Stepbrother HOT! (The Stepbrother Romance Series - Book #3) (6 page)

I sat in the bath tub and cried; I’m not at all the
kind of girl who cries easily. I’ve broken my leg and managed not to shed a
tear while they set it and put the cast on me. But the whole situation was just
so incredibly screwed up that I couldn’t do anything else but cry. The worst
part of it all was that I didn’t even know what to do. I couldn’t just stop
being attracted to Jaxon; I had tried that—we’d both tried it. I couldn’t think
of him as a brother. It just didn’t make any sense. He’d never been my brother
until a couple of days before. We were adults by the time we had met, and we
weren’t even related. But Mom had been so happy with Bob. Even if it had been a
stupid decision to marry him after a few months of knowing him, I had to give her
at least enough credit that she knew she wanted to be with him.

I got out of the bathtub when I’d finished crying
and dried off. I would still be sore in the morning, but maybe not as badly as
I would have been without the soak. I wrapped a robe around myself and sat on
the bed, pretending to watch TV. There was no one I could talk to about the
whole stupid mess. All of my friends were in the frat—I wasn’t about to tell
them I’d had sex with Jaxon before finding out our parents were getting
married, and then again after we’d become siblings. Bob’s words hit me again
and again.
Gross, disgusting, revolting.
He had looked
at me when he had said it, too—not just Jaxon. Even though he’d pretended it
hadn’t happened the minute Jaxon left, it wasn’t
like
any of us could ignore the situation. It was just that none of us could
actually do anything about it.

A few hours later, I was still awake, still staring
at the TV without even paying attention to what was playing—some highlight reel
from a snooze-fest of a baseball game from months before—when I heard knocking
at my door. For a second—an instant—I hoped it would be Jaxon, telling me he’d
gotten home safely, that he was sorry for what had happened at the lodge,
anything. Instead it was Mom. “Sweetie,” she called through the door. “Are you
still awake?” I closed my eyes.

“Yes.” Mom sighed—I could hear her even through the
door.

“Thank god you made it home okay. How did you get
home?” I opened my eyes and glanced at the door.

“I got a ride from someone at the lodge.” I felt
numb all over. I’d cried, I’d been in shock—totally overwhelmed—all night. I
didn’t want to think about anything anymore.

“Can we talk, Mia?” I shook my head, even though I
knew Mom couldn’t see me. “The door’s locked. Let me in sweetie, I just want to
talk.”

“No.” I turned my back on the door, staring at the
TV. “No, we can’t talk.”

“You wanted to talk before,” Mom pointed out.

“That was before. I don’t want to talk now. I don’t
want to see your face.” I heard the soft thud; Mom’s head hitting the door.

“Sweetie, come on, we talk about everything!” I
rolled my eyes.

“No we don’t. We didn’t talk about this before
because you didn’t want to. We’re not going to talk about it now because I
don’t want to.” I stopped being numb and started being angry.

“Mia—
come
on! You can’t
spend the whole rest of the holiday locked up in here. Talk to me, sweetie.” I
closed my eyes again. It was going to be just like at the lodge—only this time
it was going to be
me and Mom instead of Bob and Jaxon
.

“No. I’m not talking about this. Go away!” I curled
in on myself, wondering if Jaxon was listening—his room was down the hall from
mine, but he might have heard Mom. He might have opened his door to hear what
was going on. I remembered the different people working in the house; they
might hear too. “Just go away, Mom. I’m tired and I don’t want to talk about
anything with anyone.” I could still feel Mom standing there on the other side
of the door, even though she was totally silent, for a long moment.

“Okay, Sweetie. But we’re going to have to talk
eventually.” I sighed as I heard her steps moving away from my door. Great, I
thought. She’d go up to Bob, they’d have a fuck-fest in their room, and
everything would be just as screwed up as ever, but at least they’d be happy. I
reached over and turned off the light in my room, but not the TV. I curled up
at the foot of the bed with one of the pillows under me and stared at the TV
until I fell asleep. I wasn’t even sure what time it was, or what I had been
watching when I finally went under.

Chapter
Eight

If I had thought the next day would be better, I was
definitely mistaken. I woke up aching from my neck down to my ankles—I’d taken
more falls than I thought. I was sore all over, and my head was throbbing. I
couldn’t get the fight out of my mind. I lay in bed for a long time, staring at
the ceiling, awake but unwilling to move. My stomach was growling, but I didn’t
dare to leave my room for a long time; my mom might be around, and I didn’t
want to have to deal with her. I didn’t want to have to deal with anyone.

I sneaked out of my room around ten,
peeking
my head out to make sure I couldn’t hear any sign
that any of my incredibly screwed up family were around. I hurried into the
kitchen and grabbed things out of the fridge, scurrying back to my room to eat.
I sat in my bed and picked at my food, flipping through the channels until I
found something I wanted to watch. I played around on my computer, and I even
fiddled with some of my homework.

My mom tried to talk to me again; when I didn’t show
up for lunch, she knocked on my door. “Mia, are you okay, sweetie?” I sighed.

“Yeah, I’m fine.
Just tired.”

“Bob and I were going shopping—did you want to come
with?” I rolled my eyes at the question. The very last thing I would have
wanted to do in that moment was to go shopping with my new step-father and my
mom, the night after they found out I’d slept with my step-brother.

“No. I’ll stay here.” I felt my mom hesitating on
the other side of the door. I knew what she was worried about; she didn’t want
Jaxon and me to have any time alone in the house together. “I’m going to get
some homework done, maybe take another bath. I took a lot of stupid falls
yesterday and I’m sore all over.”

“Rest up then, Sweetie.
Bob and I will get you something fun.” I rolled my eyes again. I didn’t want
anything from Bob or my mom. I wanted to be left alone. I wanted to go back to
school and forget the whole shitty week had ever happened.

“Sounds good, Mom,” I said instead of what I really
thought. I just wanted her to leave. She hesitated a moment longer—I could
sense her on the other side of the door. But a minute later she was gone, her
footsteps moving away from my door.

I spent the rest of the day in my room alone,
sneaking out to get food whenever I got hungry. At first it was kind of nice to
be on my own, doing nothing; ever since I’d been a teenager I was always doing
something—classes, working out, playing sports, snowboarding or skateboarding,
hanging out with people. But after lunch the afternoon seemed to drag on
forever, and I started to feel lonely. All of my friends were hanging out with
their family, or they were doing things with hometown friends. I was bored;
there was nothing good on TV, there was not much to do in my bedroom.

Mom and Bob were still wherever they ended up—I
thought maybe they decided to make a whole day of it, grab dinner
away from the house
. I definitely couldn’t blame them for wanting to
stay away from the whole insane business. If I’d had a chance to get away from
the house by myself, I’d definitely be miles and miles away. But I was so
bored, so lonely; I couldn’t make myself sit around anymore. I
peeked
my head out through the door again and checked to
make sure no one was around; I heard the not-quite-silence of the household
staff, but not my mom or Bob, or even Jaxon. I decided it would be safe enough
to wander around for a bit.

I put on my jacket and went outside, roaming around
the different areas that surrounded the house—the basketball courts, the tennis
court, the frozen-over gardens with the bleak-looking pond. It was too cold to
stay out for very long, so I found myself going back in, wandering through the
rooms. I grabbed a snack in the kitchen—leftover turkey and a few pinches of
leftover stuffing, with a forkful of green bean casserole—but the sound of some
of the housekeeper or someone else who worked in the mansion sent me running
away again. I wondered if everyone in the house knew about Jaxon and me by now;
whether they were laughing among themselves about it, or thought we were
disgusting.

I started to head back to my room, but I couldn’t
bear the idea of spending hours more by myself, doing nothing, staring at the
TV and watching stupid videos online. I headed down the hallway, remembering
the swimming pool I’d used the first morning I’d been there—that was as safe a
place
as any,
I thought. I wouldn’t swim, but I could
at least put my feet in the water and think about things for a while.

I didn’t bother looking in before I opened the door.
I was so sure that Jaxon was off somewhere, making himself scarce, that it
didn’t occur to me to even expect to see him in my lonely wanderings. But there
he was, sitting at the edge of the pool, wearing swim trunks and a tee shirt,
his feet in the water just as I’d planned to be. He looked up at the sound of
the door closing behind me with a
thunk
and by the
look on his face I could tell that he had expected it to be anyone but me—he
was still angry, sullen-looking, scowling up at whoever had interrupted him
until he realized who it was. “Mia,” he said, the angry look going away in a
flash. “Hey.”

“Yeah,” I said. He already knew I was there. I knew
I should go away, maybe try out the home theatre that Jaxon had showed me on
the stupid tour Bob talked him into giving me, but I couldn’t help myself. “I
should’ve figured I’d run into you here.” I smiled slightly. I hadn’t wanted to
run into Jaxon, but I couldn’t stop myself now.

“Well, don’t let me ruin your good time,” Jaxon said
with a faint smile. He gestured to the edge of the pool next to him. “Let’s be
miserable together.” I laughed in spite of myself. I walked around the pool,
taking my time; I shouldn’t go for it. I should just go back to my room. But in
spite of the fact that I’d told Mom to leave me alone, I was lonely. I wanted
someone to talk
to
.

“So last night was interesting,” I said, sinking
down onto the ground. I pulled the legs of my pajamas up to my knees and
plunged my feet into the water, kicking them slightly. I would have rather gone
for a swim, by myself—but I didn’t have my bathing suit on, and anyway I wasn’t
alone.

“Yeah.”
Jaxon blushed slightly. “So now you know just what a great Dad I have.” I
shrugged. “And what a colossal fuckup I am.”

“Hell, it was bound to come out sooner or later,” I
said. “Besides, you’re not the same guy you used to be. If you were you
wouldn’t have just gone to
Juvy
.”

“That’s not really as comforting as you think.”
Jaxon looked at me and laughed. “Every time something like this happens—every
time he starts drinking and wants to impress someone, it goes the same way. He
tells everyone what an awful person I was, we yell at each other, and one of us
leaves.”

“Have you ever—I mean, I don’t want to give you
unwanted advice or anything—but I guess…have you tried talking to him about it
when you’re not fighting?”

“It’s impossible.” Jaxon shrugged. “We never really
talk about anything serious. Dad just mostly ignores me whenever we’re alone
together. He calls me when I’m at school a couple of times a week, but once
we’re actually together it’s like he can’t be bothered to deal with me.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” I sighed. “Mom…she’s good,
you know? She’s done what she can. We only had each other for a long time.” I
shrugged. “I don’t think anything is ever going to be the same between us
though. I mean she looks at me
like
I’ve ruined her
entire life. I guess kind of I have.”

“She seemed really excited when I met her. I guess
her and Dad are in love.” Jaxon kicked his legs out, lifting his feet out of
the water and plunging them back in. “We’ve gone and fucked up their little
honeymoon pretty well, haven’t we?” I laughed in spite of how miserable I felt.

“We sure did.” I felt my heart starting to beat a
little bit faster, just from being so close to Jaxon. “What the hell are we
going to do about this?” I looked at him. Jaxon groaned.

“I don’t know. I guess we can hope that your mom and
my dad break up.”

I snorted. “That’s a great thing to hope for—that
they’re both as miserable as we are.” I licked my lips and looked down at my
feet in the water. They looked so much paler than usual. “I know it’s stupid
that they got married so soon, and you’re probably not really in the mood to
want good things for your dad, but at least he’s kind of happy.”

“He was kind of happy. I
gotta
admit your mom’s pretty hot—for someone her age.” I laughed.

“You don’t have to say it like that; I’m not going
to accuse you of wanting to bang your stepmom.” Jaxon laughed out loud.

“Oh god, no.
I wouldn’t want to bang her. Be a great way to get back at Dad, but she isn’t
really my type.”