Stepbrother Dearest (3 page)

despise me.

I hated that I cared.

I lifted my backpack out of my locker. “You’re crazy. Can we please change the subject?”

“Okay. I heard Bentley wants to ask you out.”

I slammed the locker hard upon that news. “From whom?”

“He talked to my brother about it. He wants to ask you to the movies.”

Bentley was one of the popular preppie guys. I couldn’t figure out why he would be interested in me

since he usually dated girls from his own crowd. I didn’t really belong to their group or any group for that matter. There were the people like Bentley from the rich side of town in one clique. Then, there were the

artsy and theatrical ones. Then, you had the international exchange students. Then, there were those who

were just popular because they were good-looking, intriguing or acted out (Elec). Victoria and I were sort

of in a class of our own. We got along with everyone, got good grades and stayed out of trouble. Unlike my

best friend, though, I was a virgin.

I’d only had one boyfriend, Gerald, who ended up breaking up with me because I wouldn’t let him get

past touching my boobs. Word got out that I was a virgin and certain people around school would joke

about it behind my back. While I still saw Gerald in the halls from time to time, I tried to avoid him.

Victoria snapped her gum. “So, anyway, if he asks you out, we should totally invite Elec. He could go

with me, and you could go with Bentley. We could go see that new scary movie.”

“No, thanks. Living with Elec is all the scary I need.”

***

My words would come back to haunt me the next morning. I was getting dressed for school, and when

I opened my underwear drawer, it was empty.

I threw on some yoga pants commando-style and marched into Elec’s room as he was putting on a shirt.

“What the hell did you do with my underwear?”

“It doesn’t feel good when someone takes your shit, does it?”

“I took one box of cigarettes for less than five minutes and gave it right back, by the way. You took

every single piece of underwear I own! There’s a little bit of a difference there.”

I couldn’t believe I assumed he wasn’t going to get back at me for that one. Lately, he had been ignoring

me especially well, and I just assumed all was forgotten.

I started searching his drawers. My hand quickly retracted after touching a strip of condoms.

“You can look in here all day until the sun goes down. They’re not in here. Don’t waste your time.”

“You’d better not have thrown them out!”

“Those were some hot pieces. I couldn’t do that.”

“That’s because they cost a fortune.”

Good underwear was probably the only thing I splurged on. Each and every pair came from a pricey

online lingerie boutique.

As I knelt down to look under his bed, he laughed. “You have a wedgie, by the way.”

I leapt up and clenched my teeth. “That’s what happens when you don’t have any fucking underwear!”

I wanted to pick it so badly, but that would have made this worse. I stood up to face him.

Elec gave me a once-over. “You’ll get them back when I’m ready to give them to you. Now, if you’ll

excuse me…” He brushed past me and ran down the stairs.

I didn’t even bother to stop him because he wasn’t going to budge. I went to Target on the way to

school and bought cheapie panties until I could figure out how to get mine back.

I came home from school that day in a really anxious mood. Between the missing underwear and my

actually getting asked out by Bentley, I was seriously in need of ice cream—not just any ice cream, but the

homemade kind I’d make occasionally on the machine I got for Christmas last year.

I dumped every piece of leftover Halloween candy into it and ended up with a delectable Snicker, Heath

bar, Almond Joy concoction with a vanilla base.

Once it was ready, I sat down at the counter with my gigantic bowl and closed my eyes, savoring each

bite.

The front door slammed and shortly after, Elec strolled into the kitchen. The scent of clove cigarettes

and cologne wafted in the air. I hated his smell.

I fucking loved his smell
,
wanted to drown in it.

As usual, he ignored me, just headed to the refrigerator, took out the milk and drank it straight from the

carton. He eyed my ice cream and walked over to me, taking the spoon out of my hand. He placed it in his

mouth, devouring a huge dollop. The metal from his lip ring clinked against the spoon that he licked until it was dry. My insides were quivering from just watching it. Then, he handed the spoon back to me. His

tongue lightly brushed across his teeth like a snake. Even his goddamn teeth were sexy.

I opened the drawer, grabbed another spoon and gave him his own. We both started eating out of my

bowl while saying nothing to each other. Such a simple thing, but my heart was beating a mile a minute.

This was the longest amount of time he’d ever willingly graced me with his presence.

Finally, in the middle of a bite, he looked at me. “What happened to your father?”

I swallowed my ice cream and tried to fight the emotions creeping up. His question caught me totally off

guard. I rested my spoon in the bowl. “He died of lung cancer at 35. He’d been smoking since he was 12.”

He closed his eyes briefly and nodded to himself in understanding. He obviously now realized why I’d

hated his smoking so much.

After several seconds of silence, he was looking down at the bowl when he said, “I’m sorry.”

“Thanks.”

We continued sharing the ice cream until there was nothing left. Elec took the bowl from me, washed it

in the sink, wiped it and put it away. He then left to go back upstairs without saying anything else.

I stayed downstairs in the kitchen alone for a while replaying that strange encounter. His interest in my

father really surprised me. I also thought again about when he first licked my spoon and how I’d felt when

I licked it after.

My phone chimed. It was a text from Elec.

Thanks for the ass cream. It was really good.

When I returned to my room that afternoon, a single pair of my underwear was neatly folded on my

dresser. If this were his version of extending an olive branch, I’d take it.

***

The “sweet” Elec was short-lived. A few days after our ice cream social, he showed up at the café where

I worked right in the middle of the after school rush. Kilt Café was down the street from our high school

and served things like sandwiches, salads and coffee.

If Elec’s showing up wasn’t bad enough, he’d brought with him probably the most beautiful girl in our

entire school. Leila was platinum blonde and tall with huge breasts. She was the total opposite of me looks-

wise. I had more of a dancer or gymnast’s body. My long strawberry-blonde hair was poker straight and

simple as opposed to her big, bouncy Texas-style do. You’d think she’d be a bitch because of her looks, but

she was actually really nice.

Leila waved. “Hey, Greta.”

“Hey,” I said as I placed their menus down. Elec gave me fleeting eye contact but was trying not to

acknowledge me. I don’t think he knew that I worked there, because I never told him.

A pang of jealousy hit me when I noticed Elec locking Leila’s legs in with his under the table.

I wasn’t sure if Leila realized he was my stepbrother. I never spoke about him to people at school and

figured he never mentioned me, either.

“I’ll give you two a few minutes,” I said before walking back toward the kitchen. I watched as Leila

reached across the table and planted a kiss on his lips. I felt sick. She pulled on his lip ring with her teeth. It looked like she might have purred.
Ugh.
I’d never wanted to disappear into thin air so badly.

I reluctantly walked back over to them. “Have you decided what you want?”

Elec glanced over to the chalkboard that listed the daily specials and smirked. “What’s your soup of the

day?”

That bastard.

“Chicken.”

“That’s not correct. You’re misrepresenting it.”

“It’s the same thing.”

He repeated, “What’s…the soup…of the day?”

I stared at him long and hard then clenched my jaw. “Cock a Leekie Soup.”

The owner was from Scotland, and apparently, that was a specialty there.

He flashed a mischievous grin. “Thanks. I’ll have the cock soup. Leila?”

“I’ll have the garden salad,” she said, looking back and forth between Elec and me confused.

I took my sweet time before bringing them their food. It didn’t matter to me if the soup was cold.

After a few minutes, Elec lifted his index finger for me to come to the table.

“Yes?” I huffed.

“This cock is leaky. It’s also bland and cold. Can you please replace it and ask the cook to actually put

some flavor in it?”

He looked like he was stifling a laugh. Leila was speechless.

I took the soup back to the kitchen and dumped it violently into the sink along with the ceramic cup.

Instead of talking to the chef, I had a light bulb moment and decided to take this into my own hands. I

grabbed the ladle and put more soup into a new cup. I opened a bottle of hot picante sauce and poured it

more than generously into the soup.

It was piping hot in more ways than one now. I walked back out and placed it carefully in front of Elec.

“Anything else?”

“No.”

I walked back over toward the kitchen and waited in the corner to watch him. The anticipation was

killing me. His tongue would practically fall off when he got one taste of my specialty.

Elec took the first spoonful. He had no reaction.

How could that be?

He took another spoonful then his eyes sought me out. His mouth curved into a sly smile before he took

the entire cup and started drinking the soup like a beverage. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand,

whispered to Leila and excused himself.

Leila’s back was turned to me when Elec walked over and dragged me by the arm into the dark corridor

leading to the bathrooms.

He backed me up against the wall. “You think you’re so smart?” My heart was slamming into my chest.

Speechless, I shook my head as he said, “Well, the joke’s on you.”

Before I could respond, Elec grabbed my face with both hands and smashed his lips into mine. The

metal from his lip ring scraped my mouth as he nudged it open with his tongue hungrily and started kissing

me deep. I moaned into his mouth, both shocked and excited by the ambush of his hot tongue assaulting

me. My body was shaking. He smelled amazing. I felt like I was going to collapse from the sensory

overload.

Within seconds, the heat from the picante sauce on his tongue began to penetrate my own, which was

now burning. Even though it felt like my tongue was about to fall off, I didn’t ever want to pull away.

I’d never been kissed like this.

Then, just like that, he ripped his mouth away from mine.

“Don’t you know by now not to fuck with me?”

He walked away, and I stayed panting in the corridor with my hand over my chest.

Holy shit.

My mouth was on fire along with every other orifice. I was throbbing between my legs. When I finally

gained enough composure to walk back out, I realized they needed their check at some point.

I decided to get it over with and took the leather bill binder to their table, placing it in front of Elec

without making eye contact.

I overheard him telling Leila to meet him out front and that he’d take care of everything. He reached

into his pocket and slipped something in the folder and soon after, he took off.

He probably didn’t even leave me a tip. I opened it and gasped when along with a twenty-dollar bill was

my favorite black lace thong and written in pen on the check:

Keep the change, or rather, change into these. I’m guessing your current ones are a little wet.

Elec and I never spoke of the kiss even though it ran through my mind constantly. I was pretty sure it

didn’t mean anything to him, that he was just trying to make a point. Still, the sensations I experienced were the same as if the kiss had been based on real passion. Knowing what his lips felt like on mine and how

he’d tasted wasn’t a memory that could so easily be erased. I craved that feeling again. It made the battle

between my mind and body much more difficult than before.

It was a curse having a crush on someone you had to live with, particularly when he brought girls from

school back to the house.

One afternoon, while our parents weren’t home, he’d brought Leila over, and they were in his room

messing around. Another afternoon, it was Amy. Then the next week, it was a different Amy.

I’d be in my room covering my ears so that I didn’t have to hear the sound of his bed squeaking or the

stupid girl giggling. The particular day that Amy number two exited his room to go home, I texted him

immediately after.

Really? Two Amys? Will Amy #3 be coming tomorrow? What are you thinking?!

Elec: I’m thinking you’re wishing your name were Amy…“sister.”

Greta: Step! Stepsister.

Elec: Scramble the word step, you get PEST. step=pest.

Greta: You’re a moron.

Elec: You’re a pest.

I got up from my bed in a huff and walked right into his room without knocking. He was playing a

video game and didn’t even look at me. “I really need to get a lock on that thing.”

My heart was racing. “Why are you such a fucking jerk?”