Sleeping With My Stepbrother novel Chapter 26

"Wait wait wait. Hold up" Mr. Harrington, the company's new heir, stopped me midway "You mean to tell us that you broke up with your boyfriend because you saw the guy you loved sleeping with someone else?"

"Yeah" I answered in a 'duh' tone.

"Where's the logic in that?" He asked

"Well, for starters, when I saw the guy I love with someone else, it confirmed my feelings and made me realize I couldn't continue stringing my boyfriend with me anymore" I added "Also, the fact that I randomly stated 'I broke up with my boyfriend because the guy I love slept with someone else' out of nowhere got you all hooked and wanted more. Thus, I present to you our March cover" I said as I pulled the cover off the huge cardboard replica of our magazine's March cover.

"So let me get this straight" Senior VP Alicia Mercedez began "Your marketing strategy is clickbait?"

"I mean, it's not clickbait if the story behind the title is related to the title" I said "I mean just look at our March headline. Readers will see it and think 'no way that's real' but buy anyway because their curiosity will get to them"

Everyone began exchanging looks.

God, I've been doing this forever, there is no way in hell I was gonna tank this cover pitch.

After a couple of seconds, ms. Mercedez turned back to me.

"Congratulations, Miss Jones. Your pitch is our new March cover" she says before everyone gets up to shake my hands. "You're a really great asset to this company, miss Jones" she adds

"Thanks you maam" I answer

"One question" Mr. Harrington interrupts "So, you never saw the guy you loved ever again?"

Damn. Who knew company owners loved gossip as much as the next person?

"Uh... well... no" I answered "He never really came back to our hometown since. But I've also never been home in a long time, so I don't know"

Everyone just nodded before getting up and leaving the conference call.

"Miss Jones?" Krissy, my assistant knocked on the door "You have a phone call from your mother. She sounds reallu distraught so I think it's urgent"

"Okay thank you" I answer before picking my phone up to answer my mom.

"Mom?" I answered the phone, but all I could hear was my mom bursting into tears "mom what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"D-Dave..." my mom said almost inaudible

"What about Dave?" I asked, as my palms began to sweat, like my body was warning me that what I was about to hear was something that I definitely wasn't gonna like.

"Dave's gone, Kyls" mom said before she bursted into even more heavy tears.

I didn't know how long I had been listening to my mom brawl her eyes out, but suddenly tears were running down my eyes as well.

Dave had been my step-dad for 12 years now. I haven't really called him dad but I considered him as that.

So learning that he had given up after battling with cancer for half a decade now completely broke my heart.

"Hang in there, mom" I said as I signalled Krissy to come over. Work can wait. "I'm coming home"

As soon as I got home, I stuffed my bag with clothes and hurriedly headed to the airport.

By 4pm, I arrived.

It was rush hour and there was heavy traffic along the way so it was a bit hard to flag a cab, but I managed to get one. I didn't want to bother mom at the moment. She had her own problems, if not bigger.

As soon as the cab turned left from the intersection, a hundred memories began their way back to me.

Mind you I haven't been home ever since I left for college. I guess I was always busy and it was so far away that only mom had the leisure to actually come to me and visit for holidays.

Don't get me wrong, I've been meaning to come home for a long time now. I just couldn't find the time to do so.

So despite being busy, I knew I had to come home and be there for my mom.

As I drove through the familiar road, I began noticing new things. Like, a couple of shops had just opened.

Then there were also the old things that had been there even after I left.

One might think that 12 years had been a really long time, and you're right.

I honestly have no idea how I managed to remember the way to my house.

Soon enough, I caught a glimpse of a very familiar rooftop.

I might have only lived there for 5 months, but it was still home.

The cab stopped in front of the driveway, and hurriedly got out. I practically ran to the house,

Mom's car was in the driveway so I was sure that she was there.

There was no need for me to knock. Technically this is still my house.

"Mom?" I said as I went inside. Tons and tons of memories flooding through my mind again.

Nothing changed.

The living room still looked the same. I mean, a couple of new home decor here and there, but other than that, it still looked the same.

"Kylie" mom said as soon as she saw me, her eyes and nose puffy and red. Then she ran over to me and gave me a hug before brawling her eyes out on my shoulders.

"Tell me what happened" I asked as I walked mom to the living room.

——

Today was a busy day.

Mom was busy preparing for Dave's funeral, and I decided to help her out by doing the necessary paperworks.

As I looked over the documents, I saw a copy of Dave's will, which stated that Luke and my mom gets half of everything he owns.

I guess I've kicked Luke out of my mind, because as soon as I saw his name, only then did I remember that his dad just died and he was yet nowhere to be found.

"I see you found Dave's will" mom said as she leaned on the door of Dave's office

"Yeah. Says here you and Luke each get half of everything Dave owns" I stated "He must really really love you if he's specifically stated this on his will"

Mom simply smiled and walked over to me.

I was itching to ask about Luke, but I had to do it subtly.

"Speaking of Luke" I began "You told him about Dave yet?"

"Uhh yeah. He must be on his way by now" mom answered, then silence as I continued looking over the paperworks all over the desk

"Did I ever tell you that Dave and I noticed you and Luke liked each other? More than step siblings?" Mom asked, completely stopping me from doing anything

"What?" I asked as I let out laughs, as if I found it really really funny "Mom what even are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me" mom said "We know"

"It's not like we could do anything. I mean, you and his dad were married after all" I stated in a duh tone

"It's not like you're blood relatives anyway" mom said

"Mom!" I said, a bit louder than normal. By now, I was blushing like a damned teenager.

I am a grown ass woman, but I get reminded of Luke and suddenly I was seventeen again.

"God. Do you know how embarrassing having this talk with you is?" I asked my mom and she simply cracked up

"Kylie you're a 30 year old woman. Why should you be embarrassed?" Mom said "Besides, Dave and I had talked about it before. We both approve"

"Oh my god mom. Can you leave me to do Dave's paperwork in peace?" I said, making her laugh even more.

"Fine" mom said then got up and left the room.

I began to feel relaxed again, when the doorbell rang, and I was very uneasy again.

My heart was pounding like crazy.

And in less than a second, I was gonna find out why.

"Luke!" Mom said upon opening the door, and I began hearing sobs again.

By now, my emotions were literally mixed up.

I was extremely sad about Dave, but was also really anxious about seeing Luke again.

I got up, and took a deep breath.