Caught Between My Bully and My Stepbrother novel · Chapter 1 of 32
Chapter 1: The Red Dress
Her stepbrother and his best friend corner Joni on a party dance floor in front of everyone; a gossip account posts it cropped; she walks back in, takes the mic and promises to find the admin, who answers with a photo of her taken that second.
The red lights flashed over the dance floor, and every time they did, I could see Crew Kimble staring at me.
He was sitting on the arm of a couch across the room.
He didn't move.
He didn't have to.
I'd known that look since fifth grade.
Jordyn had sworn on her life they wouldn't be here.
"They're at Saylor's party across campus," she'd said, fixing my lipstick in the Ashgrove Hall bathroom. "Football and sororities only. Tonight we're free."
So I wore the red dress.
It was short and tight, and the straps were too thin for a bra, so I didn't wear one.
I did my hair and my eyes and walked into the Linden Street house.
Then Corey Haddix walked up behind Crew and followed his eyes to me.
My stepbrother's mouth curled.
He looked me up and down slowly.
He bent and said something in Crew's ear.
Crew stood up.
They came through the crowd together.
I turned to go.
I made three steps before a hand closed on my wrist and spun me around.
I hit Crew's chest so hard I lost my breath.
His gray eyes were narrowed down at me under that black hair.
His mouth was so red it looked bitten.
"What the fuck are you doing here?"
That was Corey, low, right against my ear.
He'd come up behind me, his chest flat against my back.
Between the two of them there was nowhere to go.
I pulled at my wrist.
Crew didn't let go.
"What does it look like, genius?" I said over my shoulder.
Corey's hands landed on my hips.
"In this dress? Looks like you're selling it to any guy who'll pay."
Crew's finger touched my thigh at the hem and ran slowly along it.
"One more inch," he said, "and every guy here sees everything."
"Like mother, like daughter," Corey said. "Dawn never said no to a married man either."
My eyes stung.
"Fuck you," I said.
Corey laughed and pressed closer.
"Would you like that? Me to fuck you?"
My mouth fell open.
He had a girlfriend.
He was my stepbrother.
Crew made a low sound and leaned in until his mouth hung beside mine, not quite touching.
My heart was going so hard my chest rose against his.
The dress was thin.
I could feel exactly what being pressed between them did to me, and so could he.
"You're both disgusting," I whispered.
Crew smiled at the corner of my mouth, then moved to my other ear.
"I can feel you, doll," he said. "Are we that disgusting?"
He leaned back and looked down at my chest.
Corey looked over my shoulder too.
So did everyone else.
The music was still going, but nobody was dancing anymore.
A circle of phones and grins had opened around us.
My face burned all the way down my neck.
"Hey! Get off her!"
Jordyn shoved in with a red cup in each hand and her hoop earrings swinging.
The boys stepped back.
Somebody whistled.
Somebody yelled, "Stepsis!" and the whole room laughed.
It was orientation day all over again.
Three weeks ago they'd dumped me in the quad fountain in a white T-shirt while half the campus filmed it.
Three weeks into my fresh start.
I ran.
"Joni!" Jordyn shouted behind me.
I didn't stop until I was on the dark lawn with my heels in my hand.
My phone buzzed.
Then again.
Then it didn't stop.
@DelmontUnfiltered had posted nine minutes ago.
It was me on the dance floor.
The clip was cut so tight you couldn't see Crew's hand on my wrist.
You couldn't hear a word either of them said.
All you could see was me pressed back against Corey with my eyes closed.
The caption said, "Stepsis can't keep her hands off her stepbrother. Like mother, like daughter."
Four thousand views.
The comments came faster than I could read them.
"Homewrecking runs in the family."
"Corey deserves better than his little stalker."
"She's in Ashgrove btw. Room 214."
I stood barefoot on the wet grass and read my own room number.
I'd spent years hiding from those two in my own house.
In the halls, in the cafeteria, on the bus.
I'd waited three years and saved every tip to get here.
They'd found me in three weeks.
I put my heels back on.
Then I walked back inside.
The DJ was a sophomore in a backwards cap behind a folding table.
I reached over his laptop and hit the space bar.
The music died.
Two hundred faces turned toward me.
I took his mic.
"Since everybody's watching," I said, "you might as well hear it too."
My voice shook through the speakers.
I let it.
"Corey Haddix said I look like I'm selling it to any guy who'll pay."
Corey was by the kitchen door.
His smile slipped.
"He said, 'Like mother, like daughter.' Then he asked if I wanted him to fuck me."
Someone near the stairs said, "Oh my God."
"He has a girlfriend. Her name's Saylor. Somebody tell her."
A girl by the stairs already had her phone up.
"Crew Kimble ran his finger up my dress and told me everyone would see everything."
Crew didn't move.
His face didn't do anything at all.
"And whoever runs @DelmontUnfiltered," I said, "you cut all of that out. You cropped it so I'm the slut."
I looked slowly around the room.
"I'm a journalism major. I'm going to find you. And when I do, your face goes on the front page."
I handed the mic back to the DJ.
Nobody laughed this time.
I walked out through the middle of them.
They caught up with me on the lawn before I reached the sidewalk.
"You just made yourself a target," Corey said.
"I was always the target. You two painted it on me."
"Burkett."
Crew held out his phone.
"Did you send this?"
It was a text from 10:41 p.m.
From my number.
"Bet you two won't come find me. Red dress."
My stomach dropped.
"I didn't send that. At 10:41 I was in Jordyn's car singing with the windows down."
Corey grabbed the phone, looked at the number, then at me.
"That's your number."
"I know it's my number!"
Crew wasn't looking at the screen.
He was looking at my face.
"She didn't send it," he said.
"Somebody wanted you two here," I said. "Somebody knew you'd come."
My phone buzzed in my hand.
A message request from @DelmontUnfiltered.
It was a photo of a girl on a dark lawn in a red dress, standing between two boys, holding her phone.
It was me.
It was right now.
"Find me, sweetheart," the message said. "I'm closer than you think."
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