Series: Peach State Stepbros Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78418 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78418 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“He told him it’s for Steve’s birthday,” Ellie explains.
Brenner chuckles. “Right…that makes a lot more sense.”
“Yeah, it does,” Taylor teases, and Brenner elbows him.
“Now that Brenner knows how surprise birthday parties work,” Colin says, “can everyone shut the hell up because he’s definitely gonna be suspicious if they get close and hear Brenner and Taylor running their mouths.”
“And that’s why we didn’t drive here, right?” Brenner asks, which earns an eye roll from Taylor. “Kidding!”
We quiet before the door opens, and Atlas and Troy step inside.
Atlas’s eyes widen as he glances around the room before we all shout, “Surprise!”
“Oh God,” he says, needing a moment to take it in, and I can tell he’s recovered when he shoots Troy a playful glare. “You sneak.”
Troy shrugs innocently. “It was all Mom’s idea.”
“Thank you, guys,” Atlas says. He hugs Ellie, then makes his way around the room. “You guys I can forgive,” he tells Colin and me before he reaches Brenner and Taylor. “You guys, I don’t even know how you were capable of keeping this a secret.”
“You never know what you’re gonna get with us,” Brenner says before Atlas pulls him and Taylor in for a group hug.
After some food, drinks, games, cake, and presents, Lance blasts the music—at a more reasonable level than usual because of our parents—and we play some more games and enjoy some pool time.
Marty covers the bar. Payton ropes everyone into pool cornhole, including Mom and Steve, which is a fucking riot. This is so not Mom’s scene, but she’s doing her best to let loose.
Once things have settled down, Colin and I make our way over to the love seat, and I relax in his lap.
“Mom was texting earlier, asking if we could hop on a Zoom tomorrow,” Colin says, and I can hear the affection in his voice. How much he adores Lacey.
“That’d be nice,” I say.
Even though she brought up things we needed to consider, we both know it was from a place of love, and she’s been nothing but amazing and supportive since, which is all either of us could possibly hope for. My dad was also supportive when we had a chat with him, but in his own way—as if telling him I was dating my stepbro was the same as telling him I won a TaskFrat Challenge. He’s happy I’m happy, even if he doesn’t totally get it.
“Gonna be a lot of Ubering tonight,” Marty says as he approaches the pool with Brenner and Taylor, all still in their bathing suits.
“Hey, Bren, Tay,” Atlas says as he and Troy swim over to us. “You guys conspiring to join the club?”
Brenner and Taylor glance at each other, obviously unsure what the hell Atlas is talking about, but Colin and I check over our shoulders—on the pool deck, Taylor’s mom bursts into a laugh at something Brenner’s dad said. “You are ridiculous, Keith,” she says, her smile all teeth as he bows his head, snickering.
“My mom enjoys her single life too much for that,” Taylor says, clearly unfazed by what appears to be a somewhat flirtatious exchange between their single parents.
“What?” Brenner asks, his face twisting up. “You wouldn’t want to be my stepbro?”
Taylor glares at him. “You know that in order to join their club, we’d have to be more than stepbros, right?”
That gets all of us laughing.
“You’re right,” Brenner says. “Wouldn’t work at all. You’d be so clingy, and I need my space.”
“I’d be the clingy one?”
“I know your straight ass doesn’t get this, but in Queerlandia, I’m a fucking catch.”
“Nothing a trip to the clinic can’t fix,” Troy quips.
“It’d be worth the antibiotic,” Brenner claps back, earning some groans.
“Dude,” Taylor says. “You’re done.”
“I think we’re just getting started.”
“Nope.” Taylor tackles Brenner, diving into the pool with him, and they start wrestling around.
“Now this is my idea of a party,” I tell Colin, who plants a kiss on my temple.
We celebrate into the night, catching up about how we’ve been spending the summer and chilling by the firepit for a while. Then everyone helps us clean before they start heading out. It’s about one in the morning by the time Col and I make it upstairs to get ready for bed.
I hop in the shower first, and after Colin brushes his teeth, he joins me under the stream. He pulls me close, offering a kiss, and I can taste the fresh mint mouth rinse.
“Can’t believe I had to keep my greedy fucking hands off you all day,” Colin says when he pulls away briefly, before his lips attack my neck, licking, biting, kissing.
“You had your hands on me plenty.”
“Not enough.” As he says the words, his breath slams against my skin, making it prick to life.
I must agree with him there. As nice as it was to see the guys, it was cruel to see Colin running around in his board shorts for the past few hours.