Resisting my step-brother 2

Confrontation

Standing outside of Liam’s office, I could hear Bex chuckling at something Liam had said. I took in a deep breath and knocked on the door. 

“Come in” Liam called out and I opened the door gently. Bex was sitting in the chair opposite Liam who was behind his desk. He leant back and his smile disappeared.

“What is it Elle?” He asked in his professional voice.

“I have the appointment booked in for Mrs Foster” I nervously said holding up the posted note. He reached out his palm for me to it to give him. I edged forward and placed the note in his hand. Bex was glaring at me and I could tell she could feel the tension between us.

“Is there anything else?” His tone was dull and uninterested. I shook my head and made my way to the door. I placed my hand on the handle and stopped. I tensed my jaw and sighed.

“Actually” I started and turned round to face him.

“I wanted to know what your problem was” I frowned. Liam looked shocked by my confrontation. 

“There isn’t one Elise” he replied. He never called me Elise, no matter how angry he was at me. He always called me Elle. 

“So why are you treating me like a piece of s**t then?” I raised my tone. Bex looked horrified at the way I was speaking to our boss. No one in the building knew that we were step siblings or that I was staying with him. Liam wanted to keep it that way so that no one accused him of being unfair.

“I beg your pardon?” He snarled. 

“You’ve made plenty of mistakes in the past and I managed to forgive you for the majority of them, but I make one tiny slip up and I’m punished for it for days. That hardly seems fair don’t you think?” I blurted out and he gritted his teeth. Without removing his gaze from me, he asked Bex to leave. She stood up and left the office as quickly as she could. 

“You need to watch yourself Elle, we are at work! I do not want people in our department finding out anything to do with our history. Our personal lives stay at home” he growled.

“Oh really?” I folding my arms.

“Because it didn’t seem like that when you were emailing me through the work email the other day, commenting on my skirt” I reminded him. His eye brows quivered in anger and he stood from his desk. 

“You want to do this now? Fine. I have spent years working on myself, trying to be a better person so that if the day came where you could finally forgive me for what I did, then maybe we would have a shot at rekindling something. I’ve come to realise that you can never forgive my mistakes and that you will always see me as the immature player that I once was” he snapped and my jaw dropped. 

“Liam, I’m sorry okay. I’m sorry that I got slightly jealous of another girl getting in your car dressed as if she was going to a strip club. You didn’t tell me you were going out, you didn’t say anything about meeting Gemma and you definitely didn’t imply her friend would be there. How would you feel?” I tried to get him to understand it from my point of view. He sighed and sat back down.

“I think it’s just best we carry on as friends. If it turns into something more then so be it. But there is no point forcing it because nothing good will come out that” he said calmly.

“Is that okay with you?” He asked me when I didn’t respond.

“Fine, just friends” I growled and stormed out of his office.

Over the next few days, things seemed pretty awkward between us. We struggled to have a normal conversation without it cutting dead after a while. We were never like this and I felt like maybe I was cursed. I couldn’t seem to hold on to anyone I cared about and this is the second time that me and Liam started getting serious and then something happened. Throughout the week, I had a text a day from the mystery unknown number. The texts included:

Not long now

Getting scared yet?

Can’t wait to see you

Which all scared the s**t out of me. But nothing frightened me more than today’s text.

See you tomorrow

Whoever this mystery person is, will find me tomorrow. I wasn’t going to go to Bex’s party but I was too scared to be alone. When it was finally the day of her party, I needed to make sure I was around people during the day. I decided to hang out with Gemma because I knew that she wasn’t busy. I invited her to the party this evening so that I didn’t feel like a loner. We spent hours pampering ourselves and making ourselves look pretty for the party. I wore a pleated show I skirt and a tight flowery shirt that was tucked in. It gave the illusion of it being a dress. I put my black high heels on and straightened my hair. My make up was perfectly done and I flicked my hair onto one side. 

“f*****g hell Elle, even I would hit on you” Gemma sniggered and I laughed at her. 

“Come on, its 6:40 and we still need to call a taxi” I wailed trying to encouraged her to get her phone out. Once the taxi was called, it only took ten minutes for it to arrive. We scurried into the back seat and gave the driver the address. I suddenly noticed a figure standing by the bushes near the house. He was tall and broad but I couldn’t make out his face. His hood was up which covered any details that would stand out. I narrowed my eyes and the driver pulled away. It gave me chills the way he stared as we drove further and further away from him. If this was the mystery guy that’s been texting me, then how did he find Gemma’s house?

After paying the taxi driver, we headed towards the busy house that was full of people. I recognised a lot of colleagues from work but most of the people here I didn’t actually know at all. Gemma giggled in excitement and pulled me into the house. Everyone was drinking and chatting whilst the booming sound of the bass filled the rooms. I started let the vibrations of the music take control of my emotions. f**k it, I need to let my hair down and have a drink. We grabbed a cup of vodka and coke and then headed to the garden where the music was it’s loudest. Everyone was cheering and swaying to the music and Gem’s face looked like a little kid at Christmas. I searched around for Liam but I couldn’t see him anywhere.

“Elle! You came!” Bex squeaked rushing over to me.

“Oh and you brought your friend” she prodded, wanting to be introduced.

“Yeah, this is Gemma. Gem this is...”

“Bex” she finished, giving her a welcoming hug. Gemma was slightly taken back by the forwardness of Bex’s greeting. 

“Please, make yourselves comfortable. Get pissed, go wild and have fun!” She commanded and one of her friends called to get her attention. She smiled at us and went over to join the crowd of people on the other side of the massive pool. 

“Well isn’t she jolly?” Gemma laughed and I rolled my eyes.

“Tell me about it” I replied.

“I’m gonna see if I can find Liam” Gemma informed me and I nodded. My phone was buzzing in my bra so I took it out thinking it might be him texting me.

Unknown

Tick... tock... tick... tock...

I nearly dropped my phone as the message caught me off guard. My hands started trembling and I spilled a bit of my drink on the ground. f**k this, I’m gonna down a few more drinks and then I’m gonna ring this prick. I stormed off to the kitchen and took shot after shot of vodka. Some of the guys standing around the drinks table were spurring me on and I felt someone’s hand grab my arm. I screamed in terror, worried it could be the mystery guy... it was Liam.