Thick: A Stepbrother Romance by L. M. Roberts Read Free Book Online Page B

front door, I rang the doorbell. I was shifting from side to side when the door opened. When I saw Brad, I leapt into his arms. I rained his face with kisses, and hugged him close to me. But something didn’t feel right. I didn’t feel his arms around me, nor his lips sweeping kisses across my face.
                  I lowered myself to the floor, staring up at him. Could four days really change a person? The person I saw in front of me looked like a hollow shell of the man that was so full of life a week ago. His face was a blank mask, there were dark circles under his eyes, and his lips were in a stern line. This was not my Brad.
                  “Is everything ok?” I asked.
                  There was a noise behind him, so I glanced in that direction to see his mother standing next to the sofa. Her face was the same as Brad’s, if not worse. She looked like someone had killed her cat or something. I was about to say something but she cut me off.
                  “You need to leave, Claire,” she snubbed out.
                  My mouth hung open in shock. She has never talked to me like this before, ever. If anything she treated me just like a daughter. I was flabbergasted by the anger lacing her words.
                  “Mrs. Titan, did I do something wrong?” I asked, clearly confused by the look of hatred I saw on her face now.
                  “Oh, like I need to answer that. You fucking whore,” she seethed, glaring at me.
                  Wow. Whiplash. What the fuck was going on?
                  I opened my mouth to say something, but Brad cut me off. “Claire, you need to leave.”
                  I looked back up at him in shock. I had no idea what the hell was going on, but whatever it was, was really bad. “Um…Can you please explain to me what’s going on?”
                  From the look on his face, my heart broke. When I said that nothing could possibly ruin my day, I had been so extremely wrong. I took in his whole appearance, noting the wrinkly clothes, unshaved jaw, and the clear lack of sleep he hadn’t been getting. I went to hug him, but he pushed me away. Tears began forming in my eyes at his dismissal. He didn’t even want to touch me. Hell, he couldn’t even look at me for more than a few seconds at a time.
                  “You know a hell of a lot more than I do at this point, Claire.” He stated, as his eyes finally settled on mine blazing with a rage I have never seen before.
                  “What the fuck is going on?” I said low in my throat, tucking the now forgotten envelope into my pocket.
                  He walked away from me to grab a picture of the hall table. Returning to me, he thrust the picture in my hand. The first time he put his hands on me since I got here was to push me out the door. Hearing the door slam at my back, I turned around. The shock of his cold treatment was settling into my bones. I had no idea how we went from being in love, to him treating me like I was a piece of shit on his shoe.
                  Looking down at the picture, I fought the bile that rose in my throat. It was a picture of Henry and me, having sex. What the fuck? There has only been one man that I have ever been with, and he just slammed the door in my face, figuratively speaking. I put a hand over my mouth as tears started to fall. I noticed a movement at the corner of my eyes. Glancing over I saw Mrs. Titan putting her things into the moving van. The same one I totally missed in my haste to get to Brad.
                  When she exited the van, her sinister smile did not go unnoticed. It looked as if she knew something that I didn’t. I started walking toward her, until Brad came from the garage and saw me coming closer. He stopped in front of his mother, glaring at me. His don’t-fuck-with-me