Brother After Dark

Chapter Fifteen

I took a deep breath and nodded.

Zachary put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me toward the entrance. We crossed the school ground in a race against the rain. By the time we reached the main corridor, my shirt was a little drenched, and I could feel myself shivering from the cold.

Zach slipped out of his jacket and put it around my shoulders. “Here, wear this. Next time, listen to me, okay? I told you to change your clothes.”

“Because you thought it was slutty,” I murmured.

“Because weather forecasts say it’s gonna be cloudy with90 percent chance of rain today,” he argued.

I stared up at him in surprise. How did he know that?

The bell rang.

Zachary looked down at me. “After your last period, I will meet you up here. We’ll go home together.”

“That’s not necessary. I’ll be fine on my own,” I said.

He raised a brow at me. “Last period. Right on this spot,” he repeated, his voice more authoritative this time.

He put his hands on my shoulders, spun me around, and then gently pushed me toward the direction of my first-period classroom.

As I walked away from him, widening the distance between us, I could smell his fresh masculine scent and feel the warmth of his jacket wrapped around me. Memories of the way his body felt against mine flooded my brain, making me float on air.

I knew I said I only wanted him to be my brother. But his scent filling my nostrils was making me question my own judgment, my own decisions.

What the hell was I thinking last night?

***

I wore Zachary’s jacket all day. I felt like I was enveloped in the comfort and warmth that only he could provide. And even if it was just in my imagination, I felt like he actually still cared about me.

“Nice jacket,” I heard a girl’s voice behind my back as I was going through my locker after my second period. I spun around and found a beautiful girl with red hair and blue eyes staring back at me. She was wearing a mini skirt, a tight yellow top, and boots. Behind her were two other girls mirroring her outfit, only in different color combinations.

She looked really nice—for a hooker! And I wondered how the school prefect didn’t catch on to her yet.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

She took a few steps toward me. She raised a contemptuous brow at me. “I recognize that jacket. That’s Z’s.”

“Excuse me?”

She frowned. “Z Reed? His name rings a bell?”

Oh, she was talking about Zachary.

“Oh him.” I turned back to my locker.

“Yes, him. Why are you are wearing his jacket?”

“Because he lent it to me,” I replied.

“Why?”

I raised a brow at her. “Why is it your business?”

“Look, I know you’re new here and you don’t know me. But Z’s mine.”

I frowned at her. Suddenly, my blood boiled, and I felt like I wanted to pull every single strand of her pretty red hair out of her head.

“Please, there’s no need to threaten me. You can have him all you want. I won’t be in the way,” I said.

“People saw you come to school together.”

“Yes, I bet they did.”

“Are you dating him?”

“Like I said, it’s none of your damn business,” I said. “But, no, I am not dating him. It was raining, he lent me his jacket. End of story.”

She gave me one last antagonizing look. Then she said, “Remember this! Zachary Reed is mine! Stay away from him!” Then she strode off with her girlfriends.

I slammed my locker shut in anger.

“Who the fuck does she think she is?” I muttered under my breath.

“Stephanie Bell,” April said beside me. “Senior. She’s ruled this university five years too long. What she wants, she gets. And right now, it seems she got her sights set on Z Reed.” She glanced at my jacket, which was too big for me, leaving no doubt that it belonged to a boy who did not want me to feel cold. “She knew that jacket well enough to warn you to stay away from him.”

“I noticed. There could have been a dozen other guys who have a jacket like this,” I said.

“No. That’s a Givenchy leather jacket. Retails for six thousand dollars. There’s only one guy on campus who wore that jacket on ordinary days,” she said.

“Zachary,” I murmured.

“Are you dating him?”

I wish!

Excuse me! Did I just think that? Did I seriously wish that I was dating my brother? Well, we’re not blood related, but still…

“No, I’m not,” I said.

“I wanted to ask you last Friday. I heard some rumors, which I thought were just rumors. But then, Andrew was making his moves on you, and Z Reed pretty much dragged him by his throat. I realized the rumors actually made sense.”

I shook my head. “What did the rumors say?”

She shrugged. “That he’s threatened two guys in your classes to stay away from you or he will break their faces.”

My eyes widened. “He did not do that!”

“Hey, I just heard it. They said he cornered them in the gym. Told them to stay away from you one day after they were assigned to be your partners.”

I could not believe what she was saying, but that actually made sense. Maybe that’s why my last partner, Ben, was shitting in his pants as soon as the teacher announced we were going to work together.

“Then last Friday, we all witnessed what he did to Andrew. Now you showed up in school wearing his jacket. Stephanie was on to you for weeks. Maybe today, she just couldn’t help herself anymore.”

“Zachary is not my boyfriend. We aren’t dating. It’s just that, legally, he’s called Zachary Reed. But up until he was ten, he was called Zachary Stewart.”

“Wait, what?”

I nodded. “Yes. I’m not dating him. He’s my brother.”