Stepbrother Forever: A Stepbrother Romance (22 page)

“Is there someone else?” I ask.
I never thought so before, but now I just don’t know.

He hesitates. “Yes,” he says at
length. The confession and the honesty behind it both hit me like a slap to the
face. So that’s it. Another woman. I wasted all this time thinking he was
different, but as it turns out, men are all the same.

“Fuck you,” I snarl and hang
up. There’s nothing more to say. Great. Now I have to go see my family and
explain why my now boyfriend isn’t with me.

Ex-
boyfriend,
I mean.

I only give myself a few
minutes to cry it out before moving on with my life. Fuck him and whatever
bitch he’s fucking on the side. Or was I on the side? I didn’t even know
anymore.

I brush my hair and put on some
makeup, along with a nice pair of skinny jeans and a tank top. I pack up my
dessert and put it in a bag. Once I have all my things together I leave,
locking the door behind me and leaving all memory of Michael behind me. I don’t
need to think about him during this trip. He hasn’t thought about me once
through our whole relationship, and it’s high time I started affording him the
same discourtesy.

When I get to the curb I hail a
cab to Penn Station. I’m not in the mood for any of this, but I can’t bail on
my mom. I haven’t seen her in almost a month.

On the train, I text Rachel. I
want to talk to her but I don’t need everyone knowing my business. We go back
and forth for half an hour and like best friends should, she assures me it’s
not me—it’s Michael. And she’s right. It’s not me. He was cheating on me for
who even knows how long. If I hadn’t called him, if we didn’t have these plans
today, would he have ever told me?

Fuck. I’m thinking about him
like I said I wouldn’t. I put my phone away and lean back in my seat, watching
the scenery race by. I’ve got to think of something else. Anything else. Because
whatever Michael and I had is over.

_____

An hour and a half later I
arrive in Islip. I walk out toward the station parking lot and see my little
brother, Eric, waiting there in his Jeep. I should have known he would be
picking me up since my mom is tending to her hostess duties. I put my bag in
the back and get into the passenger seat.

“What’s up, sista?” he asks me,
making me smile as he always does.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you
in so long,” I reply, trying to sound happier than I am. “How are you?”

“I’m good. Just chilling and
living the dream,” he jokes again. Eric has a decent job and an apartment not
too far from our mother. He’s a great guy and loves to have fun, but nobody’s
sure if he will ever really grow up.

“Where’s the new boyfriend?” he
asks. Well, that didn’t take long.

“He couldn’t make it today,” I
lie, and it’s a poor one. I’m sure he senses the irritation in my voice.

“Bullshit,” Eric counters like
I knew he would. “What happened?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. Short
version is he wound up being an asshole and it’s over. I don’t want to ruin
Mom’s day, though, so please don’t say anything.”

“Sure, no problem. Sounds like
he’s not worth the worry, anyway,” he says as we turn down the street I grew up
on. I love coming back here to visit. It’s not far or hard to get to, but life
gets in the way and I know I don’t visit as often as I should.

“You ready to meet our possible
future stepfather and stepbrothers?” Eric asks.

“Oh, his boys are here too? I
didn’t realize everyone was coming today.” Although I should have known. Why
would it just be my mom’s children and not his? “Have you met them yet?”

“Yeah. They seem pretty cool.
One is a little older than me, and one a little older than you. They’re chill.
I could see us hanging out, I guess.” Eric shrugs. “I only got to Mom’s an hour
ago, so I don’t know much.”

We pull into the driveway and I
smile. It’s nice to be home and I love to see my mother—especially after a
morning like this one. She always makes me feel better, even when she doesn’t
know I need it.

I get my things out of the
backseat and walk up the path to the front door. I see Mom coming toward us.
She smiles and opens the door before we even reach it.

“Hey, Ashley!” she chirps as
she pulls me in for a hug.

“Good to see you, Mom,” I
answer. She is glowing as she looks at me. I haven’t seen my mother this happy
in a long time. “You look great. Tom must really be treating you well. I can’t
wait to meet him.” I’m truly happy for her. It’s nice to see my mother so full of
life again.

“Well, no need to wait any
longer. Tom and his boys are out back on the deck. Let’s get the awkward
introductions over with.” She takes my bag and I follow her into the kitchen.
She puts my dessert in the fridge and pours me and Eric a glass of wine.

“Where’s Michael? I was looking
forward to meeting him,” Mom says.

“He wasn’t feeling well this
morning, so I told him not to come. I didn’t want him here if he wasn’t feeling
up to it.” I hate lying to my mother, but I don’t feel like getting into the
details or stealing her thunder tonight.

“Too bad. Maybe I’ll have to
come into the city to meet him, then,” she replies. She smiles and heads over
to the sliding glass doors.

Eric steps ahead and pulls the
door open. I’m the last to walk out and I almost faint when I see the faces
looking back at me. There’s an older man, who I assume is Tom, and two younger
men, one of which I recognize immediately as Jayson.

That
Jayson.

I literally trip stepping onto
the deck. What the fuck? How is this even happening right now? I take another
look. I have to be mistaken, but I’m not. He is looking right back at me. I can
see he’s also surprised, but unlike me, completely aloof and keeping himself
together much better than I am at the moment.

“Well, everyone,” my mother
starts, “this is Tom.” She gestures at the
older man sitting at the patio table. “And these are his sons, Matt and Jayson.
Tom, Matt, Jayson, this is my daughter, Ashley. Eric you obviously met
earlier.” She ends on a nervous laugh.

Tom gets up and reaches out his
hand to me. “Nice to meet you, Ashley. I’ve heard so much about you.”

It takes me a moment to compose
myself and reply. I’m still in shock. I feel like my jaw’s on the floor where
everyone can see it. “Nice to meet you, Tom. I’ve heard a lot about you, too.”

Matt smiles at me. “Nice to
meet you, Ashley.” He’s a good-looking guy with a nice build. He also has a
strong handshake, which I like. I wish I could focus on him instead of his
brother.

Jayson stands up, as though
summoned by my thoughts, and smirks at me. I know he can sense my discomfort
and I get the feeling he’s enjoying it.

“Nice to meet you, Ashley” he
echoes. He looks me up and down before adding with a leer, “You look familiar.
Have we met before?”

My palm is sweaty as he grasps
it. Despite my discomfort, I immediately feel the same electric charge when we
touch as I did at the bar.

“Uh, no. I don’t think we’ve
ever met,” I reply, trying to sound as light and graceful as I can under the
circumstances. I might not be a player, but I still know a few moves.

We all take a seat around the
table and begin chatting with each other. I don’t dare look at Jayson and
instead focus my attention on his father and brother, making small talk while I
freak the fuck out on the inside. I can’t believe this. How is it possible that
the guy I haven’t been able to stop thinking about is now sitting across from
me at my mother’s house? And his father is dating my mother? You can’t even
make something like this up.

In under ten minutes I have
drained my glass, so I excuse myself to go inside and get a refill. I need to
remove myself from this situation for a few minutes so I can process what’s
going on.

“Anybody need anything?” I ask
as I get up to go into the kitchen.

“I need a refill, too,” Jayson
says. Shit. He was the last person I wanted to speak up.

“Oh.” I move to take his glass,
hoping to cut him off. “Well, I’ll grab you one.”

Jayson’s fingers are around my
wrist before I can pull away. His eyes are smoldering. “Nonsense,” he says, the
word rolling off his tongue like sweet molasses. “I’ll come with you.”

His grin is pure mischief.
Great. Well, at least he’s having a good time, albeit at my expense.

Jayson stands and opens the
door, gesturing for me to go inside. He is walking behind me and I can feel him
checking out my ass in my skinny jeans. Knowing he is standing so close behind
me is like an aphrodisiac, one I wish I could spit out, but it’s too late for
that—the animal attraction has all but consumed me.

He closes the door, leaving us
alone in the kitchen. I try to look busy at the counter with the bottle of wine
to avoid looking at him. I know he’s waiting for me to turn around, but I don’t
want to. I don’t want to see that look in his eyes. The one that drives me so
damn crazy.

“I love your ass in those
jeans,” he says at last. I swallow before answering.

“That’s kind of a dick thing to
say to your future stepsister.”

Jayson shrugs. “Maybe. What are
the odds, huh? If I was a spiritual guy I would say fate brought us together
again, but I’m not, so maybe we’re just supposed to fuck.”

As much as I don’t want to, I
can’t help but laugh. I know he’s just saying these things to get a rise out of
me, but I have to admit, he knows how to get a point across.

“That’s not going to happen,” I
say, even though I don’t fully believe it myself. Whether I want to admit it or
not, I want him. Seeing him again confirms it. It may be purely sexual, but in
the extremely short time we’ve spent together, Jayson got inside my head. Now I
want him inside me for real.

But I can’t let that happen.
He’s an arrogant, spoiled, self-centered prick. His father is also dating my
mother, which makes it that much more taboo and just plain weird.

“Where’s your boyfriend
tonight?” Jayson asks, catching me off guard. “I was looking forward to meeting
the lucky bastard.” I stammer for a second too long before I answer.

“Michael couldn’t be here. He’s
not feeling well.” Ugh, I sound so lame.

“Excuses, excuses,” Jayson says
with a smirk. “I’m starting to wonder if this boyfriend exists at all.”

“Of course he does,” I snap.
“I’m a big girl. I don’t need a made-up boyfriend to keep you away.” I’m just
full of lies today.

“Whatever you say. I won’t stop
trying, though. I don’t usually have to beg, so this hard to get act of yours
is turning me on. Tonight is going to be way more fun than I expected.” Before
I can retort, Jason licks his lips, flashes me another cocky grin, and then
heads back out the door to join the rest of our big, happy family.

What a presumptuous son of a
bitch. I’m quivering, but I’m not sure if it’s anger or lust. How am I going to
make it through tonight when I can’t figure out what I want to do more: slap
him, or fuck him?

I drink half my new glass of
wine before I step through the door again. I force a smile and sit back down at
the table, feeling a nice buzz already, which helps me relax.

The conversation carries on,
everyone else oblivious to the tension building between me and Jayson. He keeps
glancing over at me and smiling in the most inappropriate and lecherous
fashion, and I reply by rolling my eyes. All in all, though, the rest of us are
getting along famously. I try to think about how wonderful this must be for my
mom.

“So, you live on the Upper East
Side, Ashley?” Tom asks.

“Yeah. Since college,” I
respond, tearing my eyes away from Jayson’s square jaw and defiant chin.

“And Cynthia tells me you work
as a waitress?” Tom continues. He’d just full of questions.