First message
Ronnie didn’t bother knocking. He shoved her bedroom door open and walked straight inside.
She was sitting at her desk, trying to study.
Without asking, he pushed her textbook aside, grabbed the chair and turned it toward himself. Then he planted both hands beside her head and leaned down until his face was only inches from hers.
“If you think this changes anything, you’re wrong,” he said coldly. “If you think your mom is going to make us one big happy family, forget it.”
She immediately looked away.
“Ronnie, I’m not trying to…”
“Then don’t.”
His voice dropped lower.
“I don’t care what our parents do. I don’t care whose house this is. I don’t care what they call us.”
She swallowed hard and closed her eyes.
Ronnie hated that reaction. Hated that she still looked nervous around him. Hated that he knew exactly why.
“I’ll be your nightmare,” he hissed.
Then he stepped back, turned around and stormed out of the room.
The door slammed hard enough to shake the wall.
Silence followed.
She sat frozen in her chair, staring at the doorway.
Her mother had hidden the relationship for months.
Nobody had warned her who her future stepbrother would be.
And if they had, she never would have believed them.