Step F*#k: Part Three (A Stepbrother series Book 3)

Copyright

Step F*#K PT 3

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

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Copyright © 2015 by Scarlett Ward

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B O O K
 
T H R E E
 

I wake up, and for a second feel as though I can’t move. It’s like my brain is sending the signals to my limbs, but they’re all in such horrific pain that they’re just lying there, motionless. My entire body aches and I realize I’m lying on a cold tile floor, a bathroom floor, to be exact, Jai next to me, my head halfway resting on his upper arm, my neck bent at insanely awkward angle.
 

And someone, my mother, I believe, is calling everyone for breakfast.
 

“Ouch.” I lift my head a few inches and the pain shoots down from my neck all the way to my lower back. Jai stirs. We’re both naked. He’s got an erection. My mother’s voice is getting closer.
 

“Emma? Jess? Jai? Breakfast is ready!”
 

“We have to get up!” I whisper. The thought of my mother pushing open my bedroom door and seeing us lying on the bathroom floor, me naked, seeing Jai and his erection is the impetus I need to get moving, despite the violent protests from my body. It’s not even from the sex—well, okay, maybe a little—but from passing out on the bathroom floor, which is all fine and good when the post-coital endorphins are freely flowing through you; not so much many hours later, however.
 

“Come here, you,” Jai says, reaching for me. I scramble out of his grasp.

“My mother could walk through that door at any moment. Get back in your room!”
 

“She’s been going on and on about us getting acquainted—we could show her we’ve really taken her advice.” He grins, reaching for me again, but I just dart out of the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind me. For all I know he’s going to lie there and jerk off and not care who happens to see.
 

I fling the sheets back on the bed and jump in, my head hitting the pillow just as my mother knocks softly at the door.
 

“Emma? You awake?”
“Sort of,” I say, trying to sound groggy, which isn’t too difficult, considering.
 

The door opens partially and Mom pops her head around. “Zack and I got up early and made breakfast. And it’s getting late enough that I don’t feel bad waking everyone up and asking them to come down so we can all have breakfast together, while the food is still hot. Just throw on a pair of those yoga pants you love and a tank top or something—no need to get all dolled up. Not yet, anyway.”

She winks and then disappears. I lie there for a moment, long enough to hear her knock on Jai’s door and start to give him the same spiel. He says something in return that I can’t quite make out and she starts chortling. Oh my god. I don’t know if I will make it through these next two weeks.
 

Forcing myself to get up, I throw on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt. I want to go back into the bathroom to at least splash some cold water on my face, but I’m afraid I’ll bump into Jai in there and we’ll end up—

Stop it
.
 

I can’t let myself think about any of that anymore. Because if I think about it, the likelihood of it happening again is greater and greater. And I don’t want that. Well, maybe part of me does, but I can’t let it happen. I can’t just give in to some primitive, animal desire. This is what I repeat to myself over and over as I go downstairs, the aroma of coffee luring me toward the kitchen.
 

But before I can reach the kitchen, my mother intercepts me and redirects me to the patio. Now that it’s daylight, I can see how close the house is to the lake. It really is right in the backyard, the sunlight glinting off the deep blue water, making it sparkle and shine like a giant sapphire. The backyard lawn is achingly vibrant green, and even though the lake is right there, there’s also an enormous in-ground swimming pool, with rocks and a waterfall, like something you’d expect them to have at the Playboy Mansion.
 

“It’s a great place for a swim.” Jai’s tone is light and friendly. He comes and stands next to me, close enough that our shoulders are almost touching but not quite. I take a step to the side, putting more distance between us.
 

“The lake or the pool?” I ask, trying to match his easygoing tone, and failing miserably. My own voice sounds uptight and forced.
 

“Both. And I would like to reiterate my father’s offer last night. If you’re at all interested in going out on the lake—be it by boat, jetski, or any other means—I’d be more than happy to take you.”

“You’re so sweet!”

Jessica has appeared, wearing a sleeveless purple sundress, looking like she actually enjoyed a decent night’s sleep and didn’t wake up naked on a cold bathroom floor. She beams at me. “I guess we lucked out getting such a nice stepbrother.”

Mom and Zack come out before I have a chance to reply, Mom carrying a serving plate heaped with scrambled eggs, Zack with pancakes and bacon.
 

“Good morning, good morning!” Zack says heartily as he sets the stuff down on the table. “Have a seat and let’s dig in! Steph and I are so happy that we’re all here together. It really is something.”

I move to sit as far away from Jai as possible, but the table isn’t huge so I don’t have many options. Mom and Zack are at either end, so I am left with either sitting across from Jai, or sitting next to him. I try to wait for him to sit down before me, but he’s gazing out toward the lake, with what I believe to be a faux-faraway expression on his face, like he’s reliving some especially wonderful lake memory. Jessica sits down to my mother’s right. I can sit next to Jess and have Jai be across from us, or I can go to the other side of the table and take the chance that he’s going to sit next to me. And I can’t decide which is worse: being next to him or across from him, having to look directly at his face.
 

He, apparently, though, is doing his best to make me choose first.
 

“Em?” Mom looks at me. “You going to sit down, sweetheart?” She pats the empty spot to her left, and now I have no choice but to sit there. Jai waits another few beats and then comes and takes the seat next to me. Mom hands me a plate and I dish myself up some eggs, some bacon, and a pancake. After my scant dinner of oysters last night, I figured I’d be ravenous, but sitting so close to Jai is really the only thing I can focus on, and my stomach twists into a complicated knot.
 

“This looks delicious,” Jai says, and his own plate is heaped with food. He pours himself some coffee from a silver carafe. “Can I pour you some coffee? I’m normally a tea drinker myself, but I know how much you Americans love your coffee.”

There’s the tiniest of smirks as he says this.
 

“Oh, Emma does love her coffee,” Mom says.
 

“No,” Jessica says as Jai fills my coffee mug without waiting for me to actually say yes. “Emma likes coffee-flavored drinks.”

“And what is that distinction?” Jai asks, filling the mug.
 

“She doesn’t like the actual taste of coffee, but rather coffee enhanced with sweeteners and accessories. I, on the other hand, do love the true taste of coffee. So fill her up!” She pushes her mug across the table and Jai grins.
 

“Ah. I see.” He pours Jess a cup and then sets the carafe down. He looks at my cup. “If that’s true and you’re going to add sugar and milk, then I do believe I overfilled your mug.”
 

“It’s fine,” I say. I shoot a look at my sister, who is sipping her un-doctored black coffee. “And I don’t see what the problem is with drinking coffee with cream. Which is how I take mine—just cream.”

“Ah, a cream lover.” Jai grins.

“It’s like,” I continue, doing my best to ignore him, “saying that you don’t actually like hot dogs if you put ketchup and mustard on them. But who doesn’t put ketchup and mustard on their hot dog?”
Jai’s grin widens. “You like hot dogs, too?”

“I don’t eat hot dogs,” Jess says, shuddering. “So I don’t have a comment about that.”

“Oh, well, Emma loves hot dogs,” Mom says.
 

Jai snorts with laughter and tries to cover it up by pretending it was a cough.
 

“She always has,” Mom muses. “And sweetie, if you want to eat your hot dogs with ketchup and mustard, and if you want to have your coffee with cream, then by all means, go right ahead.”

“I’ll have to make sure to get some hot dogs for our cookout later on,” Zack says. “I didn’t know you were such a fan, Emma. I did get sausages.”

“I reckon she probably likes sausages even more,” Jai says. “Since they’re bigger and all.”
My jaw drops as everyone laughs, like this is the funniest thing they’ve ever heard. But no one seems to think that it’s strange or completely inappropriate, him saying something like this.
 

I find that I can’t actually eat anything, but to keep myself distracted I push the food around my plate. I try not to look at Jai, try not to even see him out of the corner of my eye, but he’s right there next to me, eating his eggs, drinking his coffee, an affable smile on his face.
 

“So,” Mom says. “I think we’re all going to have a really nice time here. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Jessica and I murmur our agreement. Zack beams.
 

“This place has always been a respite of sorts,” he says. “And I’m so happy that I can share it with you. And I’m so happy that my son has made the voyage across the pond to be here with us, too.”