Stepbrother Bestie (A Stepbrother Romance Novel) (42 page)

At this, I rolled my eyes and shoved him
until he fell over onto the sand. He laughed as his body slid into the soft
ground, but I was too concerned with the feeling of my hand against his bare
skin. The warmth of it, even though the touch was small and not the least bit
intrusive, was electrifying.

I didn’t understand why, but as my hand
pressed against his shoulder and I pushed, I felt a strong, overwhelming
sensation of need, allure and excitement overtake me.

Flashes of notable fragments from the
night before bounced in and out of my memory, almost as though I had tried to
block them out and they were now coming back.

However, consciously, I had made no
attempt to block him out…block us out, for as wrong as I knew our actions were,
I still couldn’t bring myself to completely accept that I shouldn’t do it
again. And that was what made me so fearful of what I might do next.

When Tyler turned to look up at me, he
stopped and gazed heavily into my eyes. I allowed him to do this, but not
purposefully in the least.

I didn’t want to look at him and I
certainly did not want him to give me the sense of uneasiness and allure that I
felt in my stomach as he gazed back at me.

Without breaking this intense eye contact,
Tyler sat up and I thought that he was going to reach out his hand, but I
recoiled.

Finally, I was able to blink, which broke
the hypnotizing stare that he held on me. “Well, it’s settled then, I guess. We
should talk about where to go from here, but now is not the place and frankly,
I’m not sure when I will be ready to talk to you about it.”

If I didn’t know Tyler as well as I thought
I did, I would have sworn that I saw a glaze of disappointment haze over his
eyes before he answered, in a cocky fashion, “So, I guess that means you’re not
going to be staying here with me?”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t think that I
can. Not now, at least.”

He nodded, but answered, “Sucks for you.
Days at the beach with me are fucking awesome!”

I smiled at him, almost wishing that I
could stay, before I nodded once and answered, “Yeah, Tyler. I know.”

I got up and walked away, before I gave
myself half a chance to change my mind.

Chapter
30

Tyler

When she walked away, I hated that I felt
a pang in my chest. I had done pretty well, keeping all of those damn feelings
inside of me, but now that she had rebuked my advances, I wasn’t sure what I
should do.

She said that she wanted to talk. That was
fucking good; right?
I truly believed that on
some level, even though she knew she had fun with me the other night, she
definitely did feel some kind of hurt and guilt about what we had done. And
even though I knew I really, really shouldn’t give a shit what she felt, other
than my enormous dick inside of her tight pussy, I still felt a sense of
aggravation in the fact that she was angry or upset, or whatever the fuck she
was.

It bothered me, but I couldn’t let it slow
down my pursuit. She may have regrets now, but she certainly wasn’t regretting
shit last night and therefore I knew that while it might not be easy, I had
already paved the road toward getting laid again. It was just a matter of time.

However, in the meantime, I had a
competition that Ashley’s perfected ass had charmed me into doing. I needed to
prepare.

So, instead of trying to follow her, I let
myself fall into the allure of my workout. I decided that I needed it to work
off some steam and to prepare, so that would be a good way to restart my day.

I took off, gliding through the sand with
ease and speed. Even though the sand was growing hot on my feet, I used the
constant stinging sensation to my advantage. The longer and faster I ran, the
closer I was to being done and that was exactly what I wanted. I needed that
instinct and power to discipline myself. This summer, I had really relaxed my
workout regimen because I was chasing pussy; but I had a feeling that if I
focused more on my talents instead of my desires, that everything would fall
right back into place.

Therefore, when I had finally pushed
myself to the limit, I made sure that I had enough strength to get back to the
house and refuel, just so I could make it back to the gym.

Feeling as though I was at the end of my
physical ability only made me appreciate how powerful I truly was, because it
gave me a chance to work through it. Just like anything in life, if I had to
fight for it, I figured it was worth getting and that was why, I told myself, I
was working so hard to get Ashley to adore me; because it wasn’t easy.

Fuck
her right now,
I thought as I made my way over to the
gym.
I have more important things to
think about.

However, I would have paid money or given
anything at that moment for me to believe that thought entirely.

When I made it to the gym I began my
workout, sticking to my repetitions and routine just like the champion I knew
that I was.

At the gym, I was met with careful,
wandering eyes from women, which boosted my confidence greatly. I wanted to
have a sense of passion associated with my name and my physique, even if being
a good man wasn’t exactly in the equation.

I eyed one woman back diligently and
smiled at her in a seductive, suggestive manner. She winked at me before she
came over to sit down on the bench next to mine. “I don’t think I’ve seen you
around here before,” she said in a sexy, feminine voice which complimented her
wondrous physique perfectly.

I beamed at her and answered, “Yeah, well,
I’m a little late for my normal routine,” then I added extra charm before I
answered, “But now, I think that maybe I was right on time.”

She chuckled. “My family comes here every
week for vacation and this week, I am looking for a little more…excitement, if
you know what I mean.”

“Wow, you haven’t even told me your
fucking name and already, I think you have stolen my heart,” I explained
smoothly.

She giggled again and scooted closer
before she answered in a lower, more seductive voice, “Well, if you must know,
my fucking name is anything you want it to be, but before fucking, you can call
me Chelsea.”

Damn…A
desperate, hot woman…Well, that’s a change. I guess the beach really does
attract all types.
“Oh baby, I can fuck you so well, your
name won’t even matter anymore. The only one you will ever respond to is mine
and that’s only because you will hope to experience what I am going to do to
you all over again.” I made my eyes slide down to half mass before I leaned in
toward her.

Her eyes mimicked my own before she
answered, “Then what are we waiting for?”

I was just about to stand up and follow
her wherever, in order to do whatever the fuck I wanted with this piece of
perfected, primed and perfectly prodded ass, when I thought of Ashley and to my
dismay, I stopped.

At first, I wasn’t sure what had come over
me until finally, all I seemed to feel was an intense sensation of guilt.
Suddenly, I didn’t
want
her.

Then, the words came out of my mouth that
made me want to knock myself in the head with the barbell that was placed no
more than four feet away. “I’m sorry, but you are way too easy for me.”

What
the fuck is that?
I thought.
There’s no such thing as too easy…Too hard is a challenge I will
readily accept, but too easy is a gift. What am I doing?

“Excuse me?” The woman demanded, feeling
rightfully put off. “What did you say, asshole?”

I shrugged easily and answered, “If you
weren’t so damn desperate, I would fuck you in a minute, but you heard me
bitch, you are just too easy.” I laughed and pulled back from her, still not
sure exactly why I was saying the words spilling out of my mouth or why I cared
how easy she was. I tried to stop myself, but I was overcome with a sensation
of anger before I answered, “Yeah, just…No. Skank.”

With that, I received the slap across the
face that I knew I deserved, but was almost happy to get. I knew that if I
wanted another shot with Ashley I was going to have to be a little more
selective than little miss jump my fucking bones and as much as I wanted to get
laid, I realized in that moment that I wanted Ashley more.

“Good luck!” I answered condescendingly as
the woman made a scene of standing up and strutting away from me, “Not getting
a venereal disease….” I grumbled before I left the room, feeling angry and
intensely dissatisfied.

Chapter
31

Ashley

I wasn’t completely sure what to do. After
the conversation I had with Tyler this morning, after he had showed genuine
concern for me and I had just shoved him away, I had no idea where I should go
next. I didn’t want to feel crazy, but I also didn’t want to seem too desperate
to wash my hands of him.

So, after checking that no one else was
home when I returned to the house, I called my friend, whom I had met in
college.

The two of us had met the first week of
school and we had become fast friends. Even though both of Stacy’s parents were
still alive, she felt similarly about her parents and her step-parents. She
felt like her whole world fell apart when her parents got divorced, and when
they each remarried, it was almost as though both of her parents had stopped
acknowledging that she existed in favor of their new families.

If anyone, I was sure that Stacy would
understand.

So, after complaining about one another’s
summer, I said to her, “Hey, I have a question for you. I need some advice.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” she answered
in a disarming fashion. “Focusing on someone else’s problems is so much
preferred to my own.” She laughed slightly before admitting flat out, “I feel
like I’m drowning in them…My own, I mean. I just can’t get away from them. Both
my parents keep pushing me out of their house, so that they can spend time with
their real families and even when they aren’t making me feel terrible for
existing, they are trying to get dirt on the other one.” She sighed in a
frazzled manner. “And they’re supposed to be the adults?” She stopped short
before she added, “God, I’m sorry. It’s just all been boiling up inside of me.”

“No, I get it,” I answered. “And I’m
sorry. That sucks.”

“Majorly…” She groaned again before she
answered, “But…enough about me. What is going on with your crazy family, my
friend?”

“Well,” I explained, not really wanting to
admit that this was an entirely family affair, “my family is…Basically just
like I thought they would be. They are crazy and not in the good way, but I
think my stepmom tries…” I shrugged, for my own benefit, before I added, “It
doesn’t work, but I guess that’s better than washing her hands of me.”

“Trust me,” Stacy chimed in, “any attempt
is better than nothing. I’m lucky if my stepmother even looks at me without
turning up her nose like I am something the cat dragged in...Or cats…if you
want to get technical.” She chuckled humorlessly before she paused to let me
speak.

“I’m sorry,” I answered, not sure what
else to say.

“Everyone has problems, what are you gonna
do?” she answered and I could tell from knowing her for as long as I did that
she was now shrugging too.

I smiled sympathetically, once again
realizing that there was really no way for her to know what I was doing.
Although, it made me feel better.

“So, what is going on with you?” she asked
after a pause. In that timeframe, I wondered whether or not I really wanted to
tell her what was going on; after all, it was a little strange. Still, since I
had purposefully called her for advice, I figured it would be best to continue
on with my explanation.

“Well,” I said carefully, “I met a guy.” I
was purposefully trying to keep that part as vague as possible. “And I really
like him, but I don’t want to at all.”

“Why?” she asked. I knew that she was
trying to understand the situation, but when she added, “It’s not weird, like
he’s your stepbrother or anything right?” I wanted to throw up.

The only thing that saved us from the
awkward silence and my house of cards falling to the ground, before the
foundation was even partially complete, was Stacy’s shrill laugh.

By the time the noise stopped, I was able
to accurately assure, “No. It’s some new beach guy that I met while trying to
get away from my family. He’s hot and he can be funny. Very manly…” I sighed,
hoping that the worst was over and I could be honest now.

“Okay…” she began, “So, I’m not getting a
reason why you can’t be with him…You kind of broke up with your boyfriend here
already.”

I nodded and chose my words carefully.
“Yeah…I know, but he’s a little…abrasive?”

“Did he hit you?” she demanded with alarm.

“No!” I exclaimed, trying my best to keep
the story straight. “He didn’t do anything like that, but he’s controlling and
I just…I shouldn’t be with him.”