Sexy Stepbrothers (2 page)

“Boy?” Austin leaned further inside his car and pointed a finger at him. “Listen up grandpa, you want to sell that water or not?”

“Sure, I’ll sell you the water. But I don’t want cash.”

“We don’t have much to trade for but I got a nice guitar, if you’re interested?”

“Nah,” the stranger flicked his hand. “I’m not much of music
aficionado
, get it?” he chuckled at his own joke until the toothpick disappeared inside his mouth. He startled and spit it out on his overalls. “Dammit!”

“I don’t have anything else to trade, so what’s it gonna be? Can we make a deal?”

The old man brushed his overalls, trying to remove his own spit from his dirty clothes. “How old are you, Sweet Pea?”

I had an idea of what he was getting at, but I didn’t want to spoil our chances of getting that water and getting away from Austin faster. “I’m twenty one years old...”

“You like to have a good time, Sweet Pea?” the stranger said, leaning in closer. “All those curves you’re trying to hide ain’t fooling me. I could show you few new tricks in the back of this pickup.”

I turned my head away to avoid his lustful eyes and tightened my arms on my chest.

“That’s right, Sweet Pea. Turn around so I can take a better look at that curvy body of yours.”

Austin took a brief look at me and the old man before it set in him what he had meant. “What the fuck, old man? Are you some kind of a perv?” Austin shouted. He leaned further inside the stranger’s car and grabbed him by the collar. “Who do you think you are? Trying to hit on my fucking sister you sicko! I’ll fucking beat you up. You understand me?” he shouted, little drops of spit flying from his mouth.

The stranger tried to get Austin’s hands away from him, but his grip was too strong. “I was just making conversation with the lady!”

“By asking her to fuck your dirty old ass and fucking her with your eyes? In front of his brother?”

The panic on the old man’s face became evident. “It was only harmless banter. Let go of me!”

Austin tightened the grip on the pervert’s collar. “How did you think this was going to end? Me letting you fuck my sister for a gallon of water? Are you stupid?”

He struggled to remove Austin’s grip on him, but it seemed futile. “Hey! Hey! We can still make a deal on the water, you know? No need to make any hasty decisions.”

Austin looked into the trunk of the car through rear windshield. “You don’t even have any water on you, do you?”

I followed Austin’s gaze and realized he was right. The old man didn’t even have any water on him!

“I-I—”

“You’ll fuckin’ regret this!” Austin yelled and pulled one of his hands back. It could only mean that he was about to go off on him. Ruthlessly.

The stranger realized what was about to happen, panicked and hit the gas pedal. The car skidded on the dirt road before the tires gained traction and took off.

“Let go, Austin! It’s not worth it,” I yelled.

But he didn’t. The car gathered more speed while he hung from the passenger side window trying to land punches. His bare feet drag on the dirt road, ripping apart his jeans. The car swerved from side to side on the dirt road until I lost sight of them in the dust cloud raised by the car.

“Let go of him!” I shouted.

The car sped off into the distance, but I could still hear the sounds of fighting and grumbling. I heard the horn honking uninterrupted for a few seconds until the car seemed to gather more speed and then the cloud of dust disappeared behind a bend. I ran after them, still yelling Austin to let go and fearing I’d end up finding him in a ditch. Or even worse, ran over.

My legs burned but ran after them until I saw a person lying on the road holding his ribs. “Austin!”

Even though his face was covered in dust, there didn’t seem to be any visible injuries on his face other than the small cut on his lip, which dripped blood from the corner of his mouth to his bare chest. His abs and back had gotten the brunt of the impact when he fell down and I could see the beginning of several bruises on his torso.

I lay down next to him and held his head.

“I got a few solid punches on that perv,” he said, spitting out blood.

His hot, naked torso pressed against me as I embraced him.“Why did you do that? I knew how to handle him. Why did you have to do that?” His strong heart pounded so hard I felt its every beat on my chest.

He stood up with wobbly legs. “Are you serious? He was an asshole and got what he deserved.”

“And because you couldn’t stay calm, we are still stuck out here in the middle of nowhere for who knows how long!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry for thinking you’d have a problem with what he was suggesting. Well
excuse me
!”

“That’s the excuse you always use! You think that I cant take care of myself and you think your fists will solve every problem. Don’t you have a brain inside that handsome face, or did you only get the looks without the brains, huh?”

“You don’t know anything about me,” he said and walked away from me, not caring that his whole body was covered in dust.

“I know enough that you’ll fight anything and everything just for the fun of it!”

“Shut up!”

I kicked the gravel beneath my feet in frustration. “Now what are we going to do?” He wouldn’t answer me because that’s how he was. A hot-headed man who walked away when things got difficult. “Ass!” I kicked more gravel to vent some of my anger while periodically looking at him just to show him how mad I was, even if he purposefully avoided my gaze.

After a solid ten minutes of silence between us, I walked back to our car and took out a present from the back seat. The card on it read: ‘To Charlene, love Alyssa.”

I saw him using the rear view mirror to check the damage on his face. “If you’d gotten your life in order, you wouldn’t have needed the lift and we wouldn’t have fought like this,” Austin said from the driver’s seat.

I threw the present back inside the car, but I knew he was right. “And if you didn’t have this piece of shit for a car, we’d be there already.”

“Sure. Blame it on my car, but I’ll drive whatever I want to. And I choose to drive a classic.”

“You’re still stuck in the past.”

“At least I got a life. I’m not the one waiting for a message from a stranger. Yeah, I’ve seen you looking at your phone. I bet you met him on a dating site, right? You get that look when you check your phone and it doesn’t have any new messages. That’s what it is, isn’t it? If he doesn’t answer your every message without delay, and he never does, you get sad.”

“What would you know about love? You fuck every girl with a pair of tits and move on. And whaddya know, today was just another example of the life you have. Getting into trouble for sticking your cock into things it doesn’t belong in.”

“We have spoken for two days on our way to our sister’s wedding and now you are an expert on my love life? I’ve seen you check your phone, waiting for another message. You’re life revolves around messaging to a stranger. I’d take my love life over yours any day. At least I get laid whenever I want to.”

I squeezed the door handle in my hand and leaned in further inside the car. “Not all of us can have the genes to be a model, but hey, at least my emotions don’t get me running from the law every other day!”

“How can you still blame me for what happened at the gas station? How was I supposed to know who she was his daughter?”

“Since when is it rude for a father to ask a stranger to leave their store if he sticks his slimy tongue down his daughter’s mouth in front of him?”

“The bastard knew we weren’t locals and just wanted to fuck with me. He damn well had to know what his daughter was like. ”

“So? When someone is not nice to you, is it an automatic insult to your
manhood
that requires you to use your fists?”

He looked out the driver’s seat window, avoiding my gaze.

“Oh, I know how it is. You thought ‘hey, this is a perfect opportunity for a fight’ and you went at it. I’m glad to see you haven’t changed a bit in all these years.” I pulled my head out of the car and leaned on the door, crossing my arms. The gusts of wind blew my hair all over my face, but I didn’t care: my hands were still clenched in fists over what had happened.

“I’m going to find us some water,” he finally said. “There might be a farm house nearby so it’s worth the shot. If I’m not back in thirty minutes, wait longer.”

“Whatever.”

He got up from the car and walked the road the way the pervert had been driving. His jeans had more rips on them and he held his rib cage with one hand as he slowly limped away.

Even with his faults, I had to admit that he never gave up, and I had to give him some credit for that. I’d seen him accomplish things just by exerting his willpower to the absolute limit: no task was too difficult for him if he set his mind to it. But he didn’t do that often. When we’d met for the first time in high school, when he and his father had moved in with me and mom, he had set a goal of making enough money to buy his first car. I’d laughed at his dream at first, but he’d done it anyway. After two years of menial jobs, he’d earned enough money to buy the car he’d always wanted. Consequently, he moved out right after that and I hadn’t seen him in years. That was until two days ago when he picked me up to drive me to our sister’s wedding.

I looked down on the ground thinking about those two years we’d spent together living under the same roof. I somberly kicked the gravel, but the anger I’d had just minutes ago, was already disappearing.

My phone vibrated and I rushed to take it out to see if it was the one person I’d been waiting for all day.

So, how’s your trip going?

I smiled seeing the text message. Just what I needed.

I’ve had better trips… What about u?

Been busy doing stuff I don’t want to, but hey, that’s life, right?

Yeah, I can relate to that. We still on for this evening? If I can find WiFi somewhere.

Sure thing. I’ll have to see if I can make it though, but I’ll let you know. We’ve been waiting this for months now. You got that package I sent you?

I do. Why?

You haven’t opened it yet, have you?

No. I wanted to save it for a special occasion… Should I open it?

No. Wait for the evening and put it on just before you get online… It’ll be a surprise

What are you up to? ;) something dirty, it has to be!

Perhaps, perhaps not ;) You’ll just have to wait and see…

I heard a car pull up behind me and saw a dust covered police car turning off its lights. That couldn’t be good.

I’ve gotta go, talk to you later handsome! (or I assume handsome, just by the way you make me feel ;) lol)

I tucked my phone away and I waved at the officer, acknowledging his presence, but he didn’t respond. I saw him say something to his radio before he got out of the car. He was a tall man, perhaps in his late fifties with a bit of a beer belly and a thick moustache.

“Stay where you are,” the officer said with a voice that told me I better not do anything stupid.

Chapter 2

For some reason, I walked up to him to shake his hand, but it wasn’t until he didn’t reciprocate that I realized what I’d done. Why would I try to shake his hand? Instead letting my arm stand out in front of me looking like a stupid person, I combed my blond hair back behind my ear, which had escaped once again from the force of the gusts.

“How are you doing?” the officer asked.

“Fine, except our car overheated and now we’re stuck.”

“We? It’s nice to know a girl like you isn’t here all alone.”

I brushed off his remark. “My brother went out to find us some water a little while ago.”

“I see. Where y’all folks coming from?”

“Uhm. I didn’t drive so I’m not sure, but we were driving through Bishop not too long ago.”

The officer adjusted his belt. “And did you happen to stop anywhere between here and Bishop?”

I tilted my head a little. “Yeah, we might have.”

“Did you or did you not?”

“I-I… I think we stopped at a gas station perhaps thirty miles from here. What’s going on officer? Why are you asking me these questions?”

“Just do as I say and you’ll be fine. Did the gas station have a big turkey sign on it by any chance?”

“Now that you mention it, I think it did.”

The officer placed his hands on his hips to show he was the one in control. “There was a big fight on Turkey’s gas station that I got a call for. After talking with the witnesses, it seems like a shirtless guy with tattoos assaulted the owner. And it just happens that the shirtless guy was traveling with, and I quote ‘a curvy blond girl with big tits in a dress’.” He looked my chest and pointed at me, “And it seems you fit the description of that girl, even though you’ve got some meat to your bones.”

Austin was in way more trouble than I’d thought.

The officer’s dry smile accompanying his last comment didn’t help him win me over. If anything, I’d make damn sure he’d be looking in all the wrong places, no matter how angry I was at Austin.