Ava slowly shook her head. She knew exactly where I was trying to go. “No way, Sophia. We don't have any room for your stepbrother to stay with us.”
I got down on to my knees.“Please! It's only going to be for a couple weeks. He just graduated college and he wanted to visit me for the summer.”
“And is he going to pay us rent while he freeloads off us?”
“Come on, Ava, you know I can't charge him rent when he just graduated. He doesn't have a job yet.”
“So this isn't just a visit, is it?”
Ava could always see right through my plans. Her long blonde hair was very deceptive. Ava was actually very smart. A double major in biology and I could never remember the name of the second one.
“He just needs a place to stay while until he finds a job. Then he'll be out of my hair. Listen, I'll do all your chores while he stays here.”
Ava's eyes lit up. “All of my chores?”
I nodded. “The dishes, vacuuming, and I'll even do your laundry.”
Ava scratched her chin. “If I say yes to this, we have to agree that he'll be gone at the end of the summer.”
“Of course,” I replied, smiling.
“At the end of the summer, Matthew is gone no matter what. Repeat that for me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Matthew is gone at the end of the summer no matter what.”
“Good. Now that we have that out of the way. Where is he going to sleep? I don't want him out on the couch in the living room. I'll never be able to watch TV again.”
“I was thinking he could sleep in my room. It's not as big as yours but there's enough room on the floor.”
“Works perfect for me. The less I see him the better. Another rule is that he can't have any friends over. I don't want this place to turn into a party house.”
“Of course.”
“And he needs to do his share of the chores.”
I agreed. “I think you're going to like him, Ava. He's actually really good looking.”
Ava slapped her bare thigh. “Well why the hell didn't you start with that first? Do you have a picture of him?”
I took out my phone and scrolled through my pictures until I found a good one of him from last year. Matthew was wearing board shorts from when we went to the beach. I remembered he could only visit for a couple days and we made the most of it. I could still remember him rubbing suntan oil over his chest. It always sent shivers down my spine.
“Here he is from summer last year.” I showed the phone to Ava and her jaw dropped.
She snatched the phone from my hand. “What the fuck! This guy is your stepbrother? I don't fucking believe it.”
“I knew you would like him. So you're cool with him staying with us?”
“Hell he can sleep with me in my bed if he wants.”
I laughed. “Thanks, Ava. I really appreciate it.”
“Don't thank me yet. If he starts pissing me off, I'm going to be coming at you.”
“It will be fine. Trust me.”
“Famous last words,” Ava said.
The doorbell rang and I stiffened. Matthew wasn't supposed to come until 4:00 PM. I checked my phone and realized that he was right on time.
Ava stood up and stretched her arms. “I'll get the door.”
“Yeah that might be Matthew.”
Ava threw daggers at me. “What?”
I put my hands up in surrender. “I knew you were going to say yes. He didn't have anywhere to stay tonight so I told him to come by today.”
Ava sighed. “I could kill you, Sophia.”
Chapter Two
I ran past Ava and to the front door. I took a deep breath and opened it. There he was. Just as glorious as the image in my head.
Matthew's short brown hair was shaved close to his head, his body looked even bigger than the last time I saw him. I also noticed a few new tattoos on his arms. He almost had full-on sleeves now. His tight white t-shirt showed off his impeccable muscles and his blue jeans were all dusty and used. Like a real man.
“You're here!” I shouted, jumping into his arms.
“Good to see you, Sophia.” Matthew wrapped his strong hands behind my back. “Let me get a good look at you.” He pulled me back and examined me from head to toe. “You're looking really good.”
“And look at you! You grew a little bit of stubble.” I poked at his jaw and Matthew swatted me away.
He rubbed his five o' clock shadow. “I was just trying it out.”
“Well I think it suits you. Come inside.”
Matthew lugged a suitcase in and I closed the door behind him.
I heard Ava fake cough. “Oh shit, sorry.” I pointed to her. “Matthew, this is my roommate, Ava. Ava this is my stepbrother Matthew.”
Ava had that look of lust in her eyes. She would have to join the line of women that wrapped around the building.
“Nice to meet you,” Matthew said. Ava couldn't find the words and wasn't able to say anything more.
“Would you like to set your stuff down in my room?” I asked him.
Matthew barely gave Ava any attention. His eyes were solely focused on me which was odd considering that most men gravitated towards Ava because of her golden hair. It didn't even matter that it was colored.
I tried coloring my hair to blonde once and thought I looked terrible. It didn't suit me at all so for Ava at least I could say that she looked good blonde.
“That sounds good,” Matthew replied, picking up his suitcase.
I took him down the hallway and pointed through a door. “This is the bathroom if you were wondering.” I cursed myself for not cleaning it before he came over. Ava and I had our makeup spread out all over the counter.
“And this is my bedroom,” I said, bringing Matthew inside.
He set his suitcase down and looked around. “It's very...quaint.”
I laughed. “I know its pretty small. But I can give you the bed and I'll sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag.”
“No way, Sophia. You're letting me stay here and I'm not going to put you on the floor. A sleeping bag is better than I thought I would get.”
I didn't want to argue with him and make him feel even worse. It had to take a lot of courage to ask me for help. Matthew always considered himself the older and wiser.
Matthew took a step forward. “I wanted to thank you for letting me stay here. I promise it won't be for very long.”
I brushed him off. “It's nothing, Matthew. I figure I might need to come to you for help in the near future. It might help to have this in my back pocket.”
“Well I'd like to take you out to dinner to thank you.”
“Come on. We both know that you don't have much money. I don't have much either. Please save it and I'll feel better.”
“Then I promise I'll take you to the most expensive restaurant in town once I get a job.”
“That sounds good to me. There's plenty of food here that we can eat for dinner tonight. Do you like canned soup?”
Matthew laughed. “Soup sounds really good.”
Ava knocked on my open door. She stood in the doorway, wearing a different outfit. She wore a tight shirt and a low top that showed off way too much. “I was just wondering if Matthew was settling in all right?”
“He's doing fine. We were just figuring out what to eat for dinner.” I felt this surge of jealousy course through me. It wasn't something I usually felt when Ava went after a man. Maybe I was trying to be protective of my stepbrother?
Maybe it was something else?
Ava stepped into my room. “I can cook us something. I know Sophia doesn't really like to cook. Pasta sound good?”
Ava never cooked for the two of us. She always made food just for herself. Even if there was plenty of leftovers, she wouldn't offer me any. I got used to eating fast food and canned goods really fast.
“That sounds good to me,” Matthew said, turning to me see what my response would be.
I huffed. “Yeah let's have Ava cook for dinn
er. It beats soup.”
For some reason, I felt like there was a competition between Ava and I for Matthew's affection. But I wasn't sure why it mattered to me.
Chapter Three
“So we went up straight to his room,” Ava said, telling a story that I'd heard a million times. It was only funny the first time.
She stirred the pasta in the pot of water and continued, “Kyle couldn't wait any longer but when he dropped his pants, he was as soft as spaghetti. I mean what was I supposed to do with it?”
“What did you do?” Matthew asked.
Ava always told this story around new guys that she was interested in. It did two things. One: it showed that Ava was very easy. Ava had gone through most of the fraternity and now she was focusing on fucking as many jocks as possible.
Most guys liked that about women. At least in college.
Two: It made the guy think that he could show Ava a better time than a guy who couldn't even get it up.
And I have to say that it worked every time. She would get those guys to join her in an empty bedroom. I almost wished that I could switch places with her. Just to see what it feels like to be a dirty whore sometimes.
Ava scooped the pasta onto plates. “I did my best. I used my hands, my mouth. Nothing was working. The guy was completely embarrassed. I ended up just leaving him there half-naked on the bed, drowning in his shame.”
Matthew cringed. “Ouch. That sucks.”
“Dinner's ready,” Ava announced. “There's some pasta sauce you can pour on your noodles and salt and pepper on the table.”
We all sat down at the table and I realized that I was being a bad host. “Do you want something to drink, Matthew?”
“I was going to break out a bottle of whiskey,” Ava said. “We can do whiskey and cokes or something else if you want?”
I didn't like how forward Ava was being. She never shared her alcohol with me. Now I figured out why. I didn't have a big dick.
“I'll take a whiskey and coke,” Matthew said.
Ava wasn't going to ask me if I wanted any. “I'll take one too,” I said. I knew she wouldn't be able to refuse me.
“This pasta sauce is really good, Ava,” Matthew said with a mouthful.
“It's just from a jar,” I said before Ava could spin some tale about how her grandmother passed down the recipe to her.
Ava brought our drinks over. “I wanted to make a toast.” I rolled my eyes and lifted my glass along with Matthew. “To a great summer with great friends.”
“I can toast to that,” Matthew said.
We clinked our glasses. I took a big gulp of alcohol. This night wasn't going to be easy. Not with Ava hunting Matthew like he was her prey.
“What type of job are you going to look for?” I asked Matthew.
He wiped his lips with a napkin but there was still a little bit of sauce on the corner of his mouth. I wanted to kiss him and lick it off. “I'm actually looking for something at the college. In their sports department.”
“You mean like coaching?”
“Yeah. I played football and basketball for so long. I wasn't good enough to play professionally. Maybe I could do something else with it.”
“That sounds really good. Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked.
“I know some guys that might be able to help you,” Ava interrupted.
“Really?” Matthew replied.
“I know a lot of guys that are playing sports at the college. They might be able to put a good word in for you.”
“That would be great. Just let me know if you need anything from me.”
“It looks like you need a refresh,” I said, pointing at his whiskey.
Matthew looked down at his glass. “That would be great. You're the best, Sophia.”
I went to the kitchen and made us both new drinks. I needed to get away from the two of them for a moment. I felt furious and I couldn't tell if it was from the alcohol or from the feelings that were bubbling up.
I thought that I could keep my emotions under control. I had told myself that Matthew was forever off limits. But I couldn't deny what I felt anymore.
I came back into the dining room and found Ava sitting even closer to Matthew. She was practically sitting on his lap. And that laugh of hers. It felt so fake. Couldn't Matthew see the act she was putting on?
I couldn't take it anymore. I knew how this night was going to end and I didn't want to watch it anymore. “I think I'm going to head to bed early,” I said.
Ava looked at the clock. “It's barely seven?”
“I know but I'm beat.”
Matthew stood up. “I should join you. I have a lot of unpacking to do.”
Ava was dumbfounded and so was I. This night was not going the way I thought.
Chapter Four
Somehow Matthew had resisted Ava. She had played every card in her deck and it seemed to be working. But he was leaving her high and dry.
“Bring the drinks with us,” he said. It was a weird request since I said I was going to bed but I didn't really mean I was going to sleep. I was just going to turn up the music and try and ignore what was going on between Ava and Matthew.
Matthew closed my bedroom door behind us and I handed him his drink. An awkward silence passed as we both sipped from our glasses. I sat down on the edge of my bed, my heart beating in my ears.
Matthew went to his suitcase and unzipped it. He started laying out stacks of clothes on the ground. “This whiskey is really hitting my head. What did you put it in?”
“Sorry, I'm not very good at mixing drinks. I probably put too much alcohol in it.”
“Well whatever you did was better than Ava. I can barely taste the whiskey.”
He was right. My eyes were having trouble focusing and I couldn't keep my balance even though I was sitting on my bed. I was more drunk than I had been in a long time. If I stayed in such close quarters with Matthew much longer, I might do something I would regret.
“I'm going to change into some pajamas. I'll be right back.”
I took some pants and a shirt from my dresser. I was going to have to get used to not changing in my room anymore. I wasn't going to get much privacy over the next few months.
I escaped into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. My cheeks were all flushed from the whiskey. I debated whether or not to take off my makeup. I didn't want Matthew to see my plain face.
I stripped out my clothes and bra and put on my comfy pajama pants with penguins on it. My t-shirt had the name of my college written on it. The shirt was so baggy that even my large breasts were hidden underneath. I didn't want to have to wear a bra to sleep.
I entered my bedroom and was immediately blessed with the sight of Matthew's shirtless body and boxers. I covered my eyes and backed away. “I'm sorry. I didn't know you were changing.”
“No come in. This is what I'm wearing to bed.”
I reluctantly took my hand down. His sculpted chest took my breath away. The tattoos covering his skin made him look so fucking sexy. Intricate designs were layered on top of each other over his skin. You couldn't tell what was going on and if you asked him, Matthew would just shrug and say he didn't know what it all meant.
But deep down I was sure he knew. Everything on his skin was calculated and laid out. He just didn't want people to know how complex his tattoos were.
I tried to keep eye contact with him and not look down at the bulge in his boxers. I didn't think I'd be able to help myself if I saw it.
“Let me get your sleeping bag so you can figure out how you want to sleep.” I went to the closet and pulled out a pink sleeping bag that I had for years. “It might be a little small.”
“I'm sure it will be big enough,” he replied.
I bent over and laid it down on the ground, straightening it out. When I stood back up, I caught Matthew checking out my boobs. I didn't realize it but when I bent over in front of Matthew, my shirt was so baggy that he could see straight down. He was able
to see everything.
And I mean everything.
I glanced down at his gray boxer briefs and the outline of his enormous cock was impossible to miss. Matthew was so hard right now. Could he really be that big?
My breathing quickened, my chest expanding and contracting. I took a step forward and looked up at Matthew. The desire in his dark eyes was undeniable. His hands reached up and stroked my bare arms and then he clenched them, holding me in place.
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