SEQUEL TO STRIPPING YOU AND YOUR LOVE!

DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU'VE FINISHED READING STRIPPING YOU AND YOUR LOVE!

(A/N: Just so you know, I am not English, nor American, therefore, my mother language is not English and it is Portuguese, a language completely different from English, so please, forgive me about some really bad (and stupid) mistakes that may appear in this chapter and/or in the next ones. Feel free to correct any mistake I may have in a review or in a PM message. Thoughtfully, Sin Girl7.)

www (dot) poisonousimpression (dot) blogs (dot) sapo (dot) pt

Check out Poisonous Impression for more information about the Writer, the Stories and the Characters.

Chapter 1

"... so, I hope you all have a good semester to start off this new and last year in college, where we will do everything to make you be ready for the workforce and of course…”

“Man, this is so boring… Why do all of them have to give us these lectures? It’s not like we don’t know this is our last year or something.” A young man, sat by his side, said. Since he didn’t answer, the young man kept going, “Are you at least listening to me? I know it’s hard to not fell asleep when they’re giving us the same old lectures, but you always pay attention to everything, Eric.”

Finally, the voice called Eric to reality, “I’m sorry, I was just thinking.” He turned his head at his side and looked at his best friend, Chad Prey. His brown eyes eyed him.

“You really are weird since the end of the last year. And I still haven’t figured out why.” Chad said, running a hand thought his messy light brown hair and then rubbing his fair face.

“I said I’m fine, Chad.” Eric whispered so that the teacher wouldn’t listen to them. “Besides, you don’t need to be always asking me what’s wrong and what happened. Lea is already responsible for doing that.”

Before Chard could give him a reply, the bell rang and they finally got up to go home since that was the last class of the day. While Eric was walking towards the exit, he paid attention to the teacher for the first time since the class had started. “Ok, so don’t forget next week I will pair you all to do an essay to start off the year!"

Great, it was the first week and the old man was already planning on making them do an essay. College had barely started and Eric was already tired of it. Then again, he was tired of everything and couldn’t think of anything that would make him not get tired or bored. The only one who could wake him up to life again was the only person he simply couldn’t have.

With his mind wondering on the same place again, Eric didn't notice he was going against the crowd. Some stepped aside from his way, but some didn't, for example, a woman who was coming right towards him.

It was too late to step aside from each other's way, the second they both looked at one another and crashed. "Ouch!" The woman said, the moment her head hit Eric's chest and let go of her books and papers.

"I am so sorry!" Eric said as he quickly bent down to help the young woman picking up her things. A bunch of books were between them. College had just started, what was she doing with all of those books?

The moment he placed a finger on one book, the girl immediately picked up that book and said, "I don't need your help! It was enough that you made me crash and let go of all of my things!

What the...? He hadn't done it on purpose!

When he finally looked at the face of the young woman to see who she was, Eric immediately knew why the woman had such a bad humor.

It was Brianna Anderson.

The official slut of the school.

This year, she belonged to his class, so he had to get used to her presence, and for what he knew about her, he had to get used to her bad mood, her cocky attitude and her cold and hard way. Not that he would talk to her, she was, actually, everything he despised in a woman.

"I was trying to help you, you know." Eric said, getting up. "I didn't make it on purpose." It was normal if she thought he had done it one purpose. A lot of the students of their college did these types of things to her, making fun of her in front of everybody, everyday, although when they went out at night, they used her to get laid. And she would let them have what they wanted. Weak.

"I don't care." She said arrogantly, when she finished picking up her books. She got up and looked at him. It was the first time Eric saw her this close, because he never wanted to get too close to this type of women. They would only arrange confusions and rumors.

Her black, curly long hair was messy; her dark brown eyes had nothing special in them. Although the day wasn't cold at all, her body was covered from her neck to her toes, not letting men see if she had or not a good body. Eric knew that she at least must have a good body, otherwise all the male students of the college, wouldn't want to get laid with her. They could be desperate to have sex, but they weren't that desperate to have sex with a girl who had an horrific body.

Eric must have spent a lot of time looking at her, because she suddenly said, "What? Do you want a picture or something?"

Geez, what a moron she could be. It was not polite to stare, Eric knew that, but he was just thinking and hadn't noticed he passed more than enough time looking at her.

"No, thanks." He said nothing more. Annoying women like her, weren't worth his time, unlike the woman he saw almost every day, by the end of it, at his house...

Without even looking at Brianna, Eric just forgot what had happened and moved on. After making his way outside the room, he found Chad and a blond girl, Lea, waiting for him.

"Why took you so long?" Lea asked when Eric approached them.

"Sorry." Lea seemed to not even care about his answer; she just linked arms with him and kissed his cheek.

Lea was a very interesting girl, and a very beautiful one. Who knew her, knew she was French and that this was her second year in the US. Today, her Barbie blond hair was in a ponytail, her dry green eyes had a green shadow in them and her fleshy lips glowed due to the lip gloss she had used that day. She had the body of a model and fair skin. Almost everyone thought she was arrogant when she looked at the wit her usual arrogant attitude, but when they would get to know her, she was actually nice, although in a cold way, sometimes. She only hated the ones who invented rumors about her, who said bad things about her with no reason at all and who stepped on her way.

"So, what are you guys doing for the rest of the day?" Lea asked when they started walking towards the exit of the college. "You want to go to the mall or something? Have dinner out?"

"No, thanks. I'm not in the good mood to go to the mall now... I think I'll go home."

"Already?" Chad elbowed him, "You've been so boring, Eric..."

"You bet," Lea supported him, "You don't even look the same anymore. I still haven't giving up from knowing what happened to you since last year was over."

"Lea, Chad, I am fine. Don't worry about me. It's just that I've been really tired lately." Yeah, right. Tired? Him? Only if he was tired of doing nothing. After the things that happened to him in the past months he had literally lost all reason to do something.

"You always say that but, I know you're not saying the truth. I know I only met you like... one year ago, but I can already tell when you're not fine."

“Whatever.” He said, trying not to pay attention to Lea. Both Chad and Lea spent their time in August and September trying to know what had happened to him, but 

Eric hadn’t told them anything. He didn’t want them to know what he’d made to the ones he loved.

When they exited the college, Chad said, “Listen, how about tomorrow night? Let’s go out to celebrate the beginning of our last year in college!” Lea and Eric gazed at Chad. Celebrate the beginning of another year they had to work on? As he noticed their looks, he quickly added, “Not that that is a good thing but… Just to ease our moods. Come one, Eric. It will be fun.”

“I’ll think about it later, ok?” It would be better to not say no right now. He knew Chad would be mad at him. After all, he hasn’t been a very good best friend, because best friends use to hang out a lot and Eric hasn’t done any of it.

Chad gave him a doubting expression, but Eric didn’t care. “Ok… Tell me tomorrow then…”

“Sure. Now, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Eric turned at Lea and kissed her cheek. People thought they both liked each other, but no. He was in no way in love for Lea. As for Lea… everybody knew she liked him. But Eric simple didn’t want to have anything with her. She wasn’t like the woman he wanted… and couldn’t have.

Then, after softly punching Chad’s arm, Eric said his last goodbyes and went to his car. The moment he unlocked it, he got in right away and started the engine. After seeing Lea sweetly waving her hand towards him, he drove back to his place.

It was five minutes driving, which was going to have to get used again, since college had started this week.

The moment he opened the door to get inside the house, he heard voices right away. And those voices seemed very excited about something.

As he walked down the hall and reached the main living room of his huge house, Eric recognized the voiced right away. His brother Jake, his mother Angeline and her...

"Are you sure? I mean, are they sure?" Eric leaned a bit and managed to look inside the huge living room.

His mother was looking at the couple and a huge smile lit up her face and usual dark green eyes. She and his brother stood in front of her, with their backs turned at Eric, so they couldn't see him. Eric preferred it that way.

"Of course they're sure, mom." It was his brother's deep and hard voice.

"Jake's right, Angeline. They are sure. Jake asked for the best to do the exam." Oh, her voice...

"Oh my god!" His mother seemed really excited now, "I'm going to have a granddaughter!"

So that was what they were talking about. Jake and his… fiancée had made an exam last week to know the sex of their baby... Eric was happy for them. He really was... After what they went through, mostly, because of him, they really deserved their own happiness now.

Eric turned around. He didn't want to disturb their happiness. He was sure that if they saw him, they wouldn't even smile at him or tell him the news. Eric understood them; he didn't deserve even a word from them after what he made them go through.

When he gave a step towards the direction of the staircase that would guide him to his bedroom, Eric crashed against someone, for the second time that day. This time, he wasn't the taller one, which meant that he had hit his nose against the butler of the house, Alex.

"Oh, hi Alex." Eric said, not too loud so that no one would hear him.

"Good afternoon, sir." Alex's blue eyes looked at him and he asked, "Have you heard about the good news? It seems that your brother Jake and Miss Roberts are going to have a baby girl."

"Yes, I have." Eric said quickly. He wanted to go to his room; he didn't want them to know he was there. "Well, I'm going to my room."

Eric passed by the butler and when he had almost reached the staircase, he heard, "With who were you talking to, Alex?"

Without stopping, Eric turned his head around and saw Alex answering and looking at someone inside the living room, "With Eric, Mrs. Dekker."

Before his mother could come and call him, Eric ran and went to his bedroom the fastest he could. He knew his mother would want him to go there and tell him the news, with Jake and her, right next to him. But he knew how much that would leave a heavy atmosphere around him and the couple, especially between him and his brother Jake. Even after what he did, after calling Jake to reality and stop him from committing the biggest mistake of his life by letting go of her... Jake still hadn't found any type of forgiveness for Eric.

Anyway, he deserved it. If he hadn't placed himself between his brother and the love of his life, he could still be good with his brother... and with her, even knowing he would still be in love for her. After falling in love for her, Eric never found anyone who could be like her. He couldn't simply take her out of his head. She was stuck in him. For Eric, she was the perfect woman for him... But she was already taken. And by his older brother, Jake.

As he placed his book over his desk, Eric decided to take a bath. His room had his own private bathroom, so he didn't need to get out of his room in order to take a bath.

It took more than one minute to take all of his clothes. Before he got in the bathtub, he saw himself in the mirror. He had purple bags under his eyes, he hadn't been sleeping a lot, his dark blond hair was getting too much long for his own taste and he was still tan due to being in his garden with his own pool there, the whole summer. As for his body, he wasn't taller than his brother nor had a more built body and that was due to the lack of working out. Eric only used to work with his brother when he still lived with him and his mother.

He took a bath really fast. He didn't like to be in the bathtub for a long time. If he wanted to do that, he could well go to his inside pool that would have warm water if he wanted.

When he walked out of the bathroom, he dried his body and dressed an old shirt and some shorts. After, he sat down in his bed. He had nothing to do now. Maybe he would watch a movie or something. Or go to the internet and talk with some of his friends. He would bet that his best friend Chad was there.

He got up and turned on the laptop. When he was going to sat down on his comfortable chair, someone knocked on the door. "Who is it?"

The person outside his bedroom answered, but it talked too low, because Eric didn't understand who it was. He walked till the door and opened it.

His heart stopped when he saw her standing in front of him, with a small and nervous smile on her face, "Hello Eric."

"Kimberly?" His breath was caught. He wasn't expecting she would be there, right in front of him...

"Can I come in?" She still spoke in a low tone of voice.

"Ah... of course." What did she want?

She walked in his bedroom and took a look around. She hadn't seen his bedroom in more than two months. Eric doubted she was there to see his room once again. He closed the door and Kimberly turned around to gaze at him.

Oh, she was beautiful and perfect.

Her red hair wasn't messy at all; it fell on her back and shoulders perfectly... She could still be pregnant of what... like three or four months, but she still had a good body. Not like the one she had before she got pregnant, but it was a good body for a pregnant woman. Her skin was less tan than him, but it was normal. Unlike him, Kimberly hadn't spent her summer on the beach. Her eyes... her stormy gray eyes could still take his breath away every time she looked at him. Her smile... even in the saddest days of his life, Eric was sure she could make him the happiest man on Earth with her smile... Damn.

She was unique in every aspect of herself.

"It isn't polite to stare, Eric." Still, she kept smiling nervously.

"I'm sorry." Yeah, he knew it wasn't polite to stare, but it was the second time he stared at someone that day, Brianna and Kimberly, although, the both of them had nothing to do with each other. Kimberly was perfect hot fire he would love to get burned on and Brianna was unknown ice who he definitely didn't want to be close to. "Hum... What are you doing here? I mean... in my room?”

“I came here to talk to you about something.” Her smile vanished right away. Eric felt his heart beating one hundred miles per hour, so he didn’t say anything; afraid he would make her go away. He needed to behave in front of her. “But, first of all, you mustn’t tell Jake about what we talked here.”

“Why not?” Wait a minute… He didn’t want to have any more problems between him and Jake…

“Because if Jake founds out that I came here to talk to you about this… He would kill me.”

“He’s not in the house?”

“Yes, he is. But he had to answer a call from the company, so I took advantage of that and I came here to talk to you.” Good thing it couldn’t be. Eric stayed quiet, and let her continue with what she was going to say to him.

She avoided looking at his eyes, but Eric didn’t. He couldn’t let go of the chance of having her in his room and not enjoy the view… “I know what you did for us. Jake told me you… went to his office after what happened between us.”

Oh, so that was the reason she had to talk to him. About the conversation he had had with his brother Jake the day his relation with Kimberly was almost broken forever.

“I know it has already passed two weeks since you talked to him, but I couldn’t speak to you sooner nor did I really have the chance to… have a private talk with you.”

“It’s ok, I understand you. But why can’t Jake know you came here to talk about that conversation I had with him?” She couldn’t possibly have found out about it on her own, because only him and Jake knew about the conversation, so Jake must have told her. But why was she afraid Jake would find out she was here, talking to him about their conversation?

“Because… when Jake told me about the conversation, right on the day we came back together, I said he should thank you.” Wow. Eric didn’t know Jake would thank him. “The problem was that he did not want to thank you.”

He lowered his eyes. But Kimberly didn’t care about his sad look and kept going. “We had a little fight about it. I thought he should thank you and Jake thought he should keep acting like hell to you, because you deserved it after what you did to us and-”

“Don’t you agree with him?”

“Don’t interrupt me, Eric.” She turned around, “My point is that… maybe Jake is overreacting a bit. I haven’t forgotten about what you made me go through, Eric. 

Don’t think I have put that behind my back and I want to be friends with you again, because that is not the point. I think that, at least, you deserve a thank you.”

“A thank you?”

“Yes.” Kimberly turned around again and her eyes were hard as hell, just like his brother’s eyes sometimes, “If it weren’t for you, me and Jake would probably still be torn apart. I know you called him out to reason and made him see that… we still had a chance to be happy. Even knowing what you made me go through when I lost my memory, you can’t possibly know how much grateful I am to you. I know Jake is grateful too, but… You know how he is.”

“Yes, I know.” A smile crossed his lips, “After all, I know him my entire life.”

“Yeah. Well… I wanted you to know that.” Kimberly quickly started walking and reached his door.

“Wait!” She stopped, but didn’t turn around. Oh, Eric knew the effort she had made to come here and face him all by herself, “Does that mean… you forgive me?”

Her answer came right away, “No, Eric. Nor Jake or I have forgiven you, because what you did… It really helped us ruin the relation me and your brother had. I hate you for what you made me go through, Eric. But, even knowing all of this, I can’t possibly ignore the fact that if it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t be with Jake now. So, you can’t possibly imagine how much grateful I am.”

“Yet, you still hate me.”

“Yes.”

“And my brother-”

“Jake hates you more than I do, Eric. And he is your own brother.” Oh, he knew that. He knew that his relation with Jake was practically ruined…

“Will you both ever… forgive me?” That was a long shot.

“I don’t know, Eric….” Kimberly turned around and faced him. Her face was serious and her voice calm, but nervous, “I really don’t know. I try to forget everything, but Jake simply can’t and doesn’t want to. He wants you to go through the pain he went through when we… broke up. Still…. Maybe time can make him forget what happened.”

Eric could see she doubted herself. He knew his brother. Jake never forgets anything. He always remembers everything. What could he do now that can make his brother forgive him? He loved Kimberly… but his brother… was family, his own blood, his best friend of all time. But Eric… he ruined all of that by falling in love with the same woman he already had taken for himself when he met her.

“I hope so.” He smiled weakly and saw her opening the door to go away from his room and himself. But when Kimberly was going to leave the room and when Eric saw her ready to walk away from his room, they both saw Jake, ready to knock on the door.

They both froze.

“You’re here.” He was talking to Kimberly.

“Yes.”

Not even asking for permission, his older brother walked in his bedroom and looked at him.

How could Kimberly fall for Eric, if Jake was better than him in everything?

His built and tall body shadowed his, making him feel smaller. Like Kimberly, Jake was less tan than him, but he had spent his summer working on the company their mother had passed to him. His hair was longer than what he remembered and kept being wild; Eric could still remember the times Jake was trying to comb his hair and kept mumbling about how he hated it this wild. His green eyes… oh they were a copy of 

their mother’s green eyes, but Jake’s were much… worse. They had darkened the moment he had seen Kimberly in his room and that wasn’t a good sign. Every time he wanted, he could scare the shit out a person when he wanted to.

“Hello.” Jake said after some seconds. “How are you?”

“Fine and you?” This was a start. Jake never talked to Eric unless he asked something and Eric barely talked to him. Maybe the fact that he had found Kimberly in his room made him talk to him… even if it was just for saying a hello.

“I’m good.” He turned at Kimberly, “I’ve been looking for you. What were you doing here?”

“I was just… telling your brother about the good news. After all he is going to be an uncle now.” Kimberly said, trying to not seem nervous about Jake finding her with him, but she and Eric knew, Jake could read her well enough, to know she was lying.

“I see.” Oh, yes, he was seeing she was lying to him. “Shall we go now? We have reservations for 8PM and you still have to get dressed, Kimmy.”

Kimmy: a name that only Jake could use; a name that only Kimberly let Jake use and only remembered her of him. Eric called her for that name for some time… until she discovered everything.

“Sure, baby.” Jake placed his arm over Kimberly. “Besides, we have a lot to talk.”

“Oh really?”

“Oh yes. Have you forgotten we have to start choosing a name for our daughter?”

Eric couldn’t help but to smile. His brother was going to have a baby girl! And he thought Jake was only going to be capable of making woman getting pregnant of boys! A baby girl! Who would’ve guessed?

“Of course I haven’t forgotten about that, Kimmy.” This time, he smiled. But it wasn’t for him; it was for Kimberly and only for her. “Let’s go, then.”

“Yeah.” Jake started to pull her towards the door, but Kimberly still had time to say, “Goodbye, Eric!”

“Bye!” He said with a smile, “Congratulations for the baby!”

She only waved. As for Jake, not even a word, look or even a gesture from him.

It was ok; Eric was already used to it. But at least, he knew now that both of them were grateful to him. As much as that seemed nothing to him, Eric knew that could be turned into something more than nothing. He only had to start working on it.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Here it is, guys! The first chapter of the sequel! And for the very first time, we saw how Eric feels regarding what he did to Jake and Kimberly! Oh, and we also saw Brianna, although we didn’t see much of her in this chapter. Oh, I assure you guys, she’s one hell of a character and I’m sure it’s going to be a challenge to write her, and as the chapters come, you guys will know why ;)

For now, we just took a quick peek into Eric’s life. But, I promise, the next chapter is going to be much more interesting, regarding Brianna and Eric. If this chapter seemed without action, if you guys have red my stories, you notice that first and second chapter almost doesn’t have anything that interesting, but in this story, the second one is going to be interesting ;) I promise you guys ;)

So please review, and let me know what you guys think of this first chapter and Eric’s first feelings turned out public ;) Thanks for everything and I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as you enjoyed SUL! :D Oh! I almost forgot! The pics and all of that jazz, are already available in my homepage ;)

www (dot) poisonousimpression (dot) blogs (dot) sapo (dot) pt

Check out Poisonous Impression for more information about the Writer, the Stories and the Characters.