Escape: A Stepbrother Romance

by Ashe, Jessica

  Another ‘family conversation’ was imminent and I hadn’t exactly enjoyed the first one. Surely this one couldn’t be as painful, could it?

  I sat there trying my best not to shiver while I waited for the heating to kick in. The house was always so cold in the mornings and even a hot shower hadn’t helped warm me up. I usually threw on a thick sweater until about ten or eleven in the morning, but Caiden kept teasing me about dressing frumpy, or ‘like a Virgin’ as he so eloquently put it, and I wanted to prove to him that I could show some skin once in a while.

  At first, I slipped on some yoga trousers and a skimpy top without a bra, but the trousers showed off a visible panty line and my stiff nipples were clearly visible through the top. In the end, I settled for wearing a halter-neck top with jeans. The outfit was not even remotely sexy, but at least I would be showing Caiden some of my chest. I couldn’t handle an entire summer of teasing about being a frigid virgin, least of all by the very man who had taken my virginity just a week ago.

  The outfit worked better than I expected. Caiden turned his attention from the history show he was unexpectedly watching and looked at my chest for a few seconds at a time. He thought he was being subtle, but I kept catching his eyes lingering on me just a little longer than was normal.

  I had no idea why I was deliberately trying to arouse him. The guy was a creep and always had been. I knew he was a player when I slept with him, but the whole point of that night was that it was a one-off. I was not supposed to see him again ever, let alone spend the entire summer living with him. It wouldn’t just be the summer either. There would be family dinners for Christmas and I would be home every Easter and summer as well. Would we have to start doing Thanksgiving meals as well? I suppose that wouldn’t be too bad if Sheri was going to cook, although we’d be the only ones in the neighbourhood having a big meal on a Thursday afternoon in November.

  What I couldn’t handle was Caiden hitting on me all the time and generally acting sleazy. I still cringed when I thought of him sniffing my panties and smelling my wetness. I’d been wearing those panties all day yesterday and overnight. I knew for a fact that I’d been wet when he confronted me in the kitchen and then again overnight when I dreamt of our night together. Those panties would smell like me all over and now Caiden had them.

  After my shower, I snuck into his room and found the panties under his pillow. I grabbed them and was nearly out the door when I changed my mind and put them back. I told myself I just didn’t want him knowing I’d been in his room and that he would just get another pair anyway, but the truth was I didn’t mind if he had them. I pictured the look on his face as he smelt them. Would he look like he had when he’d eaten my pussy all the way to my orgasm? I wanted to see that face again and I hated myself for that.

  Even ignoring the fact that Caiden would soon become my stepbrother—and that was a bloody big thing to ignore—I hated that I had become the cliché virgin who falls for the guy she first sleeps with.

  I hadn’t been able to think of anything else other than that night since it happened. At first, I told myself it was only natural to dwell on the first time, but it wasn’t the sex that occupied my mind most of the time. It was Caiden.

  I might have been innocent, but I wasn’t entirely naïve. I knew I was just infatuated with Caiden because he was a bad boy and not because I actually had any feelings for him. However, knowing that was one thing and actually getting him out of my mind was another entirely. If the magazines I read were anything to go by, what I needed now was another man to take my mind off him. As soon as I got to Cambridge and started dating Oliver I would probably not think of Caiden again.

  Except Oliver was boring. He was easy on the eye but not attractive. Not to me at least. He was a good man on paper but I couldn’t imagine him between my legs. I couldn’t imagine him kissing every part of my body and moving down from my breasts to my belly to my pussy before working his tongue into my hole with expert precision. Oliver wouldn’t have me coming like Caiden did.

  I looked at Caiden as he watched TV and imagined what would happen if I told him to take me again right here, right now. In my head, I pictured him shrugging and saying something like ‘okay, I guess I have nothing better to do’ and then walking over to me. He would take my legs and force my knees apart, before pulling off my jeans and panties in one smooth motion.

  He would probably kiss me first and pay attention to my breasts, but in this fantasy I imagined placing my hand on his head and pushing him straight between my legs for him to eat me again. I’d come in minutes, maybe even seconds. I’d been dripping wet since I woke up and it wouldn’t take much to set me off. Even trying to watch that stupid history program he had on didn’t dampen the flame between my legs.

  My fantasy whimpered out as I imagined how he would have to go and get a condom from upstairs in the bedroom before coming back down to fuck me. It said something about my brain that even in my fantasies I imagined my parents coming down and interrupting us before Caiden could come back with the condoms.

  My imagination might be lacking, but it was at least realistic. I heard my dad and Sheri come down the stairs and quickly moved my hand from between my legs. I hadn’t even noticed that I had been touching myself outside my jeans, but when I looked up at Caiden he was still watching the TV and hadn’t noticed either.

  Sheri and Dad came into the lounge and sat on the sofa. Were we going to have to play happy families every day for the entire summer? Usually Dad did his thing and I did my thing. That was the way it had been since Mum’s accident and it was how I liked things with Dad. I could pretend to be close to my father when others were around, but that was only for a few hours at a time. If I had to keep up the doting daughter act for the entire summer I might just go crazy.

  Even before Mum’s accident, I had never really gotten along well with Dad, but I made more of an effort then for Mum’s sake. She didn’t like to hear me speak badly of him and even blamed herself for the screaming matches I used to overhear coming from their bedroom. I didn’t understand why I should have to treat him with respect when he didn’t do the same to Mum or myself, but Mum insisted that adults argued all the time and that she was as much to blame as he was. Even as a child of ten or eleven, I sensed that was a load of bollocks, but whenever Mum and Dad were in the room at the same time I spoke politely to my father and said all the right things.

  Dad’s lack of respect for Mum sickened me to my stomach as I looked at him sat next to Sheri on the sofa. I didn’t hate that he was in a relationship and I certainly didn’t hate that he was in a relationship with Sheri, but I hated that he pretended Mum didn’t exist. He probably hadn’t told Sheri much about Mum or she would have mentioned it to Caiden. The guy might be a jerk sometimes—or most of the time—but I noticed a look of regret in his eyes when he put his foot in it by mentioning my mum. I sure as hell wasn’t about to pretend Mum didn’t exist anymore even if that might cause the odd awkward moment between the four of us.

  “I don’t mind you two relaxing for a couple of days,” Dad said, crossing his legs and leaning back in a poor attempt to appear relaxed. “But you are not going to just hang around here all summer and watch TV.”

  “I have plans for the summer,” I said, “and they don’t involve watching much TV.”

  I wouldn’t be able to keep my plans a secret, so I didn’t mind him knowing, but in addition to cooking I planned to start a food blog to document all my recipes. It was a long way from a food blog to actually being a successful chef but at least I might teach myself a thing or two about recipe development.

  I planned to start this afternoon. I only had a few months of freedom and I intended to use every minute of that to do something I enjoyed; something that might set me up for a career in the food industry one day.

  “That wasn’t directed at you,” Dad said to me. “Don’t worry, I’ve already made arrangements for your summer. You’re going to be very busy indeed over the next few months. You certainly won�
�t have time to watch those cooking shows of yours or do much else come to think of it. You’re going to summer school.”

  Caiden laughed loudly and switched off the TV. “I think I’m going to enjoy this. Do continue, Roy.”

  “Summer school?” I asked, repeating Dad’s words back to him. My voice stuttered slightly as I spoke. “That doesn’t make any sense. I’m about to go to university; I don’t need to go to summer school before university starts.”

  “It makes perfect sense, honey,” dad said. He never called me ‘honey’ or any other affectionate nickname and the word sounded false on his lips. It sounded more like a threat than a sign of affection, as if it was supposed to remind me not to talk back to him.

  “Is it one of those schools where women get taught how to be ladies?” Caiden asked, excitedly. “Please, please tell me it’s one of those schools. Vicky could definitely benefit from improving her manners. You should hear the way she screams and curses when she gets really passionate about something.”

  I glared at Caiden, but he just smiled at me in response. I rarely swore out loud and even in my head I usually avoided it in case one day the words slipped out by mistake. Dad had overheard me say shit once as a child and had spanked me so hard I could still feel the mark on my leg. I hadn’t even known what I was saying. It was just something I picked up from one of my mum’s friends, but Dad was furious. Even at school I never swore, even when the other girls were effing and blinding all the time. They teased me quite a bit for it, but I just said I didn’t feel the need to conform with everyone else and that soon shut them up.

  “What is the summer school for?” I asked. “I checked the requirements for my course at Cambridge and I don’t need any specific A-levels or knowledge to take PPE.”

  “It’s not for the benefit of your course,” Dad explained. “I’m very proud of you for taking PPE,” he continued, as if I’d had a choice in the matter. “But it won’t teach you any real world, practical skills.”

  “Then why did you tell me to take that course in the first place?” I sounded exasperated which was about as rude as I ever got when speaking to Dad, yesterday’s little outburst excepted.

  I caught Caiden glare at me and raise his eyebrows. I’d insisted to him that studying PPE was my choice, but the truth was it had been strongly recommended by my father, and when he ‘strongly recommended’ something it generally wasn’t worth the time or effort to argue with him. No doubt Caiden now thought I was even more a daddy’s girl than he did before.

  “It’s a great course,” Dad said, “and it will get you a great job, but to really excel as a solicitor you need more than just a degree from a top university.”

  “I might not become a solicitor,” I said, defiantly. Dad had never insisted directly that I become a solicitor or barrister, but he had mentioned more than once that many people who took PPE at Cambridge became solicitors for big law firms in the City.

  “Maybe not,” Dad said, “but this course will still be useful.”

  “In that case I will take it in the summer after my degree but before I start my career.”

  “It takes longer than one summer to learn.”

  “What is this course you’re making me do then? Or don’t I get to know what it is?”

  Dad frowned to let me know he didn’t appreciate my tone. “You’re going to summer school this summer to start learning to speak, read, and write Mandarin. You will do this every summer until you start your job. I don’t expect you to be fluent in it for a few years, but by the time you are working for a firm—or whatever you decide to do—you should be able to converse in the language.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Learning Mandarin was about the furthest away you could get from my plans for this summer, but I couldn’t exactly tell him that. I knew starting a blog was silly and that it would likely never lead to anything, but I just wanted something to show for my efforts at learning to cook.

  More than that, I wanted something I could show to Mum. She’d been the one who taught me to cook in the first place, and my happiest memories of her were times we spent in the kitchen together cooking a meal or baking a cake. I didn’t see or speak to Mum as often as I would like, but if I had a food blog online then Mum could look at it—once she was mentally well enough to use the Internet again—and she’d be able to see me using the skills she had taught me.

  “I don’t want to learn Mandarin,” I said. I looked my father in the eyes and tried to express how serious I was about this, but years of obeying him and doing what he said meant he was unlikely to take me seriously.

  “It’s an important language,” Sheri said, sticking up for my father. “And if you can speak Mandarin you will be in the minority of lawyers. You’ll be able to progress so much faster.”

  “Sheri’s right,” Dad said. Of course she was; Dad had told her to say that. I could tell from the awkward way in which she spoke. “My firm always has to deal with contacts in China, and it’s so hard to find someone who can speak to them directly. You wouldn’t believe the hassles caused by difficulties in communication. You can be the solicitor to deal with all the China work. It would mean you’d have a very lucrative and busy practice right from the start.”

  “How exciting,” Caiden said. “You could even go and work for your dad’s firm. I bet you didn’t think of that, eh Roy?”

  “Can I at least think about it?” I asked. “There might be other things I can do this summer that will be just as useful.”

  “I’ve already enrolled you on the course and Sheri went to a great deal of trouble ordering all the books you’ll need.”

  How much trouble could it be buying books? She probably just went online and ordered them with the click of a few buttons.

  “I really do not want to spend my summer learning Mandarin,” I pleaded, although I knew it was hopeless. “What about seeing my friends? We’re all going off to different universities or travelling the world and won’t be able to see each other as much. I’d like to spend time with them this summer.”

  “This is not up for discussion,” Dad said. “You’re going to learn Mandarin and that is the end of it.”

  “That’s not fair,” I said softly. I knew I sounded meek and feeble, but I couldn’t bring myself to yell in front of Sheri and Caiden. “You don’t have the right to dictate what I do and do not do.”

  “Excuse me?” Dad said. His raised eyebrows made it clear he was surprised to hear me speak back to him. It was a reminder of how pathetic I usually was that this was the first time I’d really pushed back on anything.

  “I’m an adult now. You might not realize that, because you missed my eighteenth birthday, but I don’t have to do what you say anymore.”

  “Oh, now this is getting interesting,” Caiden said. “Why did you miss her birthday, Roy? Big case to work on at the office? Or were you just busy screwing my mum on your desk?”

  “Caiden!” Sheri yelled. “Don’t you dare speak like that to Royston. You are a guest in his home and you better damn well act like one. Apologize to him now.”

  “The day I apologize to him is the day he shows some respect to his daughter.”

  “You don’t know anything about respect,” Sheri said. I’d never seen her so angry. She always looked so calm and collected on TV. Even when something went wrong, she would laugh it off and carry on as if nothing happened. “And if you think you can sit around here and watch TV all summer then you have another thing coming. I’m going to think of something for you to do this summer as well.”

  “No you fucking aren’t,” Caiden replied. I gasped at his choice of words and wished I had the confidence to speak like that to my father. He actually deserved it, whereas in my opinion Sheri did not. “Just because he treats his daughter like a project to be developed, doesn’t mean you can do the same with me. If you think I’m going to be under your thumb this summer just to impress your latest man then you have another thing coming.”

  Caiden stood up and I deci
ded to as well. There was no way I was going to use the same language as him, but this was one time when associating myself with what he said might work in my favour without me actually needing to scream at my father.

  “I’m not going to learn Mandarin this summer,” I said again.

  “What time do the pubs open around here?” Caiden asked me.

  I looked at the time on my phone. It was twenty to eleven. “They’ll be open in twenty minutes,” I replied.

  “Good. I don’t know about you, but I could use a drink.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I replied. “Let’s go get drunk.”

  I was impressed. Really impressed. Okay, so she hadn’t really spoken up to her father as much as I would have liked, but she’d gone along with what I did which was probably a pretty big deal for her. Certainly judging by the look on her father’s face, she’d never spoken to him like that before. He looked furious; I could see it in his eyes. The muscles in his face twitched and I saw his fingers whiten as one gripped the armrest of the chair and the other his knee.

  I’d have to try to be around when Vicky next saw her father, although I suspected he would wait until the two of them were alone before really laying into her.

  I half expected Vicky to head straight up to her room or just go outside for a walk; I figured she wouldn’t be the type to go to a pub at eleven in the morning despite what she said. However, she slipped on some shoes and bent over to pick up her keys from the stairs. As she leaned forward, I caught a glimpse of her nipples as a gap appeared between her breasts and her bra.

  The nipples were stiff just like they had been the night I’d spent with her. I’d assumed they had been hard that night because she was aroused, but now I was a little concerned that she was just one of those girls who always had hard nipples. Still, there was no way the orgasms had been fake so I could assume she had a good time.