The Bitch that is My Step-sister - EX

"Nope," Jamie uttered as he unlocked the door; he could have sworn he heard footsteps moving quickly away. "You know eavesdropping is wrong, right? Thought you should know about not doing that, Rhonda," he said, noting how his mother stopped in her tracks at being caught.

"I wasn't listening in, Jamie; I was just coming to get the two of you up is all so we can all have breakfast together," Rhonda said, keeping her back to her son, so he wouldn't see the grin on her lips at what she had heard. Not the blowjob part but the fact that Krissy was trying to talk him into staying for longer.

"Uh-huh," Jamie muttered, not believing a word before walking into the bathroom.

"Morning, Mom, Dad, pretty Suzie," Krissy said, walking into the dining room in her robe as Jamie brushed his teeth, seeing that loving smile of Suzie's as she beamed up at her, her little legs kicking as she did.

"Morning, sweetheart," David greeted as he lowered the morning paper he was reading.

"Did you have a good sleep?" Rhonda asked, not bringing up what she had just heard.

"Before Jamie gets out of the bathroom, I have something to ask you two. Would you mind if we stayed for another week and a half before we have to go back before school starts?"

"Of course, honey, you know you're more than welcome to stay; in fact, you can just move back in and leave Jamie down there... ow!" David hissed when Rhonda kicked him in the shin, who nodded to Krissy, who was wearing a displeased look on her face. "Sorry, Kris, I just think you can do better than Jamie."

"Odd coming from a man who couldn't keep it in his pants." Jamie's voice drifted down the hall as the hints of bacon called to him. "What would you know of whose better or not when you can't keep to your own vows, hmm? Morning Squirt," Jamie said, ruffling Suzie's hair, who puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.

"Jamie, please don't start. It's too early in the day," Krissy sighed.

"What? He's the one that started running his mouth off first; I'm only responding in kind," Jamie answered, pointing at David without looking at him while his eyes stayed on Krissy. "I've been rather pleasant to date; you have to agree to that, yes?"

"True," Krissy admitted. "Dad stop bad-mouthing my... man," she said, catching herself from saying husband, not missing Jamie's smirk at that. "Or you can forget about us staying here for the next week and a half," Krissy warned before heading off the rest room. Not seeing the angry glare, Rhonda was burning into David's body, who held his hands up in defeat.

"Jamie, what are you thinking of majoring in school?" Rhonda asked, watching her son shrug. "You have to have something in mind, don't you? I would have thought if you two plan on marrying, you would have thought about what would bring you the best pay to support your wife." The way Jamie glanced up as he cut up his pancake as the butter melted into the syrup that covered them gave her the idea he had one or already decided he was just keeping her in the dark. "Can I ask, how are you paying for it?"

"Dad." Was the only thing he said before taking a bite of his buttermilk pancakes. Noting how Suzie was looking at the plate of bacon like she wanted another piece, how her face lit up when he set it on her small plate. Tilting his head up when he felt a pair of lips on the top of his head, watching how her blue eyes shimmered as they stared at one another. Silently telling him that he did care about their sister if he could discern her desire from a glance.

"Krissy, you must know what Jamie will major in, right?" Rhonda asked, hoping her son wasn't wasting his future.

"Accounting," Krissy said truthfully as she lowered herself into the seat beside Jamie.

"Like your father?!" Rhonda stated, her eyes cutting into her son, whose face was like stone as he just stared at the wall in front of him as he chewed his bite.

"Yes, like my father," Jamie repeated in a cold tone. While it was true a terrorist killed his father, nonetheless, his father wouldn't have had to flee to England if it wasn't for the lies they had spread about him to the world where it was nigh impossible for his father to find work when he was let go from his job in New York. It didn't matter if his father was innocent; it didn't matter; his father never once laid a hand on him out of anger or some twisted perversion. No. They all took it as gospel, and he lost his father because they all believed the lies of his mother. When the truth came out, it was too late; their apologies meant shit to him; he had told them as such when they tried to appease their consciences.

"What about you, Krissy?" Rhonda inquired, unwilling to push Jamie when he was in that kind of mood. She didn't want to ruin their morning.

"Thinking about teaching," Krissy said honestly.

"Oh?! Do you know which grade you were thinking of teaching?" Rhonda asked, taking a vested interest in her stepdaughter's life. She noted David's interest as his eyes were on his daughter.

"Maybe seventh or eighth grade," Krissy said as she took a sip of her orange juice. Flashing Jamie a smile when he passed the plate of bacon to her. Reaching below the table, lightly rubbing his left thigh, silently telling him she was thankful that he was keeping his tongue in his mouth for her.

"Come on, Squirt, cartoons," Jamie said, unbuckling Suzie from her highchair, who hopped in it at the mention of cartoons. That was after he had cleaned her hands with a wet washcloth. Resting her left cheek on her brother's left shoulder, seeing her mouther smiling warmly at her as Suzie wore a smile as Jamie carried her into the living room.

As Saturday passed into the next, when Krissy's grandparents came over for lunch, Jamie just smirked cruelly at the short leash David's mother had Ken on when they walked up the driveway. Soon his own grandparents arrived, seeing their happy faces as they climbed out of their car. Suzie's voice filled the air as she ran around the front yard as Jamie played with her. Greeting his grandparents for the first time in years, seeing the spark in their eyes when he did, telling them his mother was in the kitchen if they wondered. That was before Suzie jumped in front of him with a huge smile and tagged him before giggling as her little legs carried her away. Jamie scooped her up in his arms when she got dangerously close to the road. Only to turn back towards the house, seeing his mother and David just watching him. It wasn't hard for him to note his mother's love-filled eyes nor David's approving look at the fact that he took Suzie's safety seriously.

"Come in, honey, lunch should be ready soon; why don't you take Suzie and wash up," Rhonda said, feeling David pressing her into his right side as his hand rubbed her right shoulder.

"I don't know; you ready to go in?" Jamie asked, looking down at Suzie, who had a thoughtful look on her face that only a three-year-old could achieve before nodding. Hearing Krissy talking with her grandparents and his own as he walked into the house. Helping Suzie wash her hands as she stood on the step stool his mother had placed in there for her, chatting away with Suzie as they made soap bubbles with her little hands. Her laughter was infectious as she stared up at her older brother.

"I love you," Suzie sighed as she hugged his legs, hoping he was going to stay forever and ever. Never leaving her all alone again.

"Love you too, Squirt," Jamie responded, rubbing her back before leaving the bathroom.

"Jamie, would you put Suzie in her high chair for me while we get the food to the table?" Rhonda asked, carrying the bowl of green beans to the table. "Thank you, honey," she said, flashing Jamie a smile as he picked Suzie up and offered no resistance when he placed her in her chair. Peering back at the two of them, a warmth seeped into her heart at the sight of the two of them as David's voice could be heard from their kitchen. While she might never have a close relationship with her eldest child, she was just glad that Suzie and Ben would have what she had carelessly harmed. Wrapping her arms around David's waist, pressing her right cheek against his back, who stopped craving up the roast she made as she held him.

"So, how are you doing, Jamie?" Reina, David's mother, asked as their Sunday lunch got underway.

"Fine, how's living with that?" Jamie replied, pointing at Ken, who glared at him when he smirked. "Has he stepped out again?"

"No, he has not; thank you for asking; he knows he will have nothing if he does," Reina said politely since they were at the dinner table. "He's chaffing being under my lash, but it's either that or he'll be poor until the day he dies," she stated, noting how her son wanted to say something yet was wise enough to keep his mouth shut.

"Good, seems fitting for a man who cheats," Jamie praised, noting his mother's and David's eyes on him.

"It does, so any thoughts on school?" Reina asked before taking a bite of her roast.

"Going to UNC Wilmington in the fall," Jamie supplied.

"Oh? I hope you excel in your studies, Krissy; any thoughts of where you might want to go?" Reina spoke, looking over at her granddaughter, not paying attention to Rhonda's parents when they had a knowing look at what that school meant. She didn't know why the name of that school would conjure that look, nor was she going to find out.

"Going to the same school as Jamie," Krissy said, placing her hand lightly on Jamie's forearm. "Got something to say, grandfather?" she asked, trying not to sneer at the man when Ken grumbled beneath his breath. "Thought so," Krissy stated when Ken remained silent, withering beneath her gaze. "I'm going to study to be a teacher," she spoke, returning her gaze back to her grandmother.

"That's a hard job to take on, Ellie here," resting his age-spotted hand over his wife's, "was a teacher until she retired," Xander, Rhonda's father, said, smiling at Krissy.

"If you need help dealing with the teacher's union, you just call me anytime," Ellie said, yet her eyes were on her grandson. It was good to see Jamie had let go of his attitude unless it was warranted.

Throughout the rest of the visit from the grandparents, Ken was rather subdued with two awfully painful elbows in his ribs from Krissy; Jamie kept his witty, sarcastic retorts to himself. Although he knew they were zingers, at least he thought they were, given how Ken's high and mighty attitude had all but vanished like a fart in the wind. That didn't stop Jamie from smiling cruelly at Ken with how Reina was treating the man in front of everyone like he had treated everyone before his cheating ways came to light. Jamie even walked his grandparents out to their car. While he wasn't ready to welcome them fully back into his confidence, given how they sided with his cheating mother, nonetheless, he could tell how happy they were at that small gesture; even his mother was ecstatic by it.

"Yeah, I might be a punk, but at least I'm not a cheating, lying, two-bit old douche," Jamie retorted when Ken called him a punk beneath his breath as he and Reina passed him as they walked to their own car. "At least I know how to keep my junk where it belongs; the same can't be said about you."

"Make sure you remember that young man," Reina said after having a hearty laugh at her husband's expense.

"Have you seen your granddaughter? She'll kill me," Jamie joked.

"You better believe it," Krissy said from the porch, crossing her arms below her breasts, smirking at Jamie when he turned to look at her.

The rest of the week was mostly uneventful for Jamie and Krissy, other than seeing Missy off with her mother's car packed full of her belongings, ready to depart for their trip out to California. Where Missy's mother would be staying once she had got their apartment packed up and shipped home with her brother's help. Missy's mother already had a job lined up for her; she just didn't want to be so far away from her daughter, so Missy would be staying in the apartment she had already rented so she wouldn't miss any of her college classes while her mother and uncle drove the U-Haul across the country. Missy and Krissy had spent a lot of time talking about her time with Steven; even after he had returned to Washington, he just wouldn't leave her mind. Missy had told Krissy she had given him her phone number and hoped he would call, which he had done several times since his return home. Krissy could tell how much her being away from the man Missy cared more for the man than Missy was letting on or that she might not even realize at the moment. It was the same way she felt about Jamie whenever they were apart for more than a day. While Krissy could point it out to her friend, she knew Missy had to come to terms with it on her own. She couldn't see the fascination with a man twenty years older than her, but if it worked out for her friend, she would be happy for Missy. Then it was time for Dafne to leave for her own adventure into her adult life. It was a sad day for Krissy, with all her friends gone from the hometown they all grew up in. Everywhere she looked, her memories would flare of the places the four of them went, the laughs they shared, the conversations they had, falling into Jamie's arms when they were back home. How she loved how he held her as she moped at how life was changing everything they knew. She just hoped that throughout the years, she and her friends would still be friends and that the distance between them didn't make them drift apart.

With a very tearful goodbye on Rhonda's, Suzie's, and Krissy's part on the day, they had to leave to return to North Carolina so they, too, could get on with their own lives. Suzie just wouldn't let Jamie go as she smeared her snot and tears on his pants legs. Telling him not to go, not to leave her anymore, that she was going to be so sad being all alone. Asking him if he loved her and why he had to leave her.

"Suzie, remember what I told you when we left two months ago?" Jamie asked, feeling Krissy's light touch on his left shoulder as he knelt in front of her; as she shook her head that she didn't. "We have to go; our school is there, but that doesn't mean we won't be back to see you. We'll see you when Christmas break comes around. It's not that far away, just a few months."

"Y-you promise?!" Suzie muttered through her sobs.

"Promise."

"I'm going to miss you so much!" Suzie exclaimed, throwing herself into her brother's chest.

"I know, but you're going to have to be the big sister for Ben. Who knows who might try to take him," Jamie said, seeing Suzie's defiance showing as she placed her hands on her hips and huffed.

"I'll protect my brother like you've protected me," Suzie nodded firmly, looking up when she felt a hand on top of her head only to see her mother standing beside her.

"We all will, honey," Rhonda said lovingly, smiling down at her daughter. "Jamie?" Watching how he got to his feet, seeing so much of his father in him as he eased into his adulthood. "I know we have much to overcome; I know I've said sorry so many times about how David and I went about things between your father and me; I'm just hoping that while you're away that maybe you're anger with us will lessen some. I'm not saying we have to have the relationship I so wish for, but maybe we can at least speak to one another without me having to find out everything about your life from Krissy. I would really like to know about what you're doing and what's going on in your life from your own lips. You don't have to answer now, just something to think about on your drive home." Without warning, she wrapped her son in a warm, tight embrace, knowing the months with him out of her life would be so hard on her. She knew it was going to be the same with Krissy for David. "I love you, Jamie; I know Darriel would be so proud of you right now if he was still alive, and I know he loved you with all his heart. I'm so sorry you couldn't see him as much as I know you wanted. I will always hate myself for that. Shh," she whispered when she felt his tears soaking into her shirt as the pain of his father's loss was still buried just beneath the surface. Stroking the back of her son's head as she held him just a little tighter, knowing this was the closest they'd been in many months.

"Jamie," holding out his hand to his stepson, "you keep Krissy safe for me, will ya? No, telling what kind of men are at that college, would hate to hear something happened to her," David said, speaking in an even tone as they looked each other in the eye. "And you were right those months ago; I wasn't sorry about what happened between me and your mother. I am sorry for what we did to your father and that he was taken from you. I know nothing I say will make you believe me, but I am. I never wanted anything to happen to the man, yet I can't help but think if we hadn't done what we did, your father would still be here to see you off and not standing in front of the man you hate."

"Interesting, you can be honest for once," Jamie said offhandedly before turning to look at Krissy. "You ready?"

"Mmmhmm," Krissy nodded, giving Jamie's arm a nudge and a nod to her father's outstretched hand, telling him to shake it. She could see the sigh in his eyes before he gave David's hand a firm, quick shake before turning around and heading to his car.

"Be safe, honey!" Rhonda called out to her son, who just gave her a wave over his shoulder, knowing that was a huge step compared to when he first had left home. The three of them waved as Jamie pulled away from the curb and started his long trek back down south.

******

Four years later...

"You want to what?!" Jamie, now twenty-two, said as they were alone in his grandparents' home after the celebration of their graduation ceremony. Rhonda and David, along with Krissy's relatives, were already in the air to their northern homes.

"You heard me," Krissy, now twenty-three, said smartly. "I want to move home. I'm so damn tired of lying to my family about us." Holding up a hand when Jamie began to speak. "I know I was the one that agreed to it because I got to be with you, and not a day goes by that I have regretted the choice to marry you out on that very beach," she spoke, pointing out the rear, glass sliding door. "Baby, I love you with all my heart, but I want to go home."

"Why? I thought you loved being here?"

"I do, I love your family, and they've been so kind to me and welcoming. But I can't stand being away from my dad anymore. I want to see Suzie grow up; I want to see Ben as he grows into a man, not some voices on the phone! Honey, I know how you would react when I thought about this four years ago; that was why I didn't bring it up then. But baby, you've softened a little bit since then. Are you saying you can't stand to live in the same city as them? I know you may never really grow close to them; I get that. But can't you see it in your heart to come with me?"

"So you're going to do it regardless if I go or not, huh?" Jamie spoke, his jaw clenched in annoyance.

"What?! No! Never!" Krissy said, shaking her head vehemently.

"Then what are you saying?"

"I want to start our family, but I want my family around when we do. I'm not saying your family wouldn't be there for us because they have been; we wouldn't still be together if it wasn't for them with what happened two years ago," Krissy said, referring to the two people a man from her class, and a woman Jamie knew around campus that were trying to drive a wedge between them because each had a thing for each other. They didn't know then that the two of them knew each other and were working together to break them up. Someone had thankfully informed them in time before the damage couldn't be repaired. Then they worked to bring down the two that were out to destroy them. Jamie had to be pulled off the man when he tired to have what wasn't his to take. Who was now serving five years for attempted rape. Jamie had to hold her as she bucked and swung and kicked the air to get at the woman who was spreading around the rumor she had slept with Jamie when she knew that Jamie was out on the ocean with his uncle. After that, the rest of their college life was pretty dull. "But I want to do that where we have so many memories. I want to show our baby the place where I started to fall for you. Where we had our first kiss, our second, and so on."