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stepbrother mountain man

I cannot freaking believe this. I let out an exasperated sigh and stomp my foot as I pull my cell phone from my purse and dial my mom's number.

“Hello, honey.” My mom answers the phone with a giggle, and I roll my eyes. I'm happy for my mom. I really am. I'm glad that she finally found someone she loves and who treats her right, but I'm just in a pissy mood because while my life is falling apart, she's completely oblivious.

It’s not that I want my mom to be miserable, but you know the saying misery loves company? I just don’t want to be reminded of how perfect her life is while mine is in shambles at the moment. It's just really irritating me to hear her happy, flirtatious giggles while I'm literally out on the street.

“What the hell happened to the house?” I sound like a whiny teenage brat right now, but I don’t care.

“The what?” Mom asks like she doesn’t have a clue what I'm talking about.

I huff and roll my eyes. “The house where you and I lived? You know? The place where you raised me? Home?”

“Oh!” I hear the surprise in mom's tone. “I thought I told you, sweetheart. I sold it when Don and I got married.”

“You what?” My heart sinks.

“Yeah, I didn't think you would care. You've been moved out for three years, sweetheart, and you never came home.” Mom’s voice changes as if it suddenly dawns on her why I’m asking. “Wait, are you at the house right now?”

“Yeah,” I tell her. “I thought I would come home and visit you.”

My mom's not that stupid, though. I can almost hear her sitting up straighter, her tone sobering. “What happened, honey?”

“Nothing,” I lie.

“Skye…” She takes on that mom voice that cracks me every time.

I huff out a breath. “Okay, well, some new bitch came onto the marketing team and stole my job by thrusting her huge tits in the boss's face, so now I'm out of a job, and I lost my apartment and…” I trail off and start chewing on my lip as I look down at my tiny breasts as if they’re to blame for my predicament.

“Oh my god, honey! I'm so sorry. You need a place to stay.” I hear the sympathy in my mom’s voice, and it about kills me. I hate asking for help—absolutely fucking hate it.

“Yes, that's why I came home,” I admit.

“Oh my god, honey.” My mom sounds truly worried and apologetic as she explains, “Don and I sold everything so we could travel and wouldn’t have to worry about upkeeping a house.”

I fight to contain my incredulous snort. It never occurred to them to just pay someone to watch the house while they were gone? It’s not that I’m particularly sentimental about the house I grew up in. It’s just that I’m desperate and need a place to stay, and it never occurred to me that I couldn’t go home or that my mom no longer had a house at all.

My stomach plummets further as the gravity of my situation hits me anew.

“Don’t you worry, though, sweetheart. We're going to figure this out,” Mom tries to reassure me.

“No,” I shake my head as if she can see me as I swallow thickly. “It's okay. It's not your problem, Mom. I'm a grown-ass woman. I can handle this.” I will handle this. Somehow. Even if I have to keep sleeping in my car.

“Skye, you'll always be my baby,” my mom protests. “I'm always going to help you in any way I can.”

I hear Don's voice in the background, though I can’t make out what he’s saying. He’s obviously heard the entire conversation, though, because my mom perks up, her voice practically quivering with excitement. “Yeah, that's right. Don is right, honey. His son, Zack, has a place close by. Let me give you the address and you can go up there. He'll be more than happy to let you stay with him for a while.”

Wait, what? My brain instantly balks at the idea of staying with a stranger. “Mom, wait!” She wants me to stay with some stepbrother I've never met? “I can’t stay with this dude. I don’t know him.”

She’s not listening to me. Well, she heard me, but she brushes off my words. “Oh, honey, it’s just Zack, and he's as sweet as can be.”

“That's right,” I hear Don say in the background. “Zack's a good boy. He won't mind putting you up for as long as you need. I'll go ahead and give him a call and let him know you're on your way. After all, you’re family now. He won't mind.”

“But—”

Mom and Don both cut me off.

“Gotta go, honey,” Mom says.

“We're gonna call Zack,” Don chimes in.

“I'll text you the address!” Mom adds before she hangs up on me. My phone pings a moment later with the address.

I slap my hand on my forehead and groan as I peer down at my phone and chew on my lip.

I can’t believe I’m even considering this, but what are my other options? I’m all out of money. I look at my car helplessly. I suppose I could just keep sleeping in my car, but how long can I really survive doing that? I need a place to stay. My back is already killing me from the three nights I slept in it on the drive down here.

As much as I hate having to ask anyone for anything, especially some guy I don't even know and have never even met—stepbrother or not—it looks like I don't really have a choice. My mom sold our house so she could go off galivanting and traveling the world with her new husband, so the simple fact of the matter is I'm fucked.

I'm twenty-one years old, and I'm already starting over. As much as I hate to admit it, I need a place to stay while I get back on my feet and figure out what the hell I'm going to do now that my marketing career has gone right down the drain.

“Fuck it all,” I curse as I punch the address into my phone's GPS.

“Okay, stepbrother, dearest. Here I come. Hopefully, you're not a complete asshole,” I mumble as I climb into my car and begin driving in the direction my navigation leads me.