THE BAD BOY AND THE CHEERLEADER

THE BAD BOY AND THE CHEERLEADER - CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 19:

CALEB'S POV:

Shit, my dad just caught me making out with his stepdaughter. In my opinion, we are doing nothing wrong, but I know he and Julie may not see things the same way. Hell, they definitely won't. From the look on my dad's face, I can't tell what he's thinking, besides shock.

My dad's face turns from shock to seriousness, "Caleb, in the study. Now." My dad turns around and walks to the study.

I look down a Gianna, who is looking nervously back up at me. Fuck them. I give Gianna a quick kiss and a reassuring smile, then I follow my dad. I shut the door behind me and stand defiantly, instead of taking a seat. I decide that I have no reason to defend myself, so I wait for him to break the silence.

"Gianna's a good girl," my dad says.

"I know," I say.

"How serious are you about her?" he asks.

"Very," I say.

"You have to end it," he says.

"No," I say.

My dad sighs, "Caleb, if it were up to me, I'd leave the two of you alone, but Gianna isn't my daughter. She's Julie's daughter and I know that Julie would not like the two of you dating."

"Too late, we already are," I say.

He rakes a hand through his hair, "What am I supposed to do? You're my son and she's my wife. I also care about Gianna and Chance."

"We aren't doing anything wrong," I tell him.

"But, if you hurt her . . ." he says.

"I won't." I say.

"Does she plan on telling her mother?" he asks.

"Not yet," I tell him. "We wanted to give ourselves time to adjust to this ourselves."

My dad sighs again, "Okay, I won't say anything to Julie yet, but this can't stay a secret forever. Her mom has a right to know. I have a feeling things may get bad when she does find out. We'll just deal with that when the time comes."

"Thanks dad," I think my dad is shocked by my gratitude. We haven't been close since he and my mom divorced.

I find Gianna in the living room and relate the conversation I had with my dad to her. She is relieved that he will stay quiet about it for now.

Later that night, when Julie and my dad are downstairs watching a movie with Chance, Gianna and I are in her room. I'm sitting at her desk and she is standing behind me, looking over my shoulder. I'm following her instructions, drawing a sketch of the tattoo she wants. She seems kind of shy about it. I think it's cute. She's having me draw a boom box with wings.

"Where are you going to get it?" I ask her.

"I'm not sure yet," she says, looking down. "But definitely somewhere that my mom won't see it."

"All of this hiding things from your mom is really getting on my nerves," I mumble. "Maybe we should just lay it all out. She has to find out eventually."

"No! You can't do that!" she says and I narrow my eyes at her. Is this about more than me being her stepbrother? Will her mom think that I'm not good enough for her precious angel?

"Fine," I say. "What about school? Are we going to hide it there also?"

"I'll let you decide. I don't care either way," she says.