That wasn't a dream. And Jace— that especially was a major blow to my ribcage. At that moment, I just wished I hadn't remem
JASON'S POVBy the time I got downstairs, Tess was already gone. Thanks to Lexi, now I had an explanation to give. I had no idea how I would convince her that I hadn't slept with her. The temptations had been there and yes, I had kissed her back but I hadn't gone beyond that. Sure she had thrown herself at me and I had wanted it but I just couldn't go through with it.The living room was a mess. I made the calculations of cleaning up alone and groaned. Whatever thing had made me think that throwing a party for rowdy teenagers was a good idea, I was now regretting it. My head was spinning from a hangover and there was no one to help me.The couch looked inviting. If one could ever say that. I had spent the night there leaving my bed for Lexi. Quite a gentleman I had been, only for it to come to this. I clutched my head in my hands and sat down with a heavy sigh. "Hey, handsome! I hope you don't mind that I borrowed these?"I looked up abruptly as Lexi walked into the l
TESSIE'S POVI lay flat on my back in the school cafeteria, my arms tucked under my head and eyes exploring the air above me. The combination of student murmurs and the clatter of plates all around was not enough to drown the loud thoughts in my head.I was trying so hard to get past the night of the party at my house but it seemed to be the only constant thought in my head. The day after was just a bonus to it all— a huge one at it. Leaving the house, I had intended to spend the day at Ava's but a trip around town and then another had landed me somewhere else entirely. With Evan Mayers. I still didn't know what the connection was with him. How he ended up being a Mayers and Lexi a Bradford was also beyond me. Why did they have different surnames if they were siblings? Step siblings like me and Jace? No. Now that I was thinking about it, they did have some resemblance. "Yo, sit up!" Ava kicked me on my side with her knee forcing me up. "What in the world is going on wi
TESSIE'S POV "There you are!" Evan exclaimed as he joined me in the gym. I had completely forgotten about him until I saw him. My mind was elsewhere, sweeping through the crowd for Ava who had decided to abandon me. "May I have this dance?" "Yes," I took his offered hand with a sigh and followed him into the crowd. "Hey, did you see Ava while coming in?" "Yeah, she was right by the door with some guy. I don't think he goes to our school. I've never seen him before." "He must be his mystery man/blind date," I chuckled. "Well, wherever they are now, they must be having fun," Evan offered. "I don't see why we shouldn't as well. You want to see me break some moves?" he asked breaking into a pop and rock dance with both feet and hands.I laughed, immediately taken back to the day he danced for free ice cream on our first date. Evan was sweet, contrasting every thought I ever had of him. It would have been so easy to love him especially since
JASON'S POV "Bro, I think I found a solution for your girl problem and I might just have found you a date to homecoming!" my cousin announced and jumped into my bed, disrupting my sleep. "I told you, I'm not going to homecoming, Jude," I groaned and turned, pulling a pillow over my head to block his voice.I wasn't sleeping, but I was in no mood to talk to anyone. Not after the day I'd had. Months of trying to get over Tessie, all the effort I had put in was not making it any easier. I had finally decided to get over it, get over my ego and talk to her and I just had to stumble over her agreeing on a date with Evan.Evan! Again! Yeah, that was it. I wasn't going to try again and I wasn't going to subject myself to that torture— watching them together for a whole night. "Dude, you are in the football team. You can't miss the game!" he shook me awake. "Besides, do you really want to miss your last homecoming dance just because a chick broke your heart? Look
TESSIE'S POVMonths sped by quickly and before I knew it, junior year was already halfway done. Everyone was counting days to the homecoming dance, which was all the talk in the school hallways, washrooms, cafeteria, everywhere. It was beginning to get on my nerves especially when — "Have you found a date to the homecoming dance yet?"When that topic came up. I looked up, my sandwich halfway to my mouth, and met Ava's eyes dancing with curiosity. Way to ruin a girl's lunch! "No," I put the sandwich down. "And I'm not interested in finding one or going." "Tess, this is the second last homecoming dance you are ever going to get a chance to attend! You can't just throw that chance away." "I can, Ava. And I am." "No, you are not. You have to be there because I'm running for homecoming queen and you are not going to let me face Lexi 'you know who' on my own."My mouth dropped, "You are not serious, are you?" "About what part?"
TESSIE'S POVThe level of scrutinizing I was getting at home ever since Jace moved out was too high. There had been numerous questions about what had happened, all to which I had responded the best way I could — feigned oblivion. I hated that my Dad blamed himself for going off on him for getting home late but what could I do?He would have to bear that lie and deal with it. As for me, sleeping in on weekends until they left and leaving so early in the morning during school days to avoid them was how I coped. That morning however, I wasn't so lucky because it was Diane's off day.I was seated in the kitchen taking my breakfast when she joined me. "I saw Jace."I looked up sharply and forced down the sudden panic that name brought to me especially in that house, "Yeah?" "Yeah, he told me why he had to move out." "He did?" I swallowed hard. Why was she being so vague? The tension was killing me inside. "Yes, it wasn't anything to do with your father.
AVA'S POV "So... tomorrow, just you and me hanging out without any boy drama?" I asked Tessie excitedly and wrapped my hand around her shoulder as we walked out of class on Friday evening. It was a week since officially breaking up with Evan and she was a mess. She let out an exhausted sigh and her face still remained with the same unrest it had the whole week. I hated seeing my best friend sad because of some guy. This being her first breakup, even though she had been the one who called it off, I could tell it was hard on her. I had never seen her being as mentally absent as she had been over the last two weeks. This was depressing and I had to do something to cheer her up. "My Mom agreed to let me have this weekend to myself. We can go shopping, get our nails done, have as much fro-yo as we can possibly handle—" "Ava, I hate all those things!" "And do at least one stupid thing to blow off some steam and let out our frustration about our messe
TESSIE'S POV The day passed without any drama. I guess I should have been thankful especially since Lexi hadn't even spared me a glance in the hallways, let alone talking to me. She hadn't said anything clearly because it was like any other day, another one of being invisible to the whole school.My mind however couldn't settle. I was restless with thoughts about Jace, about Evan, about Lexi... She couldn't have kept the information to herself out of the goodness of her heart. That bitch had no heart. That left the possibility that maybe she and Jace had become official. The thought churned my insides. How would I cope if that was the case?When evening came without any sign of Jace even around Lexi, I began to panic. Where was he? Had he left town and decided to go back upstate to his former home? No, that couldn't be. He couldn't just up and go without a word. If not to me, to our parents. They would want to know why he was leaving and that was a topic I was sure he couldn't hold
TESSIE'S POV After hours spent up late through the night, I slept in and woke almost too late for school the following morning. I'm not sure how long I spent staring at the adjoining bathroom door, beating myself up and hoping desperately that he would sneak into my room like always.I don't know what I was expecting because no miracle would change what had happened. With only a few minutes to get ready, I rushed into the shower and then got dressed. By the time I ran downstairs, it was already past seven. "Tessie! You are still here?" Diane asked in surprise. "I thought you were already gone with Jace because he wasn't here when I woke up. What happened? You always wake each other up." "I guess he forgot," I shrugged and grabbed my keys. I didn't want to be there a second longer because I wasn't sure I could keep lying about what was really going on. "See you later," I added quickly and left.It wasn't until I was pulling up in the school's parking lot that
JASON'S POVI hurried out of the diner and made my way across the street. My senses were dead, I couldn't see clearly but I didn't care where I was going. All I knew is that I wanted to be far away from there— far away from her.The first time I had decided to be the good guy, the first time I had decided to be loyal only to be betrayed like this. I had never believed in love until her. Now she had wrecked me and the mere sight of her made me want to disappear forever. The loud honking of a car alerted me. I was caught in a moment of panic in the middle of the road and just when I thought I was about to get crashed, someone yanked me into the sidewalk. I fell on top of her before I recovered. "What the hell are you doing? Trying to get yourself killed?" Lexi reprimanded. I was too shocked to respond. I stared at her blankly. My heart was racing wildly. "Jace!" she shook me vigorously. "You are not okay, let me take you home." "Don't touch me!" I
TESSIE'S POV My heart was drumming loudly as I drove down the road, my mind so preoccupied with thoughts that I almost forgot about Lexi. There was no way out of this. Jace had enough evidence of my betrayal to never want to talk to me or see me again.Knowing that we lived in the same house gave me some comfort, that maybe I would manage to get him to forgive me but that was feeling next to impossible. I was dying slowly from the inside, regret and guilt combined built up. I could only blame myself for this.My phone rang breaking the silence in the car and rousing me from my thoughts. I looked at the screen quickly and sighed. It was Evan. I picked up right away knowing if I didn't he would keep calling. "Not now Evan! We will talk later," I shouted and ended the call before he could say anything. "You are such a slut you know?" Lexi commented. "You had the guy every girl wants and still had to go after your brother? God! How messed up are you?"