Bullied By My Alpha Stepbrother

Jason Davenport

I sat talking with the guys over a couple of beers at Greg’s. Rory’s parents, surprisingly, had decided to show up unannounced this weekend. So we had moved to Greg’s instead. Which wasn’t a problem for me anyway. I just needed to get out of that house and chill.

After the other day when Dad had thrown that stupid party, I couldn’t stand being in the same room with him or his beloved wife.

Bullshit.

Introducing her to our relatives showed that he was really serious with her. It also meant that he was replacing my mother.

Officially.

Fuck Ashley.

But I knew I had to keep up my pretence so she wouldn’t think I was onto her. That’s why I had to leave. So I wouldn’t do or say anything out of line.

The only thing was that Greg-our supposed host-was nowhere to be found. He’d suggested we hang out at his place today on the group chat I’d created for the guys. He’d left Rory his key as they lived not too far from each other. We didn’t know where he’d disappeared to.

“You should try calling him,” Adrian suggested, downing a few gulps of his beer.

“Done that,” I replied, sinking deeper into my chair. I needed a cigarette.

“I’ll call him one more time,” Rory said, slipping his phone out of his jeans pocket.

As he put the number on dial, we heard the front door open. And from the whooping sound the newcomer was making, we all knew it was Greg.

“Hey asshole,” Rory yelled from the living room.

Greg waltzed into the living room doing some kind of weird dance step. When he saw we didn’t give any reaction, he burst out laughing.

“Looks like some certain people missed me,” He cooed, bringing his lips to a pout.

I rolled my eyes. “No you idiot. We’re just waiting for the weed,” I gestured to the paper bag he held in his right hand.

The guys roared with laughter as a look of false hurt came over Greg’s face.

Greg joined in, grabbing a chair and dragging it to the circle we had formed.

He lowered himself onto the chair and passed the already rolled blunts round. To everyone except Adrian who didn’t smoke.

I suppressed a sigh. Adrian seriously needed to act his age. He was way too serious with nearly everything. But I didn’t bring it up because he hated it whenever I did. And I wasn’t ready for his smoking-doesn’t-make-you-cool speech right now. So I settled down and focused on my cigarette.

I watched as Greg and Rory engaged in an argument about a video game, which I wasn’t particularly interested in so I scrolled through my phone instead.

“Hey!” Greg exclaimed all of a sudden. He froze, his eyes shining brightly. He quickly turned to me. “I have to show you something, man.”

I watched him curiously. Another hot girl, I suppose.

Yeah. Greg could be really passionate about hot girls.

“Wait till you see this,” He said, whipping out his phone and tapping on his gallery. Finding it he scrolled through for something.

After a while, he clicked on a picture and flipped his phone to show me.

My eyes widened and I grabbed the phone from his grasp.

Ashley.

A picture of Ashley in what looked like a restaurant with the same guy from Sally’s. I contained myself so I wouldn’t whoop out loud.

I was getting somewhere. This was another lead. Quickly, I transferred the photos from Greg’s phone to mine and faced Greg. “Tell me everything.”

He smiled, obviously loving the attention.

“So,” He began, leaning backward in his chair. “That’s the old Chinese restaurant down the park close to the mall.”

He gestured to the paper bag. “I get out stuff from that old guy who works there. So I come out of the inner room, and I see a very familiar looking ass.”

Rory let out a cackle and Adrian facepalmed.

I shot Greg a sharp glare and he waved his hand in an apology and continued.

“I think they were sampling the food or something like that. Because they were trying a bit of everything.”

I nodded. “How were they together?”

“What?” Greg asked looking confused.

“I mean, did they seem close?”

“Oh, well they seemed pretty cozy. They kept touching hands and she clung to his arm at some point.”

I felt my face redden.

That bitch.

“You think she’s cheating?” Rory suggested, looking at me.

I have no fucking idea.

“What do you think?” Greg asked Adrian, passing the picture to him.

I faced Adrian. Of course I wanted to know what he thought. I valued his opinion.

After a while of studying the picture he said, “From her body language, it’s obvious they’re pretty comfortable with each other.”

Frowning, he handed the phone back to Greg.This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.

Turning to Greg I asked, “You manage to catch any bits of their convo?”

He shook his head. “Nope. The only thing I saw was that she kept on laughing like a hyena, as though she was on a date with Kevin Hart.”

This time I joined in the laughter too. It was kind of funny.

After looking at the picture one more time, I clicked my phone off and placed it into my pocket.

“Thanks, man.”

Greg nodded. “No problem. Keep an eye on your extremely hot stepmom. But be careful as well.”

I chuckled and nodded.

“We need to dig up info about the guy.” I turned to Adrian. “Can you take care of that?”

“Yeah sure,” He answered, cracking his knuckles. “I’ve been missing all the action anyways.”

Everyone laughed.

Rory let out a loud howl. “Just look at us. Young detectives.”

He wiped an invisible tear from his cheek, following with more laughter from the guys.

This might be a bit of fun for them. But for me, it was about protecting my family.

Jason Davenport

Exams were fast approaching. As usual, Coach was overworking us and reminding us daily to kick up our grades and ace our exams so we would stand a chance to win a scholarship.

Not me though.

I didn’t need a fucking scholarship. Dad could buy my way into any Ivy League without batting an eyelid. So I didn’t need to struggle for anything.

I groaned as I slipped deeper into my chair. The next period was Biology and we were all waiting for Mrs Sandra to come in.

Two seats away from me, Kimberly and her girls sat gossiping. She sighted me and shot me a glare. I pretended not to notice she was sitting there. She was obviously still bitter about the last time at the party.

Well, good for her. As for me, I was going to play dumb for as long as possible.

After a while of waiting, Mrs Sandra walked in. Groans from people who didn’t expect her to come in today filled the air.

She smiled, placing her books on the desk in front of her.

“Buckle up, people. We have a quiz today.”

A series of ‘No’s’ filled the air.

Mrs Sandra acted deaf as she continued. “An oral quiz.”

I slapped a hand over my forehead.

Fuck no.

“Yes,” She continued. “I’m gonna ask questions in a random order. And anyone who answers right gets marks for it. Are we ready?”

If there’s anything I hated, it was answering questions in class. I just hoped she wouldn’t notice me because I really wasn’t in the mood.

Slowly, she circled the class familiarizing herself with names, faces.

“Goldfield!” She said, coming to a stop. Everyone ‘ooh’ed’.

Adrian didn’t look scared or bothered. He just stood.

“Life is driven by chemical reactions summed up in. . .?”

“Anabolism and catabolism,” Adrian answered without missing a beat.

The class cheered, girls sighing and throwing googly eyes his way.

Mrs Sandra smiled in delight. “5 marks.”

More cheering.

She continued her tour round the class, peering at students through her glasses.

“Fawkes!”

Rory let out a groan, slowly getting to his feet.

“What acid is present in the stomach?”

Rory raised an eyebrow. “There’s acid in the stomach?”

Mrs Sandra slapped her forehead, giving him a blank look.

“Okay, um, stomach. . . acid?”

The class roared with laughter.

Mrs Sandra rolled her eyes. “Does anyone else want to claim the 5 marks?”

Aneeka raised her hand and stood when Mrs Sandra nodded.

“Hydrochloric acid,” She answered, flipping her hair in a sexy motion. The guys howled and showered her with compliments.

“5 marks!”

Looking at her watch she said, “Okay, one more person before I leave.”

With the way she was looking at me, I suspected she was going to pick me. And I wasn’t ready for that.

“Forbes!”

I snickered. This was perfect. I turned to see Amelia sitting at the window. I frowned as I watched her stare outside the window. It was obvious she hadn’t heard Mrs Sandra call out her name.

The bitch had been acting the same way since the day she practically ignored me in the hallway. Nothing I said changed her mood now, and it irritated me to the core.

Her eyes looked unfocused and red rimmed, and I balanced in my chair to watch the drama unfold.