Barely: A Stepbrother Story

4: The Odylic Force

[ K A R A ]

And right at that moment when our lips barely touched...

"RJ! My man!" we heard a loud yell coming from behind us. We instantly pulled apart.

A few guys and girls were coming towards us. Thankfully, we were somewhat hidden behind Ryder's car, so they couldn't possibly saw what was happening.

"We saw your car when we passed by, thought we'd see you here," said a guy in a white t-shirt and jeans. His smile was kind of cute, especially with them dimples.

"Oh hey, you guys, how's it going?" Ryder nodded at the group of people. These people looked like they came out straight out of an episode of The O.C.

"Who's this?" The dimple guy turned to me, totally checking me out. And of course, I blushed immediately.

"This is Kara, my uh, step-sister. Kara, these are my friends." before Ryder could say their names, Dimple Guy moved up and gave his hand out to me.

"Cameron, nice to meet you," he smiled that mega-watt smile again.

"Nice to meet you too," I replied politely and took his hand. I could feel that his hand was holding onto mine just a second too long, so I pulled away awkwardly.

"Kara's new in town, so I'm just here showing her around," Ryder coughed.

"Oh cool. Will I see you guys at Blake's party tonight? It's gonna be lit," Cameron finally took his gaze off of me, talking to Ryder.

"Yeah man, totally," Ryder said to him.

"You're coming too, right Kara?" Cameron turned to me again.

"What party?"

"It's kind of a tradition we have around here, on every night with a full moon, we throw a party at our friend's beach house. It'll be fun, you should come," he said again, and Ryder shuffled uncomfortably.

"Ok, sure," I replied. I had nothing else better to do anyway, I thought.

"Sweet. I'll see you guys tonight!" Cameron beamed. Waving his hand goodbye, he ran back towards his friends and their cars, and they drove away.

Being left alone again, Ryder and I shuffled awkwardly.

"Um, maybe we should start heading back?" I finally said.

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The car ride back home was filled with an awkward silence between us. There was a fat elephant in that car riding with us, and its name was s****l tension.

What the hell was that back there? Something almost happened. Was he pulling me in for a kiss? And I let him? Holy mackerel. That could've gone real bad real fast.

Ryder tried to ease the awkward silence between us as he shuffled a random CD into his car audio. Soon enough, a familiar music began playing. I realized that it was an Ed Sheeran song, 'Thinking Out Loud'. But it wasn't Ed's voice singing it, it was a cover, and a girl was singing it. Just as my hand reached out to turn the volume up, Ryder was doing the same thing. Our fingers touched and I swore there was an electrical static just then. I pulled my hand away quickly and Ryder turned the volume up.

"So, are we just not gonna talk about it?" he suddenly said.

"What it?" I played dumb.

"You know, what happened back there,"

"Nothing happened back there," I said defensively.

"Right," he said sarcastically.

"Seriously nothing happened, right?" I said again, somewhat nervously.

"Sure, if you say so,"

Groaning in annoyance, I let out a sigh and said, "Fine. It was just a momentary lapse of judgment on my part, and you were being... well, you. So it was nothing,"

Ryder smiled at my response. I was totally serious, but he looked amused. I couldn't believe that he found this funny. Guess everything was a joke to him, huh?

Meanwhile, the song came to an end and suddenly, we heard the girl's voice talking...

"Hey RJ, I hope you like my Ed Sheeran cover, I made it just for you! I miss you—" Ryder quickly stumbled to change the song.

I couldn't help but to laugh, out loud.

"What can I say? Girls love me." He shrugged.

"Cocky sunnofavitch!" I shook my head at him.

"Sunnofavitch?" he laughed.

"Who was that anyway, your girlfriend?"

"No, no, no. I don't do girlfriends. No thank you. It was just some girl. We f****d a couple of times, no big deal. And to be honest, I don't even remember her name," he replied.

"Wow," I responded sarcastically. "I don't get it. You're a narcissistic man-slut. Why do girls still throw themselves at you?"

"I don't know what to tell you, Kara. I mean, just look at me." he motioned to his face and body.

"Just be careful when you're trying to get out of the car. Your head might not fit the door," I rolled my eyes at him.

His face lit up in amusement as he said, "Haters gonna hate, players gotta play,"

"Oh, whatever, Ryder," I said curtly.

"OK, Little Miss Judgmental, let's talk about this. I think your whole purity ring thing is an admirable cause. Really, that's good for you. But it's a lost cause. You don't know what you're missing out there," he argued.

"Well, if that means I'm missing out on assballs like you, I don't think I'm missing out on much," I spat, while I held onto my ring tightly.

"Assballs?" Ryder found my way of cussing to be amusing and laughed away.

"Well hey, if you ever change your mind, I don't mind helping a girl out," he said as he winked at me.

"R-Ryder! That is wildly inappropriate!" I gaped.

"I'm just kidding, don't get your panties all in a bunch,"

Ugh! That smug bastard.

"Or am I?" he added, giving me that stupid smirk.

"Just shut up and drive," I smacked his head and shoved his face back to the road.

"Ow! New York girls are so violent," he commented.

Thankfully, the situation was not as tense anymore as we continued making jokes at each other. We arrived home later that evening and enjoyed a nice dinner with our parents altogether. Despite him always poking fun at me for being a virgin, I felt somewhat more comfortable with Ryder now. I could see us actually being friends, or even a brother and sister.

"We need to leave at around 8. Let me know when you're ready, I'll be in my room," Ryder said to me as he excused himself from the dinner table.

"Where are you kids going to?" Lacey turned to me.

"Oh it's just a party at Ryder's friends' house or something like that," I answered, trying to sound as uninterested as possible.

"Oooh sounds fun! I'm glad you're making friends," Lacey patted my back in excitement.

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It was just a few minutes before 8 o'clock and I was all ready. I wore my tight skinny jeans and an off-shoulder white top. My long wavy hair was being tied neatly into a ponytail. I had also applied some light make up, just a little. I was never really the type that put a lot of effort into how I look. Feeling satisfied with myself, I headed out of my room and climbed the stairs towards the attic, to Ryder's room.

I got to the door and started knocking, but there was no answer. I pushed the door open and heard the sound of running water from the en-suite bathroom. Ryder must still be in the shower. I had already climbed the stairs all the way up here, and I didn’t feel like going back down, so I made my way inside, thinking I could just wait in there.

Stepping into the room, I found myself taking note of all the little knick-knacks and toys. Ryder's bed was just a queen-sized mattress with white sheets and blankets on the floor. On the bedside table next to the mattress, I saw a photograph of a woman, and she looked so much like Ryder, so that must be Layla. Then I saw a couple of surfboards hanging on the wall and one lying on the floor. There were lots of surfing trophies, medals, pictures of Ryder surfing, and a newspaper article that said: Ryder Jake Williams... The best new player in town.

Walking over to his desk, I saw several books that I enjoyed reading myself. Looking at Ryder, I wouldn’t have pegged him as a literature nerd. He also had some of Fitzgerald's books, which was my favorite author.

Hm, not bad.

The drawer on his desk was slightly opened and I noticed the pile of condoms inside. I rolled my eyes at it.

Of course, I mumbled to myself. That’s more like him.

Then I moved my gaze to the shelves where I saw his DVD collection.

"What are you doing?" suddenly I heard Ryder's voice.

I turned around and saw Ryder was half naked – only wearing a pair of low hanging jeans. He just came out of the shower, so his body was still a little wet. He used the towel on his hand to dry his messy hair. I couldn't help but to take note of his perfect abs, the way his muscles flexed when he moved, and how his lower abdomen had that V-shape leading towards—

"Are you done eye-r****g me?" he said coolly. Unfazed.

I gasped in terror and quickly looked away.

"Wow, you have Game of Thrones!" I quickly pulled out the DVD I was holding on the shelf. "It's one of my favorite shows of all time, not including the last two seasons, though," I rambled on. The tone of my voice was slightly too high pitched for my liking.

Not cool Kara, that was a really bad cover!

Ryder let out a chuckle. He went to his dresser and picked out a white shirt and slipped it onto his toned body.

"I thought you told me to come find you here at 8..." I rambled again.

He let out a sigh.

"You know at this rate, you'd be begging for me to take your virginity before the summer's over," he said as he combed his hair with his hand, not even looking at me.

I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. My face was burning up.

"Oh, hell no!” I yelled, trying to sound as stern as possible. “Only in your dreams, honey,"

"Hey, I was just joking," Ryder then strode over towards me. I should be moving out of his way, but I found myself frozen, unable to move.

I was now stuck between him and the desk. Standing right in front of me, his hand reached over my waist, lightly grazing my hips, and rummaged the desk drawer behind me. And I swear, he purposely stood there, just a second too long, so that I could smell his fresh masculine aftershave. Dang... My breath hitched as soon as I caught the scent. Meanwhile, Ryder grabbed a couple of packs of condoms from the drawer and slipped them into his back pocket.

"Or was I?" he murmured somewhat seductively. He was looking down at me, and his face was only inches away. My cheeks turned hot red in response, and he broke into laughter at my reaction.

“Oh, that’s just too easy,” he shook his head and pulled away. “Come on,” he said as he grabbed a black hoodie from the chair, and walked out of the room.

I let out a relieved sigh and awkwardly put the DVD back on the shelves.

"That was very inappropriate, you... creep!" I called out to him, trying to hold my ground.

Shoot. I can feel myself being a little wet down there. Shoot, shoot, shoot.

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Okay, I know what you’re thinking…

I knew it was wrong to find my stepbrother so attractive. Especially if he came in the shape of Ryder Jake Williams. It was probably just my hormones or whatever. Maybe it was the jetlag or the oxygen level in the air. Whatever it was, this would probably wear out in a day or two.

I will be fine.

Back inside his truck, we were driving into the night and I saw Ryder sitting there, on the driver's seat, radiating with confidence. As he was driving, he turned to me suddenly, eyeing me from head to toe with his head c****d to the side.

"Damn, you look good," he nodded in approval.

"Eyes on the road," I replied as soon I could.

He just grinned and kept driving, looking absolutely unashamed. And dang it, my cheeks were burning up again.

Oh, fudge. I have a feeling tonight's gonna be a bumpy ride…

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- - - - - To Be Continued - - - - -