STEPBROTHERS WITH BENEFITS

The smell of garlic rice filled my nostrils as I sat down at the long dining table. My mother, Lianne, was already cheerfully chatting away with her husband. They looked so happy, as if they were the perfect married couple straight out of a movie. I didn’t bother glancing at the man who took the seat across from me; just his signature perfume was already enough for me to recognize him. Kayden. I knew from the first time we met that we wouldn’t get along. He despised me just as much as I despised him. We argued over everything, couldn’t stand being in the same room, and never had anything nice to say. But when we were doing it, none of that mattered. The hate disappeared the second our lips were pressed against each other. It was like our bodies forgot what our mouths always argued about. We didn’t want this setup, so this little secret of ours was probably our way of getting even with our parents. Our little dirty secret started during my second month of staying here. I found my

Franco left right away as soon as he dropped me off at the location. He still had classes to attend. “Noah! You’re finally here!” the production assistant exclaimed in relief. “Thank God! We are running a bit behind. Fatima, please take care of him,” she called out to the glam team. “Yes, ma’am,” replied Fatima. I barely spoke as they worked on me. The makeup artist rambled about some celebrity cheating scandal while touching up my under-eyes. “Noah, you ready?” someone called out. “Gimme a minute!” I replied. The stylist approached me, holding up a pair of black briefs and a robe. “Here, wear this.” I got up from the chair and made my way to the dressing room to change. Afterward, I headed straight to the studio. I thought I’d be doing the shoot alone, but someone waved at me from the far side of the room. “Noah, this is Clarisse,” the photographer said, motioning to the woman walking toward me. She was tall, stunning, and effortlessly sexy. Unlike me, she stood there in a b

“Noah?” Clarisse’s voice pulled me back to my senses. I froze, realizing I was still on top of her. She stared up at me, her face clouded with confusion. “Huh?” “Why did you stop? God, I’m almost coming!” she groaned frustratingly. I muttered a curse when I realized I had stopped. However, that wasn’t the part that bothered me; it was the reason behind it. Fuck, why was I even thinking about him? Had I gone crazy? “Never mind. Let’s just continue,” she said. She started sucking on my neck, leaving a mark there. I tried to stop her since I had a shoot tomorrow, but she didn’t listen. Instead, she added more, this time down to my chest. I had no idea what time we finished. All I knew was that dawn had already broken by the time it was over. Thankfully, Kayden’s face didn’t intrude on my thoughts again while we were in the middle of our fun. I woke up with her snuggling against me. I slipped her hand off me, got dressed, and left before she even stirred. A maid greeted me as I e

“Noah?” Mom called from outside. “The door is open. Come in,” I called out, just loud enough for her to hear my voice. With a soft creak, the door opened, and she stepped in. Her smile was warm as she stepped closer to me. “Are you busy?” I shook my head. “Not really. What’s up?” I noticed she brought a mug of milk for me. She placed it on my bedside table before sitting down at the edge of my bed. I could tell right away from her ingratiating smile that she was trying to butter me up for something. “Can I ask you a favor?” Knew it! I raised my brow. “What is it?” “Well… we already went over our trip the last time we spoke, haven’t we? It’s on Monday, three days from now,” she said with a sigh. “We were really hoping you could speak to Kayden.” I frowned. “Talk to him about what?” “Convince him to come with us.” “You want me… to convince Kayden?” I laughed, bitter and incredulous. “I’m sorry for the words, but have you lost your mind, Mom? We can barely talk without wanting