Chapter 14

T he rules shouldn’t surprise me. Steel has been a hard ass since the day I met him, but does he honestly think that those rules will keep us safe? Ugh, ridiculous.

"What's the plan for tonight?" my sister asks as I help her unpack her bag into the dresser in her room.

"You can't seriously be bored already? We just got here," I sigh, putting her last folded long sleeve into a drawer. "We can find some board games to play for a bit and then ask Steel what the plan is. How's that sound?"

"What's for dinner?" she asks from the doorway, already ready to head downstairs.

"You can't seriously be hungry now? We just ate an hour ago," I huff, placing her duffle bag in the corner of her room so it's out of the way.

"Noooo, I just want to be prepared," she laughs. "Now, let's go slowpoke."

"You go ahead and see if you can find out from Steel where the board games are. I'll be right behind you," I answer, already knowing this is going to be a long week with her if we can't figure out a way to entertain her.

Slipping my cell phone out of my back pocket, I turn it on to see how many missed messages I have. I know Morgan is probably blowing up my phone trying to get hold of me, and despite Steel's warning, I can't just leave her in the dark. I'm just going to send one quick text, then turn my phone back off and it should be fine.

The second my phone turns on, I have six missed calls and about thirty text messages from Morgan freaking out. She knows I don't answer my phone a lot when I'm at my father's house, but she must have suspected something was wrong when I haven't answered her all day. Shit!

Me: Hey Mor! 3 I'm okay, everything is fine. Just some family stuff going on. I'll message you when I can but I'm going to be gone for about a week. Don't worry about me and make sure you stay out of trouble since I won't be at school to watch out for you. Love you Bestie!!

Quickly I turn the phone off as soon as the message is sent. I put it back in my pocket and walk out of the room my sister will be staying in. When I make it downstairs, I hear Grace and Steel talking about which board game is the ultimate one. It sounds like neither of them wants to agree and is about to battle it out soon if I don't intervene.

"Need some help?" I question, rounding the corner of the stairs and entering the living room where both of them are standing. Grace is holding Villainous in her hands, and Steel is holding Clue. Both of them spin to look at me before turning back to each other.

"Illeana will agree that Villainous is better than Clue," Grace continues the argument, now putting me on her side without my input.

"No, your sister has some class and is definitely going to agree that Clue is the far superior game," Steel retorts, arguing with a twelve-year-old. I'm not sure which is worse, the fact that he is standing there arguing with Grace over a game or the fact that I think I'm going to sit back and watch this play out. It could be entertaining.

They both turn to look at me once again, this time waiting for an answer. Shaking my head, I spin on my heel and head toward the kitchen. I need something to keep myself busy and separate from their debate. If Steel wants to stoop down to Grace's level, then he is more than welcome to.

"I can't believe that you didn't take my side on the game debate. You're my sister. You're supposed to take my side," Grace complains as she goes around her room, getting ready for bed. After walking away from them earlier, I walked around the kitchen and explored what sort of food and snacks we had. After I wasted a few minutes and decided what we could make for dinner later, I joined them back in the living and told them we could play both games, and it seemed to settle the debate for a little bit. All through dinner, they were still debating the logistics and which game was better, and it was exhausting. I've never seen someone keep up with Grace the way that Steel managed to do so. I was thankful when it started getting late and could send Grace to bed, so I didn't need to listen to their debate anymore.

"Sorry, but I was not getting involved, and I still won't. That is between both of you. Get your butt in bed, and we will come up with something to do tomorrow in the morning. I'm just downstairs if you need me, okay?" I explain, worried about her. Grace rarely ever spends the night somewhere that isn't our house. She's used to her surroundings, and when we do sleep in hotels, we're sharing a room. I can't help but be a little worried about her.

"I'll be fine, Illeana. You don't need to worry so much about me," Grace complains and rolls her eyes.

"It's my job to worry about you," I retort from her doorway. "Goodnight, don’t forget to let the bedbugs bite."

"Night and I won’t," she answers as I shut the door behind me.

When I make it downstairs, Steel is sitting in the oversized armchair next to the window in the living room. It's in the perfect spot to see me reach the bottom of the stairs. Stopping, I look at him for a second, thankful he's distracted by flipping through channels on the television. Going down the last step, I turn to head down the hallway toward my room. Curling up in some comfy pajamas and a good book sounds like a great way to spend my evening. I didn't get to finish reading the book on my Kindle from earlier and I really need to know how Rejected Darkness is going to end.

"Illeana, wait up!" Steel calls out. Behind me, I hear him shuffling to get out of the chair. Pausing in the middle of the hall, I turn to see what he wants. Hopefully, it's not something that is going to take too long. I'm at a really good part of the book.

"What's up?" I ask when he comes to a stop a few feet in front of me.

"I was wondering if you'd like to watch a movie with me. You can choose the movie of course and I could make us some hot chocolate to go with it." He hesitates, almost shuffling his weight between both feet nervously. It's weird and not like him at all. I'm slightly afraid that he's up to something.

It wouldn't be rude to turn him down, would it? I could just say that I'm tired and don't want to. But I also kind of want to. One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is to curl up and watch a Christmas movie with a big mug of hot chocolate. Every season, I manage to watch about twenty or more movies thanks to Hallmark and Lifetime playing five new movies every weekend. Maybe that's what we should do. I should make him suffer and watch a cheesy Hallmark movie. I doubt he will last through the whole thing. This could be fun.

"Do you have Hallmark?" I question, crossing my arms over my chest as I create a plan in my mind.

"No idea, but you can see," he shrugs, a small smile appearing on his face as he watches me.

"Okay, let me get changed, and you can make the cocoa. I like extra marshmallows." Turning away, I walk the next couple of steps into my given room and open my suitcase. I haven't quite gotten around to unpacking yet, and it looks like I'm not doing it tonight. Oh well. Opening the bag, I only have to push a couple of clothes to the side to find the pajamas I packed. They are my favorite Stitch ones with flannel pants that show Stitch in a Christmas hat, and there is a matching spaghetti strap tank top as well. For a second I debate if I want to put them on or just wear some sweatpants. Fuck it, this is me and we're living in this house together for a week he might as well start to accept me as I am. I don't want to keep playing the part my father expects me to play. He isn't here, so I may as well be myself and comfortable.

It doesn't take long to change clothes and put on some big fuzzy socks to boot. My feet are always cold, no matter the time of year. I must have perfect timing because when I step into the kitchen the milk is beginning to boil and Steel is turning it off to begin pouring into both our mugs.

"I’ll bring these in; the remote is on the coffee table. Go choose a movie." He doesn't look up as he speaks, too focused on his task at hand. This better be some damn good hot cocoa. I fully expected it to be made with just some hot water, I did not expect him to even know how to make cocoa with milk.

Doing as suggested, I go to the living room, grabbing the remote off the table to begin flicking through the channels. Just my luck, there's no Hallmark, or at least not that I noticed right away. Damn, that sucks. Alright, new plan. I know there are some cute movies on Netflix, and I did see them loaded onto the main television screen. Thankfully, once the app starts, it's already logged in. Looks like it must belong to Emma because I see accounts for her, Trevor, and Alexis.

"You find something to watch?" Steel asks, entering the room. His words startle me and I jump slightly.

"Whose Netflix account should I use? I know there are a couple of good ones on there and some new ones I haven't seen yet. Figured we could watch one of those if that's okay?" I don't know why I asked him if it would be okay. God, Illeana could you sound any stupider? Ugh. Mentally I facepalm as I watch him looking at me.

"You can just sign in under Emma, she won't care," he answers, as he comes to a stop next to the couch. "Take a seat and get comfy then I'll give you the cocoa. I may have accidentally filled it a little too much."

Doing as he says. I curl up on the corner of the couch against the arm, my feet almost underneath me. With the TV remote in my right hand, I take the offered mug with my left and bring it to my nose. "Mmm, this smells delicious."

"Choose the movie, Princess," Steel states, as he settles back into the armchair I saw him in when I had come downstairs. It was as far away from me as possible.

Weird.

Focusing on the television, I managed to find the list of Christmas movies and begin scrolling through them all to decide which one we should watch. When I see The Merry Gentleman I know I found the perfect choice. This one is going to probably annoy him the whole time but it is a good one. He doesn't need to know I've seen it before.

"Really this one?" he sighs, shaking his head.

"Is there a problem?" I turn and glare at him. Just waiting for him to make a further comment.

"Nope, no problem," he shakes his head. "Press play."

I do exactly that, and let the silence settle between us, the only sound coming from the movie. Every so often I'll glance out of the corner of my eye to watch Steel and see his reactions. Several times I caught him huffing or just shaking his head but he never once made a comment about the movie. Not even when he saw it was going to be a Magic Mike style Christmas movie. Damn, I was kinda hoping he would make a comment, or just get up to leave. He was already hot and cold with his actions today as it was, and I was weary of why he wanted to watch a movie with me tonight.

"That was interesting," Steel states when the movie ends.

"Was it?" I question curiously. There's no way he actually enjoyed the movie, not one.

"Sure, we can go with that. it was definitely made for you females." He rises from his chair and comes to a stop in front of the end table where I had sat my empty cocoa mug about a quarter of the way into the movie.

"You're not wrong there," I chuckle, stretching my arms over my head before I move to stand and follow him into the kitchen where he begins to rinse our mugs out and then leaves them in the sink. Covering my mouth with the back of my hand, I let out a big yawn.

"Someone's sleepy," he states, looking at me from the other side of the kitchen island. "Can I ask you a question before bed?" It comes out of nowhere and I'm not sure why but I tell him to go ahead, curious as to what he is going to ask. "Whose the character on your pajamas? I've been trying to figure it out all night and can't place the creature."

"Oh, him?" I question, pointing at my shirt. "This is Stitch. You know from Lilo and Stitch."

"Ahh, I don't think I've seen that one actually," he shrugs. "That'd explain why I couldn't place him."

"The man who is practically a child hasn't seen Lilo and Stitch?" I gasp, faking shock. "We are going to need to change that."

"Did you just call me a child?" he questions in a demanding tone. I can't tell if he's serious or joking, so I stay quiet waiting to see what his next move will be. "I suppose you may not be wrong."

I yawn again, unable to help myself when I try to respond. "Sorry."

"It's okay. It's getting pretty late, we should probably head to bed. I'm just going to make sure everything is locked and double-check the security alarm. Why don't you head to bed," he suggests, walking around the kitchen island. "Goodnight, Illeana."

"Night, Steel," I mutter, turning away on my heel to go down the hallway and toward the room I was given. I am exhausted, even though I really shouldn't be this tired for not doing much today. Before turning into my room, I stop in the bathroom to use it and brush my teeth.

I'm only in there for about three or so minutes when I hear Steel walk past the bathroom door further down the hall to the room he told me he was claiming as his for our stay. "You can do this, Illeana," I mutter softly to my reflection in the mirror. "You just need to handle a week here with him. Then after that, it will hopefully be the last time that you see him and can go your separate ways." With that mini pep talk, I open the bathroom door to go to my room.

I don't make it more than four steps before I come to a stop. Steel left his bedroom door cracked open and it's giving me a perfect view of his reflection in the mirror. He's shirtless, and I can make out the V on his hips and the six-pack of abs that he is sporting.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity Fuck.

The man drives me absolutely insane and sends mixed signals constantly. The last thing I should be doing is checking him out. I need to stay away from him. Far far away from him. I need to put up walls.

Shaking myself from my stupor, I take the last couple of steps and enter my room, ensuring I shut the door behind me and I even turn the lock. I doubt he would come check on me but I'd rather not risk it. The locked door gives me a sense of control that I desperately need right now.

Crawling into bed, I turn the bedside lamp off and try to think of anything other than the man at the end of the hall. It doesn't work. My thoughts are consumed by him shirtless and making me wonder what else he looks like under all his clothes. Squeezing my thighs together, my body begins to react to my thoughts and the path they are taking.

This is a really bad idea, Illeana. I scold myself silently, at the same time I run my hand down my stomach and into the waistband of my pajama pants and then my panties. No one has to know I'm using a mental image of the man I hate to get me off before bed. I know if I don't, I'll never be able to sleep tonight.

It doesn't take me long to find my release after thinking about how exactly it would feel to have Steel pleasuring me. Tomorrow, I can regret my thoughts, but tonight, I know I'm going to sleep so much better with how relaxed my body now feels.