Stepbrother's Little Secret (Dearly Devoted Book 2), page 1
Stepbrother’s Little Secret
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Dearly Devoted Series
Cassi Hart
Published by: Cheeky Publishing LLC
First Edition
Copyright © 2023 Cassi Hart– All rights Reserved
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners. For any permission requests email cassi@cassihartromance.com
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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WARNING: Dark themes, Age gap, stepbrother/sister, safe stalking, extra OTT possessive hero.
Contents:
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Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Epilogue
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About the Author
Prologue
Killian
There are probably a hundred reasons why I should step away from my spot by the rose bushes. I shouldn’t be here. I should leave and forget that tonight ever happened but, I can’t think of a single reason why.
I can’t just leave and pretend that tonight didn’t happen.
That I didn’t just meet the love of my life.
A man like myself has no right to touch something as precious as Allie Brookes. She deserves the very best in everything, and I’m nothing like that. I am nothing but a big red flag and she … Well, she’s perfect. Something ethereal sent to this world to torture me.
I don’t deserve to exist in the same space as her, but if I can’t have her for myself, then I can at least have this. I can watch her from a distance, from the shadows. She never has to know about what I feel.
I should leave. I shouldn’t be here, watching her through her open bedroom window like this, but I can’t look away. Not when she’s right there, perfect and beautiful and mine.
My cock throbs behind my fly as I watch her putter around her room. I run my palm over the bulge in my pants, telling myself that watching is more important than slipping my hand inside to jerk myself raw. Ever since I crept over here, I’ve been hard. It’s been hours, but my control has held. I don’t want to cross any lines to relieve this arousal. Watching her like this is sinful enough as it is.
My world tilted off its axis the moment I saw her, my Allie, at dinner earlier this evening. And to think I almost didn’t show up.
There’s no coming back from this.
When I got the invite to dinner from my father, I thought it was a joke. Just another one of his trophy wives, this one only different than the last one because she came with her own kid and everything. I figured that he just wanted to make us look like some bullshit happy family that we have never been.
I had no idea my life would change when I walked through the wrought-iron gates. That I would walk into that house and meet Allie and in turn, have set loose a beast in me. I had no idea it existed in the first place.
Dinner ended hours ago. Now I’m here.
My lips part with a soundless gasp as I watch Allie drag her little sweater over her head, revealing pert breasts covered in a thin camisole. I should look away before I do something stupid, but it’s too late. She lifts her arms up to stretch. The moan she lets out goes straight to my cock, which twitches behind the fly of my pants.
Can she feel my gaze on her? Does she know I watch from the shadows, captive to her beauty?
As if to answer me, she steps over to her window and looks out of it, up at the night sky. She’s close enough that I can see the freckles on her shoulders. I can’t see her eyes, but I know they’re hazel, large and doe-like in their sweetness. They’d watched me from across the dining room table curiously. The moment she’d first met my gaze, she’d bitten into her lips, looking at me from underneath her long lashes. I was fucked before then, but that instant cemented for me that Allie was mine and mine alone.
“Honey, what are you looking at?”
My eyes fly past Allie to the door of her bedroom, where her mother is slipping inside. I curse under my breath for not noticing her sooner. The older woman steps closer, still wearing her outfit from dinner.
“Oh, nothing,” Allie shrugs. “Just enjoying the breeze. It’s such a nice night, and the moon is really pretty.”
Allie’s mother, introduced to me earlier as Lori, hums in agreement as she surveys her daughter’s room. Now that she’s here, I should really make my escape. This is my chance to make my exit before they have the chance to spot me, but for some reason, I can’t move a muscle. The idea of being parted from the sight of Allie makes me irrational and angry.
“What did you think of dinner tonight?” Lori asks.
“I thought it was nice,” Allie replies with a soft shrug. “It’s all still pretty new. Eric seems nice too, but I’m sure I’ll get to know him better.”
I bristle at the sound of my father’s name on her lips.
Lori gives a small smile before speaking again. “And what did you think of his son?”
My heart seizes in my chest.
“I don’t know. He seemed shy, kind of quiet,” Allie says, sounding far more diplomatic than I’d hoped.
“Did you see all those tattoos?” Lori scoffs. “He might have been meek at dinner, but Eric says he’s nothing but trouble. Works at some garage or something on the bad side of town. He’s a criminal. Don’t let that quiet façade fool you. You need to be careful around him.”
Anger creeps up within me. How dare she tell my woman that I’m someone to fear.
“Are you so sure about that?” Allie murmurs. “Maybe he’s changed.”
“Allie, my darling, I’ve been around for a bit longer than you have,” Lori says with a wry smile. “If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that men don’t change. He used to steal cars. He’s been arrested for that and assault, too.” Allie is completely silent as she listens to her mother list off my crimes without context. “I don’t like how that reprobate looked at you. Eric told me all of this a while ago, and now I can see why he doesn’t keep closer touch …”
I’m neither surprised nor disappointed that my father would say these things about me. To be fair, it’s all true. There’s some context needed for most of it, but none of it is exactly a lie either.
Deep down, I know that Allie deserves someone better than I do. I don’t care for the comfort my father lives in, or all of the benefits that comes with it. She should find some random underling at my father’s company and get with him instead. I have to keep myself from laughing at the thought; like I’d ever let her be with a man so undeserving.
“We only just met him, Mom. We should get to know him first before writing him off like that.”
Lori crosses her arms and frowns. “I know trouble when I see it and your new stepbrother is trouble …”
There it is. The real reason I’m out here, hiding and watching instead of going home. Allie can’t be mine, not in a way that matters, as long as our parents are married.
“Mom—”
“I mean it. Stay away from Killian. He’ll be nothing but trouble for you.”
Allie presses her lips together before huffing out, “Fine.”
My baby girl is unconvinced, and I can’t help but desire her more for it. She seems to see me for more than just the tattoos and grease stains that I am. It’s almost impossible to fight the urge to slip into her bedroom window as the door closes behind Lori. I want to feel Allie’s skin against mine, to run my hands over those budded nipples and watch her lips part in a moan.
It’s too late now. I may be able to walk away tonight but there’s no way I’ll be able to stay away for more than a few minutes. I have to keep her in my sights at all times so that I can watch over her, make sure everyone knows who she belongs to.
She’ll learn she belongs to me soon enough.
Chapter One
Allie
One month later …
“I’m not sure about this.”
I’m already half way back to the car when Raven grabs my arm and gives me a pleading look. “Thirty minutes, please, Allie. I’m begging you.”
“You can’t do this without me?”
“But … you promised you’d come out with me tonight.”
She’s not wrong, I really did promise to come to this party. I turn and glance towards the frat
I turn to Raven, who’s looking at me with bright, hopeful eyes. I thought this was going to be something a little more chill with her new art major friends but instead, it’s at a frat house.
“Why do you even want to go to a frat party? Do you know what happens at those?” I ask her.
“As long as we stick together it’ll be fine. I know someone who’s going to be here.”
It’s so cliché, really. Two freshman nerds showing up to a frat party is as cliché as it gets. I can’t believe my new friend wants to subject us to that. The second we walk through those doors everyone there is going to single us out as prey for whatever chaos the night has in store.
Raven and I had hit it off immediately in our Art 101 class. She wants to teach, whereas I want to use art as a part of a therapy practice in the future. It was easy to bond over how we wanted to use art to help people, but now I’m wondering if my initial impressions of Raven were right or not.
“Allie,” Raven whines, digging her fingers into my sweater. “How are we supposed to make friends if we don’t go out?”
“We met in class, it’s not like it’s hard,” I grumble. “You think people come to parties to make friends?”
“Okay, that’s fair,” Raven grimaces. “Look, some of these people who have rich parents. And those parents might want to—I don’t know—buy some art off of me so I can pay my tuition.”
“Are you serious? You really think you’ll find an art collector at a frat party?”
“I’m not saying it’s a good idea, but I need the extra cash,” she exclaims. “What will it hurt to try?”
“You’re not helping plead your case here.”
As if she can sense my resolve weakening, she tries one more time. “Please, Allie? Just thirty minutes. And then we can leave!”
I breathe out a sigh and glance back to the frat house. “How do you even know they’re going to let us in, Raven? We don’t belong to any sorority.”
“Like I said, I know someone,” she shrugs as she starts pulling me towards the door. “My cousin’s in the sorority invited, don’t worry.”
My heart stutters in my chest. I haven’t met this cousin of Raven’s, but I’ve heard some stories about both her and the sorority she belongs to. The only thing more intimidating than the academic standards they enforce are the stories of the parties they help throw.
“We’re nineteen. I don’t know about you, but I have bills to pay,” Raven mutters. “One of these suckers has to have Daddy’s black card and a willingness to help an artist in distress.”
“Fine,” I whisper back. “But I’m setting a timer.”
Raven beams at me and pats my arm before hopping up the front steps. The door opens right as we step onto the porch and someone stumbles out towards the rose bushes, where he proceeds to throw up. Raven rolls her eyes and swears under her breath.
I wrinkle my nose at the sight, but don’t get to focus on that too much. Raven pulls me into the house behind her as the ear-deafening noise swells around us. The air is thick with the smell of sweat and alcohol and something I think might be weed. Scantily clad sorority girls and frat boys in salmon pink shorts mingle at varying stages of intoxication. I dodge a hand that comes flying at my face and I stumble back into another guy, muttering an apology as I do so.
“There’s my cousin and her friends. Let’s go say hi. Maybe they can point us towards someone cool,” Raven beams before pressing into the crowd with me in tow. I’m winded by the time we stop by her cousin. Getting through the crowds of people is harder than navigating a busy day at the cafeteria, but it smells way worse.
“You came. I didn’t actually think you had the guts,” Raven’s cousin says. She’s really pretty, but it’s hard to tell if she’s judging us or not. We definitely don’t look like the normal college party crowd, that’s for sure. I’m wearing jeans, and Raven’s wearing something covered in paint stains. Definitely not the usual college party girl outfit.
“You made it sound too promising to pass up,” Raven says as her eyes scan the crowd. “Who’s going to part with their money the easiest?”
Raven’s cousin giggles. “Slow down, Warhol. Get a drink first and act natural.”
My eyes shoot to my friend at her words. “Wait, you said nothing about drinking.”
“You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to,” Raven reassures me. “Just get a cup and carry some water around.”
Her cousin gives her a knowing smile before pointing across the room. “Drinks and cups are in the kitchen. Relax. I’m sure you’ll find someone soon.”
As Raven starts to lead me away to the kitchen, I hiss in Raven’s ear, “We’re only nineteen, what happens if we get caught?”
“No one here cares, but you’re just going to drink water right?” Raven shrugs. “Don’t worry about it. Just watch your drink.”
Shortly, she’s pressing a red plastic cup into my hand. I look at the liquid and sniff it. Like Raven promised, it’s water. I watch as she takes the keg nozzle and puts some beer in her cup, before taking a sip.
“This is vile,” she groans before taking another sip. “Alright, show time. Stay close.”
The music pounds in my ears as we start to mingle. I check my watch for the time, and it’s only been fifteen minutes. Something tells me that it’s going to be hard trying to get her to leave at the end of our promised thirty minutes. I don’t understand how she can just talk to random strangers. It’s not like she’s even drinking enough to be social. She just does it naturally.
“How are you holding up,” she asks after a moment while we walk to a different group of people to talk to.
“I’m fine,” I say, taking a sip of my water. “Just watching the time.”
As Raven gets wrapped up in a conversation with a couple of frat guys, I check my watch again.
“Got somewhere to be?” one of them asks me. He’s tall, young looking. His face looks red, but I don’t know if it’s because it’s hot in the house or if it’s because he’s been drinking.
“No,” I say, letting my hand fall to my side.
“Cool,” he smirks as he leans a little into my space. I have to fight making a face as he breathes on me. His breath smells like cheap beer and bad pizza. “What brings you around here?”
“Um, just hanging out with my friend.” I point to Raven, who’s showing two of her captive frat boys pictures on her phone. They look more interested than I expected.
“Cool,” the one talking to me repeats. Does he know any other words? I take a long sip of my water, trying to avoid looking at him, even as he keeps leaning further into my space. Finally, I have to say something.
“Are you okay?” I ask hesitantly. “You’re leaning a lot.”
He smirks again. “You’re kind of cute, want to find somewhere more private to talk?” he slurs, before trying to snake a hand around my waist. I step back, but he tries again as he says, “Don’t be like that.”
My brow furrows as I push his hand away. I don’t like how he’s trying to touch me. “Don’t be like wh—”
There’s a crash, suddenly, the frat boy is pinned against the wall by a body much bigger than his. His cup has clattered to the floor, spilling sticky liquid all over. The noise of people talking lulls for a second as everyone in the room looks at what’s happening. My eyes widen with shock.
My stepbrother, Killian, has the drunk frat boy hoisted up by the collar, pinned against the wall.
Chapter Two
Killian
“Do you make it a habit of trying to touch girls who clearly don’t want to be touched,” I growl in the kid’s face.
“N-no,” he responds with a whimper. His breath is rank. I can’t believe he was breathing on Allie, smelling like that. The very thought has me seeing absolute red.
“Why don’t I believe you?” My knuckles tighten around the unbuttoned collar of his polo shirt. He whimpers. What a fucking joke. This kid dared lay hands on my girl, I’m going to—
