Chapter 8: Only Him

\[Rue’s POV\]

I plaster a smile on my face and toss my long blonde hair over my shoulder as I move toward my target, and when I reach him, I take a seat on the lounge chair beside him.

Making it seem like I was just getting there and just happened to choose this spot, I get comfortable, and when I look over, I find him watching.

“Hello,” I smile, enjoying the way his eyes travel along my body. “You don’t mind if I sit here, right?”

“Of course not,” the guy smiles, his green eyes that are surrounded by thick dark lashes darkening. “I don’t mind at all. I was just thinking that I was a bit lonely.”

“Oh?” I ask, raising a brow. “Then I guess that I felt your need for a companion and just had to come over.”

As I speak, I peek toward where Mr. Owens is with my mom, and to my surprise, his gaze is on me.

For a moment, my heart rate kicks up speed while I wonder if maybe he is actually as aware of me as I am of him, but when the guy beside me laughs and then even lifts a hand and waves, I realize that maybe he isn’t staring at me.

Flushing, I turn my gaze back to my target, taking in his thick, messy locks and tan skin.

In a way, he kind of looks like a younger version of Mr. Owens, and I find myself wondering if maybe that was the reason I chose him.

“Do you two know each other?” I ask, deciding to test my theory. “The guy you just waved at, I mean.”

“I do,” he responds. “Do you?”

“I do,” I confirm.

“Really?” The guy asks, giving me a look of curiosity. “What a small world.”

“Yeah,” I agree as a shadow slowly starts to form around me, and when I look up, I find the man in question towering over me.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Eyes widening, I try to make sense of why he would ask me such a question, but as I open my mouth to respond, the guy sitting beside me laughs.

“Chill out, bro,” he chuckles. “She approached me first.”

“Approached you first,” Mr. Owens repeats in annoyance. “There’s no way a girl like her would approach an ass like you.”

“Ouch,” the guy laughs. “Is that any way you should talk to your little brother?”

Little… brother…

Did he just call this guy his little brother?

There was no way that out of all the guys that I could have approached at the pool, I managed to approach one related to Mr. Owens!

“When my little brother is attempting to flirt with my stepdaughter, I will.” Mr. Owens says, stabbing tiny little needles into my heart. “Go find another woman to try to prey on, but leave her alone.”

“Stepdaughter,” his brother repeats. “Did you just say that she is your stepdaughter? Are you?” He pushes, drawing my attention to him. “Are you really my new niece?”

Flinching, I try to stop the feeling of disgust that starts to form in me over this guy actually calling me his niece.

“No,” I snap, wishing that I could just leave. “I’m not your niece, and I’m not his daughter.”

As the words leave my lips, I feel a wave of shock rush through me from realizing just how awful what I said could actually sound.

“No!” I gasp, turning my gaze back to Mr. Owens and finding that it is colored with an emotion that is dangerously close to hurt. “I didn’t mean that… I just…”

I trail off, knowing that there wasn’t really any way to try to make what I said any better, and honestly, maybe this was for the best.

If he was mad at me, then he wouldn’t give me the chance to try to get closer to him, and honestly, that was what needed to happen right now.

“Just forget it,” I sigh, deflating. “I’m not your niece,” I repeat, hating the thought. “So, don’t call me that again.”

“Okay, okay,” the guy chuckles, though I see a glint of mischievousness in his eyes. “I won’t call you niece for the time being, but once you’ve properly accepted us as your family, I’ll try again.”

“That will never happen.” I tell him and then immediately regret my words again. “Just forget it.”

Giving up on any type of argument, I just collapse in my chair and then wait while Mr. Owens motions for his brother to get up and follow him.

Once they are out of sight, I start to take in the guys around me, wondering if I should try to find another to help me get over Mr. Owens, but when none of them catch my attention, I know that that won’t be happening.

Even now I understand that the reason I was willing to even give Mr. Owens’ brother a shot was because he looked like Mr. Owens. Which meant that in the end no one would be a good fit if they weren’t him or someone related to him.

“I’m so fucked up.” I mutter, hating myself for this realization. “I really hope this vacation ends soon.”

I shouldn’t have come. I knew that it was a bad idea, but my mother seemed so determined for the three of us to come together that I caved in. However, if she suggested something similar in the future, I wouldn’t be agreeing.

I would continue to keep my distance and even apply at a different school from the one that I originally wanted to go to so that I stayed as far away from Mr. Owens as I possibly could.

I could only hope that doing so would help me with this obsession, and if it didn’t, well, I would just have to deal with being alone for the rest of my life.

Sighing, I start to feel a void forming in me that makes me feel cold and alone even though the sun shines brightly down on me and I am surrounded by people.

It brings me back to my days in high school when I felt like this, and it only strengthens my love for Mr. Owens because during those dark and cold times he was my light and my warmth, but now, he was that for my mother instead of me, and that alone made me all the more lonely.