Stranded with My Stepbrother Chapter 150

McKenzie

“Will!” I shook his shoulder while both our teas soaked into the bed, completely unnoticed. “Will! Will, wake up!”

He didn’t stir.

Panicking, I put my ear to his chest. There was still a steady, strong heartbeat there. I could have died from relief.

“He’s fine,” a familiar voice said from the doorway.

I snapped my head up only to see Bran in a decadent black silk robe leaning against the doorframe. “What did you do to him?!” I barked.

“You know, you’re not like anyone, McKenzie Kent-Killeen. You’re absolutely fearless. You don’t even realize the position you’re in, do you? If you did, you’d understand you’re being completely stupid,” he said.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion. I asked what you did to Will!” I yelled.

He chuckled. “Temper, temper. I guess something in his tea didn’t agree with him. He’ll be out for a few hours. Plenty of time for you and me to get better acquainted.”

“You have a screw loose if you think I’d ever betray Will—and certainly not with you,” I snapped. “Now fuck off wherever you came from. I have to make sure Will doesn’t choke on his tongue and die because you and your teeny, tiny little… ego… decided to go after things you can’t have.”

Now he burst out into body-shaking guffaws. “My, you really are a firecracker!”

“Yeah. Yeah, I am. His firecracker.” I gestured to Will.

“Lucky bastard. But then, he always is.” He walked into the room and grabbed me by the wrist, hauling me off the bed.

I screamed and clawed at his hand, kneeing him right in the groin when he let go.

“Fuck, woman, I just want to talk!” he cried.

“We can talk here,” I said, heading back to the bed.

He grabbed my shoulder. “We really… can’t. Listening ears, you know.”

I glanced around the room, wondering if the expensive vase on the table or the well-groomed potted plant in the corner were hiding listening devices. Or maybe the lamp. Or the bed. Who knew? “I’m not leaving Will.”

“I promise, I will have staff look after him. What do you think will happen to me if he dies? I like being alive with all my limbs intact, thank you very much,” he said.

“Why would I agree to go anywhere with you? What could you possibly have to say?” I scoffed.

Bran tapped his ear, then handed me a folded piece of paper from his robe pocket.

Freedom.

I swallowed. That was one thing I couldn’t ignore. If this complete asshat was willing to get Will and me out… that was something I needed to find out more about.

I looked down at Will and stroked his hair off his forehead. “You’ll have someone come watch him?”

“Scout’s honor,” Bran replied.

With a sigh, I stood. I kissed Will’s cheek and whispered to him that I’d be back. Then I walked over to Bran. “You had better not be shitting me,” I whispered.

He chuckled. I wished I’d just let Will punch him.

Bran led me to a side door then outside and across the lawn to a large guesthouse. I didn’t like being alone with him, especially with me in a bikini and him in a robe. I could only hope he was wearing something underneath it.

“We didn’t wire this place up because you weren’t ever going to be staying here,” he explained, unlocking the front door and letting me in. He led me through the foyer to a large living room situated right in the center of the house. A long bank of windows looked out over Lake Minnetonka.

“That’s great. Really. Now, you were going to tell me something about Will and me getting out of this shithole we’ve been thrown into?” I said.

He laughed. “Patience. You would be useless at the negotiating table. There’s a rhythm to things. A dance if you will. A courtship. You have to start with compliments and—”

“I give absolutely zero shits, Bran. Tell me what’s going on,” I insisted.

“We could make it a drinking game.” He winked.

“Or, you could lose a testicle,” I replied, no longer willing to play his games.

“Ouch! I can see what he sees in you. An edge of danger. It’s enticing.” He lowered himself into a chair and gestured for me to sit across from him.

As I sat down, I could see he wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing under his robe. Not even boxers.

“Oops,” he said, adjusting his robe even though I knew it was no accident.

“The only thing you have to offer that I want,” I said, trying to drive the point home, “is an explanation of how you’re going to get Will and me free of all this.”

Bran grinned. “Yes, of course. But I don’t remember saying anything about Will.”

I froze. “What?”

“Will isn’t part of the bargain. How would I even make that happen? His grandfather would make my life a living hell,” he said.

I immediately rose from my chair. “It’s been nice talking to you. Thanks for wasting my time. I’m going to go back to Will now.”

“Sit, sit. We’re only starting the negotiations, remember?” He sat forward, letting his robe dangle open.

And other parts dangle openly.

I was disgusted. “You have no conscience, no honor, and no chance with me. I’m not sitting here to listen to how, if I fuck you, you can get me out of my situation. Any plan that doesn’t involve getting Will out as well is nothing I want anything to do with.”

“So, you would fuck me if I got Will out as well?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in interest.

I stared at him. “Ex-Excuse me?”

“You would, wouldn’t you?  You’d spread those creamy farm girl thighs for me and take it like a whore,” he said.

“That’s… definitely not on the negotiating table,” I responded faintly. “You’re just… you’re just playing. You can’t do a damn thing for me and Will.”

“Am I? I’m Bran Lockwood the Fifth. Which certainly puts my power above William Masterson the Third and William Masterson Sr.” He raised his chin proudly. “I can do whatever the fuck I want.”

I snorted. “You already said you’ll get hellfire rained down on you from Will’s grandfather if you try to get him out. I don’t believe a word you’re saying.”

“So Will’s grandfather gets a little grumpy with me. I’m sure I’ve had worse problems. It’s annoying, not insurmountable,” he said. “Now, would you fuck me if I could get Will and you out?”

A part of me, a desperate part, wanted to jump in with both feet and shout: Yes! I would blow him, fuck him, let him do whatever he wanted to me to get Will and me out.

A larger part of me loved Will too much to let another man touch me, no matter what the stakes. Maybe it was the wrong move, but….

“I can’t,” I replied. “I’m sorry. Whatever you’re offering, I won’t betray Will to get it.”

Bran’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “You’re not serious.”

“I am serious. Now, if there’s nothing else, I want to get back to Will.” I walked stiffly toward the front door.

He grabbed me again as I was walking. “Maybe I’ll just take what I want, then. I know you’d be even more delicious willing, especially since it would break Will in two. But this also works for me. I can break your spirit instead.”

I fought his grip. “Have you lost your mind?!”

“Like I said, gorgeous. I do what I want.” He tried to haul me back to the living room.

I reached back and gouged at his eyes, but he managed to avoid my attacks. Still, it kept him stumbling in the wrong direction, so we ended up in the kitchen instead of the living room.

Bran didn’t seem to mind. He slapped me a few times until I felt disoriented then bent me over the kitchen island.

Disoriented or not, however, I still screamed and fought like mad.

“Shut up and enjoy it,” he snarled when I stomped on his foot, hitting me again.

I felt him trying to pull down my panties while I struggled. With no other ideas, I reached back and grabbed his balls, twisting so hard I felt something rip.

He screamed and stumbled back. “You bitch!”

Still dizzy, I scrabbled around the island, grabbing drawers and yanking them open. Anything to get in his way.

Bran slammed them shut again. “You are fucking dead. You hear me?! Dead!”

I still managed to keep the island between us, barely. One drawer I opened provided a familiar gleam.

Knives!

I was just reaching in to grab one when he appeared behind me and slammed the drawer on my hand. I yelped.

“You think you’re so clever. And strong. And untouchable, don’t you? You think that little attitude of yours is going to see you through everything,” he whispered harshly in my ear. “I have news for you. It’s not going to see you through this.”

“FUCK YOU!!!” I shouted, determined to give him as much attitude as I could right up until the end. And I was convinced it was going to be the end once he was done with me. He’d said it himself. He was going to kill me.

Bran tried to pin me against the counter, but I was still fighting too hard. With an exasperated sigh, he let go of the drawer so he could grab my hips. “Stop wriggling, you bitch!”

It was just enough slack. Just enough time.

I grabbed the handle of whatever I could in the knife drawer and slashed out blindly.

He jumped back with a hiss, holding his arm. “I am going to kill you in front of him. I am going to make him beg for your life, and then I’m going to take you from him. After I’m done with you….”

I held the knife in front of me. “I’ve killed someone before. I didn’t like it. But you? I think I’d get over it pretty fast.”

“You’re going to kill me with a paring knife,” he snickered.

It took me a minute to focus as there was a terrible ringing in my ears, but what I saw in my hands was indeed a small paring knife. Whatever. It’s sharp!

“Paring knife or not, it did just fine cutting you a moment ago,” I shot back.

His expression soured. “It’s going to take a lot more than that to stop me.”

I was tired of being on the receiving end of his verbal, and especially physical, abuse. When he reached for me, I swung down with the knife…

… and plunged it right into his chest.