003 — 3.1 | My Step Brother’s Toy
1339 Words
Nora William’s POV,
Fuck assignments.
Because mine decided to die on me right when I actually needed it.
The screen on my laptop has just gone blank mid-sentence, and I just sit here, staring at it like it might feel guilty and fix itself out of shame.
It doesn’t.
I press the power button again, hoping from the deepest part of me that it would come on, but I’m disappointed when it doesn’t.
“Of course,” I mutter, leaning back in my chair and staring up at the ceiling. “Of course you’d do this now.”
Now. Not yesterday when I was barely using it. Not tomorrow when I could’ve fixed it in peace. No—now, when I actually have something due.
An assignment I’m supposed to submit as soon as possible.
Dammit.
Dragging a hand through my hair, I let out a slow exhale like it’s supposed to reset the universe. And as expected, it doesn’t.
Immediately, I straighten and reach for my phone on my reading table, contemplating whether or not to call dad. On a second thought, I decide against it.
He’s not around to help anyway. And neither is his wife, my step mum.
Now that leaves me with exactly one option I don’t feel like using.
Knox. My step-brother.
A wave of repulsion washes over me at the mere thought of using his laptop, and I scrunch my nose up in the air, huffing.
God forbid I use his laptop for my assignment.
Well, thing is, since Knox and his mother moved in here a year ago after she married dad, he and I have never moved along. We barely even talk. And when we do, it’s always both of us going at each other’s throats, bantering like we hate each other.
Which, I must say, we do.
Why? Because he loves to look down on me like I’m some kind of spoilt brat, and I hate it. He has a superiority complex personality that just irks me.
So, no, I won’t be using his laptop. Call me petty, I don’t give a f**k.
***
I have just five more hours to submit my assignment, and I still haven’t moved from where I’m seated.
I’ve been here for more than two hours now, staring at the ceiling and thinking of what to do. I’ve called dad countless times, but gotten no response from him, and I doubt my step mum — Maria - would be returning from her night shift tonight.
Still, that leaves me with Knox’s laptop as the only option.
I don’t have much time yet. And if I don’t submit that assignment, I’d be losing a whole ass thirty marks in the test, which I’m obviously not about to.
Again, f**k assignments. Disrespectfully.
A thought comes into my mind almost immediately, and I narrow my gaze on the ceiling like it might offer me a better alternative than this.
It doesn’t.
Thing is Knox isn’t at home. He hasn’t returned since he went out with his friends earlier today, and maybe I could just use the laptop as fast as I can before he returns.
That way, he wouldn’t even see me for us to banter.
Good idea, right?
Except, my heart won’t stop racing so fast in my chest like I’m about to make a bad decision.
“I’m just borrowing a laptop,” I say under my breath. “That’s it. And he won’t be back before I finish.”
Even I don’t sound convinced. However, I stand up, grab my books and phone, and make my way out of the room.
The whole house is silent as I walk down the hallway towards Knox’s bedroom, save for the sound of my light steps.
As I walk there, a part of me tells me to just go back. To save my ego and go back. But the other tells me to do the assignment and get my mark.
I don’t know what makes me listen to the second part, but I do.
When I reach Knox’s bedroom, I’m surprised to find the door open. However, I don’t take too much time there.
I simply push open the door and walk in, sweeping my gaze over the whole space.
The first thing I notice is how everything is exactly where it’s supposed to be. The sheets are laid neatly, tables clean, sheets dark blue, and with the whole appearance, anything out of place would be noticed immediately.
I hate that I notice that about him.
Shoving away the thoughts, I exhale again, then head for his study table where I can see his laptop.
“You’ll do is as quick as possible, Nora,” I whisper to myself, more for courage than anything else.
Once I drop my things on the desk and take the seat there, I open the laptop immediately, not even surprised it unlocks without password. I don’t bother wondering why he doesn’t even have a password before I go to the research center.
A slow smile curls at the end of my lips when I find the topic I’m looking for, but just as I reach for my pen, my hand mistakenly hits the mouse, accidentally switching the laptop to another tap.
“f**k,” I mutter immediately, reaching to switch to the tab I was working on. “Can’t you just do shut like a normal hu — “
The words die on my tongue, a gasp escaping me when my gaze falls on the screen of the laptop, eyes widening.
“What?”
I blink just incase I might be seeing things, but what’s in front of me doesn’t change, and I find myself still frozen, unable to move.
Because as dramatic as I might’ve made it sound, what is staring right back at me in the opened tab is a pornography video.
My cheeks warm instantly at the thought of Knox actually watching this, and I try to move my hand so I can just switch back to my own tab and continue my work, but it refuses to.
And like a fool, I allow my curiosity to take over me when my fingers finally move. I begin to scroll down, looking at other videos without pressing play, my heart racing, pulse roaring in my ears.
That’s when I notice something.
The women on the screen all look similar. They have read hair and green eyes, their facial features and body shape petite and the same.
The more I scroll, taking them in, the more I realize it’s like a pattern I’m not supposed to notice, but my brain is already highlighting it anyway.
I blink once. Then again.
That can’t be—
I scroll a little more, just to confirm I’m not imagining it.
And to my surprise, I’m not.
Everything is consistent. To consistent.
Finally, my fingers go still on the keyboard, and I sit there, staring at it longer than I should, my thoughts starting to overlap.
Why do they all look familiar? Does he has a thing for women who look like that? And most importantly, why do they all look like me?
My body goes hot at the thought instantly, heat rushing to my core, and I shift slightly in the chair, suddenly too conscious that I’m in his room. On his laptop. Seeing things I was not supposed to see.
Seeing that he enjoys porn with women who have similar features to mine.
What’s that supposed to mean?
Before the answers to the question can even form in my mind, I snap myself out of it.
“I should go,” I say under my breath.
However, I don’t move fast enough.
Just as I’m about to close the tab, the bedroom door opens, and I freeze, my head whipping towards the direction, only to come in contact with a pair of grey eyes.
Knox.
And he’s staring at me, brows drawn into a frown.
“What the f**k are you doing here?”
- Writer
