In Love With My Bully Step-brother

Chapter 1 | “Wait…my glasses!”

Ashleigh’s POV

By the time I arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport, I was already irritated by everything. The flight, the environment and the people, especially the people. Ugh! Coming from a quiet town in Phoenix had definitely not prepared me for this big move.

I glanced at my phone on which someone had left several messages. Susie. Of course, it had to be my mom. I had not seen any until that moment. I wonder why she’d even bothered knowing I wouldn’t be able to see them on a flight. Especially since they all contained the same message: where are you now?!

On a plane, where else?! I almost typed but thought better of it. Instead, with an exaggerated eye roll, I hit the dial button on her number. When it started to ring, I placed the phone against my ear.

“Ashleigh, finally! Where are you?!” My mother’s hysterical voice came through the speaker.

“I’m at the airport mom. Just checked out,” I told her, trying so hard to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

“Come outside to the Cell Phone slot then, I’m waiting for you!”

I looked around at my bags, wondering whether to mention that I needed a little help with them. I was afterall relocating to an entirely new state and hadn’t exactly packed “light”. But, before I could say anything, the call dropped.

With a huff, I set about trying to fit five handles into my tiny palm and three around my shoulders. It was almost impossible, but I managed it and got out to the drop-off.

It wasn’t until I saw the stream of cars picking and dropping passengers that I realized I hadn’t asked my mother which car she was in. The last time I saw her, after my father’s funeral, she’d been using a rental.

Just as I was about to pull out my phone, a grey Porsche with tinted windows and custom plates rolled to a stop in front of me, blocking my view of the rest of the lot.

“Ugh,” I groaned, thinking how rude these L.A locals were. That is until the windows rolled down and my mother poked her unsmiling face through the window.

“The trunk’s open. Hurry, you’re late.”

Had I forgotten? Not only was today the day I relocated to a different state, it was also my first day of school. So, while I was struggling to put five boxes in a very impractical trunk, I was doing it in my new school uniform. I cannot have looked more awkward.

When I got into the car, I said to my mother, “You seriously couldn’t have picked a worse car to come pick me up.”

Without a reply, Susie started the engine and drove us out of the airport and onto the bustling streets of L.A. After two hours in a crowd of strangers, my nerves were tight. So, I took off my glasses, kept them securely on the dashboard and tried to relax.

“I have an appointment at 10. I would have sent one of the drivers to come get you but unfortunately…” She trailed off.

“You forgot I was arriving today,” I finished for her. With a sigh, I close my eyes and relax against the headrest.

At least she had the decency to look sheepish while she muttered a half-assed apology. I was convinced it was my father’s lawyer who had reminded her of my arrival that day. He was the one that had arranged my relocation with Susie. And once again, I was reminded why coming to live with my mother was a bad idea.

My mother and I didn’t get along. This was mostly because she’d abandoned me when I could barely walk. Oh, she’d sent letters and gifts, but the older I had gotten, the more bored I had become of them —the year I turned thirteen, she’d sent me a make-up set. Granted, other girls my age had been into those sorts of things, but it just reminded me how little she knew me.

My father, Seargant Burke Williams had been in the military before he’d died a few months ago in a helicopter crash. His body has been charred beyond recognition so, we’d had a closed casket burial. I hadn’t gotten the chance to say goodbye.

Before then, it had been just the two of us. I didn’t have any siblings and the only uncle I had once said to me that the day he got a wife was the day he’d sign a death wish. He was something of a playboy and preferred the single life, often stating my father’s failed marriage as an example of what happened when a man let society dictate his life. Uncle Benny was a clown, but I loved him. And I was going to miss him terribly.

Two days after we buried my dad in a small ceremony at the town’s only cemetery, my mother had shown up. Apparently, my father had made her custodian should anything happen to him before I turned 18. The only thing that had surprised me was that Susie had even agreed to it at all.

“She doesn’t even know me,” I had told Waldo, my father’s lawyer. We were in his home office, having some snacks when he’d broken the news to me. “Why would she want me?”

“She is your mother and your father has no other family that he trusts to take care of you,” Waldo had simply explained.

The next day, Susie had shown up and I’d seen my mother for the first time in real life. She was stunning, extremely. My dad told me he’d married her pretty young. She was almost twice my age and just as smallish in stature. She’d said very few words to me and most of which was a summary of her life —she was getting married.

I hadn’t known how to feel about that, so I didn’t ask any questions. Just blinked at her as she explained that her fiancé was aware I was coming and was happy to have me in his home. So, at dinner in the evening, I was going to meet him —and his two grown kids.

But first, I had to survive the first day of school.

After about forty minutes of welcomed silence, the car rolled to a stop. When I looked out the window, all 1.5 hectares of the infamous Oak Bridge High School stretched out before me. I gulped. The school was an imposing structure of sand and stones. It was also very impressive with its surrounding green lawns and imported window fittings.

“Close your mouth, Ashleigh,” My mom said from beside me.

I quickly obeyed, not even realizing when I’d started gaping. I had so many questions to ask but before I could speak, my mother was hurling instructions at me. She grabbed all the extra stuff on my lap that I didn’t need and tossed them at the back seat. Then handed me a piece of paper.

“…Take that to the admin office as soon as you get in. I’ve texted you the driver’s name and number, he’ll be here to pick you up after school but just in case, you can give him a call—”

“Are phone allowed in the school?” I asked, surprised. They had been prohibited in my previous high school and every day we went through scanners to ensure no one disobeyed.

“—No so, don’t get caught. Now, if you will.”

I was so confused but it didn’t seem like my mother had the time to explain anything to me. I looked back at the school and gulped. There was a click as the doors came unlocked and my mother all but shoved me out of the car.

“Bye, bye,” she called.

“Wait, my glas—” but she was already driving off.

Great! Now I was stuck clueless and blind.