Mess With My Stepbrother

Chapter 4

We stand there, awkwardly, unsure of what to do next. Then Mom puts her foot down and winces as she lets out a little whine in the back of her throat. Her fingers dig into Daniel for support. He bites the inside of his cheek to keep from yelping.

"Right. Nothing's wrong with you. Clearly." I lean down and pick her up. "Put your arms around my neck and hang on."

"Ethan! Put me down this instant. I'm too heavy to be carried."

"Nope, you're not. Now, hang on so I don't drop you." I start hiking back to camp, not exactly jogging because I don't want to bump her bad ankle, but not slowing down for Lily and Daniel to catch up, either.

Once we're back at the campsite, I set her down and gently pull off her shoe. The ankle is already ballooning up and showing bruises. Lily and Daniel have caught up by now and Lily stands at my shoulder, hand resting on my back. "That looks awful. What are we going to do?"

Daniel starts picking up his pack. "We're going to strike camp and get her to a doctor. It looks like it could be broken." He's so upset he's not thinking clearly.

"It's getting dark soon and we aren't going to be able to get everything packed up tonight. Let me carry her back to the car. You drive her back to town and take her to the emergency room. Come get us tomorrow. Unless you want to leave all our stuff up here and chance it getting stolen."

Daniel looks around like he's lost something before dropping the tent pole he's latched onto and straightening up. "Alright. Sounds like a plan. Lily can come with us. You'll be safe hereby yourself, right?"

Lily steps forward, hugging herself. "I'm staying, too. It isn't right leaving Ethan out hereby himself to guard the camp."

"He's a big boy. He can handle it," Daniel insists.

"Dad, I'm staying." She insists. "You'd better hurry up. It'll be dark soon."

Mom sighs, giving in. "Alright, I hate this, but you two make sure you're careful."

"Absolutely. Now, let's get you back to the car."

Lily

"Do you think they're okay?" It's been hours since my dad and Sarah left for the nearest emergency room. Night crept up on us and now we are huddled across from each other watching the campfire burn. My stomach is pleasantly full of the fish Ethan caught and fried after we got back to camp. For dessert he produced the fixings for s'mores.

The woodsmoke is keeping the mosquitoes at bay, so that's one thing that's going for us. After the sun set it got chilly out, so I dragged my sweatshirt out of my tent and put it on. It's actually one of Ethan's favorite sweatshirts, but if he notices that I've stolen it, he isn't saying. I love it because it makes me feel closer to him and because it's huge enough to drag the sleeves over my hands when they get cold.

He gets up to add another log to the fire and sits down next to me this time. "They're fine, Bookworm. Never doubt it."

I wrap my arms around myself to stay warm, feeling grateful for the borrowed sweatshirt. "When do you think they'll be back?"

"Not sure. They'll call when they're on their way back. In the meantime, we should probably get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to get here before you know it." He yawns, rubbing his eyes.

"I wish I'd thought to bring an air mattress."

He grins at me. "Think you'll bruise your delicate skin on the hard ground?"

"Absolutely." I agree, standing up to gather our things together while he smothers the fire.

"I wish we had more blankets or something. The nights can get chilly. At least it's not raining." As soon as I say it, a fat drop of rain splatters on my shoulder. The next one catches the end of my nose. "Oh, no."

"You spoke too soon." He grabs my arm as he gathers the rest of our supper up and hauls me towards his tent. The sky opens up and rain pours out. We're drenched to the skin within moments.

"Wait. My tent is that way." I can barely see for the downpour.

"Let's get you inside and out of the rain. My tent's closer." "Thanks, but I really should— "

"Stop arguing with me and get in the tent." He gives me a gentle shove forward, then ducks in behind me. Within moments, he's shedding his shoes and clothes.

"What are you doing?" His muscles flex as he moves, and I try not to stare at him too obviously.

"It's cold and we're both soaked through. Get your clothes off and get into the sleeping bag."

"Say what, now?" Did I fall asleep? Am I dreaming? There's no way my hot, older stepbrother just told me to get my clothes off and get into his sleeping bag. I've had dreams that started like this and always end up with an alarm going off before we get to the good parts.

"Body heat," he explains patiently. "We need body heat to get warm." He says it gently, like he might scare me into going back out into the rain, but there's zero chance of that. It's starting to thunder, and I jump as lightning lights up the thin walls of the tent.

"Body heat. Right. Yes. Okay."

I take off my shoes and crawl into the sleeping bag, pulling the borrowed sweatshirt over my head. It smells faintly of smoke now and feels like a wet blanket after getting soaked. My jeans and socks follow. I leave my panties and bra on, because even though this feels like a fever dream, it isn't. I can't get buck naked with my stepbrother while our parents are away.

My heartbeat quickens. I'm starting to panic as I feel Ethan looming over me. He was right about body heat. It feels like it's gone up thirty degrees in as many seconds. He crawls into the bag with me, zipping it up till there's barely room to wriggle around.