Forever Love Read online

  I've driven past one sweet little coffee shop called Annabelle's and I wonder if her coffee is half decent seeing as though Starbucks is a no fucking go in this town. The SatNav let's me know that I've nearly reached my destination as I pull into the street. There are kids riding their bikes and old people mowing their lawns. I feel like I'm on another planet. How the fuck am I gonna survive here for the next year? I knew it was a shitty matchbox town but this is ridiculous.

  I pull up to a large white house with dark green shutters, there's a black lacquered door with a shiny gold knocker that looks as if it has just been polished. The perfectly manicured lawn and stone pathway lead to the entrance and from the size of the house I bet the backyard is huge. I get out and stare at what is my new home. It’s a nice house and it’s the kinda house I figured my Dad would live in.

  I walk up to the door and knock on the gold knocker, yes it's definitely been polished, someone has too much fucking time on their hands. I hear shuffling from the other side and urgent voices. The door swings open to reveal my Father. He's wearing a green polo shirt with some gray slacks and his salt and pepper hair is slicked back, he's as handsome as ever and a wide smile graces his face. He holds out his arms and pulls me in for a tight hug.

  "Oh my baby girl, I'm so glad you’re here. I've missed you."

  "Hi Dad." I give him a weak smile, not really knowing what else to say.

  He's too familiar for me to comprehend. Sure I've seen him in the past few years, he's always calling me and he's come to take me to dinner and shopping but I've had no interest in being involved in his life. Christ, I've never even been to his house and he's been living here since he got married just over two years ago. It just feels so awkward jumping back in like nothings happened. I'm not a twelve year old who adores her Daddy anymore, sad but true.

  He pulls me from him, holding me at arms length.

  "Now let me have a good look at my baby girl. I can't believe how much you’ve grown up and you're so beautiful."

  "You only saw me last week." I say, rolling my eyes.

  I'm pulled into the house and take a quick look around. I'm standing in the hallway which leads onto a large staircase that’s in dark wood with a dark red runner running down the steps. I look to my left and through an archway is the living room. It's very homely with dark wood furniture and lots of throws and white fluffy cushions. It's stylish but not clinical.

  "Olivia, you remember Pam?"

  Pam's a small woman, practically a hobbit if you ask me. She's beautiful in a Mom kind of way. Her dark brown hair is perfectly set in a French twist and her brown eyes sparkle with kindness. She's about as far from my diva like Mother as you could get.

  "Yes, hi Pam. Nice house." I give her a weak smile, not feeling like I really have to make an effort. Hell, I don’t even wanna be here.

  "Oh Olivia, we're so happy to have you here." She smiles sweetly at me and pulls me into another hug.

  What the fuck is with all the hugs? Shit, if one more person grabs and hugs me I'm gonna start throwing punches out.

  Seriously, I thought that I'd walk in, get a gruff hello and then find my room. I didn’t expect there to be some type of event happening if the banner across the large fireplace is any indication. It has 'WELCOME OLIVIA' in bright pink letters. These people are fucking crazy. My Dad would have pissed himself at this, not fucking helped them. I'm starting to wonder if their craziness can catch.

  "BOYS, COME DOWN AND MEET OLIVIA!"

  Shit, for a hobbit she sure has got a big mouth. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone and I can only guess that my face is a picture of absolute horror as my Dad comes to stand beside me. He leans down to me.

  "You'll get used to it, I tried to explain that you're not into all this stuff but she insisted. I can seeing you eyeing all the exit points." He whispers and then gives me a knowing smirk. The fucker's enjoying my discomfort. So fucking much for family loyalty.

  Some kid that’s gotta be about fourteen huffs and puffs his way down the stairs. His shoulder length brown hair is swept to the side. He's obviously some kind of little skater dude with his blue tatty Converse and three quarter combats. His eyes widen as they take me in and he raises his eyebrows.

  "Hubba hubba."

  I roll my eyes and stifle a laugh. Pam clears her throat and glances quickly around the room, probably looking for the nearest exit like me.

  "Olivia this is my youngest son Chase. Chase say hello." Her voice is calm and sweet though a little shaky.

  Just as Chase opens his mouth to speak, the front door opens and in walks a pretty hot guy, ok a very hot guy with some red head hanging on his arm giggling. He comes to a stop on seeing everyone here and his eyes move across everyone until they land on me. He runs his eyes up and down my body and they darken. I'm guessing this is the dumb jock. Looks like they're the same everywhere if the girl drooling at his feet is any sign.

  "Noah, I thought you were upstairs." Pam speaks sweetly but it's obvious she's embarrassed.

  Noah still hasn’t taken his eyes from me and I feel myself getting hot under his scrutiny. He seems almost reluctant to look away from me as he gathers himself and looks towards his Mom. Nobody else probably would have noticed his reaction, but I've been dealing with it since puberty and I can tell a mile away. I smirk to myself thinking how this town might not be as boring as I originally thought. Hell, if it is I can always play with this guy.

  "Sorry Mom, I totally forgot. Sorry Brandy, looks like I'm busy." He says, completely unbothered as his eyes find themselves landing on me again.

  I roll my eyes, of course she has a name like Brandy. I bet she's a fucking cheerleader as well. She purses her lips and looks totally put out but quickly plasters a big fake smile across her overly make upped face.

  "Its ok baby, another time." She sticks her chest out, trying to bring attention to it as she looks over towards me with what I can only describe as disdain. Fucking bring it on bitch. She flounces out the door without even so much as a wave to the rest of us in the room.

  Pam is still staring at Noah, looks like someone's in some deep shit. After what seems like hours of awkward silence but can only be a few seconds, my Dad steps forward.

  "Olivia this is Pam's eldest son Noah. He's the same as age as you and he'll be taking care of you at school."

  Oh great, I get the dumbass to be my babysitter. He gives me what I'm sure is usually a panty dropping smile. The guy is ridiculously handsome with his messy short brown hair which has that just fucked look that everyone seems to love. Hes got a black v-neck on that hugs his body showing off his wide shoulders, tight muscles and narrow hips. His staring problem seems to have made a comeback as his eyes linger on my tank top covered chest.

  "Nice to meet you." He says as his eyes bore into me.

  I give him a weak smile that I know doesn’t reach my eyes as a sudden movement in the corner of my vision causes me turn my head and jump what is probably about ten feet in the air.

  "HOLY SHIT! What the hell was that?"

  At my scream, the cushion moves again, jumping from the couch as my Dad bursts out laughing and Noah covers his mouth with his hand trying to stifle his humor. Chase is looking around as if he doesn’t know what the hell is going on and Pam just smiles as she walks towards it.

  "Oh this is just Sylvester." She says as she picks up what I thought was a cushion but instead seems to be some kind of, hell I don’t even know what.

  "What the hell is that thing?" I say as my Dad wipes the tears from his eyes.

  "Didn’t I tell you?" My Dad looks toward Pam "I swear Olivia, I had the exact same reaction when I saw that thing for the first time. They say it’s a cat but the jury is still out on that one."

  Pam gives him a reproachful look as this cat is obviously her baby.

  "Sylvester, say hello to Olivia. She's gonna be your new sister, oh yes she is." I watch as my father's wife rubs noses with the white furball and I realize that I'm not gonna last a day here without losing
my mind.

  I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up to my Dad in what I'm sure is terror.

  "Why don’t we show you up to your new room and get you settled."

  Hopefully I can get a moment to myself in there. Man, I really need Trina right now.

  ***

  It's pink EVERYWHERE! Pink walls, pink sheets, pink curtains and even fucking pink carpet. I'm officially in hell. I must of crashed my car and died. There's no way this can be happening to me. My Dad looked wary, as he fucking should have, when he showed me in here. He knows I hate pink. I hated in when I was five and the Bitch tried to force it on me and I hate it even more now.

  My Dad told me Pam decorated my room, apparently she was so excited to have another female in the house so she isn't constantly outnumbered by men. If I was psycho I would just set fire to it all and hopefully she'd take the hint that I don’t fucking like pink.

  I hear a buzz from the bedside table where I put my phone and take a look, It’s a text from Trina.

  Hey hoebag, hows the fam?

  I bring up her number and give her a call, maybe she can calm me down.

  "Hey boo, thought you'd be busy. How is it?"

  "Trina, I need to move in with you." I speak in a hushed tone. "I can't live here for another year. There's a friggin cat that looks like some type of gremlin, my room looks like Barbie barfed up in it, I think Pam might be on drugs cause there's no way anyone is that nice, oh and she's a hobbit and the dumb jock looks at me like I'm his dinner."

  There is loud laughter on the other end of the phone which just serves to piss me off even more.

  "This isn't funny."

  "Oh Liv, it is, it really is. Hey is the dumb jock cute?"

  "Ridiculously hot." I sigh.

  "Like Justin Timberlake hot or Ryan Gosling hot?"

  "Ryan Gosling hasn't got a a touch on this guy."

  "Shiiiiiit, lucky bitch, shame he's your stepbrother."

  "The guys an ass, he didn’t even try to hide the fact he was checking me out."

  "I told ya so. You're irresistable. Just try not to mess the poor guy up too much. That could make living with him kinda awkward."

  "Well thank you for your support FRIEND! I'm in hell here." I groan, obviously I'm not getting much sympathy here. "Anyway I'm gonna go and I'll call you tomorrow since you're of no help."

  "Oh no you don’t, I want a play by play of the rest of your night. And here I was, thinking I was gonna be bored with you living four hours away. Oh Mama is gonna love this."

  "Glad I can be of entertainment for you. Talk to ya later."

  "Bye Boo, oooh and take a picture of the hot stuff for me." I hang up on that last remark.

  I walk to the Queen size bed that’s draped in bubblegum pink and flop down on it. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to stop the assault of pink on my eyes. There's no way this room can stay like this. Oh well, I'll wait till tomorrow to worry about that.

  Apart from the color, the room's pretty nice. It's bigger than my room at the Bitch's house and all the furniture is mirrored. I bet that’s a pain in the ass to clean. There's a large window on the wall directly opposite the door facing onto the side of the house and a long white velvet covered window seat running along it. My stuff is piled neatly in one corner and I'm grateful that they didn’t try to unpack it, that would have just pissed me off.

  I jump up off the bed, deciding to make a start on the unpacking. I drag the first box over to the bed, realizing by the weight that it's probably some of my shoes since there's no way clothes would weigh this much. I sorted through everything when I'd started packing so the stuff can just go straight in the closet.

  Most of the stuff here is clothes and a few keepsakes since I didn’t wanna take anything out of the Bitch's house. I see my memory board leaning against the wall towards the back of the boxes and forgetting the box of shoes I'd begun to unpack, I drag it out. It's covered in photos, most of them of me and Trina in various poses. There's a few of me with groups at parties and movie tickets are dotted around the board.

  I'm really not in the mood for the dinner I was so gracefully reminded of before being shown into my room. I don’t fancy sitting around a table with these crazy people making idle chit chat.

  ***

  I'm halfway through unpacking when there's a knock at the door. I've now thankfully unpacked all of my shoes and as of five minutes ago, I've started hanging my clothes on hangers to put in the closet. It's pretty huge so I'm pretty sure all my clothes are gonna fit. Clothes are my one weakness, I know I have too many of them but I'm a typical girl in the way I love shopping.

  I walk over to the door, not wanting to invite anyone in here. I really don’t want anyone hanging around or even worse, offering to help. I swing the door open and look up into dark green eyes. Noah's standing in front of me with a half a smirk. His hands are fisted into his front pockets of his jeans. Fuck, I didn’t even know it was possible to have eyes that green, how did I not notice them before? I stare into them for a few forever moments, completely losing myself in the color. I shake my head as if that will get me out of this daze and raise my eyebrows in question.

  "Dinner will be on the table in ten minutes ma'am." He says in a posh English butler accent.

  I stare at him, completely unmoved. The jackass completely ignores the expression on my face and looks around me through the door at the bombsite behind me.

  Giving a low whistle he raises his eyebrows.

  "Need any help?" His voice sends shivers through me.

  I give a smile that I know doesn’t reach my eyes.

  "Nope, I got it. Thanks anyway."

  "You sure? You know I'm pretty good at unpacking. I'd be more than happy to put all your little lacy panties and bra's away. It would really be no problem."

  "You know what? Actually erm." And I slam the door in his face. Asshole.

  I can hear him chuckling at the other side of the door and find myself resisting the urge to go out there and kick him in the balls.

  I grab my deep purple long sleeved shift dress off the hanger. I'm uncomfortable in the tank top and jeans I've been wearing all day while driving. I really need to shower, I didn’t have a chance before I flew out of the Bitch's house this morning. I tighten the loose bun on my head and decide that I can have a quick two minute one and then get ready. I only really want to wash my body and then I'll wash my hair before bed. I grab a towel from the linen closet I was shown earlier and make my way to the bathroom which I apparently share with the asshole. He's lucky I'm not drowning him in the tub after his panty remark.

  The bathroom's completely tiled in the style of a wet room. It's very palatial with its cream speckled tiles set in a diamond pattern. There's a clawfoot tub with gold taps and a separate corner shower. I peel my tank top off and unclasp the front clasp of my white lacy bra before dragging my faded skinny jeans down my legs along with my panties. The shower is amazing and I almost don’t want to leave. There are lights running along either side in a fluorescent blue and there are way too many dials and buttons for me to even begin to understand how to work the thing. Luckily the big blue button labeled ON helps me out enough. I angle my head away from the jets to avoid getting my hair wet and close my eyes at the relaxing feel of the jets pounding my skin.

  I jump out, wrapping the fluffy white towel around me, it’s a little short and varely covers my ass. I grab my dress to put on before realizing I've forgotten to bring fresh underwear in with me. I really don’t wanna be putting the ones I've been wearing all day back on, that’s just gross. I tighten the towel around me, grab my stuff and then make my way back to my pink monstrosity of a room. I turn the corner out of the doorway of the bathroom into the hallway and am met with a wall of solid muscle.

  "Shit." I hoomph.

  It almost makes me lose my balance and drop the precious towel before I feel two strong hands gripping the top of my arms, helping me regain my footing. They cause a surge electricity to run through me, nearly causing me
to lose my balance again.

  I look up into the mossy green eyes that hypnotized me earlier. He's wearing that same half a smirk and his eyes are running the length of my body. He distracts me for a second from the fact that I'm only wearing a towel and when realization hits, I gasp, slapping his hands away.

  After mumbling a thanks, I rush away back into my room, knowing that his eyes are following my retreating back. I slam the door and lean my head back against it while sucking in air. I remember his smirk as he looked up and down my almost naked body. Cocky bastard.

  I've only been here a couple of hours and already the dumb jock's almost seen me naked. Trina would laugh to tears, no way am I telling her, I'll never live it down.

  After getting dressed and brushing my hair so it falls in soft waves around my shoulders and down my back, I make my way down the stairs, looking around at the same time. I'm pretty sure I'm at least ten minutes late for dinner but nobody has come up to get me. The walls are lined with photographs of Noah and Chase, Pam and my Dad. There are pictures of people I don’t recognize and even a few of me from when I was little with my Dad. They more than surprise me.

  I stop at the bottom of the stairs and look at the hallway phone table in the corner before the door. My Dad and Pam's wedding picture is sitting there. I didn’t go, mostly because I was mad at my Dad that he was getting remarried and leaving me behind. Pam's wearing a long ivory fishtail town. She looks beautiful with her hair pinned to her head with curly wisps framing her face. Noah and Chase look handsome in their tuxes at either side of her and my Dad's smile lights up the picture. I feel a pang of regret and guilt that I wasn’t there but push it aside. Regret doesn’t change the past, I should know.

  The dining room is massive, much bigger than I expected. I realize I haven't even seen half of this house. My Dad showed me to my room, pointing things out along the way, promising to show me after dinner. There's a large oak dining table in the middle of the room with two large chairs at either end. Three smaller chairs run down either side and a candelabra sits in the middle of the table as the centerpiece. It looks very elegant, there's no way they eat like this every night.