Series: Peach State Stepbros Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
His gaze wavers. “I will neither confirm nor deny it.”
I laugh. “Has he told you that? Wow. I would never tell Atlas anything he could use against me.”
“I didn’t say he told me anything,” Colin cleverly replies to keep from disclosing what I’ve already intuited from his obvious stepbro.
“It’s cute seeing you keep his little secrets. You guys are proof that stepbrothers can get along. I don’t know why mine has to be such a fucking asshole.”
“Come on. You guys have known each other for…what, like five years?”
“Six. And lived under the same roof for four of them.”
“That’s a long-ass time. You may get under each other’s skin, but you can’t tell me you don’t have your own things. Maybe some secrets you keep for each other?”
My thoughts return to high school, seeing Atlas around the halls, that cocky grin as he reveled in knowing I was wearing the lacy panties. I’d never wanted to resort to physical violence as much as I did every time he looked at me, loving that he was the only one who knew the dirty secret that represented his victory over me. Even thinking about it all these years later stirs my rage, but just as quickly, I reminisce about the day I got to enjoy the same satisfaction as he walked around after I’d marked his ass with my name…like he was my property.
Yeah, we do have our little secrets, but I doubt they’re the same as the sort Colin and Ash would keep.
“Why are you making that mischievous smile?” Colin asks.
“What?” I ask, my cheeks warming. “I was just thinking about some of the shit we got up to in high school. It wasn’t all bad, I guess.”
“You guys talk plenty for as much shit as you give each other.”
“You and Ash give each other shit.”
“Eh, it’s different.”
Don’t I know it?
“It gets me thinking,” I tell Colin. “You familiar with the myth of Atlas?”
Colin looks thrown as he tosses the ball back to me. “Huh?”
“The Titan who led the gods in a war against Zeus. He was punished by having to carry the heavens on his shoulders.”
“I’m familiar with that story.”
“Sometimes my stepbrother acts like he’s got the heavens on his shoulders, and he’s not happy about it, so he’s just thrashing about to punish anyone near him. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I definitely don’t talk about my stepbro like that.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I say as I send the ball back to him.
We share a laugh.
Colin might have helped me cool down a bit, but I haven’t shared with him the dick move Atlas pulled on me today. It’s something I intend to confront him about, and when Colin heads out, I hop up and head over to my dresser, where I set Atlas’s tee. I guess if he’s being a dick to me, I don’t have to worry about returning it.
I grab my phone off my desk and text him: Let me know when you’re finished with your date. Something I want to talk to you about.
6
Atlas
Taylor takes a hit from his cart, then holds it out to me as if to ask if I want any. I shake my head. He’s a little obsessed with his legal form of cannabis, but any form of weed has never been my thing. Not that I have anything against it. In the grand scheme of things, I think it’s a lot safer for most people than alcohol, but for me, it weakens my defenses. When I’m drunk, it’s easier for me to stay angry, but when I smoke pot, it’s like I can’t hold my secrets in anymore, and that shit just won’t do. I’d much rather be locked up tight.
Taylor tries to hand it to Brenner next, who’s sitting opposite me on my couch, but he turns Taylor down too.
Not long after I got home from Activate Kindness, they came over with pizza and wanting to play video games. They got extra pepperoni, my favorite, so even though I hadn’t felt like company tonight, I’d caved.
Sometimes I wonder why they put up with me. I’m more of a loner than both Taylor and Brenner, but even when I’m grumbly, they stick around and always have my back.
“You just want me to get goofy and sleepy so you can beat my ass at this game,” Brenner says.
“No, I was just being a nice guy. I don’t need to get you high to kick your ass. Atlas too. You guys suck.” Taylor isn’t wrong. He’s got gaming down to an art.
“Fuck off,” I reply. “I can’t help it if I have a life outside Call of Duty.” Sometimes I think Taylor would rather play games than get his dick wet. He is ridiculously obsessed with his record. Which is fine, of course. To each their own, and if he’s not interested in sex, no biggie, but when we’re out, all he talks about is getting laid, so I think it takes getting him to leave home before he remembers there’s a whole wide world out there.