Stepbrother Affairs (The Monroe Family Secrets Book 3) Read online

  STEPBROTHER AFFAIRS

  Lauren Branford

  First Edition, November 2014

  Copyright ©2014 Lauren Branford

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  The Monroe Family Secrets

  Book III of III

  Table of Contents

  One Week

  Missing

  Brother and Sister

  Mending

  Moving the Queen

  Stepmother Secrets

  Brick House

  The Waiting Room

  Tapes

  Epilogue

  One Week

  Audrey

  (This chapter is previewed at the end of Book II)

  A fresh linen towel was rolled under my arm as I glanced over my usual spot on the top of the hill. The grass had dry spots now that the summer pressed on and less appetizing than it had been in the previous weeks. Surveying the grounds, it was clear to me what the reason was. The pool sat motionlessly, except for the trickle from the water fountain that rested on the north edge. Sebastian must have taken Darla out to see the rest of the property before she left this week. Without my stepbrother swimming in the pool, I decided to take up residency.

  I was only a week away from my world excursion. My friend Rebecca from boarding school decided to spend the first month with me in Europe. Though the initial thought of the two of us trekking across the world seemed enjoyable, on this day, however I didn’t feel excited. In fact, I felt nothing. Just like the waning summer, I had lost my enthusiasm.

  Though Sebastian and I ended our tryst, I still thought of him nearly every minute of the day. Somehow, he had cast a spell on me that couldn’t be lifted, even by common sense. It was difficult to know what about him captivated me. Perhaps he was the muscle-bound lover that got away. Still, I felt that his smile was the most bewitching. Men with the smiles of mischievous boys always knew how to sink their arrows right inside of me.

  I, however, felt that this summer had not vain. As a woman, I had grown. In boarding school, if a girl like Darla came along and threatened the object of my affection, I would have sent her screaming home. Sometimes it was just an embarrassing photo of her that leaked from her cellphone. Other times it was replacing her shampoo with hair remover. I’m not proud of what I did, but boarding school was a savage place, and I had to be the fiercest cat in the cage.

  “Sebastian!” I heard Lydia call out from inside of the house. “Don’t!”

  “Fuck this shit!” Sebastian screamed. Then I heard the crash of something large breaking inside of the hallway. Suddenly, my afternoon of tanning had been ruined.

  “Calm down!” Lydia screamed. I leaned up in time to see my father and brother running from the croquette course.

  “What’s going on?” my father yelled to me.

  “I don’t know,” I said with a widened expression. Something had made Sebastian extremely angry.

  “AH!” Sebastian yelled as the two front doors flew open. He ran shirtless into the car park where he stumbled onto the median of grass. Sebastian’s face was bright red and veins pulsated from his neck. “What the fuck?”

  “What’s going on, Sebastian?” my brother Michael asked as he ran over to him. As soon as Michael touched Sebastian’s shoulder, he hit his hands away in a fury.

  “Don’t fucking touch me!” Sebastian yelled as he fell onto the grass. Now he was sobbing uncontrollably.

  “It’s Darla,” Lydia said as she walked with arms folded outside of the mansion. “She’s missing.”

  Missing

  Michael

  “What do you mean?” my father asked as he ran into the house. I walked away from Sebastian after he smacked me on the hand. Though it was obvious my stepbrother was in pain, it seemed as though we were not close enough for me to comfort him.

  “Robert, don’t go in–“ Lydia said as she rushed back into the house. However, it was too late.

  “Who did this?” my father bellowed from inside the house. I glanced inside of the doors to see a large glass statue knocked onto its side. With a piece of the broken art in his hands, my father ran back outside toward Sebastian was who kneeling down in a stupor on the grass. “Did you fucking break my statue?”

  “Robert!” Lydia yelled as she raced toward him. “He was upset!”

  “You are a guest in my house,” my father was enraged. I had seen him like this a handful of times in the past. However, it always frightened me back to the time when I was just a boy, and he would tower above me. “You don’t get to come in here and destroy my possessions!”

  “I don’t give a fuck!” Sebastian sobbed. “Fuck your shitty art!”

  Without another word from his lips, I saw pure rage strike like lightening into my father’s eyes. Suddenly, he swung back his arm with the broken glass in it, and then hit Sebastian on the underside of his jaw. Sebastian jolted as a spray of blood spattered onto the concrete.

  “Robert!” Lydia screamed as she rushed toward Sebastian, who was lying with his face on the pavement. Her white dress was almost see-through in the bright day as she ran to the aid of her son. “Don’t hit him!”

  “He needs to learn respect,” my father defended himself. He noticed that the piece of glass had blood all over it as it rubbed against the palms of his hands. Quickly, he tossed it onto the grass and stormed back into the house. During all of the commotion, my sister Audrey sat by the pool as everyone tried to help. As usual, she was completely useless in a dire situation.

  “What happened to Darla?” I calmly asked Sebastian.

  “She left!” he sobbed with a mouthful of spit and blood. Lydia shot me a glance as she tried to lift him from the grass by the arm. I stepped onto the other side and helped her lift the miserable fool onto his feet.

  “She sent him a text last night,” Lydia said softly. I noticed her eyes looking me up and down as she spoke. Even during her own son’s tragedy, she was thinking about my cock. I would have been offended if I also weren’t so turned on by her insatiable needs.

  “After she fucking drugged me!” Sebastian yelled.

  “She drugged you?” Audrey chimed in as she walked over to where we were standing. My sister was wearing a tiny string bikini that barely held together over her frame.

  “Yes,” Sebastian replied. He glanced at her through the side of his eyes with a look that I couldn’t quite place. “I found a bottle of pills next to my bed. Read this.”

  Sebastian reached into his pocket and whipped out a cellphone. After punching in the code with his thumb to unlock it, he handed the device to my sister.

  “Sebastian,” Audrey read softly. “All of this was too much pressure and I need to go. I know you’d stop me, so I mixed some sleeping pills into your glass of water. I’m so sorry… good bye.”

  “That’s what she wrote you?” Lydia scoffed. “That little bitch.”

  “Mother!” Sebastian yelled. “Can’t you see that she was put off by all of this?”

  Sebastian’s arms widened as he pointed to the mansion and the pool. Darla, as I understood, came from a humble beginning. I could understand how a quiet girl such as herself might felt overwhelmed. Still, with a body like she had, it seemed to me that she knew what cards she was playing.

  “I’m so sorry,” Audrey said as she moved over to Sebastian. With her nearly naked frame, she wrapped herself around him. He embraced her back in a grasp that made me feel queasy
. Audrey seemed to be playing another game with Sebastian. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn that she had helped Darla disappear.

  “Let’s go inside so that I can get you some ice,” Lydia said to Sebastian. With that, they walked toward the house. Just before entering the doorway, Lydia shot me a look that made my dick hard.

  Brother and Sister

  Audrey

  In order to keep compliant with our agreement, Michael and I spared no time appearing that our sibling affection had grown. The day following Darla’s vanishing, we shared a horse together, riding bareback down the path. I looked above to see that the sun was blocked by an onslaught of gray clouds.

  “It’s getting quite stormy,” I said to Michael.

  “The cold fronts are mixing with the warm,” he said staring at the sky. “Thunder will soon sound.”

  I could hear the smugness behind Michael’s tone. He always tried to spew the little amount he knew about science, politics, and more just to prove that he was eclectic. I resisted the temptation to put him in his place.

  “So sad to see Sebastian like that,” I added.

  “Spare me,” Michael said with an emotionless tone. I took offense to his demeanor.

  “Explain,” I demanded tersely.

  “I bet your are tingling between your legs with excitement now that your competition is out of the way.”

  “Competition?” I laughed. “Darla was hardly that.”

  “So now it’s okay to speak ill of her.”

  “It’s not like she’s dead, Michael,” I retorted.

  “Still,” he warned. “You’ve got to be careful that they don’t discover the two of you.”

  “I could say the very same to you, brother,” I reminded him. Michael was clearly trying to get ahead in our discussion. While I would allow him to spew some of his mindless drivel, I wouldn’t permit him to find a higher platform.

  “You are incorrigible,” Michael looked back at me with a glare. “Furthermore, you don’t frighten me, sister.”

  “I wasn’t attempting to scare you, Michael,” I replied. “But I know that father was.”

  “How do you mean?” Michael asked while obviously attempting conceal his worry at this new piece of information.

  “Yesterday,” I began. “His display toward Sebastian was likely to show you who is the man of the house.”

  “Hardly!” Michael scoffed.

  “I’m serious,” I continued. “He wanted to show that he was stronger than Sebastian.”

  “What does that have to do with me?”

  “Sebastian is a built man, Michael. I’m afraid that I can’t say that you compare to him in strength.”

  “Fuck you!” Michael yelled. I could see that I was finally drumming a nerve.

  “Get as angry with me as you’d like, brother,” I concluded. “However, this wasn’t just about our father’s quick temper. He may seem out of the loop on social connections in which he isn’t directly involved, but that is hardly the case.”

  “So do you think that he knows about you and Sebastian?”

  “Don’t try to play that one on me.”

  “No, Audrey, don’t you try to play this on me,” Michael scolded. “I know how manipulative you are when you want something. And you always want something; especially if you’ve been told that you aren’t allowed to have it. Sebastian is just another pawn in the great chess board of Audrey Monroe.”

  “I’m so glad that my brother can attack my character with such ease,” I said. “You’re a piece of work, Michael.”

  “We’re cut from the same cloth,” he replied. “Don’t you remember?”

  “Let’s go back to pretending that we enjoy each other’s company,” I said in an attempt to diffuse the unfolding situation. “We have a week left and I’d rather not end it with me remembering why I despise you.”

  “Likewise,” Michael agreed on each level. I could hear the stuffy sound of his arrogant thoughts coming out in just that one word. As soon as I went to take a deep breath to forget about all of this, Michael yelled. “Holy fuck!”

  “You’re going to spook the horse!” I screamed as our ride began bucking her head. “What are you freaking–“

  “Shut up, Audrey.”

  “No, Michael, you are–“

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” he said.

  “Come now, what are you–“ I couldn’t finish my sentence. Suddenly, I saw what caused my brother to stumble off of the horse and rush away from the trail. I grabbed onto the hanging reins just in time to hold myself back from screaming. Laying face up in a riding outfit away from the dirt trail was Darla’s fly covered corpse.

  Mending

  Michael

  We quickly sprinted on our way back from finding Darla. When we arrived at the stables, I rushed to call the emergency services.

  “We can’t tell anyone,” Audrey said.

  “Why the fuck not?” I yelled.

  “Keep your voice down,” Audrey hushed me. “We don’t know how she died, but we need to know before we go to the services.”

  “You had something to do with this, didn’t you?”

  “Fuck off,” Audrey glared at me. “Do you really think that I would kill a girl?”

  “You’ve done some pretty awful things,” I reminded her. “If you are in any way an angel, you’d be an angel of death.”

  “I love you, too, brother,” she muttered. “However, what I’m afraid of is who did kill her.”

  “I think you’re up to something,” I said pulling out my phone. “I’m not about to wait and hear that you and Sebastian killed her together during some drug-fueled outdoor sex party.”

  “Put the goddamn phone down,” Audrey said as she swung her hands toward me. I gripped the device, however, she hit it so hard that it fell, and cracked on the pavement.

  “Are you fucking–“ my frustration was building.

  “We have worse problems,” Audrey said grabbing my wrist. “If you call the police, I will leak what evidence I have against you.”

  “Then you know I’ll do the same,” I said carefully. “Why would you threaten this?”

  “I’m telling you, Michael,” she said. “You need to trust me or we’re all going down in flames.”

  “If I have no choice, then at least tell me the plan.”

  “Javier will be on duty tonight,” she said. “I’ll pay him a visit and see if the camera’s caught anything.”

  “Fuck!” I started to panic. “The cameras! They could have seen us!”

  “Relax,” Audrey said as she casually took the reins off of the horse. “There aren’t cameras along that part of the path.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely, why do you think that I’m worried over where we found her?” she asked as she let the horse back in the corral. “Now, have a good night and remember to shut the fuck up about all of this.”

  As much as I didn’t want to trust my sister, I was caught between a rock and a hard place. Though I went along with it, a checkmate the last thing I was willing to allow my sister to have.

  Moving the Queen

  Audrey

  I played my brother like a perfect game of chess. Though I recognized he was more than a lowly pawn, I knew the next piece would be. Javier’s shift was a mere few hour away, and I had to dress the part to win his affection. The most important task, however, was not letting on how Darla’s death had disturbed me.

  It was obvious to me that a tragedy would befall her the very morning that she burst into the scene. Though the sky was radiant with sunlight, all I could see were the heavy clouds looming ahead. Darla was not to blame; circumstance murdered her. I just needed to discover which of us had to do with it.

  Casually, I glided into the house where I saw the wing to Sebastian’s room had the door close. He must have shut himself in after the previous day’s tragedy. I could only imagine if he witnessed the poor girl’s corpse. Though I wondered if it were he.

  Sebasti
an was only a gentleman when he wanted to be. In an instant, he could turn from sweet to sour; I’d seen it myself. Darla could have easily become another toy of his that he threw away like yesterday’s news. Still, something about his wailing during her disappearance sent cold shivers down my spine. I knew whether or not he was involved, Sebastian felt the tragedy.

  Upon reaching my room, I swung open the door and found my way to the closet. Quickly, I changed into a red brazier with a matching lace thong. Searching through the bottom of the drawers, I pulled out a miniskirt, which I slipped on my waist. Finally, an oversized jacket with a hood, and a little tease to my hair completed the ensemble.

  With only a half an hour to spare, I raced toward the setting sun above the trees. Birds chirped in the distance as I made my way through the path. Each step along the dirt brought back crisp images of Darla lying in the dirt. She looked like my twin inside of my riding attire. Suddenly, my heart started to race. Taking in a deep breath, I let it out slowly to calm my nerves.

  The sky was nearly dark at the time that I reached the edge of the grounds where the security office was. The previous guard was leaving just as I stepped close to the small brick building. Quickly, I moved to the side and out of sight as the guard climbed into his car. After the engine revved, and he sped away, I turned the corner and pushed into the office.

  The room was small, dark, and cold. There was a single window that faced the incoming main road. Impressively, a hundred small LCD screens lined on nearly each part of the walls. Looking down at his computer screen, I saw Javier sitting with his back to me. On his monitor was a video of a young, naked woman with her legs spread open. Her hair drifted carefully down her breasts as she moaned for the man who came into view.

  “Hello,” I interrupted. Secretly, I was disgusted at the sight of the pornography. Mostly it was because, after seeing Darla, I couldn’t stand the sight of a helpless young woman.

  “Audrey?” Javier asked after he spun around in the padded chair. “This isn’t mine; the old security guard always watches this shit and–“