Beast: An MMA Stepbrother Romance (6 page)

“Jesus, sis, you’re so tense.”

Uh oh.  Am I coming off as tense?  I was trying to come off as calm.

“Relax.  Enjoy your mom’s wedding.  I’m not going to do anything weird in front of all these people, I swear.”

In my rational mind, I know that most of the crowd probably isn’t paying attention to us, but it’s hard not to want to keep the conversation down to a minimum.

“Well, it’d probably be easier to relax if I thought we had the same definition of weird.”

Caleb laughs.  “Why, do you think this is weird?”

I let out a little yelp and my body freezes puts his hands on my bare shoulders.

“Because it’s not.  It’s just me being a good stepbrother and helping you relax before the wedding starts.”

Caleb starts to massage my shoulders and neck.  At first, I’m super tense, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that anything I could do to get Caleb’s hands off me would only make everything worse.  So instead, I drop my shoulders, lean back in my seat and let him massage me.

“See?  Doesn’t this feel better?”

I can’t lie, it does feel really good.  Caleb’s thick, strong fingers squeeze all the tension right out of me like a sponge.  Then, after going up and down my neck a few times, he takes his hands off me and puts them back in his lap.

“See?  Not weird at all.”

Over on the other side of the crowd, the orchestra starts warming up.  I look behind me and see Larry standing behind the crowd, getting ready to walk up the aisle.  It’s a huge relief:  once the wedding starts, I don’t have to worry about engaging Caleb.

“By the way, there’s going to be a party tonight in my room.  You coming?”

“With who?  Your friends from work?”

“Nah, a couple guys from my gym.”

“Other fighters?” 

Caleb puts a finger to his lips.  “Shhh.  Our little secret, remember?  But yeah.  Them, plus a couple of people I found on the beach.  Plus you.”

Great.  A party in the room right next to mine.  “We’ll see.  I have a lot of work to do.”

Caleb scoffs.  “Come on, it’ll be fun.  The legal drinking age is 18 here, so you can’t hide behind the goody-two-shoes act.”

“I’m not hiding behind anything.  I’m just not sure if I’ll be able to make it.”

“Oh, you’ll be able to make it.  I’ll bring the party to your room if I have to.”

I glare at Caleb.  “Are you seriously going to force me to be in your presence from now on?”

“I’m pretty sure our parents are the ones forcing us to be together.  I’m just trying to get you to loosen up and have some fun with me.”

“You can say that all you want, but we both know that all you really want to do is…”  Before I can finish that sentence, I realize where I am and clamp my mouth shut. 

Caleb’s lips grow into a calm smirk.  “All I really want to do is what?  What were you going to say?”

I’m about to just straight up give Caleb the silent treatment.  The people in the row behind us are too caught up in a heated conversation about deep-sea diving to pay close attention to us, but we still can’t be talking about this here.  “Nothing.  Nevermind.”

“You’re not getting off that easy, sis.  What do I really want to do?”

I curl my toes and open my mouth, spending every ounce of energy I have trying not to make a scene at my Mom’s wedding.  Thankfully, just in the nick of time, the orchestra starts to play and the wedding begins.

Luckily, Caleb has the manners not to talk during a wedding.  As soon as Larry starts walking up the aisle, he shuts right up.  Finally, I can watch the wedding in peace.

It’s a beautiful wedding.  Mom looks amazing in her wedding dress, but she also looks super nervous.  I can’t say I blame her:  weddings are nerve-wracking enough without half of Silicon Valley in attendance.  I wonder if she’s thinking of Dad.  Caleb’s definitely thinking of his mom.  I can hear it in his breathing, and when I look over at him, his eyes dart down to the sand and then back up to the altar.

As Mom and Larry say their vows, a school of dolphins appears in the ocean behind them, drawing cheers and gasps from the crowd.  Mom looks out at the dolphins, but Larry doesn’t take his eyes off Mom.  When the priest tells Larry he can kiss the bride, she turns away from the ocean and plants a tender kiss on his lips.

It isn’t until the wedding starts to conclude that Caleb’s words start to echo in my head.  He’s right.  I feel weird thinking of him as family when the ghost of the smell of his shirtless body still lingers in my nose, but that’s what he is.  And I may not be married to him, but I am stuck with him, which means the two of us are going to need some serious boundaries.  Fast.

***

At the reception, they have these little turtles made out of cheese cubes, grapes, and toothpicks.  I put a couple on my little white plate, pop a cheesy turtle head into my mouth, and head over to congratulate Mom.

Mom looks like her heart just stepped off a rollercoaster.  “I can’t believe I zoned out like that.  I heard the crowd react to something, so I looked behind me, saw the dolphins, and…the next thing I remember, I realize that everyone’s waiting on me to kiss Larry.”

“It wasn’t that long, Mom, don’t worry about it.”

“That’s what everyone’s telling me, but it felt like an hour.”  Mom laughs and shakes her head.  “By the way, are you and Caleb going to stay out here through the week?”

I look over at Caleb, who’s having an extremely friendly conversation with the CEO who thought the two of us were dating.  I can’t believe how good he is from switching from crude, vulgar fighter to well-spoken professional.  “Well, I don’t know what Caleb’s doing, but I know I’m leaving tomorrow night.  My internship starts on Tuesday.  Besides, I wouldn’t want you worrying about me on your honeymoon.”

Mom looks surprised.  “Our honeymoon?”

“Yeah, you’re staying in the Bahamas, right?  Why else would you have the wedding out here?”

“Oh, honey, did I not tell you?  Larry and I are going on a continental honeymoon.”

“What?  What’s that?”

“It’s a honeymoon that spans every continent.”

I almost choke on a turtle fin made of sharp cheddar.  “Is that a thing?  Wouldn’t that take months?”

“Oh, don’t worry, I told Larry I needed to be back in time to send you off to college.  We had to cancel the East Asian leg of the trip, but that’s not a big deal.”

“Mom!  You’re going to be gone all summer and you didn’t tell me?”

“I’m sorry, honey.  I guess I didn’t want to think too much about the honeymoon before the wedding and it just slipped my mind.  You’ll be alright with the house to yourself, won’t you?”

“Yeah…I’m just surprised.”

Larry walks up to us, holding a kebab on a plate.  “The catering here is incredible.  I need to hire these guys for the Poodle kitchens.”

Mom motions to my plate.  “Have you had the turtles?”

“No, are they good?”

I hold my plate out towards Larry.  “I think so.  Taste for yourself.”  Larry bites a turtle in half, and his eyes roll back in his head.

“Incredible.  Where did you say the plate was?”

I point behind me, and Larry puts his hand on the small of Mom’s back, leading her over towards the turtle plate.

Now that I’m alone, I look around nervously, suddenly aware that I don’t know
anyone
else here except Mom, Larry, and Caleb.  I definitely don’t want to tag along with the bride and groom for the rest of the reception, so I look over towards Caleb.  He’s still on the other side of the tent, talking to the same CEO as before, only now, he’s brought over his daughter, who’s looking up at Caleb with an expression most people usually reserve for baby seals.

She’s blonde, pale, and gorgeous, but I can’t help but feel a dark little twinge of satisfaction at the fact that the guy she’s batting her eyelashes at isn’t the real Caleb.  If she saw the
real
Caleb, drenched in sweat with his Beast tattoos showing, she wouldn’t be looking at him like that.  She’d either be horrified or she’d be throwing herself at him, depending on how much of a freak she is.  She definitely wouldn’t be looking at him like she is now.  Like he’s boyfriend material.

I tear my eyes away from Caleb before he can catch me staring and look around the room again.  Maybe I should just head back to the hotel.  I can eat in my room, curl up in a king-size bed, and maybe even fall asleep before Caleb’s stupid party starts.

It’s tempting, but Responsible Emma wants me to stay and network with all these industry people.  And as much as I’d prefer a good book and a soft bed, she’s right.  This many CEOs in one room with their guards down…I should have brought a business card.  As soon as I manage to calm my nerves, I walk over to the nearest important-looking person and introduce myself.

Chapter 7:  Emma

The dashing knight just caught the princess alone in her secret orchard.  After months of failed attempts to get his attention, she’s finally alone with him, and I think he might be about to admit that he has feelings for her.  There’s only one problem:  it’s hard to concentrate on a secret orchard over the insanely loud music coming from next door.

It’s not just the music, either:  there’s so much banging on the walls that I’m starting to get suspicious that Caleb and his friends are actually fighting in there.  I can’t believe the hotel hasn’t come up to make them shut it down, but I guess when you’re paying this kind of money, they tend to leave you alone.

Whatever.  Parties end, and until this one ends, I have a romance novel to get through.

Tristan plucks a peach off the nearest tree and brings it up to his soft lips, never taking his eyes off of Analucia. 

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he says.

“How did you know I was here?”  Analucia asks, her thighs starting to quiver as she watches him eat her peach.  When Tristan brings it up for another bite, she can almost feel his mouth between her legs.

“A garden full of forbidden fruits,” he says, smirking, “Where else would you be?”

Before I can turn the page, there’s a ridiculously loud bang coming from next door.  It sounds like a human body just got thrown hard into the wall at full speed.  They actually are fighting in there, aren’t they?

As much as I want to get back to Tristan and Analucia, I should probably make sure Caleb doesn’t spend the night in a Bahaman jail.  That would be bad news for Poodle, which means it would be bad news for me.  Rolling my eyes, I put down my book and get changed into something that I can wear next door.

With one hand on the door to Caleb’s room, I brace myself by imagining the roughest, trashiest party possible, and it’s still not enough.  The smell of sweat and liquor almost knocks me over as I open the door, and the noise of the party is so loud that I have to step inside or else it’s going to wake up the entire hotel.

For the first couple seconds, no one even notices I’m here.  They’re too busy staring at the center of the room, where two jacked up guys are rolling around on the floor punching each other.  The room is pretty trashed, but it’s nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a few hours of elbow grease.  Yet.

Caleb isn’t watching the fight.  He’s sitting on the bed, which got pushed into the back corner of the room to make room in the middle.  There’s a very tan girl in a tiny bathing suit sitting on the bed with him, but he’s not paying much attention to her even though she’s all over him.

I’m the only person in the room with their shirt on, but everyone is apparently too drunk to notice how out of place I look.  Except for Caleb.  He spots me before I can get halfway across the room and shouts “Emma!”

The whole room cheers, and I take the opportunity to weave between them and get to Caleb.  Caleb hands me a red plastic cup from the nightstand.  “I knew you’d come around.  There’s rum over by the TV.”

“Thanks, but I didn’t come here to drink rum.”

“Emma,” Caleb says my name in a low, scolding voice that really shouldn’t get to me as much as it does, “What did I tell you back at the wedding?  You need to loosen up.  Have some rum.  Throw a couple dollars down on the next fight.”

I sit down on the bed at Caleb’s feet, and the girl trying to get in his pants wraps her arms around him possessively.

“Look, I’m not telling you to stop the party.  I’m telling you to stop the fight.  I’m pretty sure you can hear it from the beach.”

“Emma, we can’t stop the fight.  We’re fucking fighters.  That’s what we do.”

I point at the guys grappling on the hotel floor.  “They might be fucking fighters, but you are the son of a CEO.  Other people spend their whole lives working for the type of opportunity that just fell into your lap, and you’re throwing it away so you can live out some stupid bad boy fantasy.”

I can see Caleb’s jaw clench beneath his skin.  I think I just actually hit a nerve.  A second later, though, and Caleb breaks into a smile again.  “You saw what I can do in the ring.  That’s not fantasy, that’s fucking reality.  Do you know how much money I could make off this shit over the next couple months?”

The girl in the bathing suit looks at me with hostility in her raccoon eyes.  “Caleb, is this your girlfriend?”

Caleb laughs.  “She wishes.  No, this is my stepsister, Emma.  Emma, this is Kira.  I met her on the beach yesterday.”

Kira has a trashy, obnoxious voice that makes me instinctively dislike her, and up close, her blonde hair is clearly a horrible dye job.  We shake hands.

Caleb puts one hand on Kira’s waist and the other one on my thigh.  “Hey, why don’t you two fight?”

I look Kira up and down.  Her legs are like short little sticks.  I could probably take her. 

Wait, what am I thinking?  This is ridiculous.

Unfortunately, I think I sized up Kira for a second too long.  Caleb launches himself up so that he’s standing on the bed and knocks on the ceiling until he has everyone’s attention.  I cringe as I imagine the upstairs neighbors calling the front desk to complain.

“Everybody shut the fuck up!  Our next fight is going to be a ladies’ fight.  Kira versus Emma.  Winner gets to be my girlfriend for the night.”