23| "willing to consider it"

He kissed me, and then left me alone to go see her! To go have sex with her! Behind her husbands back!

Balling my fist up, I almost have half the mind to march out there and then slap him across the face. What kind of sick bastard does he think he is?

We shouldn't have kissed. Nope. I shouldn't have opened my big fat mouth and even hinted that I wanted him to kiss me.

This is all your fault, Annie. Shaking my head in disbelief, I take in the fact that he's still talking to her and then I hurry over to his bed and pull the box back out. Taking the picture out of my pocket, I glare down at the woman again.

Before, she was so beautiful to me. So young looking, with the prettiest smile. But now, in the past ten minutes, its like she became some kind of monster. With fangs and horns and a huge sign on her chest that says, 'Molester!'. Honestly, what kind of grown woman with a husband has sex with a teenager?

The thought angers me all over and without care, I throw the picture back in the box and push it under the bed again.

Jumping up, I grab my bracelet and head to the door. I could care less if Luke knows I'm in here, I'm pissed. He's standing right in front of the door, when I open it, and he turns around when he see's me.

He's in my way, and I go to step around him but before I can, he steps in front of me. I go to his left, but like an asshole he moves in front of me again.

I glare up at him.

The phone is still pressed to his ear, and his stares impassively down at me; his lips set in a straight line.

"Move," I whisper.

"What are you doing?" He asks, and then he talks back into the phone speaker, "No, not you. Yes, she's here."

Are they talking about me? Furrowing my eyebrows, I cross my arms over my chest. I can't let him know, that I know. Otherwise, he'll know that I went through his shit. "Luke, move."

"Can I call you back, later? Yeah, yeah I love you too." He whispers above me, and I freeze.

I let out a involuntarily gasp and I look up at him. He loves her! What the fuck!  Why would he even admit that in front of me? Is he deliberately trying to tell me he doesn't like me?

Because, I totally fucking get it. My cheeks heat with anger, and this time when I go to move, he lets me. My legs can't get me to my room fast enough to escape this absolute shame and embarrassment, but apparently it's not my legs that are the problem this time.

Before I can get to my door, Luke's hand wraps gently around my upper arm and he stops me. "Wait, Annie."

I don't say anything, I can barely look at him. I hate him.

No you don't. Alright, fine. I want to hate him. But I can't, because to be honest, me meeting him and our kiss was the best thing that's ever happened to me.

As cliche as that sounds.

"You can't tell your mom, you know that right? Not even Andrew." He says, quietly.

Turning to face him, I scowl and yank my arm away from him. "Weren't you the one who said you didn't care?"

Running a hand down his face, he pockets his phone and sighs, "I'm sorry about that. I don't know what I was thinking. I just," he pauses, "I felt rejected and I was angry."

"Oh, really? So rejected that you had to go run to your little girlfriend and do it  with her?" I shout, fed up. "You know what? I don't care."

Throwing my hands up in annoyance, I turn around and stomp towards my room. I am not doing this with him. One kiss and suddenly it was like we were dating and at the brink of some kind of fucked up relationship.

Which was not the case and would never be.

"What are you talking about?" He mutters, and then he's suddenly in front of my door, blocking my path again, "Annie, wait."

I ignore him, and grab his arm, trying to push him out of my way.

"Anastasia, calm down." He peels my fingers off of him, and gently drops them down by my side.

"What do you want?" I almost shout. "What? Are you gonna rub it in my face? Brag about how great it is to not be a virgin? Well guess what? I don't care, so just move!"

Luke stares at me, and finger combs blonde hair off his forehead. "I-I didn't do it with anyone, what the hell are you talking about?"

Liar, I know everything.

I try to ignore him again, disgustingly shaking my head, and I push him again; trying to get in my room.

"What is wrong with you! Just tell me," he pleads. "Why are you so upset?"

"Why am I so upset?" I repeat, furrowing my eyebrows. Okay, Luke. "For one, you kissed me and then after shouting at me you left me to go hang out with your girlfriend. Who for two, also happened to be the same girl whom you got me to help write songs for, and for three, is the same girl whom you were hanging out with for hours when I needed you to take me somewhere. Oh, and how could I forget, the same girl who you just said you loved in front of my face!"

I glare at him, waiting for him to say something, but all I get is a hint of a smile on his face.

"Oh, I'm funny?" I say, incredulous. "Do you have no respect for me or yourself? Not to mention, the fact that you have relations with a married women?"

His smile drops, "She's not married anymore."

"Wow," I laugh bitterly, "like that makes anything better. What happened? Did her husband find out about her molesting teenage boys?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Luke growls down at me. His eyes are darker, his jaw set and then he looks down and shakes his head, "Fuck, this doesn't even matter, you don't even know what you're talking about."

I pause, and then I realize he's right, "Yep, you're right ... it doesn't." I'm done with him.

Even after all that, him kissing me twice, leaving me here all alone to go be with his skank of a 'booty call', then admitting that he loved  her, in my face, he still doesn't have enough heart to say sorry.

Wow.

He doesn't say anything, and then finally after awhile another slight smirk lifts the corners of his mouth, "Annie, that was my mom."

I roll my eyes, "Are you bipolar? You know what? I don't have time for this"

"I'm sorry that I left you here, but it wasn't to go see my," he pauses and narrows his eyes in humor, "booty call. I went to see my mom."

"Whatever."

"I'm serious, that was my mom on the phone."

I blink, embarrassed. If he's serious and that was really his mom then ... "Oh."

Annie, you just need to stop opening your big ass mouth

"Yeah, oh." He repeats.

I want to ask him about the girl and the box, but I don't. I've said enough. Clearing my throat, I shake my head, mutter an apology and then motion towards my door, "Excuse me."

"Annie, I um, I think we need to talk."

I glance up at him. His ring is back between his teeth, and his eyes are wide and cautious.

"About what, Luke? I'm sorry I accused your mom of being your girlfriend, I'm sorry we kissed, I'm sorry alright. Let's just forget it."

"Forget it?" He scoffs, "Anastasia are you fucking serious?"

"Yes, I am. You're my stepbrother, this isn't right and we shouldn't have done it." I say, trying my make myself believe the words.

Okay, yes, I loved the feeling of kissing Luke and being closer to him. And yes, I'd do it again. But I can't. We'll never be together and there's honestly no point.

"I'm not your stepbrother."

Sighing, "Yet. Not yet, but soon you will be."

"We'll never be blood related, Annie. It wasn't wrong that I kissed you or that you kissed me back, and I don't know about you but, I'm not  sorry." He admits, leaning coolly back against the door and gently clasping my hand, "And if I weren't so worried about what you might do, I'd fucking kiss you again."

Then if it isn't already bad enough that I'm a second away from dying of a heart attack, he tugs me closer to so that I'm pressed against him, my feet between his parted legs.

My breath hitches in my throat and I shudder at his touch. His tongue slowly runs across his bottom lip and his eyes never leave mine, "I need to tell you something, okay?"

"Alright," I mutter, hoarsely.

"But you have to be willing to consider it, okay?"

I swallow. Consider what? Is he gonna ask me to tell our parents? Because I don't think I can do that. I nod.

"Say it." Luke emphasizes.

"Fine, yes."

I take in his handsome jaw structure, the way it's set in a hard line, his perfectly symmetrical nose, the pale freckle under his lips, and his large blue eyes that burn with intensity down at me. He opens his mouth to talk, but then closes it. Then he opens it again.

I laugh quietly, "Luke, you look like a fish."

He grins, "Shut up, Annie. This is already hard enough."

I want to laugh again, but he's serious so I nod, "Go on."

"Alright," he sighs. His closes his eyes, ruffles his hair and breathes, "I didn't know what it was. Whether it was just a physical attraction or what. All I knew was that ever since you'd moved in, these crazy feelings kept happening inside me whenever you were around me."

He stops and glances at me, testing the waters I suppose, and then starts again, "At first, they were so annoying. It annoyed the shit out of me that it was like that. I felt like a girl -- and, I wanted to hate you for that. To see if they'd go away, you know? But then there was Ashely,"

"Ashton." I correct him, automatically regretting it.

He glares at me, "there was Ashely and that goth kid who was all over you, and the dancing and you liking my songs, and then that night you fell asleep in my bed." Luke nods, and whistles quietly through his teeth, "Damn Annie, that was a hard  night, I swear to you. You were right there and you were so pretty and vulnerable and those feelings were going fucking haywire and I-I wanted to touch you."

Luke stops to breath and I my knees almost buckle give way underneath me.

"I think I stayed up for hours watching you sleep," he admits. "Anyway, I'm saying this because I after we kissed, I realized something."

He bites his ring, and I know for a fact that I'm done. My heart is beating at a rate that can't possibly be normal, I think I forgot how to breath, and to be honest, I may need medical attention.

"I kissed you, Annie, because I wanted to kiss you. Yeah, I knew that it would cause problems, and I knew that you'd think it was wrong, but I also knew you'd kiss me back. I don't know, I just, I guess I needed to know if you'd felt the same."

His hand squeezes my waist, and he shrugs. I notice that we're a fraction closer than before and surprisingly after everything, I don't mind.

"So," I whisper, "What does this mean?"

Luke shrugs, and then fully encircles his arms around my waist, "That I like you, Annie."

--

This chapter is slightly longer, unedited, and also just a roller coaster of emotions.