Free Confidence (A Stepbrother Romance) by Emma Johnson

 
     
    Growing up in my house wasn't easy. Especially when you had a cocky stepbrother who always made fun of you. Teasing me about my looks and the fact that I never had a boyfriend used to bring me to tears. Drake was only a year older than me but it felt like a gigantic difference. My parents were always so proud of him: he got the best grades, won trophies, and always stayed out of trouble. Or at least he was really good at hiding secrets from them.
     
    My mom married Phillip when I was in the second grade. I remember being excited to have a Dad again and a brother that would protect me. They moved into our three-bedroom house and Drake was in the room next to mine. We used to have a lot of fun when we were kids, playing board games on a rainy day, cops and robbers in the backyard, but something changed. After we both went through puberty, Drake started avoiding me. The teasing and pranks began.
     
    When he found out that I had a crush on, Joshua, the pitcher of the high school baseball team, Drake went up to him and told him I had crabs. The rumor spread like wildfire and my classmates never let me forget it. I tried to get him in trouble, pleading with my mom and dad to punish him. They thought I was overreacting. “Boys will be boys,” they said to me.
     
    When Drake graduated a year before me and went off to college, I breathed a sigh of relief. I finally got to relax without the constant threat of him making fun of me. I focused on my studies and graduated high school with a 3.5 GPA.
     
    “Almost as good as Drake's 3.8,” my parents told me. They were always trying to play us against each other. Create competition so we would do better. At the time it made me feel like shit, but I understand now why they did it. It made me work harder, strive to be the best.
     
    When Drake graduated with a business degree at the top of his class, my parents were so proud. They were so proud that they decided to fund his first venture. I couldn't believe they were throwing away tens of thousands of dollars on him. Their “precious prince.”
     
    I wanted him to fail so badly to teach them all a lesson. The problem was, his business actually flourished. During my last year of college, he was already making millions. At that point, my parents could care less about my small accomplishments.
     
    When I graduated college with a degree in History, I was even surprised they showed up to the ceremony. But right after I got my diploma, while we were taking family pictures, they wouldn't shut up about Drake and Atlas. I wanted to throw up all over my nice heels.
     
    My first summer out of college was very difficult. I wanted to land the perfect job that could rival Drake's amazing performance but nobody was hiring. I couldn't even get a job at the gas station. The economy was held together with duct tape and the competition between all the other recent college graduates were fierce.
     
    “I have the perfect idea,” my mom said one morning.
     
    “What?” I asked, scouring job sites on my laptop.
     
    My mom leaned over on the couch. “Drake,” she stated.
     
    I already knew where she was headed. I looked up from the computer screen. “No way, Mom.”
     
    The last place in the world I wanted to work at was Drake's business. Begging my stepbrother for a job would be a huge blow to my ego. It's the equivalent to bending the knee to an enemy king.
     
    “Come on Sophia, you can either waste months and months to just land a crappy job or you can ask your stepbrother for one.” She didn't even think I could get a job.
     
    “I'm not taking anything from him,” I said, slamming my laptop shut and storming upstairs. I'll show them when I get a great job.
     
     
     
     

Chapter Two

 
     
    It was only a few weeks later when I realized my mom was completely right. I spent so much time applying and searching and I had nothing to show for it. No interview. Not even a callback.
     
    I only had one choice left and I already