Stepbrother With Benefits 11 Read Online Free Page B

friends with herself, right?  Sure, let's go with that.  "It's complicated."
    "How long have you been dating her?" my dad asks.  "Does she have a name?  Give me something to work with here, Ethan."
    He laughs, and I guess it is kind of funny.  I'm being vague as fuck, but there's a damn good reason for it.  I guess I could just come out and tell him right now, but I'm still not sure how to do it.  You can say it's as easy as just saying it, but for me it's not that easy.  I'm fine with doing everything else, but this shit is hard for me.
    "Just uh... alright, well, you're going to think this is stupid, but we had a kind of friends with benefits situation at first, right?"  Yeah, this is true.  Mostly true.  Stepbrother with benefits, but whatever.  "Yeah, so, it kind of escalated and now we're dating.  It's only been, uh... not that long.  A little more than a week, but I really like this girl."
    My dad laughs.  "Fair enough.  I'm glad.  Really, I know what you're probably thinking, but I'm glad you're finally taking a step in the right direction.  I know I don't say this much, but I really am proud of you, Ethan.  You've grown a lot.  We've had some tough times, but..."
    Yeah, that's it.  My dad and I don't really talk, and when we do talk, it's a lot of trailing off and sort of implying shit, but we don't ever say it.  We don't know how to say it.
    We've had some tough times, but honestly we're just two really shitty people who fuck things up constantly and who the fuck knows how we found people who stay with us?  I don't even know if Ashley's going to stay with me, but I don't want to fuck it up this time.  My dad's found a good thing with Ashley's mom, but he's pissed off more than his fair share of people, too.  Not in dating, but in other aspects of his life.
    Yeah, well...
    "Do you remember the first time we came here?" I ask him.
    He gives me a weird look, then nods.  "Yeah, I do."
    "That was bad, huh?"
    He doesn't say anything, just waits and listens.
    "I know we don't talk about this kind of thing much, but I still know it was bad.  I guess we got over it a little, but I was so angry with you, and I think you were angry with me.  I—"
    "Ethan, we don't have to talk about this," he says, kind of curt, not mean or rude, but I can tell he doesn't want to talk about it.
    "Yeah, I know we don't, but I want to," I tell him.
    "I'm not exactly proud of what happened back then," he says.  "When your mother passed away, I just... I had  a hard time coping.  I loved her so much, Ethan.  I love your stepmom, too, but it's different.  I don't want you to think that I'm replacing your mother with Ashley's mom or anything like that."
    "Listen," I say.  "Stop.  I don't think that.  I just want to talk about this, alright?"
    I don't know why.  It's weird, because I don't think I actually want to talk about this.  It's a hard conversation to have, but it's kind of like I'm procrastinating and if I have this hard conversation, it'll be easier than having the even harder conversation about me dating Ashley.  I know I still have to have that one, but I feel like if I can just have this one first, then the other will be easier, and maybe it'll work out better?
    I'm pretty sure this is the most fucked up idea I've ever had, but I'm not exactly known for my good ideas.
    "I really like Ashley's mom.  I like Ashley a lot, too.  I'm not good at this emotional heartfelt conversation shit or whatever.  I just want to tell you that I was really hurt back then, and I get why you were hurt, too, but I feel like maybe it would have been easier if we could have just been hurt together instead of apart."
    "I know," my dad says, which surprises me.  "I've thought about it a lot.  I wasn't really there for you.  I tried sometimes, and I tried to pull myself out of it, but every single time I looked at you, I remembered her.  I still do, you know?  Sometimes I close my eyes, and when I open them I see you