A Promise to my Stepbrother Read Online Free

there were no sparks. And, truth be told, part of me wanted to just grab Max, kiss him passionately, and say that it should have been us holding each other on the dance floor.
    But he ruined it all.
    All he cared about was details of how we had sex. I had never been sadder. It would have been better if he had screamed at me in jealousy and yelled out, “You screwed that asshole, didn’t you?” But, no, he just kind of dropped the bomb without a care in the world.
    At one point I started to cry, and when I looked over at him he had turned away. I loved him so much, and I thought he loved me, but he had just hurt me, and he couldn’t even look at me.
    I could never say I hated Max, but at that moment I didn’t like him very much. I stormed out. Jeremy had asked about dating, and I told him I’d think about it. I was going to share that with Max, and we would then conspire on a gentle way of my saying no. But I blurted out that I was going to say yes, and as I ran to my room I knew I had to go through with it.
    I had to get over Max somehow, and if it took the arms of another man, then so be it.

    A week later and to my utter horror Max told me he was dating Holly Morrow. Max and I used to joke about Holly. She had the hugest crush on him, and she would constantly ask me how to get his attention. I didn’t have the heart to tell her, “Well, a good first step would to not be Holly Morrow.”
    At one point she decided to go for broke and after every swim meet she would walk up to Jeremy wearing tiny jorts and bikini tops. She would hug him after he swam, whether he won or not. I loved the awkwardness in his face as she would pull him tight and press her crotch against his. I swear if she could slide her hand into his swim trunks without everyone seeing she would have done it.
    So when he said he was dating her, my anger over his attitude toward me and Jeremy immediately switched to jealousy over the little slut trying to steal my brother’s attentions.
    To make matters worse, I had to admit that things weren’t going well with Jeremy, either. We had been on a few dates, and I froze when he started to French kiss me during the last one. The moment he started to kiss me deeper, I pulled back. I called it a night shortly after.
    He was still angry the next day and was cruel in the guise of honesty, asking me about what other hang-ups I had. He wouldn’t understand the truth, a truth that poured cold water over the nice feeling of having a handsome swimmer making out with me—my promise to Max. I felt like those girls at school who say they’re saving themselves for marriage. In my heart there was some deep part of me that wanted to save the special kiss for Max.
    And now he was dating a girl who would go all the way in exchange for his phone number. What the hell did a French kiss mean with that facing me? I felt stupid.
    His first date was to a movie on Friday night. Mom and Dad let him stay out until one o’clock because I was allowed to do that for the prom, but I think more than anything they were just glad he was finally going out with a girl. His interest in dating was pretty much nil.
    They went out to see Kung Fu Panda, which pissed me off because Max said that we would go see it together. The movie was over at like ten o’clock, so I was dreading what they were going to do after that for three hours. I pictured every possible scenario between the two of them, all of them horrifying to me.
    He finally rolled in at one o’clock. I refused to do to him what he did to me, so I just stayed in my room and read. He knocked softly on the door.
    “Come in.”
    He walked in, and my heart couldn’t help but skip a beat. He looked so rugged and handsome, in jeans and a khaki shirt. He ran his hand through his hair and looked up at me from a bowed head. “Got time to talk?”
    I pulled myself up into a sitting position and patted the bed. He sat down and sighed.
    “Holly not what you expected?” I asked, trying to