Stepbrother: Moving In/Moving Out (6 page)

We are, in fact, stepbrother and stepsister. I didn’t want to make it so obvious to any visitors that we were sleeping together. Separate bedrooms. It had to be done.

This is our fourth night together in our new home. I had planned on having everything unpacked by now, but having him here with me has been
interesting
. The protective bubble on our feelings didn’t exist anymore. The buffer was gone. The door to each other’s bodies was wide open for the first time ever and it has been insanely difficult to keep our hands off each other.

It felt like a honeymoon. My mind tingled in a state of wedded bliss. But behind that feeling, I felt trouble. The honeymoon had to end sometime. This was just a calm before a great storm.

And that’s why I can’t sleep.

Seth stirs in the bed. His eyes open slightly before closing again. I push a hand through his hair and attempt to lull him back into a deep slumber, but my touch rouses him further.

“Mina?” he mutters slightly.

“Shh,” I say. “Go back to sleep.”

“Are you still not sleeping?” he asks. He forces his eyes open and looks at me in the darkness.

“I’m fine,” I say.

“Come here,” he says. He rolls over onto his back and extends his open arms to me.

With a smile, I lie against his chest and feel his warm arms embrace me to his body. I breathe a heavy sigh and close my eyes. His heart thumps at a steady pace in his chest and I calm my breath in an attempt to match it.

“I’m here,” he says. “You have nothing to worry about anymore. I’m here.”

I feel protected. I feel safe. Even if only for a moment. I meant it when I told him that life would be hard and painful and impossible at times. And I really meant it when I told him that it wouldn’t be so bad as long as we were partners.

As my heartbeat slows down and my skin tingles against his touch, my eyelids begin to feel heavy.

“Everything is going to be okay, Mina,” I hear him whisper.

We fall asleep together until the morning sun bleeds into the room.

Chapter 2

“This is your place,” Seth says from the living room. “I can keep everything of mine in my bedroom.”

“I don’t want you to feel like this place isn’t your’s, too.” I pick up a box and set it on the kitchen counter. “You pay half the rent. You deserve a few shelves in the living room for your things.” I pull a stack of dinner plates out of the box.

“Are you sure?” he asks. “If I recall, you had a problem with my
system
.”

I smile, recalling one of our big blow-outs in his previous apartment. “Well, now that I know your
system
exists, I won’t have a problem with it. Please, use those shelves. It’s why I put them there.”

“Okay,” he says into my ear.

I flinch and let out a slight yelp.

“Did I scare you?” he chuckles.

“Yes,” I say. “I didn’t hear you come in here. You’re too damn quiet.”

He cups my face and kisses me. “Well, I apologize.”

“It’s okay,” I say.

“This is a really nice place,” he says as he steps over to the refrigerator.

“I know, right?” I say. I open a cabinet above my head and look for the perfect place to put the plates.

“Thank you for letting me stay here.”

I pause and look over at him. “You don’t have to thank me.”

“No,” he says. “I do.” He drifts back over to me. “I feel like we wouldn’t be in this situation if I had kept my mouth shut.”

“It’s not your fault, Seth,” I tell him as I place my hands on his waist. “I honestly believe this would have come out eventually.”

“You think so?” he asks with a smirk.

“I know so,” I answer. “I’ve loved you… forever, it feels like.” I fidget slightly. “Even before I knew what it was, I felt it.”

“Me, too,” he says. He leans over and rests his forehead against mine. “And this isn’t a mistake?”

I feel my body go stiff. “Do you think it’s a mistake?” I ask.

“No.” He shakes his head. “No, I’ve made
many
mistakes in my life, Mina. This isn’t one of them.” He looks into my eyes. “But I want to know how you feel.”

“I feel fine. I feel amazing.”

“You just can’t sleep.”

I sigh. “I know how that must look to you, Seth…” I say. “But really, I couldn’t be happier. It just…”

“What?” he asks.

“It feels too
easy
,” I say. “Like a gust of wind could fly by and knock us down at any moment.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“How can we be sure?”

“Because I love you,” Seth whispers. “And you love me. And together, we’ll tell that wind to fuck off.”

I chuckle. My heart skips quickly and I feel a wave of warmth rush through my body. “You’re right,” I say.

He presses his lips against mine again and I fall into his kiss. His hands smooth down my back and he cups my rear end with a strong grip.

“Seth…” I begin, but my words fail as he moves his kisses to my neck.

He towers over me. I’m pinned against the kitchen counter. His body heat blends with mine. I feel his hands on me, moving constantly, until pulling on the button to my jeans.

“Seth—” I say again as his hand reaches inside. His lips silence me. I quiver wildly as his fingers push inside my panties and brush against my tingling folds.

“Let me touch you…” he whispers between kisses.

I moan against his lips. He cradles my clit between to finger tips and rocks it back and forth, awakening a warm throb deep inside of me. My head leans backward and I rest it against an upper cabinet as he attacks my neck once more with kisses. I’m seduced by his wicked pleasures. My knees rock together, threatening to collapse beneath me, but he’s got me so hard against the cabinet. He’d never let me fall.

“Oh, Seth!” I cry as he increases pressure against my swollen bud.

“I want to do this every day,” he says. “Every day until the day I die.”

I can’t speak. Desire has trapped my voice behind my tongue. I can only moan for him over and over again until I can’t take it anymore. He won’t stop. He outright refuses. Even after the orgasm strikes me. My body jerks against his as the wave takes over my limbs. He traces circles, slow and smooth against my clit as I come down from the peaks of pleasure. And just as he sees the light enter my eyes again, he hits me again with twitching fingers and coaxes another orgasm out of me.

“Oh,
fuck
!” I moan into his ear. My nails dig into his skin as I hold him. I can see his smiling face behind my blurry vision. I kiss him, hard and firm. He kisses me back, holding me in place with both hands until I bring myself back to normal.

“Nothing will ever come between us again, Mina,” he whispers.

A knock echoes through the apartment. We freeze in place and for a moment, it’s as if we read each other’s minds.
Do we ignore it? Is it a new neighbor coming to complain about the moaning noises? Maybe they’ll go away.

The knock happens again. Seth pulls his hand from my pants and takes a step back.

“I got it,” I say as I push off the counter.

“You sure?” he asks.

“Yeah.” I zip up my jeans and take a quick glance at my body to be sure nothing is out of place.

“Mina— open up! It’s Mom!”

I spin around and look at Seth again. His eyes have grown to twice their normal size.

“Mina!”

“What is she doing here?” Seth asks. He stays back, lingering just out of sight in the kitchen.

I reach for the doorknob and slide the deadbolt open. “I don’t know,” I whisper. “Just be cool.” I clear my throat and open the door.

“Mina! There you are!”

Before I can say a word, my mother steps forward and wraps her arms around my shoulders. “Hi, Mom,” I mumble into her mane of hair. “What are you doing in town?” I ask, pushing my voice up to sound happy.

“Well…” she steps back and glances at me over her sunglasses. “We stopped by Seth’s apartment to see him but he wasn’t there. Then Carter told us we just
had
to swing by your new place to see what
you are up to
!”

“We?”
I ask.

I hear somebody step into the hallway.

“Ahh, there you are!”

I peak out and see my stepfather bounding towards us.

“Oh — Kevin, hi!” I say the name loud enough for Seth to hear.

“Hey, sweetie!” he says. He leans over and plants a quick kiss on my cheek. “It’s impossible to find a good parking spot here!”

“Yeah…”

“Oh, this place is wonderful!” My mother pushes passed me and enters the apartment.

“Come on in,” I say after the fact. I close the door behind them.

“You just moved in, I see!” She gestures to the open boxes.

“Yep,” I say. “Still a move in progress.”

“That’s what Carter said,” Kevin says.

“Oh, that reminds me—” my mother says. “He told us you two broke up.” She offers me a quick expression of sadness. “What happened there? You two were
so good
together.”

“Oh, it… was… just a
long
story,” I squeak out.

“Well, you should reconsider. That poor boy looked heartbroken,” she says.

“When did you start playing video games, Mina?” Kevin says as he glances into an open box next to the shelf.

“Oh— I, uh — those aren’t mine…” I mutter.

“They’re mine.”

I look over my shoulder to see Seth stepping into the living room.

My mother drops her jaw. “Oh, Sethy!” She rushes over to him and jumps up to wrap her arms around him. He nearly falls over from the shock, but rights the two of them easily. “Hey, Jackie…” he says.

“What are you doing here?!” my mother asks him.

Seth glances over at me, most likely hoping that I’d intervene with a response, but I’m frozen in time. “Well…” he says. “Mina… needed a roommate. To help pay the rent and whatnot.”

“Well, I don’t doubt that —” Kevin says. “This is a
nice
neighborhood. My first thought was how little Mina was affording this place.”

I chuckle. “Yeah, well, Seth was getting bored of his old place. And we figured, what the hell, you know…”

“Oh, that makes me so happy to see my kids together again, helping each other out…” my mother says.

Seth and I continue our awkward glances and smiles.

“So, what brings you into town?” Seth asks.

“I’m remodeling your father’s office,” my mother says. “And this place has way better furniture stores than our two horse town.”

“Oh, cool,” I say.

“Are you two busy?” Kevin asks. “We’d love it if you joined us.”

My mother claps her hands together. “Oh, that’s a great idea! You guys can pick out any missing furniture you need!”

“Oh, well, we kind of have everything we need already,” I say.

“That’s nonsense! You don’t even have a
couch
in your living room.” My mother gestures are the bare room. “No. I won’t take no for an answer. I want an afternoon together with my kids — and then we can go to dinner!”

I shrug my shoulders, all the while glancing at Seth. “Okay…” I say with forced enthusiasm.

“I’ll go bring the truck around,” Kevin says. He pats my shoulder as he walks towards the door.

“Sounds like fun,” Seth says.

My mother makes her way over to me. “Now, as we wait — I want to hear all about your break-up, Mina,” she says. “Spare me no details!”

I chuckle awkwardly as she pushes Seth and I out the door with her.

***

“Mom, please,” I say. “I kind of really don’t want to talk about it.” I take a larger step down the row of sofas and reclining chairs to try and get a little distance from her.

My mother scoffs. “Well, I don’t see why—”

“It’s just… all still very fresh, that’s all,” I say, glancing across the show floor. I see Seth and my stepfather chatting as they admire a line of high-definition televisions. “I’d rather the wounds have a chance to heal before dousing them with salt.”

She throws up her arms. “Okay, okay. I get it, I do,” she says. “I won’t ask again.”

“Thank you.”

I feel her claws dig into my arm. “Just tell me—” she whispers, pulling me to a stand still. “He didn’t hit you?”

“No — god, no.”

“He didn’t try and… you know…
force you
to do something you didn’t want to do?”