Falling For My Stepbrother

Chapter Thirteen: Nothing But An Arrogant Jerk

Chapter Thirteen

My heart was pounding wildly. My voice caught in my throat. I had absolutely no idea on how to respond to Tyler's sudden outburst.

"Are you going to answer me or not?" Tyler Hudson demanded angrily. "Who on earth are you and what are you doing with my sister alone in my dad's house?"

I gulped. "I'm Annabella, you father's girlfriend's daughter. My mom and I moved here to Manhattan a few days ago. Ronald arranged for us to stay here for the time being, while our apartment is being set up and all,"

"Stop with all this bullshit! My dad hasn't been dating anyone since he and my mother split up. Hell he would have told me if he was. So quit lying." Tyler said scornfully.

My blood boiling, I spoke up. "Well, your dad is dating my mother. You better face the facts that I am living here in the mean time, whether or not you like it, pretty boy,"

Tyler stood up to his full stature, towering over me. His height intimidated me but of course I wasn't about to let him know that.

"You are one delusional and crazy bitch," Tyler muttered. "And don't think you're going to make some excuse that you're my sister's babysitter. She has only one babysitter, and that's my girlfriend Sarah. So run along, you trespasser, before things get really violent around here,"

"I'm not going anywhere," I said defiantly. "You're as wacky as hell. C'mon, Susie, let's go back to watching our television show,"

The little girl who had been standing there motionless, just puzzled by the exhange of words between Tyler and I, smiled happily. She bounded over to the couch, sat down close to me and fixed her eyes upon the television screen once more.

I sensed Tyler staring at us from where he stood. I could hear his deep, rasping breaths and I could tell that he seemed pretty angry.

To tell the truth, I was a bit scared of what a guy like him seemed capable of doing. But I had to protect Susie. If he tried to hurt her, his own sister, then he really didn't have a heart at all. If he hurt me, I would fight back with all I had. But of course Susie could not do that. She was just a little girl a mere three years old. She did not possess the willpower and stamina required in fending off rude pricks like Tyler.

I expected to hear him raging on once more, but instead I was completely stunned to what he said next.

"Susie, you want to go out for some ice cream like we always do?" He asked in a gentler tone of voice.

"No," Susie murmured.

"What? " asked Tyler.

"I said no," Susie whimpered.

Tyler strolled over to the cough where we were seated and picked up his sister gently in his arms. "Why not Suse? We always go out for ice cream together," He cooed. "Don't you want to celebrate having your big brother home? "

"Noooo! Put me down! I want to stay here with Anna!" Susie said, beginning to wail.

Tyler put her down. Susie scrambled over to me once more and buried her face in my lap, crying for no apparent reason. Oh, well. You know toddlers, they could be extremely cranky at times. It seemed as if Susie was having one of such moments.

All the time I had been discreetly listening to the exhange between the two.

I was clearly shocked that Tyler would have done something like that for his sister. I already had perceived him to be a mean spirited guy but perhaps there was a better side of Tyler that he rarely showed except to the people he really loved and cared about.

And Susie was one of those persons.

Seeeing his move of kindness towards his sister, I gained some courage enough to try and befriend the guy. After all, we were going to be living in the same house for quite sometime.

I glanced up towards the staircase, where Tyler was fetching his luggage and dared to give him a friendly smile.

Tyler scowled. "Quit smiling, bitch. Your grin is pretty disturbing!"

The smile disappeared from my face.

Appearing somewhat smug, Tyler continued his journey up the stairs. I glanced at his retreating figure until it disappeared, my eyes suddenly clouding up with tears.

I will not cry. I will not cry.

Gingerly, I brushed my few tears away. I knew I should ignore his insults, but that guy really knew how to wound a woman's pride, especially mine. I guess it came about from his reputation of being a player and all. But seriously, did he have to be so mean to me? All I wanted was to befriend him, not date him or anything of the sort.

Oh, really, Annabella?

Okay, so maybe I did think that he was extremely cute. In fact, Tyler was the hottest guy I had ever seen and met. Not to mention the most egotistical and arrogant one.

I clenched my jaws angrily. That boy makes me so mad, and I haven't even know him for fifteen minutes.

I made up my mind right there and then. I was going to ignore and avoid Tyler Hudson for the rest of my time here, except around Ronald and my mother. I really didn't need a prickly boy like Tyler ruining my life. Come to think of it, he and Sarah suited each other quite well.

I closed my eyes for a second, but the unwanted image of Tyler surfaced into my mind. His silky hair that made a girl just want to run her hands through it, his stunning, mesmerizing eyes, his tall, mucled physique...

God, I was drooling.

But I caught myself and pried my eyes open. Fuming.

Curse you for being so good looking, Tyler, I thought angrily.