The Stepbully She Craves

Chapter3

Hailey

"Stop, Sasha." I roll my eyes, but I'm not too worried about it. I do the editing, so she can say whatever she likes and I'll take it out later.

"The problem is that they're fucking assholes who won't leave her alone. True, Hailey "

"Fine. True."

"They pick on her and she claims to hate them, but it's all a little flirtatious if you ask me."

"What!" I protest. "No way."

"Yes way," she continues. "I'm talking, snapping Hailey's bra strap, and stashing condoms in her bedside table as a prank, and trying to spy on her while she's getting dressed. I'm telling y'all, this is a classic bullies-to-lovers setup."

I scoff. "Okay, as if. First of all, there's two of them. So which one am I

supposedly going to end up being lovers with I hope Xander, because, listeners Here's an important detail: Cole is my brother."

"Stepbrother," cuts in Sasha. "So.totally legal. And totally hot. C'mon, Hailey. At least admit that they're hot."

"No!"

She laughs. "Whatever. You already admitted to me that you would fuck either one of them, given half a chance."

"Sasha!"

"Yes " Through the laptop screen, she bats her eyelashes at me innocently, knowing I can't deny I told her this.

It was months ago, while they were both away at school, and I'd temporarily forgotten what assholes they are.

.Sexy assholes that, yes, I occasionally have questionable thoughts about. Thoughts I wish I'd never shared with Sasha.

Whatever. I'm deleting all this later.

"Fine," I concede, "but to be clear, I was talking about a very specific situation. One where Cole isn't my brother and neither of them are jerks."

"Ha!" she laughs victoriously, just as the door to my en-suite bathroom swings open-the bathroom that connects my room and Cole's. I really need to lock that door more often.

I jerk my head up, annoyed at being interrupted, to find Cole and Xander bursting into the room, laughing.

"Holy shit, virgin!" Cole exclaims. "You told your friend you would fuck us That's perverted. I'm your fucking brother, you little slut."

I'm speechless as they stride into the room, looking cocky and self-assured. "What the fuck " comes Sasha's voice over the computer.

"Oh hey, it's pervy Sasha," says Cole, leaning in behind me and waving to her. Fool that she is, she waves back. I want to slap my face into my palm. "You guys doing your porn podcast "

"Sasha," I groan. "I'm going to call you later." "No way-"

"Yes, bye." I cut her off and shut my laptop. "Will you guys get out of here "

They ignore me. Xander picks a book up from my desk and starts flipping through it, and Cole makes his way to my bookshelf and picks up something else.

"'Hands on the wall, love, palms flat,' he commanded me in a low, growly whisper." he starts reading out loud. 'You may be used to being treated like a goddess by Finn, but you will learn how it feels to be treated like a good little slut.'"

"Cole!" I make to get up, to pull the book away from him, but Xander steps between us with a cruel smile, stopping me.

"His words lit a fire inside me that burned right down to my core. My hands found the wall quickly and I gripped it. I was able to look at James only by looking around the corner. Mac ran his hands from my calves, up my legs, cupping my

pussy inside my jeans. 'You're fucking soaked, you dirty girl. You like to watch, huh Would it turn you on if they were watching us How wound-up would you get if James and his bar whore were watching me fuck you senseless against this

wall '"

My face is burning, I'm so furious I think I'm about to holler, and just when I think I couldn't possibly get any angrier, the most unthinkable thing happens.

Cole grips both sides of my book, and using his incredible strength, rips the spine in two.

I scream, as beside me Xander copies his action and rips the book he's holding in the same way.

They each toss their shorn halves to the ground, laughing and unrepentant, and walk, self-satisfied, out the hallway door, leaving me stricken.

My books.

I drop to the ground and pick up the torn pieces, unsure what to do. Irrational thoughts flood my brain, like, maybe I can glue them.

It's too much.

He's such a fucking asshole. They both are.

I cry for about two minutes. It's not about the books, really. I can buy new

ones. It's more about the atrocity of the action. The fact that they'retrying to get to me so much.

I come back to a thought I've had a lot lately.

Sasha once told me, ' What you permit, you promote.' Maybe if I stood up for myself more, they wouldn't push me around so much.

But what could I ever do to them that would equal what they've done to me

I think about it for a while, holding my torn book pieces to my chest and rocking back and forth, and then it comes to me.

When we were kids, Cole was a huge comic book nerd. I happen to know that he has a prized collection of comic books, some still in their original cellophane wrapper, in the closet of his bedroom.

I tiptoe through the en-suite bathroom and cautiously enter his dark room. Fuck with me Fine.

Fuck with my books There will be hell to pay.