Page 6 of Step Brother Bear

“It’s my family. You know I can’t live near them, let alone under the same roof.”

Her expression shifts, her eyes wide, and an artificially white smile back on her face. “Oh, my God! I heard Derek was back home, too. I’ve seen him randomly with his weird group of friends. They all have animal tattoos and hang out in the woods. I heard that they’re some sort of criminal gang.”

“Derek? In a gang?”

She shrugs. “It’s what everyone says, but honestly, it’s not that surprising. He’d either end up in a gang, in jail, or dead.”

In high school, hating Derek was my favorite pastime, and even now I want nothing more than to be rid of him, but something about her words irks me. She’s not wrong, but it’s so abrasive and feels like made-up gossip.

“Crazy,” I respond, taking a sip of my drink.

She sighs. “God, I can’t believe I hooked up with him in high school.” She laughs.

“What?” My heartbeat triples in speed.

She squints over her coffee.

“You hooked up with Derek in high school?”

“Um, yeah, I thought you knew that.”

“You told me nothing happened between you two.”

She chuckles. “Oh my God, chill. It was one time. Are you really upset about something that happened so long ago?” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and gives a dismissive wave. “I almost forgot about it.”

I’m fuming internally, but I shouldn’t be. We aren’t friends anymore, and I’m a grown adult. I’ll look foolish if I cause a scene over something that happened with my stupid stepbrother half a decade ago. I drop my mask in place. “I’m surprised, that’s all.”

“Yeah, it was a big mistake. I mean, sure, he had a huge dick, but I swear he was only doing it to get to you. He used to bug me, asking me if I told you. At first, I thought he was afraid of you finding out, and then I realized he wanted me to tell you.”

Sure seems like she remembers it clearly now. I don’t know how to respond or even how I feel. It’s a mix between anger and intrigue. The rational part of me realizes he wanted me to know to torture me, but another part of me remembers my dream, the memory of my senior year birthday party. He did tell me, and it was for a reason far too messy to detangle.

By the grace of some mythical being high above, my phone rings. It’s the recruiter. I hover my finger over the answer button and stand. “One second. I need to take this.” I step out of the coffee shop and onto the sidewalk before answering.

My plan was to rudely turn down the job and drill her for wasting so much of my time, but maybe I should take the job. I don’t know how I’d make it work, but Deep River is clearly awful and brings up a whole slew of past hurt. Struggling below my means in the city might be better than all this.

The two sides of my brain war as the recruiter asks for my decision, but ultimately, I turn down the job, much more gracefully than I had intended. My reason remains unclear. Perhaps it’s the very real threat of ending up homeless, but that doesn’t feel right. Something else is keeping me in Deep River, something terrifying and dangerous.

Chapter 4

“Fuck yeah, baby! Just like that!”

“Oh, yeah, Daddy! Fuck me harder!”

It takes me a moment to realize I’m not in the midst of some male-dominated casting couch audition dream, but that the sex sounds are outside the realm of my imagination and very much real.

“God, you’re so fucking wet, are you going to squirt for me?”

“What the fuck?” I jolt upright in my bed, assessing the darkness. I’m alone in my bedroom. I fumble for my phone on my bedside table; it’s three in the morning.

“Derek!” I say as a curse.

I’m so angry that I’m not thinking rationally. I throw myself out of my bed and exit my room, banging on my neighboring door. Clearly, he wants me to hear him, to make a scene, but the rage I feel at being awakened by something so obscene makes me lose control.

The noises cut off, and thunderous footsteps sound until the door yanks open and I’m enveloped by my stepbrother’s room turned sex-dungeon. The lights are low, only a bedside lamp illuminating his features. Heat wafts around him, and although it doesn’t smell bad, it definitely smells like sex.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I yell in a whisper, not wanting to wake my parents on the other side of the house.

He clenches his teeth and groans, running a hand down his face. “Standing here with a painfully hard cock instead of relieving myself.”