ACHING FOR MY STEPBROTHER

RACHEL 

The whole place throbbed with bass, lights flashing like they were trying to blind someone. I'd never liked parties too loud, too sweaty, too many people pretending to have the best night of their lives.

But it was Tiara's birthday, and she'd dragged me here with the same force a tornado uses to lift cars.

I was just trying to breathe through the chaos when a hand slid around my waist slowly, and very confidently.

My heart jerked as I spun around.

Some ridiculously fine, annoyingly smug guy staring at me like he had every right to touch me.

"Excuse me, riff-raff. Can you just fucking piss off?" I yelled so loud my throat burned. If the music wasn't blasting through the walls, the whole house would've frozen at the way I shouted at the guy.

I hadn't even wanted to come out tonight. But Tiara had begged like she always did but tonight she actually managed to convince me with that trophy speech "Come on, Rach, loosen up, live a little.

And... It worked.

All my life had been a tight circle. It was either Raymond or school. That was it. So fine. Maybe one night out wasn't too bad after all.

But... Five minutes. That's all I lasted before some drunk clown latched on to me like I was his personal candy.

"Easy, girl," he sneered, his eyes dragging shamelessly down my mini skirt like he could already picture everything underneath it. "Nobody dresses like that to a party if they don't want to be touched."

Every muscle in my body tightened. If only I'd been here with Raymond, if he hadn't been home sick with a fever, I wouldn't have had to deal with trash like this.

I hissed and walked away. He wasn't worth my energy. And God knows I'd end up breaking his head if I stayed one more minute.

I pushed through the crowd, light strobes cutting across faces, hearts pulsing with the beat. Eventually I spotted Tiara, the birthday girl, drowning in half-naked gay strippers like it was heaven on earth.

I squeezed through the bodies to reach her. "Tiara! I need to leave!" I yelled.

She whipped around, sweat glistening on her forehead from all the dancing. "What the hell, Rachel? You just got here! Have some fun, bitch!" she shouted, already turning back, until I yanked her attention back to me again.

"Raymond's sick. I need to check on him."

Her face twisted... then she laughed hard like I'd just told a joke. "What are you even talking about? Your boyfriend is at the pool. I thought you two came together."

She hiccuped. "Someone who's sick can't be having fun right now, can they?"

I blinked. "Tiara, he literally texted me. He's home. Took his med already. I think you're drunk right now."

But she was already staggering away, mumbling something to one of the dancers.

A cold knot formed in my stomach.

I trusted Ray... but my legs were