Stepbrother: The Game He Plays Read online

  “I don’t know. He’s messed up, I guess.”

  “Messed up?”

  “You know, from his parents’ divorce, I guess, and having a new parent and sibling and all that crap.”

  “Sounds like the two of you might have a lot in common.”

  Nope. Never.

  Someone was standing outside my room. The door was almost closed but I could see a concentrated eye staring out of the darkness.

  “Hey, hold on a sec.”

  Nervously, I walked over to the door and opened it.

  It was Joe.

  I wondered how long he had been there without me realizing. Waiting for me to notice him again like he had earlier. Had he heard what I said to her about him? If he did, he didn’t look like he cared.

  “Your mom wanted me to come and get you.” Indifference filled his voice. He didn’t care about coming to get me or if I thought he was listening to my conversation or not. Without saying another word, he walked away.

  “So, I gotta go.”

  “Who was that?”

  “The messed-up one.”

  “Is he the hot one? Or are they both hot? You never did answer me!”

  “And I’m not going to either.” I giggled.

  “So that’s a big yes!” She laughed. My laughter told her she was right.

  “I gotta go!”

  “Fine! Text me later!”

  “Okay, bye.”

  “Bye.”

  After we hung up, I thought about her question.

  Hot?

  Yes.

  Fucked up?

  Definitely.

  Two of a kind?

  Probably.

  On that thought, I walked slowly down the stairs and into the kitchen. My mom was stirring something that was boiling in a pot on the stove. Bill was making coffee, no doubt fixing whatever Justin had made earlier.

  “Hi, sweetie.”

  She tried to disguise her disappointment that I hadn’t changed my outfit.

  “Hey.” I looked around at all the food she had prepared. I second-guessed my outfit again. Whoever was coming over, she wanted to impress them. “Everything looks great.”

  “You think so?” she asked smiling at me nervously. “Really?”

  “That’s what I keep telling her,” Bill said pouring water into the pot. His smile toward her was genuine. He was handsome. Extremely handsome. Especially when he was looking at her.

  I turned from his staring at her and sat on one of the stools at the island. “What do you need me to do?”

  “Let’s see. Joe is getting the firewood, and Justin is taking out the trash. What else is there to do? Oh, can you fold the napkins in half for me?”

  She looked around frantically and then pointed to a stack of cloth napkins.

  “Okay,” I said taking the stack and putting them in front of me.

  “I think that’s it,” she said putting her hands on her hips. “You kids can set the table while I go get ready, and then everyone should be arriving in a few minutes.”

  She was nervous. I wasn’t sure who the guests were that were joining us for dinner but my mother wanted everything to be perfect for them.

  She walked over to me and put her hands on my face.

  “I forgot to tell you Happy Thanksgiving,” she said kissing my forehead. “I’m sorry, honey.”

  “It’s okay,” I said lightly squeezing her arm with my hand. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

  She looked down at me and smiled.

  “I want everything to be perfect for you today,” she said with watery eyes. “I haven’t spent a holiday with you in so long.”

  At that moment, I realized she wasn’t doing this for her soon-to-be arriving guests. She was doing all of it for me. My heart sank in my chest.

  “Everything’s great, Mom.”

  Her eyes met Bill’s and he smiled.

  “I am so happy,” she whispered. “Everyone I love is here with me today. Finally.”

  She gave me another kiss on the forehead and walked over to Bill. My eyes followed. And for the first time, I didn’t turn away when they kissed.

  As expected, Joe didn’t talk while the three of us set the table, but Justin kept our conversation alive until my mother’s guests started to arrive. He asked me questions about friends and classes I was taking at college. It was easy to talk to him.

  “Are you dating anyone?”

  His question caught me by surprise. I tucked my chin toward my neck and smiled as my cheeks warmed under his stare.

  “Nobody serious.”

  Nobody serious?

  The truth was there was no one. Nobody. There had never been anyone. Well, anyone serious.

  I lifted my chin and met his eyes. He seemed to be reading through my answer and into my mind. He was intrigued and smiled slightly before setting down another plate.

  My eyes quickly darted toward Joe. Staring at me, total boredom covered his face. He couldn’t care less about my friends or hobbies or if I had a boyfriend or not. His agenda was clear. He wanted me to go away. For it to be only the two of them again.

  “Do you ever bring anyone home when you come in for breaks?” I addressed the question to both brothers, but my eyes were still on Joe. He didn’t answer. He rolled his eyes and ignored my question as he walked over by his brother and picked up more glasses to set.

  I’m not sure if Justin noticed, or maybe he did and he just played off his brother’s rudeness from habit.

  “No. I don’t have a lot of friends at school, and if you can believe it, neither does Joe.” He lightly punched his brother’s arm. Like my question, Joe ignored it.

  Oh, I can believe it.

  “Oh, really?” I exaggerated my surprise and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Joe’s cold stare soften. He enjoyed my sarcasm.

  So this is how we would play it? Okay, asshole. I can play this game with you.

  With that thought, I almost allowed myself to smile at him.

  Almost.

  “So, what do you do for fun around here?”

  “Snowboarding.” A huge smile formed across Justin’s face. “Have you ever tried it?”

  “No.”

  “You don’t know what you’re missing out on, Karley.” He laughed. “Joe and I both work as instructors over at the lodge. Maybe we could teach you?”

  Joe was totally uninterested in Justin’s offer to me. Justin noticed his brother’s disinterest and laughed again.

  “Well, maybe I could teach you,” he said rolling his eyes. “Joe teaches the more advanced snowboarders anyway. I have actually learned everything I know from him, haven’t I, bro?”

  Joe shot an icy glance at his younger brother before slamming the silverware down and walking out of the room.

  “Not everything,” he mumbled.

  My mother and Bill’s friends were nice, and like Justin, seemed genuinely excited to meet me. Throughout dinner, my mother told stories about my childhood—fun, loving stories I had blocked from my memory. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the conversation. Except Joe. He seemed indifferent, even bored at times. I hated how he made me feel. I hated how he looked at me. But I hated how he hated me the most.

  The only thing he seemed to be enjoying was the alcohol. For every one we all had, he had two. His father noticed but said nothing. No one did. Except Justin.

  Like me, he wasn’t old enough.

  Unlike me, he was the only one not drinking.

  And like their father, he kept a watchful eye on his brother.

  Every now and then when Joe would go out to the kitchen for another bottle, Justin would follow. Returning just before Joe with a look of defeat on his face.

  It was obvious Justin had no influence over his brother.

  Although no one saved room for dessert, we all agreed to have some. We went outside on the lanai to eat, and as with dinner, my mother had outdone herself. She’d made an amazing pumpkin pie and three delicious fruit cobblers no one could resist tasting. We all drank coffe
e and talked about the upcoming football season.

  “I’d like to take the boys to see the Broncos play again this year,” Bill said. “Karley, maybe you could go with us?”

  I loved football and had never been to a professional game so I was unable to hide my excitement. Joe didn’t share in my excitement at his father’s invitation to me. He loathed it. He loathed me. I didn’t care.

  “Yeah, sure. Sounds fun.” His hateful eyes continue to stare at me while my mother spoke.

  “She loves football,” my mother announced cheerfully. “She and her father used to watch it every Sunday and Monday night during the season.”

  He was uninterested by her announcement and everything she continued to say about me in between her small sips of wine.

  “And she plays rugby at college.”

  I caught the last sentence and looked around at everyone staring, smiling at me.

  Everyone but him.

  “Really?” my mother’s friend Suzanne asked. “Isn’t that a rough sport?”

  It took me a few seconds to realize she was speaking to me.

  “Um, it can be,” I admitted slowly tearing my thoughts away from Joe again.

  “I would hate the getting-dirty part and the getting-hurt part, too!” she confessed in laughter.

  “Well, my Karley is a pretty tough girl,” my mother gloated proudly. I was the only one to notice the sneer on Joe’s face at her comment. I could almost read his thoughts, wanting to see how tough I really was.

  “Good! Girls need to be tough,” Suzanne said taking another drink of wine. “I mean look what just happened to that poor girl they found—”

  “Suzanne, not today,” her husband Wayne interrupted shaking his head to silence her.

  My mother quickly looked in Bill’s direction. He was talking and hadn’t heard what Suzanne said. The three of them looked relieved. I gave my mom a stare hoping she would explain to me why none of them wanted Bill to hear. She didn’t notice. None of them did. Joe noticed.

  “Well, then she can join us in our football game,” Wayne said, “as long as she agrees to take it easy on us.”

  Everyone laughed … except Joe.

  His glowing blue eyes stayed locked on mine.

  “How about it, Karley?” Wayne asked.

  I tore my eyes away from Joe to look in Wayne’s direction, remembering Bill had told me that every year at Thanksgiving the men always played a friendly game of touch football before sitting down to watch the real game on television. This year, the Snyder family didn’t come due to other commitments so they were one man down.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” I whispered. I still felt the weight of Joe’s stare but I refused to look in his direction again.

  “Oh, it’ll be fun, sweetie,” Audrey said as she giggled. “And don’t go easy on them.”

  Audrey, Suzanne, and my mother raised their wine glasses in the air and toasted the idea that I would show these men how a woman could play as hard and as good as any of them.

  I knew they were wrong, especially against Justin and Joe.

  “So, who’s on teams?” Suzanne asked hiccupping the last word out of her mouth.

  “Old versus young?” Audrey suggested laughing.

  “Come on, give us some kinda chance!” Bill laughed.

  “Okay, okay,” my mother chimed in laughing through a hiccup. “Bill, Joe, and Karley can be on one team and—”

  “No,” Joe interrupted speaking for the first time. “Justin can be on her team with dad. I’ll be on Chuck and Wayne’s team.”

  Oh, fuck you, Joe.

  I was over him already. He didn’t want me here. I got it. But his continuous reminders of it were getting old. Fast.

  I started getting angry thinking about how I did nothing to provoke him. He made the decision to treat me this way. I didn’t have a choice in it.

  “Good,” Justin said standing up. “You’re going down.”

  He pointed at his father’s two friends and his brother. Both men laughed but Joe stood up, expressionless.

  He welcomed his brother’s challenge calmly. “We’ll see.”

  Surprisingly, the game was a lot of fun. We would score. They would score. The ladies would cheer as they sat on the sidelines of the snowy yard holding their wine glasses tightly in their freezing hands. The back and forth scoring and waving of the wine glasses went on for over an hour. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.

  I even caught Joe smile once at his brother after he tackled him. Justin got up and jumped on his back, and Joe took him down again jokingly. Seeing Joe smile made me smile. He was as good looking, if not better looking than Justin, especially when he smiled.

  But when our eyes met, he quickly erased the smile from his face and turned away from me.

  I stopped smiling too, but continued to stare at him.

  Why didn’t he want anything to do with me?

  Why did I care?

  “Okay, we have one more play before we need to go inside,” Bill said to me and Justin in our three-man huddle. “Karley, I’m gonna pass you the ball and Justin will save you by blocking Joe when he comes after you.”

  “Okay,” I said breathing heavily.

  I wanted to believe him but the determination in Joe’s eyes across the yard gave me doubt Justin would be able to stop him.

  “Okay, on three,” Bill said putting his hand in the center of our huddle. We all counted, then went to our positions hoping to score the final goal that would break the tie and give us the win.

  After the hike, Bill passed me the ball and I took off toward the goal. My mother and her friends cheered loudly from the sidelines and as expected, Joe ran toward me. Justin was running beside me. His quick smile gave me confidence he would block his brother from tackling me. I had no more fear. We were all running as fast as we could when Justin tripped and stumbled. Joe’s body crashed into mine and I hit the ground with a loud thud. I was sure every bone in my body was broken.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Justin screamed at Joe as he pushed him away from me. “Karley, are you okay?”

  I felt dizzy as my head spun around in circles. It could have been the three glasses of wine I drank with dinner, but I knew it was from the hard hit Joe had just given me.

  “I’m fine,” I lied quietly.

  “Sweetie, are you okay?” my mother asked rushing to me.

  “I’m fine,” I whispered standing up with Justin and Bill’s help.

  Other than the throbbing in my head, Joe was all I could focus on as he gave me a cold, unapologetic stare. His unremorseful glare angered me. I was the only one who saw his lip curl up in satisfaction before turning away and walking toward the house.

  “Bill?” my mother said clearly upset.

  “I’ll go talk to him,” he said putting his hand up to calm my mother down.

  “Mom, I’m fine,” I snapped knowing my eyes were filled with tears but refusing to allow myself to cry.

  “Are you sure?” Justin asked lifting my chin with his hand to see my face.

  “Yes,” I said. After looking into his eyes, I felt a little more dazed.

  “Okay, no more football!” my mother said waving her hands in front of her.

  The women nodded in agreement.

  “Looks like we won!” Chuck said picking up the football beside my feet. Everyone looked at him in disbelief until I started laughing.

  “You think?” his wife asked.

  He smiled and handed me the football.

  “Wait until next year,” I warned laughing.

  “Well, maybe next year we’ll try a different sport,” he suggested lightly patting my back. “Hunting, maybe?”

  I shook my head.

  “Count me out,” I said trying to conceal my pain. “I don’t think I could kill anything.”

  “It’s not as bad as you think,” Justin said matter-of-factly.

  His eyes met mine and a deep chill traveled slowly down my spine.

  “It’s true,
” Wayne agreed. But my thoughts were stuck on Justin’s tone, not his words. The emptiness in them left me wondering if he was still talking about hunting.

  “Let me help you inside,” he said taking my body weight away from me and putting it all on him.

  “I’m fine, really. I can walk by myself.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Justin was concerned about me. His brother hit me hard. And it was obvious he was furious at Joe for it.

  “I’m fine,” I lied trying to hold on to the football with both hands and balance my steps at the same time.

  By the time I made it inside the house, Bill was already in the kitchen yelling at Joe.

  “I didn’t mean to hit her that hard,” Joe said in a voice as loud as his father’s.

  “Well, you need to apologize to her!”

  “Why? It was a game and she’s fine,” Joe said. “She’s a tough girl, remember.”

  The silence coming from the kitchen after his remark was deafening. And now, I didn’t want Joe to apologize to me. I didn’t want to talk to him or see his face ever again. I truly hated him now. He meant to hurt me. He wanted to hurt me.

  I pulled off my muddy shirt and stood in front of my mirror. The color of my chest was settling into a deep raspberry pink where the blood was collecting under the skin. It would definitely be purple by tomorrow.

  Fucking asshole.

  The soft knock at the door startled me. I assumed it would be Joe following his father’s orders to apologize. I didn’t answer it. Seeing his face, no matter how beautiful, was the last thing I wanted.

  After a few seconds of silence there was another, softer knock, but this time the door began to open.

  “Karley?”

  It was Justin.

  I must have looked like a startled deer staring back at him. I didn’t expect him to just open my door. But he didn’t apologize and he didn’t back himself out when he noticed I had my shirt off. Instead, he opened the door wider and let himself inside. He shut the door behind him and continued to stare at my shirtless body.

  I couldn’t breathe. A part of me was astounded, maybe even appalled, that he just walked into my room. Another part of me, a bigger part, was attracted to his quiet confidence of going after what he wanted without waiting for permission.

  I still wanted to tell him to turn around. I didn’t. I let him look at me. And when his approving eyes fell to my chest, he smiled. Only for a moment. Only until he noticed the mark across my chest. Then, the softness immediately hardened. In a rush, he walked over to me and wrapped his hands around my arms. “Fuck! Did Joe do that?”