All Chapters of Step Too Far: Ruined By Him: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

KatherineI've always loved summer in New Hampshire. When my father first became Senator, he sold the farmhouse in Loudon where I'd spent my early years, and moved us to DC for the school year. But my mother and I would come to the house on Lake Winnipesauke for the summer. My father would join us, flying between New Hampshire and DC during early summer and only coming back full-time when the Senate broke for summer session. He never liked the state, even though he's tied to it politically. He returns here, but spends most of the summer bitching about being out of the loop and finding excuses to fly into New York or DC for fundraisers and political events.Me, on the other hand? I love this place. I cried when he sold our first house. He said it wasn't healthy to be attached to something like that ("It's just a goddamned house, Katherine"), and I was seven, so I said I'd never get over it. But I did. The summer house became my favorite place in the world, and it stayed that way afte

Dorian"You're seriously going to New Hampshire for the summer? That's even worse than...where the hell is that school you go to?" Dane asks, his forearms sliding across the top of the table. I can barely hear him above the clamor of the piece of shit rock band at the dive bar in North Hollywood that Seth insisted on hitting up so we could "pick up skanks." As if there weren't enough skanks in Malibu."Connecticut," I answer absently, but he can't hear me. I'm trying to get into it here. The Dorian from two months ago would be into it, getting drunk and high and banging some girl whose name I was never going to learn, let alone remember. Shit, this Dorian is practically a fucking monk. It's now been two weeks since I've seen any action. Not that I haven't tried. I left the park after kissing Katherine frustrated and aggravated and horny as hell, and not about to give her the damn satisfaction of showing up at her father's place. So I wound up jerking off in a hotel room and watching

Katherine "Did he?" I'm not being coy; I really don't know. Would Dorian do a reality show?It doesn't sound like his kind of gig. I would think he would consider it beneath him. But who the hell knows with Dorian, anyway. He's unpredictable. A loose cannon.Jo gives a non-committal shrug. "Maybe I'm thinking of that other guy, the one who was followed by the camera crew when he was in rehab. It doesn't matter. So you can't stand him. Obviously.""Definitely," I say firmly. I definitely can't stand him.The image of him looking up at me, his face buried between my legs, flashes into my head and I feel warm."So you hate your new step-brother," she says."Shut your mouth. He's not my step-brother," I say. "We're not twelve.""Ooh, touchy touchy," she says. "The Dick is marrying his mother. That makes him your step-brother. You know, by definition.""So?" I ask, my voice rising an octave. I know I'm getting defensive, and I tell myself to calm down, but I can't. "It's not like I know h

Katherine“Casual,” my father says. “Casual but...appropriate.” He’s been droning on for the last twenty minutes, giving us a big lecture about tomorrow morning’s breakfast, the summer kick-off to his re-election campaign. I look down at my food again, picking at my salmon even though it’s my favorite. I'm trying to distract myself from the hell on earth I've found myself in, sitting here at the table with my father and Ella and Dorian. Ella nods enthusiastically and beams, while Dorian sits in the chair perpendicular to me, suspiciously quiet. He's not made a single sarcastic comment during the entire meal, and his weirdly pleasant demeanor makes me think my salmon might very well be poisoned.Dorian nods at something my father says, as if he's had some kind of personality transplant. Maybe he hit his head when I pushed him into the lake. That wasn't one of my finer moments, but Dorian damn sure doesn't bring out the mature side of me.I'm wondering what the hell he has up his sleev

DorianI roll over in bed, looking at the alarm clock on the other side of the room. Six in the fucking morning. Early morning sunlight streams through the window, and I can hear birds chirping outside.Birds. Chirping.It's the most annoying sound I think I've ever heard.I'm lying here in bed in a room that looks like it should be part of a bed and breakfast, listening to the damn birds chirp. In the middle of Nowheresville, New Hampshire.I exhale heavily, closing my eyes to go back to sleep. A minute later, I'm rolling over again and throwing off the covers.Fuck it.I'm pent up beyond belief, especially after what happened last night with Kate. The walls in this house are definitely not soundproof, and what I heard from her…well, that's something I can't get out of my head.It has left me frustrated, aggravated, and feeling like I'm about to explode.I let out a groan and slip out of bed, pulling on my cotton pants and walking out into the hallway toward the bathroom. Morning woo