Beast: An MMA Stepbrother Romance (7 page)

The whole room cheers.  Meanwhile, I’m sitting at Caleb’s feet, blushing crimson.  This is what I get for trying to save his ass, I guess.  “I was trying to help you, asshole.  Good luck with hotel security.”

I get off the bed and make a beeline for the door.

“Sis, wait, it was a fucking joke.”

I slam the door behind me and head back to my room.

Over the next couple hours, the party actually gets louder.  I try opening up my romance novel again, but I’m too pissed off to make it through a single paragraph, so I hug a pillow, stare up at the ceiling, and listen to the fighting through the wall.

Why can’t there be guys like Tristan in real life?  Devoted, compassionate men who fight for the things they want?  Why does every guy I meet have to be so immature?  So selfish?

And why am I thinking about Caleb like he’s some kind of stupid crush?  He’s my stepbrother.  Not only that, but my crush was never on Caleb.  It was on the Beast, which is just some kind of character Caleb has when he’s in the ring.  And I absolutely cannot waste any more time fantasizing about my stepbrother’s alter ego, especially when his real ego is so obnoxious.  There are plenty of other guys out there worth my time.

Next door, the party starts to die down, but I’m still tossing and turning in bed.  Then, right when I think I might be falling asleep, I hear a knock at the door.  If it’s Caleb, I am going to throw him off the balcony.

It’s Caleb.  Too bad my room doesn’t actually have a balcony.  “What?”

Caleb looks tired.  And more than a little drunk.  “My bed is covered in passed out guys.  Can I sleep in here?”

“Seriously?  Where’s your girlfriend for the night?”

Caleb shrugs.  “I have no idea.  You know that was just a joke, right?”

“Maybe I don’t appreciate jokes like that made in public places.  What would you have done if I made jokes about you being an MMA fighter at the wedding reception?”

Caleb nods.  “Good point.  I’m sorry for doing that.  Can I come in?”

Actually apologizing to me is probably the most shocking thing Caleb’s done yet.  “If you don’t mind sleeping on the floor, then yes.”

“Cool.” Caleb pushes the door all the way open and brushes past me as he enters my room and sits on my bed.  “You were fucking right, you know.”

“About what?”

“About the party.  It was a really stupid idea that could have fucked up my cover.”  Caleb runs his hand through his messy hair. 

“Why’d you throw it, then?  What did you think was going to happen?”

“I don’t know.  I just didn’t want to…I just…didn’t want to think about the wedding, so I set something up to distract me.”

“Oh, well, it looked like it was working.”

Caleb shakes his head.  “It didn’t.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, your mom seems really nice, but…I still kind of wanted my mom to come back, you know?

“Where is she now?”

Caleb looks at me, brow furrowed.  “I have no idea.”

“Well…if you don’t mind me asking…why’d she leave?”

Caleb is quiet for a little while, looking around the room like he’s struggling to find the words to say.  “I, uh…had an older brother.  Zane.  He fell in with a bad crowd, and when I was 14…he just left.  Mom blamed herself, and moved to the other side of the country a couple months later.” 

After a long, heavy pause, Caleb looks over at the nightstand.  His eyes fall on my romance novel, and he bursts out laughing.  “What the fuck is this?”

I guess he wants to change the subject.  That’s okay, I just wish it was about anything other than my current choice of reading material.  “That’s my book.”

“
The Forbidden Grove:  A Young Woman’s First Love.
  I bet you read this with one hand, don’t you?”

I try and snatch the book out of Caleb’s hands but he pulls it away from me.  “It’s a fantasy novel!”

“I bet.  I bet you get all kinds of fantasies reading this.”  Caleb slides up onto my bed and opens it to a page near the end.

His eyes go wide.  “Wow, this is fucking
filthy
.  I knew you weren’t as innocent as you looked.”

There’s no way to take my book back from Caleb now without climbing into bed with him, so I decide to let him have his fun.  “I haven’t gotten to that part yet, so I don’t know how dirty it gets.  Maybe you should read the whole thing.  You might learn something.”

Caleb laughs, and starts reading a sex scene out loud in a deep, melodramatic voice.  Not wanting to be spoiled, I jump into the bathroom and take a shower, hoping that he’ll be tired of making fun of my book by the time I get out.

15 minutes later, and he’s definitely tired of it.  He’s out like a light, right in the middle of my bed.  I try to nudge him awake and get him on the floor, but he won’t budge.  He must have been pretty drunk, I guess.

Well, I’m definitely not sleeping on the floor.  Not with a red-eye flight tomorrow.  And since he’s too heavy to safely move, it looks like I have to do the one thing I told myself I was never going to do:  get into bed with Caleb.

I push Caleb over to the side of the bed and click off the lights.  As I’m lying there with my eyes closed, though, I’m thinking about what he said about his mom.  He threw the party so he wouldn’t be thinking about her.  Maybe that explains a lot of the stupid stuff he does.  I roll over in bed and wrap my arms around Caleb’s neck.  “I lost somebody, too.  My dad.  You’re not alone, okay?”

I squeeze Caleb tight and roll back over to my side of the bed.  For a second, I feel the whole bed vibrate, like maybe he heard me, and he’s saying thanks.

But it’s probably just my imagination.

Chapter 8:  Caleb

Emma looks frustrated.  She’s got the cutest little pouty face on as she hauls armfuls of books back and forth across the bookstore.  On her adorable fucking perfect summer calendar, it says that this is supposed to be a publishing internship, but I’ve been here all day, and all I’ve seen her do is get people coffee, haul books, and catch a lot of undeserved shit from some short guy with a comb-over.

I’m surprised she hasn’t noticed me yet.  I’m not hiding or anything, I’m right here at the fucking reading table, reading Emma’s book,
The Forbidden Grove: A Young Woman’s First Love
.

At first, I thought it was hilarious, but now I’m actually kind of getting into it a little bit.  The princess in this shit reminds me of Emma.  Tristan obviously wants to make a fucking move on her, but every time he tries she runs back to her little garden and plays hard to get, even though she totally wants him. 

On the other side of the book store, Emma drops an armful of books on the ground, sighs, and starts picking them all up.  My original plan was to wait until she got off work to surprise her, but if I have to sit through any more of this shit, I’m probably going to end up throwing that short guy into the clearance rack.  I’m pulling the plug on this shit now.

“How’s the summer of adventure going?”

When Emma sees me, she drops all the books she picked up back on the floor again.  “Caleb, what the fuck are you doing here?”

I shrug.  “Book shopping.”

Emma drops down to her knees, and I go down with her.  “You have to get out of here.  I’m not supposed to be talking to anybody.”

“So I’m not allowed to help you?  They’re paying me the same amount that they’re paying you.”

“Seriously, get out, my boss is going to kill me if he sees you.”

“You mean that short guy with the shitty hair?  I’d like to see him fucking try.”  I take all the books out of Emma’s hands and start carrying them in the direction she was headed.

“You’re going to get me fired on the first day, asshole.  This is a prestigious internship.”

“Tell me where these go so I don’t have to guess.”

Emma points to the other side of the store.  “Over there, behind the table, but you can’t just put them down.  There’s going to be a book signing, and the author wants them in the shape of a giant pyramid because the book is set in Ancient Egypt.”  I look over to where Emma’s pointing, and see a bunch of copies of this same book stacked into a half-finished pyramid.

“Are you fucking serious?  I thought this was a publishing internship.”

“It is.  It’s just, you know, you start at the bottom.”  I can tell Emma’s disappointed, and that makes me want to find whoever’s responsible and dispense some fucking justice.

“You know, you’re getting paid the same as the people who built the actual pyramids.  And they didn’t fucking call that a prestigious internship.”

I dump the books down on top of this bullshit pyramid, and Emma scrambles to arrange them in perfect order behind me.  “You know what I think you should do?  I think you should tell these publishing guys to fuck off and come to the beach with me.”

Emma’s eyes dart around the bookstore, making sure her boss isn’t nearby.  “What are you even doing here?  Why aren’t you up in Palo Alto?”

“It’s fucking empty up there, sis.  Besides, there aren’t any good gyms in the neighborhood, and I need to train for my next fight.”

“But isn’t it stupid to drive all the way down here just to train?”

“Of course it is.  That’s why I’m staying at your house.”

“Caleb!”  Emma cringes and lowers her voice to a whisper.  “You can’t just decide to stay at my house.  We don’t even have a spare room!”

I reach into my pocket and pull out a set of golden keys.  “I talked to your mom about it.  She told me I could sleep in her room while they’re on that continental honeymoon thing.”

Emma glares at me.  “You’d better not bring any gross MMA fighters into my house.”

“Trust me, that’s not going to be a problem.  I’m not doing anything like that again for a long time.”

Emma sighs.  “Moving books back and forth all day and then putting up with you when I get home.  I can’t believe I actually thought this was going to be the perfect summer.”

Emma starts walking back to go get some more books, and I follow behind her, pretending to browse the shelves as I go.  “You know, if I were you, I’d be a little more polite to me.  After all, it just so happens that I could get you a much better gig than this.”

“Thanks, but I’m not interested in being a ring girl.”

That makes me laugh, but when I’m done laughing, I catch up to Emma and cut her off, backing her up against a bookshelf full of detective stories.  “I’m talking about Poodle, sis.  When Dad left for the honeymoon, he temporarily promoted all his management people, to see who could handle an increase in responsibility.  And that means I’m now in charge of the entire PoodleMatch program, including hiring interns.”

Emma’s jaw drops.  “
You’re
in charge of the entire program?”

I nod.  “Don’t look so fucking shocked, sis.  I happen to be very good at my job with Poodle.”

I can see the little gears turning in Emma’s head.  “So you can hire me.”

“Hypothetically, yes.  And hypothetically, I can even pay you.  I know I’d definitely rather see you doing that than stuck here hauling books.”

Emma narrows her eyes at me.  “What’s the catch?”

“The catch is that you have to quit this bullshit right now and come to the beach with me.”

Emma takes her sweet time contemplating my offer.  I’m trying to play it cool like I don’t care either way, but I really, really want to see her in that bathing suit I picked out for her.

“Fine.  Let’s do it.  But I’m not officially quitting until my position with Poodle is final.”

As Emma goes into her boss’ office, I lean up against the wall outside and pretend to read a cookbook I picked up off the shelf.  I can hear her making up some story about how she has urgent family business and she needs to leave early.  Personally, if I was her, I’d skip the story and tell that guy where to shove his pyramid, but whatever.  What matters is we’re finally fucking hanging out.  The fact that we’ll both be half naked is just a bonus.

Emma steps out of the office, eyes bright like a hamster’s.  “Alright.  I’m free.  You want to go to the beach?  Let’s go to the beach.”

Chapter 9:  Emma

Where the hell did Caleb find this bikini?  What woman with my body type would even try to wear something this tiny? 

Caleb practically snarls when I walk out of the car wearing it.  “Holy shit, Emma.  That’s the best $3.50 I’ve ever spent.”

I can’t help but blush at how openly he admires my body.  Doesn’t he have any dignity at all?  I’m one to talk, I guess.  I’ve been sneaking peeks at his abs ever since he took off his shirt on the way out of the book store.  But still, that’s different!  I’m just looking.  I’d never actually make a move on him!

I shift from foot to foot, trying not to think about how much my stepbrother is enjoying the sight of me in this bikini.  “Let’s just get to the beach.  Did you bring a bathing suit, or are you going to go swimming in your jeans?”

Caleb smirks at me and unzips his pants, letting them slip halfway down his hips before he slides them down his legs with one hand.  He thrusts his crotch out as he takes off his pants, and his technique makes me wonder if he’s also a secret stripper.

I wish I’d walked in on
that
show a couple weeks ago instead.

Wait, no I don’t, what?

Under his jeans, Caleb’s wearing a black bathing suit that goes halfway down his thighs.  This doesn’t seem fair.  If I have to parade around a public beach with two little triangles of fabric barely covering my nipples, shouldn’t Caleb have to wear one of those European male thongs?

Caleb clears his throat, and my eyes dart back up to his face.  Oh god, how long was I staring at his bathing suit?  “You know, if you want, we can skip the beach and get a room at one of those motels down the street.”

I should have known it was going to be like this.  I let Caleb seduce me away from my internship with promises of a harmless beach trip and a better internship, and he’s already trying to get into my nearly nonexistent bikini bottom.  “Caleb, I don’t care how horny this makes you,” I gesture down at my swimsuit-clad body, “If you think the two of us are ever hooking up again, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.  We’re either going to be friends, or we’re going to be enemies.”