Chapter 73

Read In Love With My Evil Stepbrother Chapter 73 – Homeless I almost stutter, “M–Mr. Johnson, what are you doing here?”.

He picks up his baseball bats and points it at me, “What does it seem like? I’m here to move you out of my house! Hurry up! Don’t make me force you.”

I take a step back, staring at his baseball bat warily. Mr. Johnson is a little hot tempered, yes, but I didn’t think of him as someone who would beat the shit out of his tenants just because they missed one payment.

“What are you doing with that bat?” I ask carefully keeping my safe distance with him. “There’s no need for that. I-I can call the police!”

He rolls his eyes at me, “Cut the crap little girl. I don’t hit woman, but if you keep mooching off me, I might lose my temper. So get moving, now!”

“Please, Mr. Johnson. Just one more chance. I promise you I’ll get the rent ready by the end of this month. Something happened at work, and I didn’t “NO!!” he roars, covering his eyes with his hands. “No excuses! You said the same thing last month and you still came back empty-handed. I sent you an evacuation notice a week ago so technically, I’m on the legal high ground here! Call the police or a f**king lawyer if you want, but you are still moving out, TODAY!”

I clench my backpack and stand there still, fighting with my own embarrassment. He’s right. I didn’t pay for my rent on time so technically he can throw me out anytime he wants.

But why today? Why make things worse for me when they are already bad enough?

“Oh god,” Mr. Johnson mumbles frustratedly, waving his bat like a whip.“ You are not crying, are you?

Don’t make me seem like the bad guy here. Come one, hurry. Let’s get you start packing.”

I drag my steps to the door and open the door with my keys. He follows me in, starting to check up on everything while I pack my stuffs.

My mind is a mess the entire time. This is the first time I get thrown out. What should I do? Well, I have class tomorrow morning so I can probably huddle up on a bench in the park for tonight and go straight to class, that is if I don’t get frozen to death under this weather. I’ll have to find another job and live in a motel before I get settled down again…

How much does a motel cost again?

While I’m thinking all these, Mr. Johnson comes out of the kitchen and says to me gruffly, “Well, no wallpaper damage, no busted toilet, no f**king blood stains on the carpet. You are not a bad tenant, that I must say.”

“…Yet you are still kicking me out,” I close my suitcase and murmurs.

“I can’t have you live here for free, can I? What would my other tenants think? So, are you ready to go?”

I only have three suitcases and one backpack. He helps me with the heaviest one and escorts me downstairs.

Once we are at the ground floor, he turns to me and asks, “There’s a cheap motel three blocks away.

You need a ride?”

I hesitate a little and say yes. I’m really not in the mood to walk another three blocks under this weather.

“You should be thankful that I have a daughter about your age,” he grunts and pushes open the entrance door for me.” I’m not normally this nice to tenants, you know? I usually just beat them out with my bats, and what the hell?”

He suddenly snaps and scares me a bit. I follow his gaze and then see a black Audi parked right in front of the entrance of the building.

It’s Eason’s car.

I’m literally too shocked to say a word.

It’s almost 2 in the morning, two hours after he dropped me off!

What’s he still doing here?

Mr. Johnson glares at the car and huffs,“ Who parked the f***king car here! Can’t he see the No Parking sign? What if an ambulance needs to come through? Screw it, I’m having it towed!”

“Wait…” I try to stop him.

The next second, the car door flies open, and Eason jumps off the car. There are black circles under his eyes for the lack of sleep. Now his face is filled with rage as he strides over to us and drags me behind his back with one hard pull.

“Lose the bat!” Eason snarls to Mr. Johnson. “And drop her bags down! Now!”

Mr. Johnson widens his eyes in shock and roars back, “Who the f***k are you?!”

Eason narrows his eyes dangerously at Mr. Johnson and then whispers back to me, “Get in the car, Natalia.”

There seems to be a misunderstanding. I place my hand on his shoulder and immediately feel his hard muscle flexed under the shirt. He is really tensed up right now.

“Seriously! Who is this d*uch*bag?” Mr. Johnson shouts.

I quickly step in between them before things get out of control, “Eason calm down! I know him. He is my landlord.”

Eason snaps his head around and frowns at me, clearly not buying my words.“ Your landlord? What’s he doing here 2 o’clock in the morning with all your belongings and a baseball bat?”

Before I can answer, Mr. Johnson grumbles in a surly voice, “Why don’t you ask your little girlfriend? If she pays her rent on time, I’d be home sleeping right now!”

Me and Eason blurt out simultaneously:

“…I’m not his girlfriend!”

“She didn’t pay for her rent?”

We exchange an awkward glance with each other and quickly look away. I can feel my cheek burning with embarrassment.

Mr. Johnson lets out a snort, “Alright. It seems that you guys clearly know each other. Kid, take her home tonight if you can. She just went homeless. And move your damn car.”

With that said, he drags his steps away, not paying any attention to the ugly look on my face.

Why the hell does he have to mention to my ex that I’m “homeless”????

Great, now I’m not only alone and single, but also poor and broke.

Eason slowly turns his head at me,“ Natalia, what did he mean by homeless?”

“…Doesn’t concern you.” I murmur.

Why is he still pestering me about this? Can’t he just let it go?!

I move forward to kick up my bags, but he grabs my elbow from behind and forces me to face him, “Where are you going? Did you just get kicked out? Talk to me, Natalia!”

“Enough!!” I cry out furiously, shaking his hand off and taking a few steps back.

I’ve been trying to contain my feelings till we met.

But I can’t help it anymore.

“Seriously!” I roar to his face. “Why are you still here? Why waited me at the restaurant?! I know we used to f**k each other but everything is in the past! Now you are like a total stranger to me! So stop bothering me!! If you want to show off your hot girlfriend and how successful you are, mission completed! Now can you just f**king leave?!!”

My shrill and wild yelling echoes in the empty street, like a siren scaring off a few stray cats in the corner.

And he stands there still during the outburst, slightly lowering his head, making it hard for me to see the look on his face.

He must be thinking how pathetic and ridiculous I am.

I struggle to pick up all three suitcases and march into the rain, stumbling forward. I don’t know where I’m going. I just want to be away from Eason, as far as possible.

All I was asking is to have a little dignity. But that’s not gonna be possible since he just saw the ugliest side of my life.

I wonder around on the street with three giant suitcases, soaking myself under the rain. The cold rain shower calmed me down a little, and I began to regret my outburst.

Honestly, yelling at him doesn’t make any sense. He was probably just trying to be nice to me since I’m still his stepsister. But I made a whole speech about him pestering me and how we used to f**k each other, making it seem like that I still care, So stupid, Natalia.

I finally arrive at a bus station before freezing to death. Dropping all my bags on to the ground, I slump onto the bench, staring into the dark night and starting to think what to do.

Just then, a bright flashlight pierces through the night. I turn around. It’s his black Audi again, slowly approaching and finally making a stop in front of me.

He has been following me.

At this point, I’m already passed the stage of rage. I can only stare numbly at him, as he exits the car and walks up to me.

Tatocci..

He takes off his coat and wraps it around me before sitting down.

We sit there silently for a moment, listening to the splattering sound of rain fall.

Eventually, I ask lowly and exhausted,“ Why are you still following me? I thought I made my point perfectly clear.”

He sighs deeply, “You think I can just let you walk away like that? You were alone and hom_»

“Don’t say that word!” I warn him sternly.

“—and clearly facing some troubles. I can’t just watch and do nothing.”

“But why not?” I ask, utterly confused.” Why do you care?”

That question has been hunting me till we met.

He is kind to me, almost too kind. It makes me wonder if he is secretly plotting something else against me, like in the old days.

Hearing me asked that, he lapses into another round of silence. His elbows rests on his knees, making his shoulders seem very broad and his firm muscles very apparent under the shirt.

He has grown to become a man now.

Eventually, he speaks up slowly, “Does it surprise you? That I’m nice to you now?”

“…A little.”

He heaved a long sigh and smiles faintly, “Don’t worry. I’m not scheming anything evil against you. I’m nice to you because… well, I’m trying to make it up for my mistakes in the past. You are right, we’ve both moved on. But you are still my sister and the victim of my wrongdoing. I can’t stand by idly knowing that you are in trouble.”

He sounds sincere.

But do I trust him? I don’t know, maybe.

Yet one thing I do know is that my heart is aching with sadness and pain hearing him call me his sister and nothing else.

“So, what’s your plan?” he asks. “You can’t stay here all night.”

“There’s a motel a few blocks away. Can you give me a ride?”

He stares at me quietly.

“What?”

“I was just wondering…” he begins slowly.“…would it be extremely inappropriate if I invite you to my place?”