Under My Enemy's Roof: An Enemies to Lovers Romance Collection (Under Him Book 7)

by Jamie Knight

  I saw a great video the other day--- The guy broke down why the art sucked too. Nothing was the same anymore, and I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Go to a comic book store, any comic book store, and they would tell you. They were on the verge of going out of business and their mostly male fan base was furious over the shitty comics that were coming out now.

  So I set up my camera, preparing to--- Once again--- Complain, complain, complain about comics. I had done it so often I was getting tired of it. It was as if the only reason to make comics now was so that guys like me could complain about it. I felt weird giving the industry my money, even if it got me hits on a podcast.

  That was when I heard a splash. My instinct was that neighborhood kids had snuck into the pool. It had happened one or two times. Peeking out the window, I saw Tracianne swimming around in a bikini.

  God damn.

  Through the blinds, I could see that incredible, glistening ass just above the water line as she swam from the deep end to the shallow. If she wasn’t my stepsister, I’d be all over that. Even with that high and mighty attitude she liked to display, I had to admit--- She’d be worth it.

  She flipped over and did the backstroke. Her breasts were now floating across the surface of the water line.

  God damn.

  She got out of the pool and flipped her hair back. Click-click, baby. Mmm, her walk to the lounge chair even. Sexy as shit. I found myself getting aroused.

  Suddenly, as she was drying herself, she looked in my direction. I knew, however, that with the way the light hit this side of the house, she probably couldn’t see me.

  I didn’t move. Any movement would’ve drawn her eyes in my direction. When she looked away, I backed off. She laid back to sun herself. I loved seeing her curvy body on display like that. Damn.

  I’d like to see what was under that bikini.

  I knew I shouldn’t be thinking about my step sister like this. I couldn’t help myself from thinking about her, though. I was rock hard and totally distracted.

  Shit.

  I felt utterly disgusted with myself. What the fuck was I doing? Was I that horny? Jesus Christ, yes, I guess. Being sexually attracted to your stepsister? Had I hit a new low?

  This was why I needed to get a girlfriend at college. I had avoided any opportunity to get into a relationship. And unlike the many guys on campus, I didn’t have the time or the energy to put into just banging coeds.

  Sure, there were a lot of women on campus, but you had to put in the time and make it a numbers game. Time was valuable to me. I didn’t want to spend two nights chatting up some chick just to pump her and dump her.

  Yeah, you get laid, but it was a cheap high. I wanted something more emotional than that but it, too, would take time to cultivate. I guessed what they said was true, that nothing good comes easily.

  Avoiding relationship entanglements had worked. My studies, the podcast--- They were going well. I had a system in place. Yeah, I tended to masturbate a lot, but what guy my age doesn’t? You just do it and it’s over. Then you can concentrate again.

  And I didn’t have much shame when it came to porn. I mean, I get it, too much porn--- You can go down the rabbit hole and get weird.

  I knew some guys that talked about porn more than sports. When you start knowing all the porn star names and can rank their performances--- It’s too much. Some of these guys would recommend porn that I was just--- No way, dude. I’m not watching some chick jerk off a guy with her feet. That’s bizarre.

  Porn had that subgenre of step fantasy. It was all just the same thing, only the “actors” pretended they were in a family like mine. Two step siblings have sex. “It’s okay, we’re not related.” The acting was so terrible and the couple so obviously not related--- It didn’t look remotely real. Just another two porn stars banging.

  Now, here I was--- thinking about my stepsister this way. Had I crossed some kind of line here?

  Maybe I had been watching too much porn. Maybe I just needed more human interaction in my life. Kind of a bad time to realize that with the lockdown going on. It wasn’t like I could go back to campus and start expanding my cadre of friends.

  Maybe I needed to get on Zoom and talk to more people. There had been a few girls I had chatted up. They’d be home now, looking for some kind of solace. At the very least, I could set something up for the coming months.

  And who knows? Maybe we’d both sneak out and meet somewhere--- Have sex in a car parked in the woods. That might be the move.

  But that would be dumb, right now, with the virus going around. Maybe that was why I was going insane.

  I still couldn’t believe I was thinking about my stepsister like this. Sure, I knew I couldn’t act on it; that would be wrong.

  However, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. What the fuck was wrong with me?

  Chapter Six - Tracianne

  “God, I’m so bored already,” I texted Diamond.

  “Damn girl. One dip in the pool and you outta shit to do?”

  I snapped a pic of my frowny face and sent it to her.

  “You lookin’ good poolside. That new stepbrother of yours checking you out?! LOL!” she asked.

  I sent her a vomiting emoticon and then I looked back at the house. Phil wasn’t looking at me, was he? I was probably being paranoid. God, that would be just icing on the cake. Big fucking know-it-all--- Lecturing me about the virus like he’s the WHO. Who died and made him King Shit?

  I texted Gillian. She was less gregarious. I wanted a mellow conversation.

  “Hey, Gil,” I texted.

  “Hey.”

  “How are you doing?”

  She called. Guess she was feeling cooped up.

  “Okay, I guess. Parents are already driving me nuts. I have to get out of here!” she said in Facetime.

  “Where would you go?”

  “Anywhere! I just wanna go to Starbucks and hang out. Or a bar. Yeah, a bar would be sweet right now. Wish we had a pool like your family.”

  “You’re not missing much. I’m already bored with it,” I relayed. “One swim and I’m like done. I’ll be all day washing and fixing my hair just for a dip.”

  “Why? You can’t go anywhere. Who cares how you look?”

  “Well, I do,” I countered. “I don’t want to completely slob out over this.”

  “Oh, fuck that. I’m already in sweats. I’m not shaving or anything until this over.”

  “Gil!”

  “Well, what’s the point? My family lives out in the sticks. You have to get into a car to see anyone,” she lamented.

  “At least you can go for walks in the woods, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s true. That’ll be nice, I guess. For a while. But shit--- I think I may be a functional alcoholic. I’m going through withdraw!”

  “No, you’re not. You’re like a two beer chump, Gil.”

  “That’s not true! Remember Margarita Night?”

  “That doesn’t count! That bottle of tequila was so tiny and the mix we had--- That was like a ten to one ratio!”

  “Still, I had like three of them.”

  “Yeah and you still passed out!” I laughed.

  “And what about that time with you and Jared,” she reminded me. “Oh, Jared, that’s so interesting! Oh, Jared, you’re so tall and smart! Oh, Jared, take me!”

  “I didn’t even go out with Jared,” I countered. “He was just talking to me at the bar that time.”

  “He was warm for your form. You should’ve went home with him.”

  “I barely know him!” I dismissed. “Besides, he didn’t make a move. A man has to make a move on me.”

  “Whoa, look at you with your standards,” she joked. “You were pretty tipsy that night. Surprised you didn’t end up going home with someone.”

  “Diamond did.”

  “Diamond always goes home with someone,” she noted. “No offense, but that girl will spread for anybody.”

  “Gil! That’s not nice.”
/>   “It’s true, Traci. You know it. Remember that weightlifter she brought back to the dorm? God, he was a maniac. Kept showing up to the room looking for her--- I mean, he was in love with her.”

  “She does throw herself around.”

  “And that other guy--- Dave? Dan?”

  “Sam?”

  “Yeah, Sam! She starts dating him and then he goes Goth and then Diamond tries to be Goth. Remember how we talked her out of getting her clit pierced.”

  “Oh, God! So gross!”

  “They say it enhances everything,” Gillian pointed out. “You haven’t thought about it?”

  “No! Holy shit! I squealed when I got my ears pierced. I think I’d have a heart attack and die if I got my--- You know, pierced.”

  “Why are you whispering?”

  “My stepbrother’s lurking somewhere. I don’t want him to hear me say things.”

  “No offense, but I would do him.”

  “Gil! God! I called you because I thought I wouldn’t get this kind of conversation! Diamond is already planning on meeting some guy.”

  “She lives in Jersey City. That place is so densely populated, you could meet a guy going to take out your trash in the hall.”

  “They put their trash in the hall?”

  “In a slot. In an apartment building.”

  “Oh, right,” I laughed. “I was picturing tiny trashcans in the hall and that the apartment landlord would pick them up.”

  “In what?” laughed Gillian. “A tiny trash truck? Didn’t you ever see Seinfeld? The characters live in an apartment in New York.”

  “They wouldn’t show the trash on TV,” I scoffed.

  “Why not? It’s not illegal. And I think they did in one episode,” she pointed out. “Maybe that’s what I should do. Binge watch Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm again.”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s what I should do, too. Binge watch something. I hear this Tiger King is pretty good. Looks weird though.”

  “I saw the trailer,” explained Gillian. “He’s gay, but he loves tigers and he tries to kill this woman. I think he ends up in jail.”

  “You just gave it away!”

  “That was in the trailer,” assured Gillian. “Trust me. Sounds like there’s way more to it than that.”

  “I actually wanted to watch this new Star Trek show, but everyone says it’s terrible.”

  “It’s so weird you have to pay for it now. I think the first episode’s free. You have Netflix?”

  “I’m not sure what we have. I think we have a whole package. Including Amazon Prime.”

  “Oh, my God, that one is so lit. I love Amazon!”

  “You get Amazon delivered where you live?”

  “Of course! Best thing about it, since we’re in the woods--- No one ever steals off of our porch. Although, sometimes the guy leaves the packages by the road. Our driveway is like a hike.”

  “He just leaves them at the road? That’s nuts.”

  “Well, not really. It’s where the mailbox is. Otherwise, he’d have to pull off the road and drive all the way in. I don’t think they can do that,” Gillian explained.

  “What happens if it’s raining?”

  “My dad had originally built a little package box for that, but--- Then the animals started nesting in there. One of the security cameras looks at the road, so we just keep an eye out. He usually comes in the early afternoon, so--- I just run out there and get the stuff. We have a golf cart with a little roof.”

  “You have a golf cart? Just to go down your driveway?” I laughed. “That’s so weird.”

  “I know, but it’s like a quarter of a mile! It’s a lot faster, especially if it’s raining and you don’t want to get wet. Usually, my dad and I will do it. I’ll drive and he holds the umbrella, then I stop. He hops out and gets the packages while I turn around. Then he jumps back on and we drive into the garage.”

  “That’s a complicated way to get the mail!” I laughed.

  “What’s even worse now, dad decided to order all our food online. We keep getting cases of soup and stuff. It’s heavy! I went out there went it wasn’t raining to get a case of mandarin oranges---“

  “What?” I laughed. “You’re ordering fruit in a can?”

  “The produce stand is like, ten minutes away by car--- No more than that. Probably like 20 minutes. He doesn’t even want to go there. Says that people handling the fruit can infect us.”

  “Jeez, does he have a bunker?”

  “He price one!” laughed Gillian. “Seriously, we have so much food stockpiled here. If the world ends, come on by. Just wave so dad doesn’t shoot you.”

  “I’ll remember. What’s it like eating out of cans?”

  “Well, we’re not at that point yet,” she relayed. “Mom had her normal food run, but dad’s like--- No, that’s over now.”

  “Jeez.”

  “Yeah and he got a bunch of MRE’s too.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The army meals. They come in these shrink wrapped packages and everything’s in there to make a meal. It even has these like heating elements you mix together and it heats up the food.”

  “Wow, cool. Are they good?”

  “They’re heavy and shit,” she recalled. “I mean, they’re supposed to be calorie dense for soldiers in the field running around. They had this milkshake. And you know me and milkshakes, right? Well, I could barely drink a quart of this one and I was like--- No, I’m done. I’m so full!”

  “Crazy. Speaking of calories, I think I need something to eat. Let me go. I’m sure I’ll be talking to you again.”

  “Yeah, check you later.”

  I got myself a snack out of the pantry and headed up to my room in a towel. I was going to need to shower off all this chlorine. I hate the smell.

  Suddenly, the bathroom door opened and Phil--- buck naked--- Just strolls out and into his room! Holy shit! Wow.

  I wasn’t turned on – or, at least, I was trying not to be— but he seemed to be in greatshape. Guess if he had a different personality and was someone else… no, weird. What am I saying? That’s weird even for a thought.

  I told myself to pretend I hadn’t just seen what I had seen. But it was a lot harder to do than I’d thought.

  Chapter Seven - Phil

  We were three days in and, for the most part, I had isolated myself from the rest of the family. The comics podcast grinded on, I was keeping up on the news online and I had never gotten so far in video games in my life. But then, my glorious relaxation was interrupted by a knock.

  “Hey, Phil,” said Richard. “Got a sec?”

  I closed the windows of my browser. I had so many open, I didn’t want to take any chances.

  “Yeah, sure,” I said.

  “Why don’t we have a chat?” he offered. “Meet me in my study in a minute?”

  Study? Oh, no. What is this? Guess he’s trying to be a buddy. Oh, well, best to get it over with it.

  “Yeah-yeah, give me a sec. I’ll meet you.”

  When I got down into his “study” he was sitting there with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

  “C’mon in,” he offered. “Close the door.”

  I did and sat down. He slid over a tumbler of whiskey. I raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s fine,” he said. “Your mother doesn’t have to know.”

  I took a sip. It was smooth stuff, but burned a little.

  “Nice,” I said. “So what’s on your mind, Richard?”

  “Just thought we could have a chat. Man to man,” he offered. “You want a cigar? Go ahead. They’re Cuban.”

  I knew this was a ploy just to get on my good side, but I had never really tried a cigar before. Especially not a good one. The Cuban ones were legendary.

  “Yeah, sure,” I said unafraid.

  He clipped it for me. I put it in my mouth and he lit the end. It’s strong, robust flavor filled my lungs. I coughed.

  “You’ll get used to it,” he assured. “Phil, I know this tra
nsition probably hasn’t been easy for you. I can’t imagine what you think of me.”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I’ll be out of the house soon. You’ll have mom all to yourself.”

  “Look, how many relationships have you been in?” he asked.

  “Twoish,” I offered, which was still a stretch.

  “Well, you got a taste of what it’s like to deal with women. I’ve been where you’re at. Young, looking to impress the ladies--- I know that urge. It never really leaves you, but thankfully it levels off as you get older.”

  “Please, Richard, spare me,” I sighed. “You were cheating with my mother.”

  “I know,” he said, looking away, ashamed. “Not the best way to start things. But your mother was unhappy with your father. It’s no one’s fault, but it was going to lead to a divorce eventually, right?”

  “Maybe.”

  “C’mon, I didn’t hypnotize her.”

  “You didn’t help.”

  “True. Look, I take responsibility for what I did, but I love your mother. I want what’s best for her and you.”

  “That ship has sailed,” I offered. “Would’ve been best if we were still a family.”

  “Granted, but that ship has sailed,” Richard offered. “We get dealt the cards we’re dealt and have to make the best of it. We can be enemies. Like you said, you’re out of here soon. I’d rather be---“

  “Don’t say friends,” I begged. “Please don’t.”

  “Then whatever. Acquaintances that tolerate each other?” he offered. “When you’re older and you’ve been around, you’ll probably have a better perspective on this. Women are…fickle. They’re work to keep. You keep your wife happy or she leaves.”

  “That’s the rule?”

  “Kinda, yeah.”

  “What about the husband? What does he get?”

  “Sex,” he said, then laughed.

  “Sounds like a shitty deal, Richard.”

  “Welcome to life,” he shrugged. “But really. I was just kidding. We have responsibilities in life, but we also get the happiness of companionship and sex, which makes it all worth it. It’s not much better for the ladies. They have to keep us happy, too, even if neither sex likes to admit it about the other.”