Chapter 4

CHAPTER4

“It’s just that,” Mikey began, only to pause to release a shuddering sigh before she continued, “I didn’t realize just how painful this would be for you.” When nobody said anything, Mikey decided to follow that up by gesturing to them just in case there was a misunderstanding and released a heartfelt sigh as she let her shoulders slump in defeat and mumbled, “I love you too much to do this to you.”

“That’s really generous of you,” her mother murmured absently as she finished changing Toby’s diaper before moving onto Thomas, who’d ripped off his diaper sometime during the last thirty seconds.

With a glare aimed at their mother, Thomas threw the diaper on the floor before rolling onto his belly and wiggled his little bottom in silent demand. “You are definitely a Bradford,” their mother said with a warm smile as she placed Thomas onto his back and reached for a fresh baby wipe.

“I’m going to need you to focus here, woman,” Mikey said, only to swallow hard when Reese drawled, “And I’m going to need you to tell me why Sebastian was in your room last night?” as he helped Nathan and Zach pull off their pajamas.

“World domination?” Mikey said, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth even as she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d made a tactical error by not waiting until Reese left for work before she did this, but since time was a factor here…

She cleared her throat, released another shuddering sigh, did her best to look like this was the last thing that she wanted to do and said, “I’m not going to leave you. Not like this, and not when I’m the reason why you’re in this mess in the first place. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have kept having babies, hoping beyond hope that one of them would be just like me.”

When her stepfather muttered, “Jesus Christ,” with a heavy sigh that didn’t sound promising, Mikey decided to push forward and hope for the best. “I just don’t feel right leaving you, knowing that you’ll be lost without me.”

“And what exactly would you be doing instead of going to school?” her mother asked, giving her hope.

“I’m glad you asked,” Mikey said with a nod as she cleared her throat, nodded again, and then, gestured randomly between her parents for effect. “I’ve decided to help both of you.”

When Reese opened his mouth, most likely to ruin her plans, she cut him off by saying, “I’ll, of course, be helping Mom cook and come up with delicious recipes that her customers won’t be able to get enough of.”

“You can’t cook,” her mother pointed out, which had Mikey clearing her throat and amending her previous announcement. “Then, I’ll supervise Mom cooking and coming up with delicious recipes, which my very presence will inspire, and I’ll go with Dad to help him design and build things.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Reese murmured.

“It’s the least I can do,” Mikey said, nodding solemnly.

“I tell you what,” her mother said, pausing to dutifully kiss Thomas’s little foot when he raised it for her, “you can stay home as long as you explain what Sebastian was doing in your bed last night.”

“Why is world domination and my managerial skills never good enough for you people?” Mikey demanded, shaking her head in disgust as she turned around and headed back to her room, grumbling every step of the way because the last thing that she wanted to do was have this discussion since it would most likely end with her being forced to make a promise that she would never be able to keep.

Granted, she’d already been told that she wasn’t allowed to have Sebastian sleep over anymore, but she felt that having this discussion again would only make things awkward the next time Sebastian got caught hogging her bed. Since she really didn’t think that she would be able to survive without snuggling in Sebastian’s arms, Mikey decided that she was going to have to go through with this after all.

With that, Mikey made her way over to the box that she’d shoved into the corner a week ago, and after a slight hesitation and a heavy sigh, she grabbed the school uniform out of the box, sighed again, turned around and headed to the bathroom. After she took a shower, grumbled some more, and gave herself a twenty-minute pep talk, which resulted in Reese knocking on the door to tell her that she was going to be late, she did what needed to be done.

* * *

“I figured it out,”Jonathan announced with a satisfied sigh as he hopped up onto the bathroom counter while Sebastian finished tying his tie, only to pull it loose seconds later with a frustrated sigh.

“How to annoy the hell out of me?” Sebastian asked as he slowly exhaled and willed his trembling hands to work while he stood there, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that this nightmare was finally over.

He thought this day would never come and had resigned himself to spending the next few years killing time until he was old enough to work for Uncle Jared, but thanks to the little pain in the ass that he adored more than anything, he was getting a second chance. He just…

Hoped like hell that he didn’t screw this up.

“No, I figured out how to do that when we were still in diapers,” Jonathan murmured as he reached over and pulled Sebastian’s tie loose and wrapped it around his own neck above the perfectly knotted black and red striped school tie identifying him as a freshman at Radcliffe Academy. “But I did figure out how to handle your problem with Mikey.”

“I don’t have a problem with Mikey,” Sebastian said, watching as his brother made quick work of tying a knot before pulling the tie off over his head and tossing it back to him.

“Really? Then, you figured out how you were going to profess your undying love to Mikey?” Jonathan drawled as Sebastian pulled the tie on over his head.

“What’s this about Mikey?” Mathew asked around a yawn as he moved to join them in the bathroom and-

“Oh, come on!”

-was quickly reminded that Jonathan didn’t appreciate interruptions when their brother jumped off the counter, slapped his hand on Mathew’s face and shoved him out of the bathroom before slamming the door shut in his face.

“Now, where were we?” Jonathan asked with a satisfied sigh.

“You were trying to piss me off,” Sebastian reminded him as he adjusted his tie around his neck, only to sigh when Jonathan pushed his hands away.

“I prefer the term ‘helping out’,” Jonathan murmured as he finished straightening Sebastian’s tie for him.

“And I’d prefer that you dropped this,” Sebastian said, not really sure that he could handle talking about Mikey right now, not when he was struggling not to panic.

He couldn’t mess this up.

“You’ll be fine,” Jonathan said, easily guessing where his thoughts had gone.

“And if I screw this up?” Sebastian asked as he stood there, slowly exhaling and-

“Mikey will probably hurt you,” Jonathan reminded him with a shrug, making his lips twitch.

“She does seem rather violent,” Sebastian murmured, feeling himself relax as he thought about the small teenage girl who was making this better.

“Which is why you like her,” Jonathan pointed out.

Sighing heavily, Sebastian moved past his brother and opened the door to find Mathew standing there, glaring. Shoving his little brother aside, Sebastian headed back to his room, grabbed the backpack Latin Scribe High School sent along with his scholarship package and headed downstairs, where his mother was waiting with her phone.

“You look so handsome,” she said with a warm smile as she snapped a picture.

“You said that a week ago when you made me try everything on,” Sebastian pointed out.

“We had to make sure that everything fit,” his mother said with a solemn nod as Sebastian headed towards the kitchen.

“And the hysterical sobs that followed?” Sebastian drawled as he walked into the kitchen.

“Made it easier for me to accept the fact that my baby was in high school,” she said as Sebastian took in all the plates of food spread out on the kitchen table, noting everything from the burnt Pop-Tarts to the bowls of watery oatmeal and decided that he’d grab something later.

“You didn’t cry when I tried on my uniform,” Jonathan pointed out as he moved past them and helped himself to a burnt strawberry Pop-Tart.

“That probably had something to do with the fact that you decided to give us a fashion show at three in the morning,” their mother pointed out with a glare that Jonathan easily ignored.

“It seemed like the best time to get an honest opinion,” he said, shrugging it off.

“You were in your underwear,” she reminded him.

“Because I wanted to make sure that they met with your approval,” Jonathan said, finishing off the Pop-Tart.

“I honestly have no idea where we went wrong with you,” she said with a sad shake of her head, even as she reached up and grabbed hold of Jonathan’s shoulders and pulled him down so that she could kiss his cheek.

“I don’t understand why you can’t just admit that I’m your favorite,” Jonathan said with a sad shake of his head.

“Because I’m in denial,” she assured him.

“I can see that,” Jonathan said, nodding as he turned his head and gestured to the other cheek, and when she didn’t move fast enough, he loudly cleared his throat.

Trying to bite back a smile, their mother released a sigh as she dutifully kissed his cheek. “You’re going to be late for school.”

“Probably,” Jonathan said, not really sounding all that concerned as he grabbed his backpack off the floor where he tossed it a week ago.

“Do you have everything you need?” she asked Sebastian as she made her way over to him and pulled him down for a kiss.

Nodding, Sebastian dutifully turned his head so that his mother could kiss his cheek. “I’m going to be late,” Sebastian said with an absent gesture towards the door, eager to get this over with.

And with that…

Sebastian leaned down and kissed his mother’s forehead before heading to the door, noting the calculating look on his brother’s face as he headed outside and made his way across the street. Within minutes, he was walking through the backdoor and-

“I changed my mind!”

-wasn’t exactly surprised to discover that Mikey had barricaded herself in the pantry.

“Mikey,” Aunt Kasey said with a resigned sigh as she stood there, pinching the bridge of her nose while she waited for Mikey to come out.

“No!” came the immediate reply that had Sebastian’s lips twitching as he dropped his bag by the door and made his way to the kitchen island, where he helped himself to an apple cinnamon muffin while he waited for the little pain in the ass.

“Please don’t make me beat you,” Aunt Kasey said, dropping her hand away right around the time that Uncle Reese walked into the kitchen carrying a toolbox.

“Do whatever you need to!” Mikey snapped from behind the safety of the locked pantry door.

Knowing that this could take a while, Sebastian broke off a piece of muffin and popped it in his mouth as he glanced back at the kitchen table to find Mikey’s little brothers staring at the muffin in his hand as they shoved little fistfuls of oatmeal in their mouths. When he broke off another piece, he watched as their eyes narrowed on the move. Cocking a brow, Sebastian held up his muffin. When they nodded as one, he chuckled as he placed his muffin on a plate before adding two more muffins and made his way over to the kitchen table.

The boys didn’t say anything as they watched him break each muffin in half and placed them in front of them. Without a word, the boys finished their oatmeal before shifting their focus to the muffins while Sebastian grabbed the milk out of the fridge and refilled their sippy cups. Once he finished filling their cups, he shifted his focus back to his muffin and forgot how to breathe when he saw Mikey standing there.

God, she was so damn beautiful, Sebastian thought, swallowing hard as he ran his eyes over her, taking in her long brown hair pulled up into her usual Dutch braids and her beautiful green eyes before running his eyes over her, taking in the baby blue blouse and black tie matching his, the short black skirt that showed off short, curvy legs, and-

Felt his lips twitch when he came to the beat-up sneakers.

She really was too damn adorable for words, Sebastian thought as he watched Mikey narrow her eyes on her parents as she bit out, “I will never forgive either one of you for this.”

“You’re going to be late for school,” Aunt Kasey pointed out, not really sounding all that concerned.

Nodding slowly, Mikey said, “Never,” as she sent her mother one last glare before turning around and narrowing her eyes on him as he watched her beautiful face turn an interesting shade of pink.

Was that a blush?

Swallowing hard, he-

“You’ll pay for this, Sebastian Bradford,” Mikey said, narrowing her eyes on him. “Oh, will you pay.”

Sighing heavily, he popped the last bite of muffin into his mouth and prepared himself for the battle ahead.