Stepbrother With Benefits 7 (Second Season) Read online

  "Ethan, really?" my stepmom says, making a face and rolling her eyes at me.

  "Look, this is kind of weird for me, alright?" I say, grinning. "I just like her. I like the cuddling, too. I like hanging out with her. And yeah, I don't know, I like the sex stuff a lot, but I like it more because she likes it, but I like everything else. I have no idea what she's talking about with her college stuff, but I like how she talks about it. She gets really excited and her nose kind of wrinkles up a little. I don't think she realizes it, but I do, and then when she's done I like to kiss her nose. She always looks at me funny, like she's wondering why I just kissed her nose, but it seems like the perfect thing to do at the time, so..."

  "So you're in love with her," my stepmom says.

  "Yeah," I say. To make it sound more official, I say, "Yes."

  "It wasn't a question, Ethan," she says. "It was a statement."

  "Oh," I say.

  "You're not going to hurt her, are you?"

  "I don't want to," I say. I can't say that I won't, because I don't know, but I don't want to. I don't know how to explain that one.

  "You can still be yourself, Ethan," Ashley's mom says. "I know you have a reputation as being a bad boy, and you can still be that. You can be her bad boy. Does that make sense?"

  "Kind of," I say.

  "There's a difference between a good sort of bad and a bad bad," she says. "Girls like the good bad boys, and I think you know what that means. They don't like the bad ones, though. You can never really tell the difference between the two at first, and there's a lot more bad ones than there are good ones, but I think you're one of the good ones, Ethan. Or, you can be."

  "I don't know," I say. "I fuck things up a lot."

  "Sometimes," my stepmom says. "I don't think you've ever accidentally fucked something up with a girl, though. You know what you're doing, Ethan. They like you when you're with them, but then you get scared and you distance yourself from them. You can't do that with Ashley, but I don't think I have to tell you that."

  "I'm not scared," I say. It's true, because I'm not, but I don't know how to tell her the truth, either.

  "Oh?" she asks.

  Well, fuck, I guess I'll try! Why's she have to make this so difficult?

  "I get pissed off," I say. "I don't like how guys treat the girls they're with. I know that sounds stupid, but it pisses me off to see a girl get treated like she's replaceable, and then some douchebag just treats her like shit and dumps her, breaking her heart or something. I get how it looks like I do the same thing, but I don't think it's the same."

  She stops to look at me. I think she must disagree with me, maybe she's silently judging me, but then I don't think Ashley's mom would do that. Instead of doing anything else, she just smiles at me.

  "I mean, I like the girls I've been with. I don't hate them. I never loved any of them, except Ashley, though. It's just... I want them to know what it's like for a guy to treat them right, and so I always swooped in and did my thing and showed them a good time. It was never supposed to be anything more than that. Then they can find a good guy who can do that shit forever. That's what I wanted to happen, but I guess maybe I went about it the wrong way."

  "I can't really say you went about it the right way," Ashley's mom says with a smirk.

  "Yeah, well, look, I like sex, too. I guess my intentions were never completely pure and good. I'm still a bad boy here. I've got a reputation to uphold."

  "Oh, yes, of course," she says, laughing.

  "I'm done, though. I promise I won't do that to Ashley. We have rules and shit. This is serious stuff. I went out with girls before, but I never really dated them. Not like a boyfriend and girlfriend thing. That's what Ashley and I are doing, though. It's legit. A real relationship."

  "I'm glad to hear that," she says. "It's good to have rules and boundaries in any relationship, too."

  "I don't think it's those kind of rules," I say. "It's uh... actual rules? I forget how many there are now. I think Ashley would know. Maybe we should write these down. Just not rule number one. We got rid of that one."

  "What's rule number one?" Ashley's mom asks.

  "That's the stepbrother with benefits one," I say without thinking. "It was only supposed to last for a week, because—"

  Fuck. Did I really just say that? Ashley's mom is staring at me, unblinking.

  "Stepbrother with benefits?" she asks, one eyebrow raised.

  At that very moment, Ashley walks into the kitchen, freshly showered, wearing her cute shirt and shorts. She looks nice, or she did at first, but when she hears her mom say "stepbrother with benefits" she freezes, a look of horror on her face.

  *** Ashley

  I don't really know what I expected to happen when my mom and Ethan's dad came home, but it definitely didn't involve finding my mom and Ethan talking about the "stepbrother with benefits" relationship he and I had agreed to try just about a week ago. In fact, if I'm being honest, that's the last thing I expected and wanted to happen.

  When I walked into the kitchen, as soon as I heard my mom say that, I froze, staring at the pair of them with an open-mouthed look of shock and horror. My mom looked equally confused, and Ethan, um... he looked like Ethan? I'm not even sure if anything can phase him, and apparently having a conversation with my mom about a casual sex dalliance relationship with her daughter wasn't even on the list of discussions he thought he should be circumspect about.

  "Excuse me," I say, trying to sound sweet and innocent. "What are you two talking about?"

  I take it back. Yes, something can phase Ethan, and apparently it's me. "What's with the look?" Ethan asks.

  "She does look scary, doesn't she?" my mom adds.

  I was trying to be... nice? I think. No! I don't even want to pretend to be nice anymore. "Ethan! Seriously, you can't talk to my mom about stuff like that. That's just weird and gross and wrong."

  "She told me to!" he counters.

  I'm about to rant and rave at him some more, but then I realize what he just said and this changes things, now doesn't it? I glance towards my mom now. Apparently my sweet and innocent expression is really bad, because she looks at me like I'm scary. Alright, fine, I'm not even trying to be sweet and innocent anymore, but they don't have to look at me like that, do they?

  "Mom," I say, whining. "What are you even doing?"

  "I think there's some miscommunication going on," my mom says. "I did tell Ethan that if he needed someone to talk to about certain things, he was welcome to come to me. I didn't want him to feel left out, dear."

  "I don't think that should include who I do or don't decide to have—" I stop myself before I finish that sentence, because I'm not going to admit to my mom that Ethan and I started this entire bad boy fiasco by having a "friends with benefits" type of relationship. She really doesn't have to know these things. I don't want to tell her about them in front of Ethan, at least.

  "Perhaps we can make this another rule?" my mom suggests.

  "Wait," I say. Wait wait wait! "Did Ethan tell you about the rules? Do you know what the rules are?"

  "No?" my mom says. "I'm kind of curious, though. What are the rules?"

  "Eleven is my favorite," Ethan says, because he's an idiot.

  "Shut up, Ethan!" I yell at him. To my mom, I add, "Nothing, Mom. You don't have to worry about it. The rules are personal."

  "Eleven?" she asks. "How many rules are there? That seems like a lot."

  "Fuck if I know," Ethan says.

  "Ethan, stop swearing in front of my mom," I tell him. "There's seventeen rules, too. I can't believe you can't remember that. Except one is null and void now and nine doesn't exist."

  "Doesn't that mean there's only fifteen rules?" my mom asks.

  "I'm not talking about the rules," I say. Then, for clarification, I add, "Not in front of Ethan."

  "Wow," Ethan says, shaking his head, pretending to look sad. I don't know who he thinks he's fooling with that stupid pathetic look on his face, but it's not me. Not
me at all.

  "Alright," my mom says, thoughtful. "Well, how about this as a new rule or whatever you want to call it? If either of you want to talk about relationship problems with me, you can, but it has to be separate. Either just Ethan or just you, Ashley, but not the both of you together."

  "I think Ethan can just talk to his dad, don't you?" I say.

  "Are you crazy?" Ethan asks. "I'm not talking to my dad about this kind of stuff. That's fucked up."

  "Oh, so it's alright for you to talk to my mom about it?" I counter. I really don't understand him.

  Ethan shrugs. I turn to my mom for hopeful confirmation that I'm not crazy in feeling this way, but she just shrugs, too. Seriously? Wow. Ugh!

  "Fine," I say, wrinkling my nose at the both of them. "Fine, but it's not a rule. Rules are... those are for something else. This can be, um... guideline number one."

  "Got it," Ethan says. "Guideline number one. Sounds legit."

  "Understood," my mother says, nodding twice. "I will adhere to your rules and guidelines."

  "You're not adhering to the rules, Mom," I say, groaning at her. "Stop with the rules, please? The rules are only for us. Just for me and Ethan."

  "Understood," my mom says again, nodding twice more. I wish she'd stop treating this like it's some sort of secret spy mission thing.

  I guess it doesn't matter, because before I can say anything more, the phone rings. There's a phone in the kitchen right by my mom, but I can hear it ringing in the living room, and Ethan's dad's office, too. We don't really use the landline much here, but it's what I always used to call my mom from school, since she's used to it. She says it's more personal, though I really don't understand how. A phone is a phone, right?

  Currently, a phone is not a phone. My mom goes to answer it, but hesitates before picking it up.

  "Um, Ashley?" she says. "The caller ID says it's from Jake?"

  "Motherfucker," Ethan says.

  "Ethan, you can't say that in front of my mother," I tell him.

  "What, why not—" But then it seems to dawn on him. "Oh, hey, sorry."

  My mom shrugs. "It's alright, dear. No offense taken. But... Ashley, should I answer this, or...?"

  As if we'd planned this, both Ethan and I say "No" at the same time.

  "Well, alright," my mom says. "I just hope Ethan's father doesn't answer it, then."

  "Oh, fuck," I say, forgetting myself.

  Thankfully my mother didn't notice me swearing, but Ethan does. I think he would have said something, but currently we're in a pretty bad predicament, so...

  Ethan's dad doesn't answer the phone and it goes to the answering machine after a couple more rings. My mom presses a button on the base to listen to the message as it's recorded, which blocks it from playing on the other phones.

  "Hey," Jake says into the machine. "I'm getting really sick of this, and I know something must be going on. Apparently Ashley and her boy toy are deleting these messages so that you can't hear them. This is for her mother and stepfather. I don't know if you realize this, but your daughter is having illicit sexual relations with her stepbrother, which is completely disturbing in a lot of ways. In addition to that, she's also sending him nude pictures of herself, and text messages talking about the crazy sex they're going to have. She accidentally sent me some of these, and this is how I found out. I wanted to let you know, so you can put a stop to it, but also to tell you that I'll gladly erase the evidence I have for a small fee. Please don't think of this as bribery, but as a gesture of good will. Maybe $10,000 sounds good? I'm willing to negotiate. If you get this, please call me back as soon as you can, so we can work out the details. Thanks. Oh, this is Jake, by the way. Her boyfriend from college. Sorry to be the one to tell you this."

  The message stops then. Ethan and I both freeze, staring at my mother, who seems deep in thought. I'm not even sure what she's going to make of this. We haven't had a chance to talk with her about it, and I know she knows a little, but...

  "Ashley," my mom says. "Why are you sending Ethan nude pictures? His bedroom is right down the hall from yours."

  "Mom, are you being serious right now?" I ask her.

  "She has a point, though," Ethan says, smirking at me.

  My mom shrugs and lifts her eyebrows, making a face at me. "Well, it really doesn't make any sense to me, but maybe it's a thing you kids do these days, but I don't understand it at all."

  "Jake is trying to blackmail you into paying him money so that he won't release pictures of me to everyone at school," I say. "I think that's a little more important, don't you?"

  "Oh, is that what he's going to do with them?" my mom asks. "That's not good."

  "Mom, I know it's not good."

  "Pretty fucking bad if you ask me," Ethan says. "Also, he's an asshole. I should have punched him in the face again when I had the chance. What a dick."

  "Did Jake come here?" my mom asks, worry knitting her brow.

  "No, um..." I tell her all of it. About how the plane ticket was to go see Jake, and how he was trying to blackmail me then, too, but Ethan came and saved me, and when we got back, she'd already left with Ethan's dad for that business trip again. "That's when the first voice message came," I say. "He's left about one or two a day ever since then. We've just been deleting them."

  "I'm not very happy about this," my mom says, frowning.

  "I'm sorry," I say. "I... it was just something I thought would be fun, um... with Ethan, I mean. And I know it's weird, alright? I'm just—"

  "What? Oh, no, not that, dear," my mom says. "I don't understand that, either, but I understand it, I think. It's always good to spice things up in the bedroom. Ethan's father and I do some pretty crazy things sometimes, too. I'll leave the details out."

  "Um... thanks... I think?"

  "What I'm not happy about is some... some asshole dick trying to hurt my daughter! My stepson, too. Who does he think he is?"

  Did my mother really just call someone an asshole dick? Yes, yes she did. Ethan nods and smiles at her with his bad boy approval. Apparently he's not just rubbing off on me, but on my mother, too. This isn't good.

  "We'll figure this out," my mother says. "We can talk about it together, after we talk with your father, Ethan. It's something we should do together."

  "What are we talking about together?"

  I jump, startled. Ethan's dad comes up behind me, putting his hand on my shoulder, smiling at all of us. I stand there, stock still, unsure what to do. Did he hear everything? Oh no...

  "Who was that on the phone, by the way?" he asks.

  "Wrong number," my mother says, smiling sweetly and innocently. She's much better at this than I am. "We were just talking about where we should go for dinner. Wouldn't it be nice to eat out as a family on our first night back, with all of us together?"

  "Sounds great," my stepfather says. "I'm tired of all that business junk we had to deal with. Work work work. Hey, we can talk about the camping trip, too. I know it's short notice, but how about we leave tomorrow? I don't want anyone to interrupt us and try to tell me I need to come back to work for something, so the sooner the better. Would love to have some quality time with the family. What does everyone think?"

  It's unanimous, we all agree. That seems to settle it, and we start to move out of the kitchen, the chopped vegetables for the snack my mom was making all but forgotten. It's probably for the best, because if she mentioned it, Ethan's dad would say we could hang around and then go to dinner later, but I really need to get out of the house right now. I need to forget about Jake, and about what Ethan and my mom were talking about, and just all of it.

  I don't know what I expected to happen, and I thought I could stay with Ethan on our own little imaginary island, but apparently not. I know my mom seems alright with it, but...

  "Oh, Ashley," Ethan's dad says. "I didn't have a chance to ask you before, but how was your visit with your friend? Did you have a good time?"

  *** Ethan

  You ever just find yourse
lf hanging around, doing your own thing, and then someone says something completely stupid? And it's not just stupid, but it's probably the worst thing anyone could ever say at that exact moment, which makes you wonder if it's coincidence or something else?

  I know my dad couldn't possibly know that what he just said was horrible, but uh... yeah, Dad, what you just said was horrible.

  I kind of want to say something to him, but I can't. I kind of want to go give Ashley a hug just to tell her that it's alright and my dad's not actually a huge prick, but I can't do that, either. The only thing I can do is stand there and watch and hope we get the fuck out of the house sooner rather than later.

  Ashley laughs it off, though the look in her eyes says she's anything but amused right now. She doesn't look mad or anything, just hurt and sad. It's a hard look to really narrow down into an actual emotion, but her eyes just kind of droop a little, her expression goes slightly blank, even if she tries to hide it with a smile. It's easy for me to tell, but I doubt my dad notices.

  "I ended up coming home early," she says. "There were some unforeseen circumstances."

  "Ah," my dad says, nodding. "I understand. Things happen. I hope it was nothing too serious?"

  Pretty serious, I think. Serious enough that I had to fly after her and kick her ex-boyfriend's ass. Oh well, what can you do? I'd do it again if I had to.

  Ashley shrugs it off and makes a little sound of indifference, sort of between a grunt and a mumble. That seems good enough for my dad. We all head out to get our shoes and junk, which means Ashley and I end up going upstairs together. She quietly heads to her end of the hallway while I'm supposed to be going to mine and my room, but, nah, I've got something else in mind.

  I sneak along after her while she steps down the hall, and then I grab her waist and stop her. She stiffens, then lets out a squeak, but I'm not even done with this girl yet. I take a step close, swoop down, then pick her up in my arms. This isn't something soft and gentle, it's intimate as fuck. I'm holding her, cradled, her back tight in one of my arms, and her legs caught in my other. I squeeze her close to me and carry her the rest of the way down the hall to her room.