BRANDON: Stepbrother Navy Romance Series (6 page)

Thing had been looking up for Jackie and Brandon after their confession. The two of them realized that they did care for one another, and that they would stick together regardless of what was going to happen next. They both knew that it was going to be awkward for them, especially if their parents found out about this.

“Shit, mom and dad are going to kill us,” Jackie said to herself. It had been about three weeks since the decision, and Jackie was starting to show a very tiny bit, with a little bit of pudge in the general area. She didn’t know what to do, especially since she wondered how long it was going to be before their parents invaded again.

“you know, I think it might be best if we don’t tell them though. I don’t want them to realize that we did this, because it could cause us to have a lot of issues. But we do need to start budgeting out the way we’re going to live. Especially if our parents find out. I know that if they find out about you, they will take away any and all funding that we’ve had in the past, and there goes everything. I know that your mother is trying to see the good in having me here, but I know that my dad won’t have it. He’s already pissed that I’m back. You remember that. It’s best if we don’t anger the beat anymore and try to work out a solution to everything,” he explained.

Even though she didn’t want to admit it, he was right. Brandon was looking at his with foresight. If their parents found out, they could be pretty much persecuted for what they did. She knew that her mother wasn’t’ too happy with her life choices, and this would only throw a wrench into everything. Jackie just hoped that things wouldn’t become terrible because of it.

“We should start to budget. It will save us a lot of heartache in the future if worst comes to worst,” she replied.

That’s what they started to do. Over the next month, Jackie and Brandon started to budget out, with the money that Jackie was getting and the one from Brandon’s job. He made some money, and for now they would be okay, but the truth of the matter was, they didn’t know how long this was going to last. What was it going to be like to have a kid? She was going to be a parent, and this was something that scared her more than anything.

“I’m honestly terrified,” Jackie told Brandon.

“you don’t have to be scared. I mean I know what it’s like. It is a bit nerve-wracking, but we need to stay strong. We have to keep ourselves in check, and worst comes to worst, we’ll do what we need to do in order to have a happy, successful life,” he explained to her.

As much as Jackie wanted to agree with him, she was honestly terrified of the results. It wasn’t going to be some little walk in the park, and already they were struggling despite it all. Jackie might have to get a job, which was going to be a nightmare with schoolwork. Oh well, it was the price that she would have to pay for this sort of thing, and Jackie would just have to deal

But the real problem came a bit later. Jackie and Brandon did start to budget, and Jackie was sitting in the living room working on it. She was writing down the things she needed soon, such as baby formula, diapers, and clothing for the child. She also wrote down what she was going to need in due time, such as prenatal vitamins, and the appointments that were coming about. It was going to be rough, that’s for sure. This wasn’t some little thing, but Jackie wanted to make it work. He wanted to make it work as well, and that’s what made Jackie smile. She knew that Brandon did care, and although they haven’t started to say that they loved one another, Jackie was always thinking about that.

She wondered if he did love her. She assumed so, but at the same time she was a bit afraid of what might come about if she did tell him that. She was definitely not used to the fact that it was going like this, and it definitely did make her feel a bit nervous because of the fact that she was making a decision like this. She wondered what Brandon thought about it all, how she was practically dragging him into this mess, and a part of her felt terrible for doing that.

She didn’t want to seem like she was dragging him, but that’s how she thought. She wondered if she was, but she was afraid to talk with him about that, and Jackie was definitely worried about this. Brandon would be home in a bit, and maybe just talking with him could give her the reassurance that she wanted, the surety that it was going to be okay in the future.

However, there was a knock at the door. Jackie got up, pulling her shirt over her small pudge and heading toward the door. She went to it, checking the peephole for what she saw.

Shit.

It was her mother. What the hell was she doing here? This made no fucking sense. The last thing that she wanted was for her to barge in on her daughter’s life. This was getting out of hand, and Jackie was just about ready to scream.

“Fuck,” she stated to herself.

She was going to wait for her to go away, but the woman stayed there. There was no way she would be able to let her go. This was getting ridiculous. Her own mother was now hanging around her house. Jackie knew that she had to bite the bullet, so she opened her door and looked at her mother.

“Hey mom,” she said with mock enthusiasm. Rather, she wanted the woman to go away, along with her husband.

“Hey there Jackie. Mind if I come in?” she asked.

Jackie nodded, watching as her mother sauntered into the place. She immediately beelined over towards where Jackie was sitting, and then the thought at that moment shocked Jackie. She was going to see it, the fact that Jackie was pregnant and that she was going to have to think about how to deal with this.

“How are you my dear? You look tired,” her mother stated.

“Fine mom. Just been working hard. What about you?” she asked her mother, trying to feign excitement to see this woman. Of course she was far from excited at the moment.

“Awful really. Your father has been nothing but a pill about things, asking about you. How are things with your stepbrother?” she asked. There was venom in her words as she asked Jackie about that.

“Well Brandon is great. He’s been very helpful to this household. He hasn’t done anything too terrible,” Jackie admitted. Other than getting her pregnant of course.

“Fine. You can continue to defend that bastard. He’s nothing but a coward to your father and I,”
she told Jackie.

“Well maybe you just have to learn to respect others and not be a douche to them. Your husband should learn that as well,” Jackie said back with the same attitude.

“You’ve grown quite the attitude since you’ve moved out. It’s frankly rather annoying,” her mother stated.

“Not as annoying as you coming to my house and butting into my business. Why the hell are you here anyway?” Jackie asked.

“I’m here to just see you. You’ve been acting very weird. And what’s this on the table? Are you starting to budge? I thought you had everything that you needed,” her mother asked.

“Well I wanted to become more responsible mom. I don’t want to live a life where I’m just relying on you. Once the funding gets cut off, I want to make sure that I can survive on my own. Plus it’s a good skill to have,” Jackie admitted.

“You do have a point. But what is this about baby diapers and food? Are you helping out a friend or something?” she asked Jackie.

Shit. She saw it. Jackie gulped, looking over at her mother with a stare.

“Well yeah. I had a friend who recently had a child and I wanted to assist them,” she replied.

She looked over at Jackie, analyzing her. Jackie tried to feign a smile, but then her mother shook her head.

“Don’t lie to me Jackie. Who is the real pregnant person that you’re buying this shit for in the future? Something tells me that you don’t give enough of a fuck about your friends to do that sort of thing,” her mother stated.

Jackie paused, realizing that this was definitely not what she was expecting. Finally, she sighed.

“It’s none of your damn business,” Jackie said.

“Yes it is. Or is it you that’s pregnant?” her mother asked in a biting manner.

At that moment, all Jackie could do was stare. How the hell did she figure that out? This was getting out of hand, and Jackie already wanted to go and cry in a corner.

“I hit the nail on the head didn’t I?” she asked.

Jackie tried to figure out what to do. Should she tell her? Or should she play dumb? Her mother practically already knew, and Jackie was so bad at lying it wasn’t even funny. With a heavy sigh, she looked at her mother, shaking her head.

“Yeah mom. It’s me. I’m pregnant.”

The room was silent for what seemed to be forever. Jackie looked over at her mother, but her mother didn’t stay a damn thing. It was definitely getting to her, and she hated when her mother played silent.

“I can’t fucking believe this. I thought you knew better than that!” she screamed at Jackie.

“Well sorry mom. People make mistakes. That’s why I refused to tell you to be honest. I knew that this shit was going to happen,” she admitted.

“Well I’m surprised that it’s you. I thought that Brandon would be the first one to tell us that we were going to be grandparents,” she replied.

What Jackie wanted to say was that he would be the first one too, but she kept her mouth shut.

“Well yeah, that’s why I didn’t want to tell you. I knew that you would react like this. It’s not worth it to be stressed out by the person I’m supposed to call mother, only to be told that I’m a piece of shit for doing what I did,” Jackie spat back.

“You are a piece of shit for what you did. You know better than that, and you ended up getting knocked up. Si that why he still lives here?” her mother asked Jackie. Of course she wouldn’t refer to her stepbrother by his name. The two of them seemed to hate Brandon, and Jackie was the only one that cred.

“Well he wanted to live with me. He knows, but he supports me. Hell he supports me better than you,” Jackie spat back.

“Well consider your funding cut my dear. I’m not funding my whore of a daughter only to see her galvanizing around getting pregnant. I’m going to have your father come. I can’t wait to see how he reacts,” she said to her.

Jackie was shocked. She couldn’t believe that her mother was acting like this. Her heart swelled with worry, and she didn’t want to tell her mother that Brandon was the father. This would only make things worse, and Jackie knew that she would have to protect him at all costs.

She heard the familiar sound of a car in the parking area. Jackie looked, and sure enough it was Brandon. A sigh of relief flooded over her face, and she could see her mother on the phone. Great, so the parents were probably going to find out, and Jackie and Brandon were going to be screwed.

Not if Jackie could help it though. She would take the fall if it meant that she could protect Brandon. She was going to let this man get the shit end of the stick too because of this, but of course Jackie wouldn’t be able to prevent that. Instead, she knew that she was going to have to lie in order to save their skin, but this wasn’t going to be a good thing at all. Jackie knew that it was going to be hard, and Jackie would have to make a choice. Was it going to be okay? Or was it going to be terrible.

Brandon walked in, and immediately he froze. He turned to Jackie, wide eyes. It didn’t take much for Jackie to simply nod, and Brandon understood right away. They were both fucked, at least in the sense of keeping everything a secret from the parents. Now it was time for their father to come on in, and Jackie would soon have to lie in order to protect her stepbrother.

Jackie was scared. What were they going to do to him? She had no idea what, but it wasn’t something good, that she was sure of. He was looking at Jackie with a worried glance, but Jackie tried to convey that everything would be okay. Within moments, there was another car that pulled up, and sure enough, it was their father.

He was looking red in the face, obvious to Jackie that he knew about what had happened. Well, this was going to be interesting, that’s for sure, but Jackie knew for a fact that she could probably save both of their necks if she took the fall. As long as Brandon didn’t say a damn word, then she would be okay.

Her father came up, slamming the door and turning to Jackie, his stepdaughter.

“What the hell are you doing Jackie?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” Jackie replied.

“Don’t play dumb with me you little skank. You’re out getting pregnant on our dime? Why didn’t you use birth control? What the hell?” he asked.

“Sorry dad. It was an accident. I didn’t want to tell you guys because of the backlash that would come about. It wasn’t going to be easy for me to hide this, but it’s better than the reaction that I’m getting right now,” she told him.

“Well that’s because you’re about to learn your place,” he replied.

“Don’t be rude to her dad. She made a mistake. Honestly, I can’t believe how unsupportive the two of you are. I can’t believe that you would just leave your own daughter like that. Sure one of you has her by marriage, but the other is by blood, and I know that she made a mistake, but at least show some fucking empathy,” Brandon replied.

“Brandon, stay out of this,” Jackie stated. She was just trying to protect him.

“No I want to hear what my failure of a son has done. Why are you even here right now? Don’t you have shit to ruin?” he asked Brandon in a rude manner.

“You only think that because you don’t believe me when I say that I actually am helping Jackie. I’ve done a lot to improve her life, and I can’t believe that you would just throw her away like this. It honestly sickens me,” he told his father.

“That’s because, unlike you or your stepmother, she has fucked up. She can’t keep her damn legs closed,” he said.

“Yes, this is a fitting reaction for when they see their child fuck up. I for one am totally disappointed. I can’t believe that she did this sort of thing. Disgusting,” her mother stated.

“Well what’s disgusting is the way you’re treating Jackie. It’s really gross, and I won’t have it,” Brandon replied.

“Well this isn’t your fault,” Brandon’s father stated.

“It is my fault,” he replied.

“Well yeah, why didn’t you protect her? Did you want her to get pregnant as well? What kind of maniac are you?” Jackie’s mother screamed at him.

“I’m not a maniac! I’m just—”

“Don’t Brandon,” Jackie replied.

“No Jackie, I think it’s time that we told them,” Brandon stated.

“and what’ that, my failure of a son?” Brandon’s father stated.

“well you don’t know who the father is,” Brandon retorted.

“I was about to ask that. Who is the father? I want to kick his ass,” Brandon’s father stated.

Jackie wanted to tell him to stop, to fight back and tell him that this is her battle, but the truth is, she wasn’t able to. It was scary to her, and it wasn’t what she expected, that’s for sure. Jackie was terrified by everything, but then, Brandon spoke.

“The father is me, dad. I’m the father of her child,” he said.

At that moment, the whole room went silent as their parents tried to process what just happened.