My Stepbrother Wants Me-Chapter 154: A Pain In The As$

Catherine’s POV

Hearing him call me that name made me freeze for a second, while my throat bubbled up and down, until I remembered what he stood for.

Without replying to his comment, I turned around, "let’s head back in, they are waiting."

I stepped back into the room with Julian trailing a few inches behind me. Ethan was sitting in a plastic chair, his elbows on his knees and his face buried in his palms. He looked like a man waiting for a death sentence. Tessa was still on the bed, her eyes red and vacant, staring at the white tiled floor.

The moment the door clicked shut, Ethan’s head snapped up. He stood up so fast the chair screeched against the floor.

"Is it time?" His voice cracked as he looked at Julian, then at me, with a desperate kind of fear. "Did you talk to the doctor? Is everything ready?"

Tessa’s breath hitched. She pulled her knees tighter to her chest, her whole body beginning to tremble again. She looked at me with a silent plea that made my chest ache.

"We’re leaving, Ethan," I said. My voice was firm, leaving no room for argument.

Ethan blinked, looking confused. "Leaving? You mean... they moved the appointment? Or are we going to a different room?"

"No," I said, stepping closer to him so he could see the seriousness in my expression. "We are leaving the clinic. Right now. There is no appointment. There is no procedure. We’re taking Tessa home."

Ethan’s face went pale. He looked at Julian as if he expected him to step in and correct me. "Julian? What is she talking about? I thought you said this was the only way."

Julian shifted his weight, shoving his hands into his pockets. He didn’t look Ethan in the eye at first. "Catherine made some points, Ethan. Points I couldn’t argue with. We have a plan."

"A plan?" Ethan’s voice rose an octave. "What plan? A plan to ruin my life? If that baby is born, I’m out on the street. My uncle will disown me. I have no job, no degree, nothing. How am I supposed to take care of a kid?"

I stepped into his line of sight, forcing him to focus on me. "Listen to me, Ethan. I’ve done the math. The semester ends in early May because of the elections. That’s five months away. Tessa won’t even be showing by then. No one at school will know. No one in the family will know."

Ethan shook his head frantically. "And after that? What about the summer? What about the next year?"

"The summer break gives us another two months," I continued, speaking calmly to counteract his panic. "That’s seven months total. Tessa can take a medical leave in the fall. She can have the baby in private, recover, and come back. By the time anyone sees her again, it will be over."

"And the money?" Ethan asked, his voice shaking. "Who pays for the hospital? Who pays for the food? I don’t have a cent that doesn’t come from my uncle’s hand."

"I do," Julian said.

The room went silent. Ethan turned to look at his best friend. Julian stepped forward, his expression hardening into a cold, decisive mask.

"I’m backing this, Ethan," Julian said. "I’ll handle the financial side. Medical bills, living expenses, whatever you guys need to keep this quiet. You’re my best friend. I’m not going to let you drown because of this."

Ethan looked like he had been struck. He looked at me, then back at Julian, the sheer weight of the offer sinking in. It was clear that to Ethan, Julian’s word was law. If Julian said it was possible, he would believe it. The terror in his eyes started to recede, replaced by a stunned, shaky kind of hope.

"You wanna do this for us, man?" Ethan whispered. "Really?"

"Yes," Julian confirmed. "And for the kid. Catherine is right. We don’t discard people just because things get messy."

I felt a strange jolt in my chest at his words. But he discarded me when things got messy.

Tessa let out a sob, but this time it wasn’t a sound of fear. It was pure relief. She slid off the bed and threw her arms around me, burying her face in my neck.

"Thank you," she cried. "Thank you, Catherine. Thank you."

I held her tight, feeling the tension finally leave her small frame. Over her shoulder, I saw Ethan walk over to the bed and sit down, his head dropping into his hands again, but this time he was breathing. He looked like a man who had been given a second chance at life.

"Come on," I said, smoothing Tessa’s hair. "Let’s get out of this place. I can’t stand the smell of it anymore."

We gathered our things and walked out of the clinic. Julian led the way to the car, unlocking the doors. I helped Tessa into the back seat, and Ethan climbed in beside her. They sat close together, their hands entwined, finally looking like a couple instead of two victims.

Julian got into the driver’s seat, and I sat beside him. The drive back was much quieter than the drive there.

We dropped Ethan and Tessa off at his apartment and I made them promise to call me every single hour to check in, then gave Tessa a long hug before leaving her.

When I got back into the car, it was just Julian and me. The silence between us felt different now.

Julian pulled away from the curb but didn’t head toward the estate immediately. He drove for a few minutes before pulling over into a quiet side street. He turned off the engine and leaned back, exhaling a long, slow breath.

"Well," he said, staring straight ahead at the windshield. "We’re officially in the business of keeping secrets for our friends. Hopefully, Richard doesn’t get too nosy and finds out."

"He won’t find out," I said, looking at his profile. "Unless you tell him."

Julian turned his head to look at me. "I’m not the one you have to worry about, Catherine. I’ve been keeping secrets from him since I was ten years old. It’s a survival skill in our house."

I shifted in my seat. "Why did you agree to it? Truly? You suddenly believe in me?"

Julian looked away, a small, cynical smile playing on his lips. "Not really... you should have seen your face. You looked like you were ready to set the building on fire if I said no. And because..." He paused, his voice dropping. "Because for a second, when you were talking about protecting them, you sounded like the only person in this whole city who actually knows what matters."

I felt my heart skip a beat. I wanted to say something biting, something to remind him that I was still angry about Lucy and the gala, but the words wouldn’t come. The "Wildcat" comment from earlier was still ringing in my mind.

"We’re partners in crime now, I guess," he said, turning back to the steering wheel.

"Don’t get used to it," I muttered, though there was no heat in it.

Julian let out a short, dry laugh and started the engine. "I know you are mad at me but you might have to keep that aside because we have a project at hand."

"Shut up!"

"No. You’ve dragged me into the mud with you. You better get used to the view."

My jaw tightened in pure annoyance. This moron was about to be pain in my ass.