Stepbrother Bestie (A Stepbrother Romance Novel) (43 page)

“So, then there’s your answer,” she
responded quickly. “That isn’t something that is going to change.”

“No…” I admitted, but then felt slightly
silly for what I said next. “Although…I kind of…like it? I can’t help being
attracted to him and even though I want to kill him more often than I want to
do anything else, when we are together and he is not being a total asshole, it
is like nothing I have ever felt before.”
Plus,
you know, he is my stepbrother…
I thought to myself, but physically shook
the thought out of my head. I knew that there was no way I should be thinking
about that part of this problem, since I had no intention of revealing it
anyway.

“Is it just a summer fling?” she asked
after carefully considering what I had said, “or do you want it to be more?”

“I don’t want it to be anything!” I
answered adamantly, even though I wasn’t completely sure that this was true.

“Well, then don’t,” she answered quickly.
“Look, if there is something about him that makes you not want to be with him,
then it is probably for good reason. You can’t just pretend that everything is
okay. You have to make everything okay.”

“But, what if I’m too weak to resist? He
is a master of manipulation and for as much as he can be an ass, he is also
really sweet.”

“When he wants something, right?”

I didn’t say anything, which was basically
like agreeing with her, at least in Stacy’s mind.

“Remember, everyone has the capabilities
to be nice, until you tell him no,” she said. “You need to find a man who is
good for you, no matter what. You need to break whatever hold this guy has over
you and make sure that it stays broken. I don’t know much about the situation,
but I think that you really need to do what is right for you. I don’t think
that you should be going around doing everything for him, especially if you
don’t feel fulfilled in the relationship, whatever that might be.
You
need to take control of your life. You can’t allow anyone, but especially not a
man, to live it for you.”

I thought about this and realized that she
was completely right. I knew that he was controlling my life, but I needed to
figure out how to make it stop. “How do I get him to leave me alone?” I asked
her, realizing that she was inspiring about what she had said so far.

“You just have to push him away. He needs
to know that you don’t want him dictating your life.”

I laughed, thinking of how amused Tyler
would be to hear her say that to him before I answered, “It isn’t like he is
the most understanding person…”

“Then you make him understand!” She had a
shrill fire in her voice that I had not heard in a long time. I suddenly had
the feeling that this conversation wasn’t just helping. “You have to show him
who’s boss. If you really think that something isn’t right between the two of
you, then you need to figure out how to tell him in a way that he cannot help
but understand.” She paused for a moment before she answered, “It is the only
way, Ashley. It might not feel so good to hurt his feelings, or do whatever it
is that you know you have to do, but in the end, you both will be better for
it.”

I thought about this for a long moment. I
even tried to argue. After all, I was trying to think of any way I possibly
could to warrant staying with him, but I couldn’t deny that her advice made
sense and it got me feeling more confidently about my situation.

“You cannot surround yourself with
negativity outside of your family,” Stacy went on. “There are enough problems
between you and your dad. You don’t need to complicate things by inviting
negativity into your social life as well. Just because you are back home for
the summer doesn’t mean that you are the same girl you were when you left for
college; you have got to understand that.”

“Yes,” I answered, feeling even more
confident. “I do understand that, Stacy…” Then, I heard a noise as if someone
was making their way toward my room. “Hey, listen, Stacy…Thanks for the advice,
but I have got to go.”

“Sure, any time,” she answered genuinely.

“Good luck with your situation,” I added
before we said our goodbyes.

I had always felt bad for Stacy. Even
though I had a similar issue with my father, at least I knew that my father
loved me. Some days, which after hearing the story, I couldn’t blame Stacy for,
she felt like neither of her parents even wanted her. It was such a shame too,
because Stacy was always such a nice person.

However, even though I felt bad that
things hadn’t changed for her, I felt rejuvenated, in a way. I might not be
completely sure what I was going to do about this new feeling that I had
coursing through my body, but I was fairly certain that whatever I wanted to do
with it, I was going to feel so much better once I did it.

Chapter
32

Tyler

What
the fuck is wrong with me?
I thought with ire as I watched the
blond woman saunter away from me. I could picture her perfectly toned body
lying across a hotel room bed, while I took in her sweet aroma and screwed her
blind, but I couldn’t believe what I had just done.

I had just let this delectable, available
and interested piece of ass waltz right out of my world.

After she turned the corner, I looked down
at my hands and clamped them into fists. I felt like punching something and so,
I made my way down to the area of the gym that had the proper equipment for me
to pummel something without being arrested.

When I made it down to where the punching
bags were hanging, along with a full boxing ring, I went off by myself and
began to beat the shit out of a punching bag. As I punched and kicked it
diligently, it kept just coming back for more and so, I gave it to the bag.

This was usually a good way to work out my
anger, but today, no matter how hard I came at the bag, it was still just
hanging there. It took no skill and my strength was just absorbed. I couldn’t
see the bruises and I couldn’t watch it weaken.

No matter what, I would eventually grow
tired and when I did, this stupid bag would win because I would be the one to
walk away from it.

I had never thought about it like that
before, but once I did, it only made me angrier.

Finally, I huffed a sigh and sagged
against the bag. I could feel the sweat dripping off of my body and splattering
onto the mat where my feet were, until a moment ago, constantly moving.

Then, as one more burst of fury ran
through my body like a shot of lightning, I screamed, “Fuck!” at the top of my
lungs, turned around and shot the bag with one large blow before I sagged
against it again.

“Looks like you’ve had a rough day,” I
heard a voice say over the sound of my own loud breaths.

Seeing the man, I panted quickly, “Mind
your own fucking business.”

He laughed and answered, “Why don’t you
fight a real man, instead of that pussy bag?”

At first I waved him off, knowing for
certain that I shouldn’t give in to such childish prompting. I wasn’t scared of
the man, but I did fear what I might do if I really was to fight him.

After all, my goal was to have knocked the
damn bag off of its fucking chains and not being able to do that had only made
me angrier. I knew that it wasn’t good to fight while angry, for there was
nothing to keep you in check. Rage did mix well with fist fighting; especially
when I wasn’t going into the fight with the intention to kill my opponent.

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be some
bigshot? A real tough guy?” The man asked, making his way closer to me.

“What’s it to you who the hell I am? Like
I said, it’s none of your business who I am or the day that I’ve had, so leave
me the fuck alone.”

Again, the man barked a laugh. He was one
of those short, quick son of a bitches that probably fought dirty. I wasn’t
scared of him at all. I just didn’t want to kill him. I had already gotten off
the hook for one murder, I didn’t want to have to worry about it again. And
with the day I was having, I knew that if I threw the first punch, I might not
be able to stop and that would only be because I had to show myself, as well as
everyone else that I was still a man who was in complete control.

“All right, pussy. If you’re scared to
fight me, then that’s fine,” he shrugged and moved to turn away, but my sharp
laugh caused him to turn back around.

“Yeah, I’m scared alright,” I answered,
“I’m fucking terrified that if I hit you, I’ll kill you before I get all of my
anger out. You look like a one punch kind of guy…even in the shape I’m in.”

The weaseled man’s eyes narrowed as his
thin lips coiled into a smile, as though he was accepting a challenge. “Prove
it, fuck-face.”

I shrugged and strutted my way to the
boxing ring, then waited to see if he wanted to get any of the safety
equipment. There was no one around, so we would be able to get away with not
using it. The only reason I wanted to use anything to soften the blows was so
that I wouldn’t kill him, but I certainly wasn’t going to run the risk of
looking like a little bitch in order to save his pasty ass.

So, I hopped up into the ring.

The man looked around, almost nervously
for a moment, as though he had ultimately expected me to walk away, before he
moved over to the ring and slithered inside.

Looking at him while he took his stance, I
almost felt bad for him. He was so scrawny. Speed was nothing if a well-placed
punch threw him to the ground within a moment.

I smirked at the thought.

“What’s so goddamned funny?” the man spat.

“Your goddamned face,” I answered as we
began to circle one another. I knew that I had the form, far more than this
barroom brawler, so I wondered why he would be picking a fight in a gym, but
didn’t question it. Instead, I just added, “Can we get this the hell over with,
cupcake?”

While I was talking, he tried to run in
and take a cheap shot, but I dodged it. I could have hit him, but I was feeling
sadistic. I wanted to give him hope of being able to beat me before I
completely emasculated him.

The only thing better would have been if
there was an audience, but working to please myself, I had learned to be
comfortable enough with my own praise.

So, for the next few minutes, I allowed
him to swat at me, and after a few skillfully planned near-misses, I actually
allowed him to hit me.

He punched me square in the jaw and even
though it didn’t really hurt, I was surprised at the strength he had accumulated
for it.

However, in the moment it took me to
recover, mostly fabricated than anything else, I saw in his eyes that he was
growing cocky and I knew that this was going to be over soon.

I moved in closer to him and set myself
up, before taking my first swing. He ducked, just as I expected, so that he
leaned right into the force of my second jab.

Just as I thought, the man was down on the
floor in a moment. There was blood coming out of his mouth and a bruise forming
around his eye. My massive fist had crushed the side of his face in one careful
blow.

I backed off of him, not wanting to lose
control and waited for him to pull himself back up. “Are you done?” I asked,
moving my feet skillfully, more out of habit than necessity.

“Go to hell!” he answered before he jumped
to his feet and leapt at me. I grabbed him and as I did, I felt him try to
swing at me. I blocked him and shoved him back.

I beamed, knowing that I hadn’t even had
to swing at him again in order to get him down on the mat.

I heard him hit hard and slide a little
bit, but there was no more blood. I took this as a good thing.

“You can be done. I won’t tell anyone how
much of a bitch you are,” I answered when I saw that it took him a moment to
get to his feet.

I saw fire burning in his eyes as the
man’s nostrils flared. He took in a large breath, spit out blood and got back
up on his feet. However, this time, he didn’t run at me. He kept his distance
and mimicked what I was doing.

“What are you a fucking five year-old?
Copying me?” I shook my head.

He didn’t respond, but continued to keep
up with my movements.

“Well, copy this, shithead!” I exploded
before I punched him hard enough to knock him back. I grabbed his arm, pulled
him close to me and kicked my leg under his knees so that he collapsed.

When he was on the ground again, I moved
over-top of him to ensure that he was alright, but before I could say anything,
he kicked up with all of his might, aiming for my crotch.

I grasped his foot just before it hit me
and twisted it so that he had no choice but to flip onto his back. As I did
that, I knelt down on his back, so that he couldn’t’ get up and answered, “Wow!
You really do fight like a bitch. I could do this all day, but fortunately for
your pride, I would like to go. It’s clear who the winner is. See ya around
when you grow a sack of balls instead of those lady parts you’ve got up there.”
I pushed him away from me and stood up.

However, I heard him behind me, running at
me with a blind sense of fury. I turned around quickly, but this time, he
wasn’t going to be stopped easily. He wound up and hit my face, but just kept
running at me until I lost my balance.

I fell hard onto the mat and immediately
felt the man straddle me, before throwing hard jabs at my face.

Before I had a chance to recover, I felt
blood come out of my nose and was immediately angry.

With one swipe of my arm, I knocked the
man off of me and leapt on top of him. I hit him a few times, until I saw a
bruise forming under both of his eyes and his mouth filled up with blood.

At first, when I felt the blood begin to
splatter against my knuckles, I knew that I should stop, but just as I had
feared, anger had overtaken me.