Chapter 11

Delaney

It’s the first day of classes, and I’m not really sure how I feel. At first, I was excited to meet new people, have some fun, learn something, and find my way in this life.

But when Mom mentioned orientation week a few days before the wedding, Winter looked put off. Later, when I got her alone, I asked her what was wrong, and she told me that her orientation week was pure hell. I felt awful because, apparently, the girls from high school didn’t grow up and continued bullying her right through college. This is her sophomore year, so we might have a few classes together, but for the most part, I’m on my own.

Whoever these girls are, I won’t be afraid to say something and stick up for Winter. We’ve quickly become good friends, hanging out whenever Elijah isn’t home. She keeps telling me that we should all hang out together, but I’m not sure if I’m ready for that.

After what he said to me at the wedding, I’m not sure I could look him in the face without thinking of doing exactly what he said. I still can’t believe that came out of the shy, quiet guy I’ve seen since coming here.

I woke up early so I could get my morning run in before school. Logan stayed true to his word, and security has been steady. He doesn’t understand how much it means to me that he cares enough to make sure I feel safe and comfortable.

After I shower, I put on a pair of ripped skinny jeans and an off-the-shoulder green knitted sweater. My hair is down today in hopes of covering the marks Kai left behind, but I guess the cover-up I used isn’t doing the best job because as I snatch a piece of bacon off a plate from the pile my mom made, she notices. Grabbing my shoulder, she pulls me around to face her and moves my hair to the side.

“Delaney,” she gasps. “What are these!”

Biting my lip, I try not to smile. “Hickeys, Mom.”

“I know what hickeys are, smart-ass.” She gives me a playful glare. “But why is your neck covered in them?”

“Okay, so don’t get mad at me,” I start as she crosses her arms, raising a brow.

“What a way to start a sentence, Laney.”

I laugh. “It’s nothing bad, I promise. I just went out this weekend, and well, I met a guy. He was really sweet, we had a good night talking and well...” I’m open with my mom, I tell her almost everything. But I’m not going to go into detail about the hottest sex I’ve ever had. I do have a line, and this is it.

“Laney,” she sighs, shaking her head. “I know you’re an adult, and you can do as you please. Just tell me you were smart and safe?”

“Always,” I reply. The only time I’ve ever slipped up was with Owen, and thankfully, I’m on birth control, and we were both clean.

She chews on her lower lip. “Was he cute?”

“No, Mom, this man was gorgeous. He’s a little older,”—I don’t tell her how much—“big, tall, with long hair. A Viking of a man.” I swoon just thinking about him.

“Well, damn.” Mom sighs wistfully. “Would it be too much to say I’m a little jealous?”

“Oh, stop.” I laugh, lightly giving her arm a push. “Don’t act like you didn’t bag yourself a hottie. James is damn fine.”

“He is, isn’t he?” she giggles. “Sometimes I just stare at him and wonder how I got so lucky, ending up with a man like him.”

“Because you're fucking amazing and a mother-fucking queen. He should be bowing at your feet.”

“Delaney!” she scolds me, a blush taking over her cheeks. “Language.”

“She’s right, though,” James’ voice filters into the room. He steps into the kitchen and over to my mom. “You're a queen. The most stunning one I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

And then he gets down on his knees and actually kisses my mom’s feet. Her lips part in shock, her blush growing crimson red.

I grin big, eyes widening in surprise as I watch in shock. He gets up and wraps his arm around my mom’s waist. “Morning, my love.” He kisses her deeply, making her melt into his touch.

When they pull apart, I’m grinning like a fool, chewing on a piece of bacon. Mom spins around, looking embarrassed as she continues to cook. “Coffee is ready,” she tells James, clearing her throat.

James chuckles, shooting me a wink. I grin and give him a high five. “Smooth, my man. I like you.”

“Thanks.” He laughs. “I like you too.”

And this is the reason why I need to find myself another man or get a hobby or something, so that I don’t find myself in his sons’ beds. I can’t imagine my mom losing this. I won’t let that happen.

“Laney!” Winter’s excited voice has me turning around to see her and Elijah entering the kitchen. “First day of school. Are you excited?”

My eyes find Elijah’s. He gives me a small smirk, as if he knows what I’m thinking, before taking a seat at the island. Winter sits next to him, and I shift my attention over to her.

“I am. Even picked out a few classes I think I’ll like.” I still have no idea what I’m going to get a degree in, no inkling of what I want to do, despite the hours of taking quizzes and tests to see what careers would best suit me. But I picked some generally important classes like Geometry for math, an English class called Reading Literature Across Time, a Zoology course for Science, as well as World History.

I kept my workload limited because I don’t want to overwhelm myself the first semester.

I wasn’t lying when I said I would have made a life for myself dancing. It’s one of the things I was truly passionate about. I used to do a bunch of different styles like jazz, tap, hip hop, but my favorite was ballet.

“What about clubs?” Mom asks me. “Anything you might be interested in?”

“I looked at the list, and a few stood out. Photography looked cool.” I shrug, taking another piece of bacon as I try not to look at Elijah. He’s making it hard because I can feel his eyes on me, causing my skin to pebble under his attention.

“Oh yes, yes, yes!” Winter’s eyes light up. “Please, please, please join it. I’m a part of it, and it would be awesome to have a friend there, too.”

I smile at her excitement, no way I’d be able to say no. “Well, I guess photography club it is.”

“Yay.” She claps her hands together in excitement. My eyes drift over to see Elijah smiling at his friend like he’s happy, that she’s happy. He catches me looking, and mouths thank you .

How hard is this girl's life?

How could it be so hard for her to make friends? She’s fun to be around, kind, sweet. Sure, she talks a lot, but I can at times, too.

There’s this part of me that wants to protect her every time I hear about something shitty in her life or something that’s happened to her..

“Damn, that smells good.” My eyes snap up to see Owen walk into the kitchen, followed by Logan.

Their attention falls to me first, and I feel my body heat up.

“You boys eat up. We have a lot to do with work before the honeymoon. You won’t see much of this week. We’re trusting you kids to behave yourself.” James points his finger at each of us.

“Dad, we’re not kids anymore. We’re not even teenagers. We’re in our twenties,” Owen counters, grabbing a muffin and shoving it into his mouth. “Chill.” The last word comes out as a mumble around his food.

“Don’t talk while you eat.” Logan gives him a grossed-out look. “And Laney is still technically a teenager.” He looks over to me, scowling, when his eyes drop to my neck.

“Still. Make good choices.” He gives each of his sons a hug before heading out of the kitchen.

“I hope you both have fun!” Winter beams. “Sounds amazing.”

“Thank you.” Mom smiles. “I’ve never been, so I’m extremely excited. Can’t think of a more perfect honeymoon.” She turns to me. “Are you sure you're going to be okay?”

“Mom,” I groan. “I’ll be fine. This isn’t the first time I’ve been home alone while you went on a work trip. And, even though I’m nineteen,”—I shoot Logan a look and he scowls harder—“I’ve got a good head on my shoulders.”

“You do,” Mom agrees. “I’m so proud of you.”

Logan is still staring at me, or more so my throat and the attention has me nervously lifting my hand to cover my neck. Unfortunately, that move draws the other’s attention.

“What the fuck is up with your neck?” Owen frowns, moving over to stand before me.

“Hey!” I protest, swatting at him when he tries to move my hair out of the way to get a look at my neck.

“Boys, you leave your sister alone,” Mom reprimands. God, does that sound so damn weird.

“Are those hickeys?” Owen’s eyes flash with anger, ignoring my mom.

“So what if they are.” I glare back. “It’s none of your business.”

“The hell it isn’t,” he snarls.

For a moment, I fear my mom is going to suspect something with the way he’s acting, but she just laughs.

“As cute as it is that you're already becoming overprotective brothers, you need to leave Laney be. She’s an adult and can make her own choices. I’m sure you boys have had your fun with the ladies.”

Can the ground open up and swallow me whole, please?

Mom leaves the kitchen, and suddenly, I feel like I’m in the lion’s den. All three guys are staring at me.

“What?” I snap at them.

“What the fuck is that, Laney?” Owen grinds out.

“Hickeys, keep up,” I droll.

“You’ve been here, what? Three weeks, give or take, and you’ve already hooked up with someone else,” he hisses.

“It’s none of your fucking business,” I snap back. “I’m sorry if you don’t like the idea of me with another man, but we’ve talked about this. We can’t ever be something, so what am I supposed to do, just wait around being single for the rest of my life?”

“No. But you could at least wait a little bit before adding another one-night stand to your list.”

My eyes widen and hurt fills my chest.

“Shit,” he curses, and anger fills me. “Laney, I didn’t—”

“You know what? Fuck you. Fuck all of you. I didn’t ask for any of this. You don’t know me. You don’t have any right to tell me how to live my life, so Fuck. Off.” I shoulder past him and storm towards the front door.

“Laney, wait up!” Winter calls out, the sound of her shoes slapping against the floor behind me.

I’m pissed, fuming mad right now. He might not have said the words, but it felt like he was calling me a slut or something along those lines. We fucked once, and just because he confessed his feelings for me, I’m not allowed to be with anyone else? We’re not together. We can’t be. So fuck him. What a dick. And here I thought Logan would have been the one to blow up at me after the way he looked at me last night. “I can't believe him,” I grumble, grabbing my bag from where I left it near the door.

“I’m sorry he was a dick. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.” She sighs. “He had no right to have any opinion on what you do with your body.”

“Thanks,” I sigh. My gaze drifts back to the kitchen, the sounds of the guys fighting reaching my ears. “You want to ride with me today?” I’m sure she was planning to go with Elijah, but I feel like stealing her away for myself. I don’t want to be alone in my head right now.

“Yeah.” She nods, eyes lighting up. “Let me go grab my stuff.”

She runs back and returns a moment later.

“Ready?”

“Yup.” She nods.

The ride to school consists of the music on full blast as we sing along to Gives You Hell by The All-American Rejects. When we pull up to the school, we get out and head towards the building.

“What class do you have first?”

“I have English in about a half hour, you?” I ask, looking down at my schedule on my phone.

“I don’t have anything for another hour.” She shrugs.

My brows furrow. “Then why did you come to school now?”

“Wanted to hang out with you.” She grins. “And those boys would have been bitching the whole time. No thanks.”

I laugh, shaking my head. This girl.

“Come on. Let me find my class, and we can hang out until it’s time.”

Winter and I talk for a bit while we sit outside my class. When the time comes, she says goodbye, and we agree to meet up for lunch at twelve. There’s a building filled with different fast-food places to choose from. The foodie in me is excited to see what they have to offer.

As I enter the lecture hall and find a seat, I’m pleasantly surprised to see that it’s just like any other regular school. Winter made it out to seem like this place was packed with stuffy rich people, but from the looks of it, everyone looks... normal?

I choose a seat in the back and smile at the guy next to me. “Hello,” he greets with a grin, but the way he checks me out is far too over the top.

My smile becomes fake. “Hi.” For a second, I consider moving seats, but I don’t want to be rude, so I sit down and get my things out.

“What's your name?” he asks.

“Delaney.” I keep my eyes forward.

“I’m Justin,” he answers even though I didn’t ask. “You're gonna like this class, it’s fun.”

“You’ve taken it before?” I ask. Brows furrowed.

“Yup. Second year in a row.”

“Why?” I don’t mean to sound rude, but this class doesn’t need to be taken more than once, and it’s one of the easier options.

“Failed,” he grumbles. “Almost lost my spot on the football team this year because of it.”

“Football team? So you know Logan?”

His eyes widen. “Yeah, I know Logan. How do you know him?” He narrows his eyes. “You his new girl or something?”

“No.” I snort.

“Ah, fuck buddies?”

“No.” I scowl. “His dad married my mom.”

“Oh shit.” His eyes widen. “You’re that Delaney?”

“Yeah...” I say slowly. “Did he tell you about me?”

He grins wider. “Something like that. Logan is my best friend.”

“Oh, great,” I sigh.

“Not gonna lie, I think the whole stepsister thing is hot. Can’t believe he fucked you before he knew. Would have been far kinkier if it was after.”

I gape at him. Is this guy for real? “He told you?” I hiss.

“Like I said,” he chuckles. “Logan is my best friend. Sad you two couldn’t be more. But I get it. Benny is that man’s life. He’s such a good dad.”

The thought of Benny makes me smile. “He is. Helps that Benny is an amazing baby.”

“Like the cutest. Crazy to think he came from Logan’s balls,” Justin comments, shaking his head.

I snort a laugh. “You're an interesting one.”

“Thanks.” He beams.

Okay, so maybe this guy isn’t too bad. He’s cute, has shaggy blond hair. Looks like your typical football jock.

“So, you single?”

“Oh my god.” I laugh.

“Hey.” He grins, holding his hands up. “I’m just messing with you. I’d never do that to my boy.”

I roll my eyes. “It’s not like we dated. It was one night. So, I don’t think you would be breaking any bro code or anything.”

“So, you're saying there’s a chance?” he questions, giving me a cheeky grin.

“No.” I laugh, shaking my head.

“I’ll take that as a maybe.” He winks.

Not much happens in class, just more of an introduction to what we’re going to be learning about this semester than really diving into the coursework.

Justin felt the need to make anything he could dirty, and the immature part of me laughed at every single thing he said.

“Where are you off to?” Justin asks, jogging to catch up with me.

“Going to grab something to eat,” I tell him. “Meeting my friend there.”

“Is she hot?”

“Oh my god.” I laugh. “Is that all you ever think about?”

“About what?”

“Sex?”

“I was just asking if the girl was hot.” He laughs. “But hey, if she’s down, I’m down.”

“One, you don’t even know what she looks like, and two, she likes girls.”

“Damn,” he sighs. “Got any other hot, not-gay friends?”

“Harassing people, I see.” Logan’s voice sends a spark through me that I hate.

“Not people. Just your stepsister.” Justin wiggles his brows.

Logan glares at his friend. “She’s off limits.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Justin scoffs. “She told me that.”

Logan looks at me. “This asshole hitting on you?”

“From the looks of it, he hits on everything.”

Logan laughs. “You’re not wrong.”

“Hey, this is not team-up-on-Justin-day. You’re both mean.”

“Aww, poor baby.” Logan pouts. “Come on, man. I’ve been trying to call you. Coach wants us for a meeting.”

“Shit.” Justin grabs his phone. “I forgot to turn it back on.” He looks back to me. “Later, Laney. I’m looking forward to our date this weekend.”

“What the fuck?” Logan growls.

“We’re not going on a date.” I laugh at Justin’s shit-eating grin. He’s fucking with Logan and being an ass. “You just wish we were.”

“Oh, boy, do I ever.” Justin grins.

“Come on,” Logan growls, grabbing Justin’s arm and tugging him away.

“Bye, my Laney Lover. I’ll miss you!” Justin calls out.

“Fuck off!” I laugh, flipping him off. He grabs at the air like I just blew him a kiss and tucks his hand to his chest.

He’s crazy, but he’s kind of fun. Not my type, but I could be friends with someone like him. I like his vibe.

Shaking my head, I turn to leave. But I don’t make it very far before I feel a sharp sting cross my face. “What the fuck!” I shout, eyes wide in shock as I look up to see a tall blonde girl standing in front of me.

“That's for trying to steal my man,” she growls.

“Who, Justin? I wasn’t trying to take him. I just met him.” I shout back, still in shock. What the hell is going on?

She steps forward. “Not him. Logan.” She gets in my face. “I know who you are, Delaney Jones. You think you can live in the Cross house, playing mother to my baby? Over my dead fucking body.”

Her baby? Oh fucking hell, is this the crazy baby mama, Stacy?

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” I snarl back. “But I think you missed the part where he’s my damn stepbrother!”

“Oh, please. That means nothing. I know girls like you. Poor and desperate for a man with money. Like mother, like daughter.”

Fury fills me at the mention of my mom. “You know nothing about me or my mom.” I want to lose my shit on this girl, but I can’t. I don’t want to be the reason that causes issues for Logan. I have to think about Benny.

“Look, I don’t want Logan. I don’t want any of them. They are my family, my stepbrothers. As for Benny, he’s a sweet little boy. I’m not trying to be his mom. Just his auntie.”

She licks her teeth and eyes me up. “If I find out you're fucking my man, I’ll kill you.” Spinning around on her heel, she takes off with her friends in tow, leaving me there shocked as hell.

“What the fuck was that?” I mutter in shock.

This is just what I needed. Someone already out to get me for simply existing.

“There you are.” I look over to find Winter’s bubbly face when I sit down across from her.

“I met Stacy,” I tell her, my hands fisting in anger, trying to keep them from shaking over the whole fucked up encounter. “She’s a real fucking peach.”

Winter’s face falls, then her eyes go to my cheek. “Oh my god, what happened?”

“Crazy baby mama happened,” I mutter.

“She hit you? Why!” Winter gapes.

“Seems to think I’m fucking her man. Girl lives in delulu land.”

“You have to stay away from her, Laney,” Winter warns, her eyes darting around like someone might be watching. “She’s bad news. And if she already has her sights on you, that’s not good. You see her coming, walk the other way. Trust me, I know what it’s like to be under her wrath.”

My brows furrow. “Is she one of the girls who used to bully you?” Winter bites her lower lip and nods. “If I didn’t hate her before, I sure as hell hate her now.”

My first day of school is off to a great start. San Francisco doesn’t seem like such a bad idea right about now.