by Claire Adams
STEPBROTHER OMG!
The Stepbrother Romance Series Book #2
BAD BOY FRAT
By Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 Claire Adams
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CHAPTER 1
I stood there in shock for a long time, just staring at Jaxon without knowing exactly how to react.
Jaxon was my step-brother. We were related—even if it was only just in the past few days or weeks. We’d had sex. It hit me all at once that Jaxon’s standoffish behavior made sense—at least, if he had already known about who his father was dating, who he had married. I hadn’t paid much attention to my mom’s dating life, other than to know that she had one. I had no idea what to do; I just stared awkwardly at Jaxon, my heart pounding in my chest.
Jaxon’s look of horror and humiliation faded abruptly. “Hey, Mia,” he said, putting on a smile and extending his hand. “Pleased to meet you; your mom’s told me a lot about you.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and shook his hand. I felt incredibly awkward about it, but I was able to come out of my shock enough to at least go along with the tactic that Jaxon apparently decided on. For a moment, as we chatted to each other awkwardly before our beaming parents, I thought to myself that if Jaxon had any kind of advance warning that this awkwardness was going to happen, he was an asshole for not warning me. But then I thought to myself that disengaging—breaking things off entirely, not even being my friend—might have been a clue that something bigger was up, even if he hadn’t wanted to talk about why he was doing it.
I found myself talking completely off of my brain; I was saying the most inane things to Jaxon and he was smiling and nodding and saying the same kinds of inane things back to me. It was the most awkward, embarrassing, ridiculous moment of my life; the only thing I could think about was how much I wanted it to end, how much I wished I could just run out of the stupid mansion and get in my car and spend the whole break in my dorm, being mortified in private like any self-respecting person who just found out that they had inadvertently screwed their step-brother.
Fuck. Step-brother. He’s my step-brother. Shit.
My cheeks burned over and over again and I struggled to push down the blushes that I knew were making my face bright red. I wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or disturbed at the fact that no one seemed to even notice the fact that I was humiliated.
I had never been more relieved in my life to be interrupted in a conversation as I was when Mom announced that dinner was ready. I’d timed my arrival pretty well; I’d intentionally wanted to get to my mom’s boyfriend’s house—or, rather, my new step-father’s house—right before dinner would be served. When I’d planned the drive, it had mostly been because I had wanted to minimize the awkwardness of meeting the guy she was apparently head over heels in love with. But I was definitely grateful that I’d thought ahead; the situation was way worse than I had imagined.
So Mom led us all into the dining room and I tried to get a grip on myself; it wasn’t that bad, I told myself over and over again, firmly. I hadn’t known that Jaxon was my step-brother when we’d had sex. I didn’t even know for sure that he’d known. I wondered if he had—if he’d found out before or after. Had he been nice to me before because he knew his dad was going to marry my mom? Had I been reading into his attention too much from the beginning? No—if he hadn’t meant to have sex with me, he wouldn’t have made a pass at me in the frat house. He would’ve kept it to friendly banter.
My head was spinning. Just get through this weekend, I told myself. Pretend like nothing ever happened with you and Jaxon and deal with the rest of it later. We all sat down at the table and someone began bringing out food. I should have realized that with a house like the one he had, my new step-father would have at least one or two people working for him—a gardener, a house keeper—but it was weird to watch my mom chatting with Jaxon’s dad, both of them looking into each other’s eyes and beaming like high school kids in love, while someone was putting a bunch of food on the table in front of me. It wasn’t—thankfully—an incredibly involved meal; chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, normal food and not anything fussy or obviously high-end. I looked across the table at Jaxon and wondered if he felt half as mortified as I did. My mom and Jaxon’s dad were obviously incredibly into each other; they reminded each other of cute little stories, capped each other’s jokes, and they almost didn’t seem capable of keeping their hands off of each other.
It was obvious to me, at least, that they were still in the honeymoon phase. I wondered to myself—a little bitterly—just how long it would last. I was shocked that they were married at all. They’d only been dating a handful of months; it wasn’t like my mom to just rush into a relationship that serious so quickly. Bob must be really good in the sack, I thought to myself, looking at Jaxon’s dad. It was pretty easy to see the resemblance between the two of them. All of a sudden, I thought of the fact that Jaxon himself was good in bed and I felt my face burning as I realized I was actually—against my will—thinking of my new step-father having sex with my mom. I tried to distract myself, to think of absolutely anything, but the fact that I knew Jaxon was well-endowed and good in bed, and that his father might be too.
“It’s so good to be a family together,” Mom said, looking from Jaxon and me to her new husband. I suddenly didn’t feel very hungry, in spite of the fact that before I’d gotten the news about my new family members, I’d ben starving.
“Yeah,” I said, forcing a smile for Mom, who I knew was just fired up for the holidays. “It’s…it’s nice to get to know everyone.” Jaxon’s dad grinned, giving my Mom’s hand a squeeze. I picked at my green beans, making myself eat a few, trying to both avoid looking at Jaxon and not seem like I had anything in particular on my mind.
“Are you feeling all right, Mia?” Mom asked me.
“Fine,” I said; my voice sounded annoyingly chirpy to my own ears. “Fine, just tired. It’s a long way out here from the college.” Jaxon’s father laughed.
“I’m surprised you got here so much later than Jax did,” he said. “You two go to the same school; I thought you’d get here about the same time. You could’ve even car pooled.” I swallowed down a lump of potatoes.
“Ah, well, I mean—we didn’t even know each other. We’re not even in the same year,” Jaxon said with a shrug.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s a big campus, tons of people.” I shoved some more food in my mouth to keep myself from talking.
“I got out of my classes early—Mia probably didn’t, or something like that.” I swallowed hard and took a long sip of water to keep from choking on a piece of chicken.
“Yeah, I couldn’t get out until this afternoon, it was lame.” Mom and Bob nodded and I was just grateful that they bought the idea that Jaxon and I weren’t even aware that the other one existed.
“Are you in any of the sororities, Mia? Jaxon’s in a f
rat, just like his dad was.” Mom—fortunately—saved me the trouble of answering.
“Mia would never join a sorority!” Mom laughed at the idea. “I’ve never seen her spend time with more than maybe two girls at a time.” I smiled slightly.
“I’m focusing on my classes and sports mostly,” I said, doing everything I could not to look at Jaxon.
“You do seem to have a lot in common, from what I’ve heard of Jaxon,” my mom said, looking over at Bob. “You guys should make an effort to get to know each other better. You’re going to be in the same family.” I smiled, but my stomach was turning front flips and cartwheels inside of me. I wondered if there was any way I would ever be able to keep the dinner down.
“I’d like to get to know both of you better,” I said, glancing from Jaxon to Bob. I had been so looking forward to this vacation, but sitting at that table the only thing I could think about was that I wanted to go straight back to the campus and pretend that nothing had ever happened.
I felt sick in the pit of my stomach and wondered if there was any way I’d manage to keep from losing my dinner before it had a chance to settle in my stomach. I thought of everything that had gone on between Jaxon and me. It was so incredibly stupid—that we’d ended up having sex together not knowing that either of our parents knew each other. It was like a nightmare. I thought bitterly that if it weren’t for the fact that Jaxon was his son, I could have liked Bob well enough. He seemed nice, and he was definitely easy on the eyes, in an older-guy way. Mom was happy with him.
Even if it weren’t for the fact of Jaxon now being my step-brother, I would have been shocked at the fact that Mom had gotten married so suddenly. I tried to remember if she had told me anything relevant to the current situation when she had started dating Bob. All I could remember was that she had gushed about how hot the guy was, how sweet and kind he was to her, how he bought her little things here and there, and how his house was amazing. I didn’t think that she had told me a thing about her new boyfriend having a son; but then, I had started tuning Mom out when she would talk about the guy, figuring that like most of her relationships it would fizzle out eventually and there was no point in paying too much attention. Leave it to me to have ignored possibly the most important information. All I knew was that the campus was too far away for me to make an excuse to go back—and even if I could convince my mom, it wasn’t like I could stay away for the entire holiday. She’d be hurt—and the truth would come out. I couldn’t break that kind of news to her.
CHAPTER 2
How I managed to get through the dinner, I will never know. Jaxon mostly kept quiet—though he would chime in every so often whenever Mom or Bob directed a question at us. We both pretended to be interested in getting to know each other, continuing the stream of stupid, inane comments about our lives and everything in the immediate vicinity. “This is really good chicken,” was one of my lamer attempts at keeping up the incredibly awkward conversation. Jaxon asked how badly it had been snowing as I’d driven up. Bob asked me if I had had any trouble finding the place, mom repeated over and over again how perfect the house was for a family get-together.
By the time all the plates were cleared and I’d somehow eaten dessert, I was more than ready to get some time to myself. “Hey,” I said, interrupting Mom and Bob in the midst of a conversation about what they wanted to do for family bonding. “I think I’m really just…exhausted from that long drive. Where is my room?”
“I’m so sorry,” Bob said, standing quickly. “It’s down the main hall, the third door on the right. I had Maria put your bags in there when you came in.” I nodded, looking around at the huge place. I wasn’t even sure if I knew where the main hall was. How many rooms were in the place? And then—to my horror—I wondered just how far away Jaxon’s room was from mine.
“Bob, she only just got here!” Mom laughed. “She doesn’t even know where the main hall is. Here, let me show her.” Mom took me by the arm, all smiles and joy as she led me through the living room area where I’d met my new family. She was talking a mile a minute, telling me how nice Jaxon had been ever since he’d arrived earlier in the day, how excited she was to be spending the holiday all together, how much she hoped I’d love Bob and my new brother. “You know, you used to beg me to get you a brother all the time when you were little,” Mom said, and I gritted my teeth, smiling as she grinned at me. “It took me a while, but I got you one, baby girl!” I laughed, forcing myself to keep up the look of excitement in spite of the fact that everything Mom was saying was just making everything worse inside of my head. If she knew, I thought, she’d be horrified.
Mom opened the door to my bedroom and I nearly froze in place where I stood. “It’s great, isn’t it? I knew you’d love it.” Mom was saying something to me while we just stood there, but I could barely hear her. The room was better than great—it was kind of amazing. It was bigger than my room at home—almost as big as the entire dorm room I shared with three other girls at school. There was an enormous bed against one wall, covered in thick, fluffy blankets and huge pillows; I had my own bathroom on the opposite side of the room, and my bags were in front of an open closet door that extended back into a wall for an improbable distance. There was a tiny fireplace, a big flat-screen TV, a desk—every comfort I could imagine.
I finally convinced Mom that I was perfectly fine, that I just needed some time to myself to decompress after the two-hour drive and how tired I was. The moment she left I closed and locked the door behind her. For at least ten minutes I stood there, just staring at the incredibly luxurious room and trying to figure out just what the hell my life had come to. I turned on the TV and flipped through the guide until I found something on ESPN that I could at least pretend to watch without getting completely distracted, then I sank down onto the edge of the bed. I was exhausted—my nerves were completely and totally shot—but at the same time, I wanted absolutely nothing more than to get back in the car and drive back to school. Or maybe wander around the incredibly huge house until I was completely exhausted and passed out.
What I wanted most of all was to somehow be able to forget the entire terrible day had happened. I stared at the TV, the color and light dancing across my eyes, the noise of the commentators filling my ears with meaningless babble. I wished that I could just start completely over. Go back in time and keep myself from sleeping with Jaxon—or maybe keep my mom from meeting Jaxon’s dad. My stomach churned and I felt like I wanted to throw up. I felt like I wanted to punch something. I felt like I wanted to find the nearest door and just run out into the snow and keep running until I couldn’t see the house, until I couldn’t see any of it, just totally lose myself in the woods or somewhere and pretend like nothing at all had happened.
It would have been easier if I could have decided how I felt about the whole situation. I was horrified—I was angry—I was confused. Why did Bob and my mom have to meet? Why did Jaxon have to flirt with me? I couldn’t think of who was to blame for the incredible pile of messy crap that I was suddenly forced to deal with. I wanted to be mad at everyone, but every time I turned my mind onto one or another of my family members, I couldn’t actually come up with any specific reason to be angry with them.
It would have been so easy if I could have just blamed my mom. If she hadn’t married Bob, this whole situation wouldn’t matter; Jaxon and I would have just been two people in college who’d had sex, and it would have been meaningless. But how could I deny my mom happiness? She’d been unhappy for so long, and really, she had gone to so much stress and trouble for me, I’d be the worst kind of petty, horrible person if I wanted her to trade in her happiness just so I wouldn’t have to deal with the awkwardness of having inadvertently slept with my step-brother. Had he been my step-brother when we’d slept together? That didn’t seem likely—the wedding was pretty recent, and Jaxon had been avoiding me for weeks.
The wedding. I tried to be angry at Mom for getting married so suddenly—to a guy she’d only been dating for a handful
of months—but at least, I thought, she and Bob seemed to love each other a lot. It may not last, but she was a grown woman, and it was a done deal. If they got divorced, as much as it would hurt mom, at least it would make things less uncomfortable with Jaxon and me. But I couldn’t even wish for that outcome. Mom was happy; I wanted her to stay happy.
I couldn’t be mad at Bob either. I barely knew the man, but if I could give my mom credit for being a grown woman who knew her mind at least fairly well, I had to give Bob—who had apparently managed to live successfully—the credit for being an intelligent guy with his own interests at heart. He had loved my mom enough to want to marry her. Whether it worked out or not, I couldn’t go around telling people they couldn’t get married because I might have slept with their kids. I couldn’t hate either of them for doing what made them happy when I’d done the same thing; I’d be an enormous hypocrite.
I wanted to be mad at Jaxon. I really did. The way he had snubbed me, the way he’d deliberately flirted with me and led me on and then slept with me and shut me out—only for me to find out that he was now my step-brother—it would be so easy. But I had to admit that if he’d had knowledge that his dad was dating my mom, and then that they’d gotten married, it only made sense that Jaxon wouldn’t want anything to do with me after that. I didn’t want to have anything at all to do with him. I wanted nothing more than to spend my entire holiday avoiding him. The house was big enough that I was pretty sure that it wouldn’t be that difficult; and anyway, I had brought my gear with me, and I had plenty of warm clothes. If nothing else I could hit the slopes or I could go walking or do anything at all to stay away from Jaxon. The sight of him—the thought of him—turned my stomach.
I sat in bed, staring at the TV without really watching it, trying to decide how I was possibly going to get through the whole ridiculous holiday weekend without being forced to say to my mom, “Hey, so, you know how you wanted to introduce me to my new step-brother? I already know him. Biblically.” It was a complete disaster. There was absolutely no one I could tell about it, either; as far as I knew, no one in the frat knew that Jaxon and I had slept together, and I pretty much wanted to keep it that way. I wasn’t close with my roommates, I didn’t have any other siblings I could confide in, and I definitely couldn’t tell my mom about it. Who do you even talk to about something like that? I thought wryly that the school psychologist would probably be a good start.