Stepbrothers' Darling

by K.A. Knight

“I should have known you would be with men,” she sneers. “Hello, Mother Dearest, crawled from the bowels of hell—I mean digging for gold to come and see me, how lovely.” I cheers her with the bottle. “Enough,” she scoffs, throwing her hair over her shoulder. “I heard from a friend you have been... stripping. That will stop right this second. I have a reputation to uphold, and we both know you can’t afford to attract the wrong kind of attention again.” I jolt at that as anger flows through me, but I don’t reply. “Good. Glad we understand each other.” Stepping closer, ignoring the guys, I let my voice cover the silence. “Who told you I was dancing?” I demand. She runs her eyes across me. “A nice police officer. He was worried about you, said you were getting into trouble and wanted to check in.” “Motherfucker,” I hiss. “I’m going to kill that dick sucker.” Sighing, I walk to the kitchen and grab another beer, and then on my way past, I get into her face. “It’s dancing, not stripping, but even if I wanted to become a sex worker or stripper or just a whore and fuck this entire city, I would still be a better person than you, and nothing you say will stop me.”