My Stepbrother Clark Read online

  Copyright © 2017 by Renny Abbas

  All rights reserved.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved. Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

  My Stepbrother Clark

  Gay Stepbrother Romance

  By Renny Abbas

  Table of Contents

  My Stepbrother Clark

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Special Bonus Story

  Best Friend

  My Stepbrother Clark

  Chapter 1

  It took everything that Johnathon had to not break down and cry as he silently rode the home on one of the many metropolitan buses that frequently drove past the college that he attended. The music that was blaring in his iPod headphones, a song that he normally loved and had to fight the urge to dance to whenever he heard it, was doing absolutely nothing for him today. If anything, it was only managing to make him feel even worse about his current situation. Today, he figured, might very well have been one of the worst days of his life.

  It had started early that morning when he had arrived on campus for classes. Johnathon was a bit of a loner so he didn’t seem to manage to make many friends. The few people that he had befriended on campus had all been the stereotypically uncool people: Anime lovers, goths, people in the Theater club, etc. He didn’t know why he seemed to always gravitate toward such people, though he suspected that it was because he felt a kindred spirit with them. After all, they knew all too well the kind of constant ridicule and rejection that he was forced to withstand day in and day out, which made it all the easier for them to be able to commiserate with him.

  As he had been walking alone down one of the many long hallways that led toward the building that housed the English Department, Johnathon had noticed that he was being followed. The hairs on the back of his neck had started to stand slightly, something that only really happened to him when someone was staring at him behind his back. Casting a seemingly casual glance over his shoulder, his heart had sunk in his chest when he recognized the sneering face of Chad Montague. Chad was the stereotypical handsome jock with a strong jaw and glittering blue eyes that all the girls seemed to love. He could always be found walking with at least three of his fellow football players and a few girls, and he would always go out of his way to find someone that he could mock for the sake of his friends.

  Today, unfortunately, it seemed that Johnathon was destined to be the unlucky recipient of that treatment. “Hey there, Royals,” Chad said, referring to Johnathon by his last name in a manner that was already dripping with ill intent. “On your way to class?”

  “Yes, Chad,” he had replied softly, continuing to walk quickly with the hopes that he could put some distance between the two of them or that Chad would decide to focus on someone else today. “It’s time for my Calculus class,” he said, his hand moving to stroke through his shoulder length hair agitatedly.

  “Calculus, eh? I didn’t take you for that much of a nerd,” he said with a laugh, high-fiving one of his buddies while the rest of his friends laughed along with him. “I guess that makes sense, though. It isn’t like you are very good at anything else.”

  Those words stung Johnathon, making him bite his bottom lip to keep himself from replying. He knew that Chad was only trying to goad him; it was something that he had done so often in the time that Johnathon had been attending the university that he didn’t even get surprised by it anymore. However, even with him knowing that, it didn’t make Chad’s words or the fact that he was being laughed at hurt any less. “Why don’t you go bother someone else, Chad? Or are you such a loser that you have nothing better to do than pick on people who haven’t done anything to you. Maybe if you put some of your energy into studying you wouldn’t have such shitty grades,” Johnathon snapped, annoyance etched clearly on his face, his brown eyes glimmering with dislike.

  “What did you just say to me, you little shit?” Chad’s voice was icy, causing a small shiver to travel up Johnathon’s spine. “Did I just hear you say what I think you did?”

  “This nerd totally just insulted you, Chad,” one of his football buddies said, his beady brown eyes settling on Johnathon as he cracked his knuckles menacingly. “Shall I teach him a lesson?”

  “You are going to get it now,” one of the cheerleaders said, her eyes glinting as she looked at Johnathon with obvious indifference. “We’ll see how likely you are to mouth off again with a broken jaw.”

  “If any of you lay a single finger on me, the only thing you will be looking forward to after school today is a visit from the police,” Johnathon spat, pointing between each of them. “I know all of your names and faces. I wouldn’t hesitate to make any one of you end up behind bars, and I’m pretty sure that might cause problems with your scholarships. But you can try and continue if you really want to. There would be nothing I enjoy more than having an excuse to be rid of you once and for all,” he snarled, his pale hands clenching into fists on either side of his body.

  His words seemed to give them pause, which was more than enough for Johnathon. “That is what I thought,” he said smugly, turning away from them and leaving them standing there in the hallway. His heart threatened to burst out of his chest from how quickly it was beating thanks to the adrenaline surging through his system. He stopped in the bathroom, looking at his reflection in one of the mirrors. Johnathon was a slightly chubby youth, though his high metabolism prevented him from ever getting overweight. His shoulder length hair helped to hide his brown eyes slightly, giving him a slightly Goth look without dressing the part.

  Eventually he pushed his way into the doorway of his Calculus class and exhaled loudly as he closed the door behind him. He was early today, so he didn’t have to deal with anyone staring at him as he made his way towards his seat. Collapsing into his chair, he pulled his phone from his pocket and sent a text to his stepbrother.

  Bullies tried to waylay me in the hall today. Last class ends at 3 pm today. Could you come get me then?

  His phone chimed a short time later, the reply on his screen simple but to the point.

  I’ll be there right when you get done.

  Chapter 2

  “Hey, Johnathon, what are you doing all the way over here?” a gentle voice asked, causing him to turn his head to see his friend Jenny smiling down at him.

  It was lunch time and Johnathon had decided to take his lunch and go sit outside on the verandah, gazing out at the lush forest in the distance that circled around the campus. It was a place where he could think without having to be distracted by the myriad number of conversations that seemed to be a constant presence in the cafeteria, not to mention it was one of the few places where he didn’t have to worry about being bothered by Chad and his goons. The entrance to the verandah was hidden in a nondescript corner of the cafeteria, so very few students even knew it existed. That made it the perfect place to escape to.

  “Hi, Jenny,” he said politely, swiveling his chair around so that he could face toward her. “How did you know I was out here?”

  “One of the employees told me that you had walked this way when I asked if they had seen you. I figured that you might be in one of your bad moods and had come out here to escape for a while. You are nothing if not predictable,” she said playfully, moving to set her
lunch tray on the table sitting in front of him before taking a seat on his left side. “Did something happen today?”

  “Just Chad and his stupid friends trying to start drama with me again. The usual shit,” he said dismissively, not really wanting to focus on the fact that he had almost gotten jumped by Chad and his cronies for no other reason than they didn’t like him. “I would rather not talk about it.”

  “I don’t understand why you don’t go to the Dean and tell her that you are being bullied. You could probably even go to the Public Safety office and file a complaint. It is their job to make sure that we are safe, and the way you make it sound that is the last thing that you are feeling right now,” she said insistently, her arms crossing in front of her chest lightly.

  “What good would that accomplish,” he said, rolling his shoulders dismissively. “It isn’t like they are going to have a police officer follow me every second of the day. Chad and his friends would probably just change tactics and try to corner me in one of the parking lots or something like that, and I would rather not increase their undeserved hatred of me to a higher level than it already is.”

  “You can’t just spend the entirety of your college career fearing for your safety,” she protested, her hand slamming against the top of the table. “You need to stand up for yourself sometimes. You can’t just go through life letting people walk all over you, Johnathon. That is no way to live.”

  “You are telling me,” he replied sulkily, his finger tracing circles in the ring of water that had formed beneath his cup of Dr. Pepper. “I just don’t know how to fix my situation without transferring to another school. All the options that would allow me to stay in school seem like a hassle, and even if I managed to get Chad and his goons off my back what guarantee do I have that things would stay that way. What if getting them off my back results in some group of worse people pulling the exact same shit later?” he queried, wrapping his mouth around his straw so that he could take a sip of his drink.

  “Doing nothing is a guaranteed way that nothing is going to get solved,” she countered, her emerald green eyes glinting as she tossed her fiery red hair over her shoulder. “You need to do something, and soon.”

  Johnathon sighed, glancing at the reflection of himself in the back of his spoon. He didn’t consider himself to be unattractive, though his small overbite was something that he had always been self-conscious about. His short black hair was set in an unruly mop on top of his head that no amount of combing ever seemed to fix. It was one of the things that always drove his mother crazy when she wanted him to attend social events. His deep brown eyes looked sad as they stared back at him, faint circles under his eyes from his chronic insomnia only seeming to add to his somewhat dejected look. “I just wish I knew what it was that I needed to do.”

  Jenny nodded but said nothing, lifting the sandwich she had bought from the cafeteria to her mouth and taking a bite. She chewed thoughtfully, the silence between them making Johnathon slightly nervous. He couldn’t imagine what was going on in her head right now since Jenny had always been good about keeping her face neutral. Once she had swallowed the food in her mouth, she spoke again. “How did you like the Calculus lecture today?”

  “I thought it was just as boring as all the other ones,” he said with a laugh, grateful that they had finally managed to change the topic. “I wish Professor Martin could teach without putting half of the class to sleep with that monotonous voice of his.”

  “Tell me about it,” she said, plucking a fry from his lunch tray and popping it into her mouth. “Yet he wonders why people constantly fiddle with their phones during his lessons. They are just trying to occupy themselves enough that they don’t pass out in their chairs!”

  The two of them laughed together at that. It felt good to laugh, and by the time the two of them had to go their separate ways for their next classes Johnathon was feeling much better. Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he smiled as he headed out the door of the union. One more class, and then I can go home.

  Chapter 3

  His last class thankfully went by a lot quicker than he had thought it would, the loud sound of the bell ringing echoing around the school signaling the end of his school day. He had been feeling increasingly antsier the longer that he waited, and the instant that the bell went off he was pushing himself up out of his chair and making his way toward the exit. He wanted to put as much distance between him and the school as possible, and the faster he moved the less likely he would encounter Chad. He was relieved to find the familiar sight of his stepbrother's car parked in the roundabout in front of the Environmental Sciences building. The faint sound of FLOW could be heard through the slightly cracked windows, Johnathon recognizing the opening theme from the show Code Geass that he had watched with his step brother only a few months ago.

  He pulled open the passenger door and climbed inside, a shy smile immediately spreading across his face as his eyes fell on the man that was his step brother. Clark was the kind of guy that anyone would want to be. He was immensely popular to the point that he was always getting invited to go out with friends and go places, and it seemed like every other minute Johnathon would hear his brother’s phone going off with new message notifications. “Hi, Clark. Thank you for picking me up despite how busy you must be,” Johnathon muttered, trailing off at the end.

  “Think nothing of it, John. I can always make time for my step brother. And when you send me texts telling me you are being bullied, what sort of family member would I be if I just stood by and did nothing about it?” the older man asked, his green eyes moving to settle on Johnathon.

  Clark had inherited his green eyes and fiery red hair from his Irish mother, as well as her sometimes powerful temper. His pale skin made him look kind of like a vampire, something that Johnathon suspected might be one of the reasons for his step brother’s immense popularity. He preferred to dress in short-sleeved band t-shirts, today’s selection ended up being the bright white Metallica shirt that he had bought at a concert that he took Johnathon to two years ago for his birthday. Johnathon couldn’t help but stare at Clark for a moment, only looking away when he realized that he had been staring, a faint pink blush spreading across his cheeks. “Thank you for caring.”

  “All I do is care,” Clark replied with a cheeky grin, his eyes glinting as he put his car in drive and pulled away from the curb, driving in a circle before they could pull out of the driveway and make their way towards the road that would lead them off campus. “How much homework did they saddle you with today?”

  “Not a whole lot, surprisingly. I only have a couple of assignments that are due tomorrow, and they are the kind that won’t take much time at all to complete. Why, did you have something in mind that you wanted to do tonight?” Johnathon asked excitedly, knowing that his step brother had a habit of springing surprise outings on him at the last minute. It was something that he always looked forward to, the absence of his father and stepmother due to work making it so that Johnathon was quite used to having only Clark for company. Not that he minded being able to have his step brother all to himself.

  “Why don’t we go to that pizza joint over on Third and Boswell? I don’t think we’ve been there before, and a couple of my friends have told me that they have some of the best Pizza in the Midwest. I want to know if that is true or not, and since Mom and Kevin aren’t around to come with, I figure it can be just the two of us,” he said cheerfully, his eyes moving away from the road to cast a sidelong glance at Johnathon. “What do you think?”

  “You know I never turn down an opportunity to go to a pizza place,” Johnathon replied with a laugh, unable to stop a wide grin from spreading across his face. “When do you want to head over there?”

  “Why not now?” Clark asked rhetorically, fishing his phone out of his pocket and handing it over to Johnathon. “I should have the address bookmarked in my Maps application. Pull that up and let the GPS run.”

  Johnathon did as he was told, swiping his finger ac
ross Clark’s phone to unlock it. His stepbrother had always used the same lock code for his phone and it had gotten to the point that Johnathon probably could have unlocked the phone with his eyes closed. He found the address for the pizza place sitting at the top of Clark’s recent search results, his thumb tapping it gently to bring up the directions. “Italiano’s Pizzeria? Why have I never heard of this place before?”

  “I said the exact same thing when my friend told me about it. I’ve been living in this city for five years now and the first time I had ever heard it mentioned was when she was telling me about it. I trust Claire’s judgment, though, which is why I figured that we could check it out.” he said, pulling the car onto the highway while whistling a tune that Johnathan faintly remembered as being an opening song for Boku No Hero Academia. It’s the first season’s opening if I remember correctly.

  He let their ride pass by in relative silence, content to just listen to Clark whistle. His stepbrother was one of the few people that he felt completely at ease with, his eyes closing as he found himself relaxing for the first time all day. After what was only about a twenty-minute car ride, he felt the vehicle slowly coming to a crawl before stopping, the sound of Clark’s voice causing him to open his eyes. “Here we are, Johnny Boy. Look alive!”

  Chapter 4

  The interior of the pizza place was decorated in a surprisingly upscale way for what was considered just a casual pizza joint. Copies of famous paintings seemed to hang from every wall, and where most places would have motivational posters or sports memorabilia the restaurant instead had old movie posters hanging from the walls. It turned out that the owner was quite an art buff and had wanted to share his love of art with his patrons. Opera music played quietly over the loud speaker, lending the restaurant a classy feel that shouldn’t have been possible in the small but still somehow roomy pizza parlor.