STEPBROTHER: Bad Boy Blues (Taboo Romance) by Ora Wilde Page B

mother... hence he tried to find acceptance from other people.  The bad boy, tough guy persona he displayed was just a mantle he had to wear to repress the pain his heart was surely feeling.
     
    “I never knew,” I whispered to myself, which my mom heard.
     
    “It’s hard for us when we just think about it,” she answered.  “What more for him who had to go through that kind of experience?”
     
    And just like that, the weight of the indignity that has continued to crush me since Saturday night vanished.  It was nothing - NOTHING - compared to the sorrow that Darwin has been carrying for many, many years.  The embarrassment that befell me will wither in time, when people begin to forget as they start to revel at the newest gossip that someone would start.  Darwin’s agony... he will have to carry that all his life.
     
    At that moment, I just wanted one thing.
     
    I just wanted to see him... to hug him... to feel his body... to provide him comfort... to tell him that it’s alright, that everything will be alright, that I would always be there for him... regardless of whether that’s good enough or not.
     
    I wanted to see him so bad...
     
    But I didn’t even know where he was.
     

D arwin didn’t go to class the following day... again. 
     
    People in school were still giving me condemnatory stares.  To their credit, though, they never approached me or make a joke about what transpired.  They just gaped.  Sometimes rudely, but at least, that was all they did.
     
    At lunch, as I was carrying my tray, Maggie signaled for me to come join her in one of the empty tables.  I appreciated her a lot, especially during those times when I had to be surrounded by students who I knew were thinking the worst about me.  I started to approach her.
     
    But then, someone bumped into me, causing me to lose grip of my tray, and my food fell on the floor.
     
    “Oops, sorry,” a high-pitched voice said.  I looked at him and saw a big, burly man towering over me.  It was Colton, and he wasn’t alone.  He had two other guys with him, his teammates in the football team.  He apologized but his face painted a different picture.  He was smirking.
     
    “It’s alright,” I said as I wiped the soda that splashed on my arms.  I looked around and I saw that the commotion attracted the attention of everyone in the cafeteria.  I swear that all of the people there - the school staff included - were looking at us.
     
    “Serves you right, I guess,” he uttered, still with that condescending smirk.
     
    “I beg your pardon?” I replied, wanting to know if I heard him correctly.  I never thought anyone would be that churlish, especially to a girl.
     
    “I said it serves you right, brother fucker ,” he answered before laughing hysterically.  His teammates laughed with him.
     
    I was shocked speechless.  I didn’t know what to say.  I didn’t know what to do.  The entire cafeteria was just as shocked as I was.  They weren’t laughing.  No one was giggling.  But they were watching us.  I knew they were watching us.  They were watching me as I was being ridiculed by a man who was intimidating… in both his size and his vulgarity.
     
    “Watcha gonna do about it, brother fucker ?” he asked mockingly as he continued to laugh with his companions.  He made sure that his words were loud enough for everyone to hear.
     
    But no one laughed with them, still.
     
    It seemed that the entire cafeteria was sympathizing with me. 
     
    No... they pitied me...
     
    And how can they not?  To them, I’ve always been silent little Betty, nerdy little Betty, bookish little Betty, studious little Betty who went to a party for the first time in her life and was stupid enough to get drunk and kiss her own sibling.  And now, she was being confronted by, arguably, the biggest and, obviously, the meanest guy in school… pushing her around and treating her like garbage.
     
    I’ve never felt so helpless my entire