Stepbrother With Benefits 12 (Second Season)

by Clark, Mia

  "What are you two doing?" she asks, narrowing her gaze.

  We're not naked, so this is good. I don't have to even make anything up.

  Ashley doesn't even bother making anything up.

  "I was kissing my boyfriend, Mom!" she says, scrunching up her face.

  "Well, get out here! We're going to lunch. There's a nice restaurant nearby that John and Caleb told us about, and I'm hungry."

  "Bring the dog, too," my dad says from around the corner. "We're going to drop him off at the vet and make sure everything's alright. Hopefully we're not all covered in fleas now."

  Yeah, thanks, Dad. He definitely knows how to set the mood. Hero's sitting in my lap, too, just being a fucking dog. He doesn't look like a lap dog, but I guess I'm comfortable as fuck. It's cool, I understand.

  "Do you have fleas?" I ask Hero. "You better not."

  Hero stares at me and starts to whine.

  "I think that means he does," Ashley says.

  "Why are you doing this to me? I gave you a name and everything. It's a cool as fuck name that Ashley came up with, and you just go and ruin it by having fleas? Seriously, what the fuck?"

  "What's the name again?" my stepmom asks. "Oh, is it Muffins?"

  Ashley and I both turn to her at the same time with a sort of what the fuck? look on our faces.

  "Muffins?" we say at the same time.

  "Chocolate Chip Muffins?" my stepmom offers.

  "His name is Gilgamesh," I say.

  "King of Heroes," Ashley adds with a nod.

  "Alrighty then..." her mom says.

  "I still like Muffins," my dad says.

  This dog is going to end up with so many fucking names.

  *** Ashley

  I'd like to say that that's it and the rest of the camping trip goes well. It does go well, but there's a little more to it. It's... um... well, it's hard to explain. It's nothing too bad.

  It's actually kind of bad.

  Before we head back to our campsite to get into one of the cars so we can bring Hero to the vet and then go to lunch, Caleb and his dad show up. This is normal, of course, but...

  "Oh, I almost forgot," my stepdad says. "Hey, John, would it be possible for me to use your phone? It won't take long."

  "What the fuck?" Ethan says. "I thought this was a technology free trip. No phones, remember?"

  Ethan's dad sighs. "We didn't bring our phones, so I think it's fine. Honestly, it'll just be a second. I need to call and see if we got any messages at the house. I was supposed to get a call early today about some business arrangements, and I just want to make sure they're going according to plans. I'll make it quick, I promise."

  Part of this settles into my mind and I vaguely think I should remember something important, but I can't quite figure it out. Why would my stepdad's business messages be important, though? Um...?

  "Yeah, that's fine," John says. "The office door is unlocked, so help yourself. Caleb and I have to head out to fix something at the other end of the camp. Just make sure you close the door when you're done."

  "Sure thing," my stepdad says.

  We all go to the front office. I'm not sure why we all have to go, but we're all together, so why not? It's big enough for us to fit in, but just barely. Ethan's dad heads over to the desk and the phone while Ethan and I stand close, kind of cuddling, and my mom hovers by the door.

  "I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but I'll put it on speakerphone so you know I'm not doing anything suspicious, alright?" my stepdad says.

  Ethan shrugs. I nod. My mom laughs.

  Ethan's dad dials our house number and then presses some numbers so that he can tap into our voicemail. He types the password in using the phone keys, then confirms that he wants to listen to messages.

  "There are nine new messages," the robotic female voice assures us. "Your first message is from—"

  It tells us the number, then goes straight to the message. This is apparently what Ethan's dad was hoping to hear. I don't really understand it, but it sounds like it's good news. Ethan's dad smiles and nods. When the message is over, he presses a number to save it, and the voicemail voice starts to bring us the next message.

  That's when it hits me, and I realize what I was worried about before. It's kind of too late now, though.

  "I can't believe this," Jake's voice says via speakerphone. "I'm done trying to play nice here, Ashley. It's obvious you aren't taking me seriously. I have the pictures you texted me, plus the texts saying you're going to give your brother a blowjob. No more games, no more chances or opportunities. I was still willing to try and work something out, even after your muscle jock brother punched me at the airport, but I can see that was a waste of time. Good luck trying to figure out how to explain your screwed up incestuous brother-sister relationship to everyone at college, because I'm literally going to tell all of them. I'm going to hang up fliers, put your nude pictures on the school message board, everything. I'm going to make your life a living hell, you bitch!"

  That's the end of that message. Ethan's dad stares down at the phone, confused.

  "Uh... does anyone want to explain to me what that was about?" he asks.

  "Nah," Ethan says, shrugging. "Just some stupid fuck being a stupid fuck."

  "I agree with Ethan," my mom says. "Jake does seem like a stupid fuck."

  "Mom!" I say. "Did you really just say that?"

  "You should try it, Ashley. It's very cathartic."

  Um... I think... alright, fine!

  "He really is a stupid fuck," I say.

  Oh, wow, that really is nice. My mom was right. Huh.

  "Alright, I get it," my stepdad says. "What was he talking about with pictures and... he knows about Ethan and Ashley dating?"

  "Um... he does know..." I say. "He tried to blackmail me, too, and I, um... well, Ethan followed me and then he punched Jake and told him to stay away from me."

  "Apparently I didn't punch the stupid fuck hard enough," Ethan says, grunting.

  We listen to the rest of the voicemail messages, but they're all from Jake. I don't know why he's so obsessed with this. It's kind of crazy and weird. I can't believe I dated him. Ugh.

  "You know what?" my stepdad says afterwards, hanging up the phone. "I don't even care. Who cares? Does anyone care?"

  "I don't care!" my mom says. "I think Ethan is very nice and him and Ashley are cute together."

  "Aww, thanks, Mom," I say, blushing.

  "I already punched the asshole," Ethan says. "Not sure I care anymore."

  "I've dealt with people like him before," my stepdad says. "He's all talk. It'll blow over. By the time school starts back up for you two, he probably won't even remember anymore. Let's go back to having a nice family vacation and then a great rest of the summer, because life is short and we need to make the best of it."

  I smile, and then I do something I haven't really done before. It's just something I guess I never thought about doing. I shuffle to the side and then scoot forward and I put my arms around my stepdad and give him a hug. He looks confused at first, but then he smiles wide and hugs me back.

  "Thank you for understanding," I tell him.

  "Not a problem, Ashley," he says. "Thank you for helping me to understand. I think you and Ethan are good for each other."

  We are. I know it. Nothing can stop that from being true.

  A Note from Mia

  Check here for all of the currently available Stepbrother With Benefits Season Two books on Amazon:

  Stepbrother With Benefits (Second Season)

  Make sure you don't miss any of my new releases by signing up for my VIP readers list!

  Cherrylily.com/Mia

  You can also find me on Facebook for more sneak peeks and updates here:

  Facebook.com/MiaClarkWrites

  ~*~

  You can find all of the books in my Stepbrother With Benefits series on Amazon

  Stepbrother With Benefits series

  ~*~

  And that's the end of
Season Two!

  To be honest, I got kind of carried away with this one. There were so many things I wanted to write about, because I had so many fun ideas. I realized that maybe they weren't the most important things to add, even though I thought they were fun and exciting.

  I know some people aren't as interested in that, so I tried not to get too carried away, but... really, I could have probably just kept writing a ton, haha.

  I also know that some people do like that, so if you are one of them, please keep reading!

  I'll still be writing these extra scenes! Mostly they're a bonus, because everything is happy and fun for Ethan and Ashley, at least for now. They've still got the rest of their summer vacation to look forward to, and a little more with the camping trip. No one has to worry about Jake for at least a couple more months.

  If you're interested in these bonus scenes, please definitely follow me on Facebook! I'll be posting them on the Cherrylily site and then sharing the links on Facebook, so you won't want to miss that. This will include lots of fun stuff from the summer vacation, and not just the camping trip. I'd like to do a beach scene with Ethan and Ashley when they go back home, and some more things, too.

  I also maybe might include some scenes between Scarlet and Caleb... hmmmm...

  The bonus scenes will be available for free and I'll be adding them every so often while I start working on the Season Three books, but also if you'd like to get them all together as an e-book, that'll be in the works once I've written them all, too.

  Those will be separate from the main Stepbrother With Benefits storyline, though. They aren't necessary to read, they're extras. I think you'll really enjoy them, though. I'm going to call them the Stepbrother With Benefits: Summer Break Celebration! I think it sounds fun and fancy, haha.

  Also, did I mention Season Three? I just did, but I'm going to mention it again.

  There'll be a Season Three! It's going to take place when Ethan and Ashley go back to school, and will involve Ashley arriving back at college to some unfortunate circumstances... I think the ending part here with Jake explains a lot about how that might go. Also, though, Ethan and Ashley go to different schools. At the end of Season One, they talked about visiting each other every weekend, back and forth, but there's still going to be some long distance issues involved that I'd like to explore there.

  I think it'll be interesting and I definitely hope you'll check it out. I'm going to be working on that and I hope to have the beginning available soon. Depending on when you read this, it might even be available now? That'd be neat! Once the beginning is available, I'll be working on adding new episodes just about every two weeks, so you won't have to wait long to get more. It'll be like a TV show, and I think it's fun to have a schedule like that to look forward to.

  If you liked Season Two, I hope you'll review this book and all the rest of the books if you haven't already! It's fun to see what you think. Did you like the way it turned out with Ethan and his dad? I thought it was nice and sweet and happy. Also, I like Ashley's mom and her strangeness sometimes, haha. She's funny. I think Ethan's bad boy ways are wonderful, too. I'm also looking forward to seeing how things might pan out with Scarlet and Caleb...

  Here's a quick secret from Season Three, but Scarlet and Caleb will be in that, too. I don't want to give away too much, but where do you think Ethan met Scarlet? He might have even run into Caleb before the camping trip without even realizing it...

  Don't forget to sign up for my VIP readers list if you haven't, too. You'll get first notice on when my next book is released, so you'll never miss a thing. Season Three will be coming soon and I'll have more Ethan and Ashley for you then.

  Bye for now!

  ~Mia

  Check here for all of the currently available Stepbrother With Benefits Season Two books on Amazon:

  Stepbrother With Benefits (Second Season)

  About the Author

  Mia likes to have fun in all aspects of her life. Whether she's out enjoying the beautiful weather or spending time at home reading a book, a smile is never far from her face. She's prone to randomly laughing at nothing in particular except for whatever idea amuses her at any given moment.

  Sometimes you just need to enjoy life, right?

  She loves to read, dance, and explore outdoors. Chamomile tea and bubble baths are two of her favorite things. Flowers are especially nice, and she could get lost in a garden if it's big enough and no one's around to remind her that there are other things to do.

  She lives in New Hampshire, where the weather is beautiful and the autumn colors are amazing.

  You can find the rest of her books (here)

  ~*~

  You can also email her any time at Mia@Cherrylily.com if you have questions, comments, or if you'd just like to say hi!