My Hateful Stepbrother

Two

When I woke up the next day, I went straight to the shower. It was scorching hot, but we were in the middle of summer, so I should have expected it. My room was beautiful and large, just as I imagined it would be. And the window looked directly out onto the main entrance, so I could see when my stepbrother came and went.

Last night, feeling cowardly, I hid in my room until he left the house, then I went down and made myself dinner, only to lock myself in again. It wasn't how I wanted things to be, but I was still too embarrassed by what I had seen when I arrived. And despite Arthur advising me to forget it, it was difficult for me.

I mean, it's not every day that you interrupt your stepbrother while he's having s*x.

I tried to tame my wild curls. My hair was long, auburn, it was pretty but too annoying. My mother had often tried to convince me to cut it, but my father had asked me to keep it long before he died, and I didn't have the courage to do it. I also liked my hair; it matched perfectly with my sky-blue eyes and fair skin.

I knew I wasn't ugly. The only thing that really marred my appearance were my black glasses. They weren't too big, but they were noticeable. My best friend said I was a complete nerd.

I sighed and put on my silk shorts and t-shirt. It was too hot to wear more clothes. I looked out the window, hoping Lucke would leave the house, but he didn't, and my stomach was already growling.

I received a message from my mother letting me know she had arrived in Italy with a bunch of happy faces. I smiled for her, glad that at least one of us was happy. Hopefully, I could adjust to living here, and my life would get back to being great. Miracles could always happen, right?

When my phone vibrated again, I grabbed it quickly, trying to ignore my stomach.

Abby: How are you doing? Did you see your new house? Is it beautiful? When can I visit you? Why haven't you called me yet!

I smiled at my best friend's insistence, she was so exasperating.

Me: I just moved in! And it's beautiful, big, and completely luxurious. I even have a pool! You know you can come whenever you want.

Abby: Great, I'll drop by as soon as I can :)

Me: Ok :)

Abby: And your stepbrother? Is he a nerd with glasses and acne?

I rolled my eyes, if only she knew.

Me: I'll tell you later...

I got out of bed and looked at the clock with irritation. It had already been an hour since I woke up, and I couldn't stand the hunger much longer. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I didn't want to miss it just because my stepbrother intimidated me. I refused to let something like that happen to me. This was supposed to be my house too, right? I should be able to have breakfast whenever I wanted.

I put on my fluffy bunny slippers and left my room. The hallway was dark as always, there were no windows here, so sunlight didn't illuminate anything. I looked towards Lucke's room, which was right across from mine, but it was firmly closed. Maybe he left before I woke up. I refused to let that relieve me and continued towards the kitchen. Last night, Arthur had given me a tour before he and my mother left, and I realized that the living room was the least nice part of the house, everything else was even better.

I found the kitchen quickly, and there was no one in it to my relief. The housekeeper came once a week and organized everything, bought the food, and cleaned, or so my mother had told me. I guess with her here now, there was no need for anyone else. Even though my mother had her own café, she loved taking care of the house cleaning, strange as it may seem, it made her feel like a better wife.

I opened the fridge and found enough food to feed a small crowd, from fresh fruit to strawberry jam. I didn't know what to eat, so I opted for something simple, a grilled cheese sandwich, something light and nutritious. I took the cheese from the fridge and closed it softly, trying not to make noise in case my stepbrother was still there.

As I was successfully finishing my sandwich-making,

I felt someone's gaze on my back. The hair on my neck stood up, and my body tensed; there were only two people in the house.

I didn't turn around, but I continued making my breakfast, hoping he would take what he wanted to eat and leave without saying a word to me. Yes, I knew that wasn't the best way to start a relationship. I really wanted to get along with him, but something told me the guy didn't think the same.

"So the little mouse decided to come out of her hole" he murmured with his sexy voice. I turned and gave him a look, admiring how good he looked.

He wasn't wearing a shirt, just pajamas, showing off his six-pack. He had his arms crossed over his chest and looked at me with his beautiful, serious green eyes. His chiseled jawline and his flawless skin, all of which made him a magazine man. It was attractive to look at him, admire the trail of hair leading down his abdomen, and how his muscles seemed hard and strong. But he was my brother, and I shouldn't be looking. I turned away again, nervous.

"Good morning, Lucke" I said cheerfully. "Do you want me to make you a sandwich? I don't mind."

Just when I thought he was going to say yes and we would have a pleasant conversation, I felt his body behind me, pushing his hips against my lower back. I gasped. He was erect, which wasn't a surprise if he had just gotten up. I knew men had morning erections, but they had never rubbed them against me the way he was doing. In fact, I had never felt a p***s anywhere on my body.

But he didn't stop there, his hands went to the counter, on either side of me, trapping me. I felt his body heat and his breath on my neck. What on earth was wrong with him? This was very wrong in many ways.

"Only if you wrap yourself in it" he whispered in my ear, his lips brushing my ear.

I opened my mouth in surprise, before the surprise gave way to anger. Who did he think he was to treat me like that? I wasn't the most experienced girl in the world, but I knew he shouldn't be doing that to me. He shouldn't be that close, and he definitely shouldn't be rubbing his groin against my backside. I had learned that with men, I had to be careful, and even though Lucke was my stepbrother, it didn't mean I was going to let him do whatever he wanted with me. Provoking me wouldn't get him anywhere.

I gently placed the knife on the counter, swung my arm forward and back, hitting my stepbrother's hard stomach. I heard him grunt in pain before I turned around and looked at him. He was doubling over in pain, but at least I had managed to get him away from me.

"You're such a jerk" he murmured in pain. I suppressed the urge to smile proudly.

"You asked for it, I don't know if your other stepsisters let you get away with this, but I won't."

"Then maybe you shouldn't walk around the house in those damn shorts and that tiny shirt."

I looked at him angrily, but realized he was right; I shouldn't have been dressed like that while home alone with a man. But when I lived with my mother, neither of us thought twice about dressing lightly. Still, that didn't excuse what he had done. He was an i***t.

"I didn't dress like this for you," "I said, watching his eyes widen in surprise" "I don't want to have problems with you."

"Then you shouldn't hit me."

He seemed to recover from the blow little by little, but his eyes kept looking at me seriously.

"Again, you asked for it," I replied, nervously adjusting my glasses. "Do you want the sandwich or not?"

Lucke didn't respond; instead, he opened the fridge and grabbed two bottles of apple juice, left one on the counter right next to the sandwiches, took one of them, and turned around without saying anything, leaving the kitchen quickly. I stood there, dumbfounded, staring at his bare back, wondering if everything that had just happened really happened and wasn't just an illusion on my part, because the guy had recovered very quickly.

When I finished my breakfast, I cleaned everything up and went back to my room. I found a bunch of messages from Abby insisting that I tell her everything about my stepbrother. I ignored them all simply because I didn't want to keep talking about Lucke. There were a bunch of moving boxes in my room, so I decided to unpack them all, I had nothing better to do for the rest of the day.

I put on some soft music on my room's player and immersed myself in it, placing the photos of my father and me on the nightstand, my books on my new shelf, and my clothes in the closet while listening to “Long Distance” by Bruno Mars and singing softly.

The melancholic song and the photos of my father brought back memories. I missed him so much. On Sundays before he died, we always went to church and then camped in some park. He would tell me about experiences he had while living in New York, and my mother and I would listen to him enchanted. I also missed how much he made me laugh, and when he gave me Spanish lessons, making it seem very easy.

When he died, I went through a very long trance, from which I only emerged with the help of my mother. Although that didn't prevent me from remembering him with pain whenever I was alone. My father had been the best man I knew, and he didn't deserve to die, at least not at an early age.

I brushed a solitary tear from my cheek. It didn't surprise me that I was crying. I had the habit of crying over everything, absolutely everything. It was horrible to have an argument with your mother and start crying because she couldn't understand what I was trying to explain to her. Or argue with my best friend and suddenly start crying out of anger. It was annoying, most people thought I was trying to manipulate them with tears. But it wasn't like that, I'm just too sensitive.

When the song changed to a more cheerful one, I came out of my melancholic trance and started organizing my clothes, starting with my shirts and pants. I didn't have much clothing, so I quickly realized I was missing something... my underwear! I had packed it in one of the boxes because it didn't fit in my suitcase, but all the boxes were empty, and I couldn't see my bras or panties anywhere.

I started searching frantically, annoyed at the movers. If they had kept my underwear, they were going to have a lot of problems. I really couldn't believe my bad luck. I didn't have more underwear than what was in the boxes, what I was wearing, and what was dirty. And I didn't have money to buy new ones. I would have to call my mother and ask for money, which I was definitely not keen on doing. Surely, it was unpleasant to be called on your honeymoon about stolen underwear. She would kill me.

Very annoyed, I went to my closet, took my yoga pants, and put them on. I wasn't going to go out in my tiny shorts again. As for the shirt, Lucke could go jump in a lake.

When I left my room, I saw Lucke's door completely open, which was strange. Loud music was coming from it. I didn't want to approach; he could be with another girl again and just leave the door open to annoy me, but curiosity got the better of me. I approached like a thief, my eyes on high alert.

I looked inside his room and sighed in relief, not finding him with another woman. Instead, he was sitting in the middle of his bed, with a piece of fabric under his nose, his fingers gently caressing it. He caught me the instant I looked at him, a slow, wicked smile greeted me. I knew that wasn't a good sign; he knew I would come, which probably meant he had planned this. My muscles tightened; he was too attractive for his own good.

Something caught my attention about all this, not just the fact that he was smiling at me as if he had won something, nor that the music was so loud, but what he had around him, scattered on his bed. They were my panties and bras, and what he had under his nose, smelling it with perversion, was one of my thongs. He was crazy! My eyes widened like saucers in shock, a frustrating blush rising to my cheeks. My panties were clean, but it was embarrassing all the same.

His smug smile was still there, bothering me more and more. But it all made sense, the movers hadn't stolen my clothes; my stepbrother had. He must have done it when I was having breakfast this morning, and I had thought we could get along.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked him softly, feeling indignant as I looked at the mess of my underwear, it was so intimate.

"What are you talking about? I found them in the living room."

I took a step towards him and extended my hand.

"Give them to me" I ordered.

Lucke finally stood up, his broad body made me feel smaller. At least he had put on a shirt, although he looked just as attractive. Whether he was n***d or dressed didn't matter. I was sure he would attract the attention of girls either way, and that annoyed me. He was playing with me, and it was clear he knew the game. But I had never been a good player; I always went for the safe and simple route.

"You have very nice underwear, Dakota" he pronounced my name slowly, without stopping his approach.

When he stopped, he lifted the fabric of my panties for me to see, before bringing them to his nose again and inhaling them. I didn't want to admit that it made my legs tremble; how could someone do something as disgusting and perverse as smelling my underwear, but somehow look so sexy doing it? Surely a feat only he could achieve.

"Will you stop bothering me?"

"No" he murmured dryly.

I frowned and snatched my panties from his hands; he didn't even try to fight, he had enough on his bed.

"I don't know what I did to make you bother me like this, but if you don't stop, I'm going to call Arthur..."

"So what?" he interrupted me harshly "Do you think my father will leave his honeymoon to come save the perfect Dakota?"

I frowned again. Who did he think he was?

"You don't know me."

"It's not necessary to know you to realize who you are, sweetheart" he took a step closer to me, invading my personal space, "everything about you reeks of perfection, which, let me tell you, isn't very attractive to men."

That annoyed me, but only because he realized who I was, while I, on the other hand, knew nothing about him. I hated that people read me so quickly. He was right, I got perfect grades, had a perfect best friend, didn't drink alcohol, didn't do drugs, didn't even smoke. I didn't lie either, almost never went to parties. I was the personification of what every parent wants in their daughter, and Lucke had discovered it so quickly that I couldn't even deny it.

My best friend would call me a boring prude, and I couldn't contradict her, but that's how I was raised, and I didn't have the courage to be different. No matter how dull my life was, it was safe, and there was nothing better than that. I had never even had a boyfriend, and my first kiss was from a senior who later made it clear he only did it for a bet.

Jack Clark was the worst guy I had ever met, and since then, I avoided boys, which wasn't surprising.

"I'm not interested in being appealing to guys" I replied, shrugging, "and much less to someone like you. Give me back my underwear!"

Lucke smirked at me.

"On one condition," he said slowly.

I looked at him suspiciously, sure I wouldn't like his condition, but I remained silent, willing to listen. My father always said one of my best and worst qualities was being naive, and he wasn't wrong.

"A kiss."

I blinked.

"What?"

"I want a kiss, from you, Dakota. If you give me a kiss, I'll give you all your panties."

My stomach twisted in irritation. I kept looking at him, waiting for him to smile and tell me it was a bad joke, but he didn't.

He just kept looking at me silently, no longer with the smug smile. He was definitely crazy. How dare he ask me for a kiss? What did he think I was? One of his girlfriends? Beyond the fact that we just met, and that only yesterday I found him having s*x with another girl, he was my stepbrother! I couldn't even imagine kissing him, even though he was very attractive, I wasn't that kind of girl.

But a small and stupid part of me was excited because, although I would never admit it, I was surprised and delighted that a guy like Lucke would ask me for a kiss. I mean, he is handsome in every way. He's rich, and surely he had thousands of women after him, waiting for him to ask them for a kiss. They wouldn't hesitate to give it to him.

"You can keep them then!" I growled, annoyed "You're an i***t, and I'd rather go without underwear than give you a kiss. You're crazy!"

He didn't even flinch.

"Come on! You're dying to do it, I know it."

That only annoyed me even more. The guy couldn't be more arrogant. Not even Jack Clark had treated me that way. I stepped closer, pointing my finger at him. There was malice in his eyes, but I ignored it. I had never felt so annoyed in my life. He was a complete i***t.

"Go to hell, Lucke" I muttered, glancing one last time at my underwear behind him. He had even taken my socks.

My eyes filled with tears then, I cursed internally. That always happened to me when I was upset. Why did I have to cry in the middle of an argument? It was so silly and stupid. Lucke noticed, to my dismay. I thought he would make fun of me for acting like a silly girl, but he didn't, he just looked at me intently.

"i***t" I murmured before turning around and leaving his room.

I went into my room, closed the door, and put on my sneakers, texting Abby to meet up somewhere. She quickly agreed, and I loved her for that. When I came out again, Lucke's room door was closed, and no music was playing anymore.

***

Abby was a stunner. Her sandy blonde hair and her green eyes caught attention everywhere. She was tall and slender, everything I wasn't. When she saw me arrive at the mall, she threw herself into my arms as if we hadn't seen each other in years, but I hugged her back, needing the warmth. My best friend was the most affectionate person I knew, always wanting to give you kisses and hugs. She was sweet as can be, but she couldn't help it, she was born that way.

I had come directly from Arthur's house to the mall, and on the way, my annoyance had passed. But I was still embarrassed about the whole underwear incident, and then about my stupid tears. I told my best friend everything while we looked at the clothes. She gasped, screamed, and hugged me when I got to the last part, but she was fascinated with my description of Lucke, so much so that she made me promise to introduce him to her and help her go out with him. I quickly agreed, hoping that if they started dating, he'd finally leave me alone. I was sure my best friend wouldn't hesitate to kiss him if he asked. They would be the perfect couple.

Abby sat across from me in the small café, her coffee in hand, as she looked at me sternly.

"You should try switching those glasses for contact lenses" she murmured, frowning, "most guys don't find them attractive."

I took off my glasses, but I immediately started seeing things blurry and put them back on. I had started wearing glasses since I was eight years old when my eyesight began to deteriorate. I was used to them, but Abby was right, on an eight-year-old girl they looked cute, but they weren't as cute on a teenager.

I already had contact lenses, but I was bothered by having to take them off at night before sleeping. Not to mention they irritated my eyes. I only wore them for a day before giving up and going back to my glasses. Although it was time to start using them.

"I don't know" I replied, looking around, "I'm not sure I like it."

"You'd look better" my best friend countered, "you're beautiful, don't doubt that, but you should ditch that good girl style and start with something more... sexy."

"I'll think about it" I murmured, and there the conversation died.

When we finished our coffee at the café, we headed to the movies. Abby and I loved the cinema because we loved action movies, and they looked great here. I was glad I had called her this afternoon, I wasn't even thinking about Lucke and his ways anymore. It seemed more and more like a good idea for my best friend and him to go out. She was surely already plotting a plan in her head.

Abby didn't have a boyfriend, she really never had one. That was the only thing we had in common; but she wasn't alone either. She always went out with guys and sometimes had s*x with them. She wasn't into relationships, she just enjoyed the moment, which is why Lucke and she would be perfect. He also seemed like the kind of guy who didn't have relationships.

The movie turned out to be really good, so we went out and ate at a very nice restaurant. I was broke, but Abby's wealthy dad covered everything. Her dad had loads of money and spoiled her with whatever she wanted. Of course, she didn't mind spending a bit of her money on me.

"Hey! I met a guy at school!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"That's great!" I smiled at her "He's probably already crazy about you."

"No silly, he's perfect for you!"

I looked at her, puzzled. I never went out with guys, I left that to her. I preferred living vicariously through my friend's romances. It was safer that way. Abby had never tried to find me a boyfriend because she knew I wasn't good at it, maybe in a couple of years, when I went to college, but not now. My mother would thank me.

"I'm not good with relationships" I murmured, but she already knew that.

"Please, Dakota, you've spent enough time alone. He's cute, smart, super charming, and makes all the girls swoon."

"If you like him so much, why don't you keep him for yourself?" I asked, smiling, and she smiled back at me.

"Because he's too good for me. But he's perfect for you, please, hon, you need to date someone and get some experience before you go to college."

Of course, she had a point there. I didn't want to go to college without even knowing how to kiss. How dumb would that be? College guys were known for being passionate and experienced, and I couldn't imagine going out with one of them and having them teach me how to kiss with tongue. It would be horrible and embarrassing, and I didn't want to be embarrassed anymore. I'd already hit my embarrassment quota today with Lucke and my underwear. Abby was right, I needed to start getting out there and having fun. After all, I was a pretty girl.

My best friend looked at me hopefully. No one wanted me to meet someone more than she did. She said I spent too much time alone, and that I needed to start experimenting with s*x. If that guy was so perfect, I wouldn't lose anything by trying, right? Surely things would turn out better than I thought.

"Alright," I said, making her smile in satisfaction, "but I hope he's really a perfect guy and not an i***t who just wants s*x. That would be unpleasant."

"Don't worry, you'll get the guy!"

She laughed, and I couldn't help but laugh with her. Her enthusiasm was admirable.

Abby and I talked a bit more. She promised she would give my number to the guy so we could chat, and although I didn't say it, my stomach tightened with excitement. Meeting guys wasn't really my thing, but at least I hoped everything would go well, and I would end up with a nice boyfriend. We said goodbye at eight in the evening, and I took the bus back home. I didn't have a car because my mom couldn't afford one, but now that Arthur had given her a white Audi, she might pass hers down to me.

When I got to my room door, I found the box with my underwear inside. I looked towards Lucke's room, but it was closed and there was no sound. I sighed, grabbed the box, and headed into my room with a weird feeling in my chest.

My stepbrother was going to make me lose my mind, and I'd only been here for two days.