Contagious Chemistry by Sian Webster (best ereader for pdf TXT) 📕

and tell him not to bother. I didn't really want my brother home at that moment. Instead, I said simply, "Ok, thanks Mum."

She gave me a small smile and retreated back to her beloved garden.
Alex jumped up from his hiding place behind the sofa, and all the blood seemed to have disappeared from his face. "You have an older brother?" He asked frantically.
I nodded.
"And you didn't think it was a good idea to warn me that you had an older brother in his twenties before I decided to sneak around your house without your parents' permission?" He asked.
I rolled my eyes. "Go. Upstairs. Quickly, before Mum decides she wants to talk to me some more. You have half an hour before he gets home."
"No pressure," He smirked.
"Come on, Parker. You've got no time to waste." I smiled, before running up the stairs and throwing my school bag in the corner before collapsing on my bed.
Alex followed me into the room quickly and shut the door behind him. "How much trouble will you get in if your Mum finds me in here?"
"You'll just have to hope she doesn't so we won't find out." I told him, smirking. I pointed to the end of my bed. "Sit."
He dropped his bag on the floor next to mine and sat on the bed.
"You know have twenty-three minutes." I pointed out to him.
He sighed. "Ok, well, first of all... I never planned on you finding out,"
I raised my eyebrows. "That much was obvious."
"No, no - I didn't mean it like that. But you have to trust me, Abby; when I say I've done nothing wrong, I mean it." He told me. "I'd never do anything to hurt you."
I nodded.
"You see, I never planned on you finding out because I knew how much it would hurt you finding out. And even now, I still don't want to tell you, even if it means you'd never trust me again." He said slowly.
"I need to know, Alex." I insisted, leaning forward and touching his arm.
"I know," he sighed. "Ok, so you know the first day you met Jeremy? When you fell over each other?"
"When I tripped over a tree root and accidentally dragged him down with me, yes."
Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "What if I told you that you meeting him wasn't an accident?"
"What are you saying?" I asked in perplexity.
"Well, him and his friends found out that I liked you," he started, "and they wanted something off me. Money. They thought the easiest way to get to me, would be through you."
I sat cross-legged on my bed, playing with my wrist bands. It was a habit of mine; I did it when I didn't know what to say, or how to react.
Alex must have picked up on it a while ago, because his eyes flicked to my wrist bands then back to my face before he continued. "So they came up with the idea to have Jeremy go out with you, purely just so I couldn't. They thought their plan was working until the first time I kissed you. They noticed the glitter in your hair, and the glitter in mine, and how we came from the same place, and put two and two together.
"Then there was the first time I followed you home off the bus. I didn't realise until afterwards, but one of his friends gets off at your stop too. I don't know what he saw, but I think it was then that they realised there was going to be a problem. They thought they had an advantage in the fact that you hated me. They hadn't accounted for what would happen if you started..." he gave me a strange look, "...feeling differently towards me. Then there was the Halloween Ball--"
My eyes widened in realisation. "They were the ones who beat you up!"
He nodded. "And at the same time, Jeremy took advantage of Casey. I thought that they'd leave you alone if I started dating someone else. If I convinced them I didn't like you any more. It was that night when you brought me back here and fixed me up that I realised I couldn't let them do that to you - or Casey - anymore. So as soon as I got home on Saturday morning, I called Jeremy and sorted things out."
We were both quiet for what felt like hours.
"How much did you pay them?" I asked slowly.
"Five grand." He said quickly.
Shock coloured my features and I didn't even try to compose myself. "You payed them five grand to leave me alone?!"
He nodded.
"Why?" I asked, moving closer to him.
"Because I'd do anything for you, Abby." He said simply.
Before I could even think of a response to that, I was kissing him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tangled my hands in his hair like I had been wanting to do all week. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him as our lips moved in sync, when--
"I'M HOME!" A voice yelled from the hallway, my bedroom door bursting open.
When the scene Jake was seeing processed in his mind, he stopped in his tracks, standing awkwardly in the middle of my room. I looked over at Alex and had to stop myself from laughing as all the blood drained from his face while he took in my older brother. I pursed my lips and turned to face Jake.
"Jake! Welcome home!" I said awkwardly.
He flashed me a smile before his face turned serious again, looking at Alex. "Who's this?"
"Uh, Jake, this is Alex." I mumbled. "My boyfriend."

19. Meeting The Family

“Uh, hi, I’m Alex,” Alex said awkwardly, clambering off the bed and holding out his hand.
In my head, I cringed. This was the one situation I was hoping to avoid. Well, this and my parents walking in.
“I’m Jake,” My brother replied, sounding somewhat sceptical.
“Nice to finally meet you,” Alex flashed Jake his charming smile. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Really?” Jake raised his eyebrows. “Like what?”
I took it on myself to save Alex from the fact that I never actually mentioned Jake before. “Did you seriously just come home because you didn’t want to miss my birthday, Jake?”
Jake looked offended. “What? Don’t you want me here?”
“Of course I do!” I defended myself. “I was just wondering. I mean, my birthday can’t be the only reason you came home.”
“Well,” he sighed, “Mum said you were acting… weird. Said it might be a good idea if I came home and kept an eye on you for a while.”
I gave him a perplexed look.
“Actually,” he stuttered, “her exact words were something like ‘strangely more confident’ and ‘not so anxious to go to school’ and ‘somewhat carefree’.”
“Why would she have a problem with Absidy being more confident in herself?” Alex asked.
“I dunno,” Jake shrugged. “I guess what she really wanted to know was why.”
“Does there have to be a reason?” I asked.
“Maybe not, but it looks like I found the reason earlier than I thought I would.” Jake said, looking at Alex.
I shook my head. “No. No. He’s not the reason.”
“Then what is?” Jake asked.
“It’s a long story,” I sighed.
“Not to mention incredibly complicated,” Alex put in.
“And confusing.” I finished.
“I’m a twenty-four year old male,” Jake pointed out. “You can’t expect me not to understand long, complicated, and confusing situations. I’ve been through more than enough of them.”
I looked over to Alex. I was just about to turn around and explain the whole situation to Jake when two sets of footsteps bounded up the stairs together and Mum and Dad appeared in my bedroom doorway, stopping in their tracks just as Jake had. I was just thankful they hadn’t walked in on the same scene that Jake had.
The four of us stayed still and silent for what felt like hours. I nearly gave a sigh of relief when my mum broke the awkward silence.
“You feeling better, Absidy?” She asked.
I was thankful that her first question wasn’t about Alex, but that also meant that I would still have to give an answer to who he was, because I knew it was the only answer she would actually want.
“Yeah, Mum, I think I’ll be fine to go out for dinner with you guys tonight.” I said, before motioning to Alex. “This is my, uh, boyfriend, Alex. He came over to see how I was doing.”
Mum raised her eyebrows. “Boyfriend?”
I nodded.
“How long has this been going on for, Absidy?” My Dad asked in such a serious tone, it was scary.
“Uh,” I looked at Alex, trying to think of technically, just how long ‘this’ had been going on. “…About three weeks?”
“How many times has he been over here without permission?” Dad asked.
“Twice.” I told him. Well, that was actually the truth.
“How many times have you been over to his?”
“I haven’t, Dad; I don’t even know where he lives.”
Alex raised his eyebrows. “You don’t know where I live?”
“Well, not exactly. I know like, the street and stuff because you catch my bus, but that’s it.” I explained.
“So you seriously don’t know where I live?” He asked incredulously.
“No, I don’t!” I laughed.
“Well,” Jake muttered under his breath. “That’s a great start to a relationship.”
“Actually,” Dad smirked, “it’s kind of reassuring.”
I gave a sigh of relief when Dad said that, but managed to hide it behind a laugh.
Dad walked over to my bed and held his hand out to Alex. “I’m Steve,”
“Alex,” Alex replied happily, “but I guess you already figured that out.”
“So you’re the one who makes Absidy feel ten times more confident and not worry about getting bullied at school anymore, huh?” Mum asked, a smile on her face.
I felt myself blush and looked down, hiding behind my hair.
“Well, uh, I suppose so,” Alex smirked, moving my hair out of the way so he could see my face.
I batted his hand away and continued to hide behind my hair until I felt the blush fade away.
“I saw that, little sister!” Jake announced loudly in triumph.
“Saw what?” I asked, looking up at him innocently.
He smirked. “You were blushing!”
I shook my head. “Trick of the light.”
He narrowed his eyes mockingly. “Sure it was,”
“Oh, stop bickering, will you?” Mum snapped. “We have company,”
Jake smirked again, still