Bullied By My Alpha Stepbrother

Jasmine’s POVThis text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

“Thank you for coming out.” Lorenzo said with a smile as we sat in one of the booths of the town’s diner and I nodded, knowing that I had only one hour before Hardin started looking everywhere for me.

Because since the shooting in the woods, Russo had unofficially made him my bodyguard even though I had tried to argue against it.

But last night when he had finally broken the news at dinner that Hardin would be the one to go with me since he felt it was better than a stranger, I had been too afraid to tell him no, especially because I could not tell him that I wanted to be nowhere around his son, especially after what had happened at my birthday party three days ago.

It still gave me nightmares anytime I closed my eyes because I wondered if the door to my bedroom would burst open and he would come to molest me again.

I had even tried to go to school the next day after it happened but all that anybody could talk about was what had happened at the party.

I had even overheard some girls whispering about how it was possible that the reason why Hardin had been rough with me was because I was pushing myself on Lorenzo, his unnamed school rival and how I deserved everything.

I had spent the rest of that class period hunched over the toilet, vomiting my guts out because no one knew the whole story. No one knew that beyond having alcohol dumped on my head, Hardin had dragged me up to a room and did whatever he wanted with me.

And I had not even had the time to cry because when he left, I had rushed into the bathroom to get something to wipe the floors, terrified that Nadia would come in and find out what had happened to me.

Since that dreadful school day after the birthday, I had not gone back to school and today was the third day of being absent. My mother had called the school on my behalf and because I was a stellar student, it was not a big deal to let me have a few days off.

But I had a presentation tomorrow with Lorenzo that I could not miss, which brought me to the reason why in the last three days, this was the first time I was stepping out of the compound.

As for Hardin, he and I had a silent agreement that the protection situation was a farce because the last thing I wanted was for him to be around me and since that night, he had not approached me and I had only seen bits of him in the house, all of which had been spent pretending like he was not there.

“Hey, are you okay? Did you get my text?” Lorenzo asked, pulling me out of my thoughts and I nodded, quickly opening my book because I had not replied those texts for a reason.

He had asked me to be his girlfriend in one of them, the next day and said he wished he could fight Hardin on my behalf and then the day after that, he had asked me for nudes and how much he missed me and wanted to feel my skin.

He had later sent a series of texts apologizing for it and blaming it on being drunk but it made me uncomfortable now, with all the stuff going on with Hardin and I wanted to be alone.

He was about to say something when my phone rang and I picked it up immediately, rushing to the restroom because I didn’t want him to hear.

“So, now you pick my call after three good days, Jazz?” Nadia screeched and I sighed, unable to come up with a reason to explain that I didn’t want her to see me after that night because I didn’t want her to find out that something was wrong with me.

She had sent me a series of voice notes, asking if I was alright and if Hardin was bullying me and she had even wanted to come over to the house to try to speak to Hardin. That was what had forced me to send a reply to all of her messages.

“I’m sorry ”

“Where are you right now? I’m at your house.”

My eyes widened in shock.

“What are you doing at my house, Nadia?”

“I’m your best friend. Why wouldn’t I be at your house? But that’s not why. We were supposed to go to Astrid’s party tonight. We agreed to or have you forgotten?”

I froze, remembering that I had indeed agreed to attend the party. But that had been the day before my birthday party. Before everything went sideways all over again.

Her voice went lower as she added.

“By the way, Hardin’s aunt was asking me some really weird questions about you. I didn’t know that you guys were that close.”

I paled in shock, deciding that I needed to head back to the house. The discussion with Lorenzo could wait. We would have it online and it would be better that way since I was not ready to even be around him right now.

“What kind of questions? You know what, I’m on my way.”

Ending the call, I rushed out of the bathroom and quickly started packing my books into my bag, giving Lorenzo an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry but I have to head home right now. Text me?” I said and rushed out of the house, entering my mum’s car that I had driven here and headed home.

Throughout the ride, I wondered what Lisa was up to, especially because she had been too quiet lately and it made me and my mother to be on edge, well, mostly me because my mother was too kind hearted to believe that Lisa had any evil intentions towards her.

I found Nadia laying a dress on my bed when I entered, panting and she turned around, her brows raised.

“Why are you panting? Where are you coming from?”

“Studying with Lorenzo. What did she ask you?” I answered, dropping my bag on the bed and falling on the couch.

“I’ll tell you after you get dressed and head downstairs with me. And don’t worry, I’m driving and I have your mother’s blessings. She doesn’t really think you’re sick by the way.” Her expression turned serious.

“I’m not your mum and you can confide in me. I’ve given you time and now I’m really worried, Jazz. What’s going on with you?”

Her eyes begged me to speak up and I knew that Nadia would not tell a soul if I begged her to, but she would not hold back from trying to defend me from Hardin and that was the last thing I wanted. For him to find out that I had told someone.

I knew that the only way to avoid having this conversation was to pretend that I was okay, so that she would stop suspecting me.

So I grabbed the dress on the bed and headed into the bathroom, quickly putting it on and washing my face while practicing my feigned smile before I came out.

“I’m fine. Let’s go to Astrid’s party.”

Exactly like I had predicted, Nadia had been too excited about the fact that I had agreed to go to the party with her that she forgot about the serious conversation that we wanted to have and as she led me to the back of Astrid’s house where the bonfire party was happening, she told me about the questions that Lisa had asked. Questions about my real father, if I had a boyfriend and if I had any sickness that didn’t allow me to shift. All personal questions that she could never ask me because she knew that I wouldn’t answer.

Thankfully, Nadia hadn’t answered either and it made me even more curious about why Lisa wanted to know those things.

“Oh wow” Nadia said as she handed me a cup of drink and when I looked in the direction of where she was looking, I saw Hardin sitting on a chair and two girls were hanging around him.

Lifting his head, he kissed one of them, who happened to be Astrid, the celebrant and my eyes widened when he kissed the second girl.

“I mean, I know he’s hot but with that personality, I thought girls would avoid him. And you’ve not told me why he behaved like a total ass on your birthday. Or was he just being a jerk like he always is?” Nadia asked me at the same that my eyes met with Hardin’s.

The anger in his eyes was almost scorching and as he rose to his feet and allowed the girls to lead him away, most likely to go and have sex with them, he glared at me.

“You’re next.” He mouthed with a smirk.

“He is a jerk. And has always been” I answered Nadia, wondering when he would come for me.