His New Roommate : Stepbrother Standalone Romance

by Vanessa Kinney

  “Honey, Nate’s right. It’s just smart to save up and he has the money to provide for her.” My dad backed me up.

  There was a moment of silence and then Holly focused on Lily again.

  “I think it would be BEST if you got your own place. I can help pay for part of the rent.”

  My dad stopped eating and only turned toward Holly.

  “I don’t think that’s a good decision.”

  “NO.” Holly roared. “I think it would be the BEST decision for Lily.”

  My rage was starting to bubble.

  I opened my mouth, “I-”

  Lily placed her hand on my lap. “Yeah,” her voice broke. “I’ll start looking for apartments.” She looked my way.

  Her eyes were dull. She lost all her spark. She stared down at her plate. I didn’t want to say anything. I knew I wasn’t going to win with Holly. But I wasn’t going to lose Lily. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to LET her be taken away.

  “Good.” Holly smiled with satisfaction.

  I grabbed Lily’s hand trying to reassure her that everything was going to be all right. But she pulled away. It got hard to breathe.

  I hugged my dad good bye. “You have your ticket and everything.”

  “I got the most important thing. My Carne Azteca.” He chuckled as he lifted his leftover bag.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t get you a ticket in the morning. They only had tickets for the night.”

  My dad laughed, “That’s okay son. I had some good food from Chicago and in a few hours, I can go to sleep in my own bed in Springfield. Works out perfectly.”

  Holly was saying goodbye to Lily. She seemed so down after that argument at the restaurant. At least in a few minutes, Holly can leave and I can talk to Lily in peace. I gave one more hug to my dad and watched Lily hug my dad. I looked over at Holly who was still giving me the stink eye.

  “Goodbye, Holly,” I said in my fake sweet voice.

  “Goodbye.” She gave me a similar fake voice.

  I closed the door behind me and stared at Lily who was looking at the ground.

  “Finally, we’re alone again.” I chuckled.

  I went closer to her.

  “I’m moving out.” She blurted.

  I laughed, “Noooo. You’re not.”

  “Nate.” Her eyes were emotionless.

  “Lily.” I inched toward her going in for a hug. She was lifeless.

  “Lil-li-an.” I lifted her from the ground.

  Still nothing. She was limp and heavy in my arms. Purposefully infuriating. I started to walk toward my room. She let out a little grunt.

  “Come on. Lily. Don’t get all moody.”

  I jumped and lifted her a little higher. She wrapped her legs around me.

  “There’s my, Lilypad.”

  I felt her cheek lift on my shoulder. I got a smile. Yes. I sat at the edge of my bed with Lily still wrapped around me. She looked at me with her puppy dog eyes. I leaned in to kiss her neck but she pushed me away. She got off my lap and started to walk toward my door.

  “Lily, are you okay?”

  “I need to get ready for work tomorrow. And so do you.”

  “Do you want to get ready together?” I gave her a little wink as I got off the bed and inched toward her. “We can take a nice shower and then you can sleep in my bed.” I hugged her from behind and pressed my hard cock against her ass.

  She pushed me away. “I-I’m not in the mood. I need to get ready. Alone.”

  “Well, if you change your mind. You know where I live.” I chuckled.

  She looked over her shoulder giving me a distance smile. I knew there was something on her mind, but I’ll let her rest.

  18

  Lily

  Apartment Tab

  “Hey, you’re the new girl, right?” A girl with a short afro approached my desk.

  “A-Ah, yeah. I’m Lillian, but you can call me Lily.”

  “Jasmine.” She stuck out her hand to shake it.

  “Nice to meet you.”

  She started to giggle. “Well, now. You don’t need to be that formal.”

  I started to laugh with her, “It’s still my first week so I’m nervous.”

  “That’s fine. My first week was hell here. I had so many projects I thought I was going to have a break down.”

  “Yep. I’m in the same boat.”

  “Well anyway. I came over here because I wanted to invite you to our ladies’ night out.”

  “Oh okay. That’s great. When is it?”

  She looked through her phone. “Not this Friday, but next Friday.”

  “Yeah, sure I can make it. So is this like a monthly thing?”

  “No. It all depends when the girls here are free. You can also bring a friend if you want to. But only girls allowed.”

  “Okay great. Yeah, I can make it.”

  “Anyway, I have to get back to work. If you ever want to talk or whatever just turn the corner and I’ll be at the first desk.”

  I nodded as she walked away.

  I felt a smile spread across my face. Finally, I get to go out with some girls and just relax.

  I looked around the office, which was filled with seven girls. They were all around the same age, but a little older than me.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my phone light up. It was a text from Nate.

  We need to talk tonight. -Nate.

  I didn’t answer. He had texted me the same thing this morning too. I had been avoiding him since the whole situation with my mother two days ago. I looked around the office to make sure no one was behind me and opened my apartment search tab.

  BING!

  The elevator yelled and I knew it was time to lie. I will just say I’m not feeling good again. I really don’t want to talk to Nate. Ever since my mother and Mickey came to visit I had been feeling anxious around Nate and I regretted everything.

  I opened the door and I heard the shower roaring. Oh my god. This is great, he’s in the shower.

  “Lily?” He came out of the bathroom still dry.

  Shit.

  He had probably just turned on the shower.

  “We need to talk.” He came toward me with his blue towel wrapped around his waist.

  I tried to look away from his sexy body, but he was shining with sweat. He had just came back from the gym. I needed to focus.

  “Can we talk later? I need to finish some things for work as soon as possible.” I lied.

  “Lily.” He roared as I walked toward my room.

  I slammed the door behind him and he didn’t try to force anything. I could hear him swearing as he walked away. I stood in my room trying to figure out what I should do. I felt so alone. I wanted to cry my eyes out and just disappear.

  There was no point being with Nate if we couldn’t be a real couple. I mean it’s not like we can date. Our parents are married. My mom started to freak out when she saw us just getting close.

  I let out a heavy sigh and knocked out on my bed. I should have never kissed him. I should have never made that bet with my job. I started to doze off on my bed. I needed a nap. My head was killing me.

  I heard my phone ring. It was Mindy. The last time, I talked to Mindy I told her about how Nate and how he told me to dress appropriately. I picked up the phone.

  “What the fuck, woman?” She yelled. “You move to Chicago and just disappear?”

  I grunted.

  “I’ve been really busy.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” She somewhat understood. “Well I just took my last summer final and now I am ready to actually have a summer.” She squeaked.

  “Where are you going this year? Mexico? Chile? Columbia?” I started to name all the places she visited over the years.

  Mindy began to laugh, “CHICAGO!!!” She yelled.

  “Wait, are you serious?” I jumped of my bed. I felt excited but also a little worried.

  “Yep! I’ve visited family the past years. All I want to do now is visit you and see your sexy roommate.”
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  “Well. That might be a problem?”

  “Whhyyyy?” She made the word longer than it had to be.

  “I’m going to move out.”

  She was silent for a few seconds. “Whhyyyy?”

  “Things have changed.” I mumbled.

  “Do you have to pay rent now?” She was trying to figure out what the problem.

  “I fucked Nate. I fucked my stepbrother.” I blurted out. “More than once.”

  She started to yell and laugh excitingly as if she had just won a large pile of cash.

  “Holy Shit! Are you serious? I mean I hope you’re serious. You’ve never done anything that wild. How was it? Does he have a big cock? Thick, long and veiny? Was it worth the two years without a dick in your life?”

  “Min. Slow down.” She was getting too excited.

  She stopped laughing, “You BITCH! You didn’t call me for weeks and THIS happened!” Her temper was going into overdrive.

  “I know. I know I’m sorry. But it’s a long story and things have been going so fast.”

  “I got time.” She said in her sassy voice. “I got all the time. In. The. World.”

  I told her the whole story from the beginning. From the shower incident, all the way to today. Mindy had nothing to say which was rare. I knew this was not a good sign.

  “Min?” I called for her.

  “Hmmm.” She replied.

  “What’re you thinking?”

  “Hmmm. Thoughts.” She replied.

  I started to giggle. “I know that, but what do you think I should do.”

  “I don’t know. I feel like you aren’t telling me the whole story.” She said with suspicion.

  She wasn’t wrong. I didn’t tell her about the part with Holly. I completely skipped the part that my mom and Mickey came to visit. I know how much Mindy doesn’t like my mother.

  “I think-,” she grunted. “I think I need to come to Chicago and we can just relax before you make a stupid decision like moving out. Don’t you even dare look at apartments!”

  I chuckled a little because she knew I had already started looking at apartments, “Yeah, I think I need to just relax a bit.”

  Maybe that’s all I need.

  Just to relax.

  19

  Lily

  Botched Information

  “Hello, Megan.” I greeted an empty desk.

  The front desk was empty. Her name tag wasn’t even there anymore. I looked behind the desk. None of her stuff was there.

  Did Megan get fired?

  I remember the beginning of the week she got in trouble with that one guy that had interviewed me. I walked toward my desk and took a deep breath. Everyone was staring at me.

  Did I have something on my face?

  I took a deep breath and sat down at my chair. Jasmine came around the corner heading my way.

  “Happy Friday, Lily.” Jasmine snuck up behind me.

  “Hey, Jasmine.” I was still looking over at Megan’s front desk.

  She hovered around my desk as if she wanted to ask me something. She pulled an empty chair from behind me and rolled next to me.

  “Did you know the girl at the front desk?” She asked me.

  “Kind of? I just know her name is Megan.”

  “So you don’t know her as a friend? Like outside of work?”

  “No. Met her when I had my interview and then again this week.”

  She nodded. I had a feeling she thought I was lying. But why would I lie about knowing the receptionist?

  “I just wanted to make sure.” There was a moment of silence. She was starting to play with a pencil on my desk. “Did you hear the office gossip today?”

  I shook my head. “I just got in.” I mumbled.

  “They think that girl who worked at the front desk sabotaged the interview contacts,” she looked up at me. “Except for yours.”

  “What?”

  Sabotage?

  “Well, apparently the front desk girl-“

  “Megan.” I corrected her.

  She nodded. “Yeah, well they think that Megan altered the documents that Mr. Keen gave her.”

  “Who?”

  “He’s the guy that does all the interviews.” She paused again. She seemed nervous to bring it up.

  “What do you mean altered?” I was really confused at what was happening.

  My heart started to race. I felt like I was in trouble.

  “Well, the documents that Mr. Keen emailed Megan where different from the ones that were saved in her download folder. Mr. Keen thinks that she changed the emails and numbers so that you would get the job.”

  “What?”

  My heart started rumbling inside my chest.

  “She said that the documents she got were the ones Mr. Keen emailed her. B-but the evidence is clear.” She stopped playing with the pencil. “The email addresses had random periods and dashes in them and the phone numbers had one or two numbers switched. Her files on her computer were different from the ones that Mr. Keen emailed her.”

  So, all the peoples contacts information me were altered and changed? Everyone except for my number and email.

  Is this for real?

  “I just wanted to know if you were a part of this.” She finally asked.

  “No. No.” I began to panic. “I didn’t-”

  “Lily.” Mr. Prime called from the stairs leading to his office. “Can I see you?”

  Everyone in the office stared at me as I headed upstairs.

  “Mr. Prime-”

  “Sit down.” He said. He wasn’t angry, but he wasn’t happy either.

  “So I take it that you heard the office news by now.”

  I nodded. “But I swear I didn’t do anything. I didn’t tell her to manipulate the information to give me a job-”

  “Lily. Don’t worry about it.” He gave me his grandfather looking smile.

  My heart slowed down a little bit, but I was still worried I was going to get fired.

  “I swear I didn’t do anything- I understand if you want to fire me so that you can hire someone else on the list with better credentials.”

  He arched his eyebrows. He was confused.

  He broke out in a laugh. “You’re not getting fired.” His laugh became heartier. “What has been done. Has been done.” He clapped his hands.

  He took a seat.

  “Listen. Mr. Keen is upset at the fact that is spoiled nephew, Kevin, didn’t get your job. He wouldn’t have cared who we hired if his nephew wasn’t on that list. When his nephew didn’t get the job, he took out his anger at Megan and blamed her. He didn’t even think to investigate the virus infected computer. Plus, Mr. Keen does NOT have the authority to fire anyone, which is why he no longer has a place at this company. Megan will be back on Monday.”

  “Wait; there was a virus on her computer?” My heart beat faster.

  “Yeah, there was. I guess Megan downloaded something in her email that gave her a virus. Most of the files in her download folder were different from the ones in her email. It was the computer's fault not hers.”

  My heart felt one hundred times heavier. No. It can’t be.

  He started laughing. “I guess it was meant to be that your information wasn’t botched by the computer. I knew I had good feeling about you.”

  He smiled at me, but I was still thinking about the virus on the computer.

  It can’t be. He couldn’t have done this.

  “Well anyway. I’ll stop nagging you so you can get back to work.” Mr. Prime said.

  “Thank you, Mr. Prime, for everything. It means a lot to me.”

  He smiled again and I headed back towards my desk. Everyone was still watching me.I looked at my desk, Jasmine was still sitting there.

  “So what happened?” Jasmine asked.

  “There was a virus on Megan’s computer. I guess, I just got lucky.”

  “Wait, what?”

  I told her what Mr. Prime told me.

  “OMG. This is amazing. I t
hought you cheated the system.” She laughed.

  I smiled nervously.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh at you. Listen. I’m sorry if I accused you of anything. I just wanted to get to the bottom of this.” She took a deep breath. “At least Megan is coming back.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So remember. Next Friday we get to party.” Jasmine yelled as she walked around the corner.

  My phone lit up. It was Nate.

  We NEED to talk today. No excuses! -Nate.

  My heart started to feel heavier. He couldn’t have done it.

  Could he?

  20

  Nate

  Biggest Regret

  I looked at my phone and scrolled up. All the messages were in blue. I can tell she read my messages but she isn’t answering them, and then when she does come home, she avoids me.

  I grabbed a beer from the fridge. I need to relax. I pulled the chair and sat back down at the dining room table. I will sit here all night if I have to. I need to talk to her. I need to figure out what the fuck is going on.

  Ever since her mom brought up moving out, she has been acting so distant. I understand Holly is her mom and all, but goddamit. She can’t just ignore me.

  I looked at the oven clock. She should be home any second. I finished my beer and headed toward the fridge for another.

  I heard the BING of the elevator. Finally. My anger started to build up.

  “We need to talk!” She took one step into the apartment.

  She didn’t say anything. She just stood in the doorway and gave me a dirty stare.

  “Don’t even try to avoid me today because we ARE going to talk. Whether you like it or not.”

  She slammed the front door. The whole apartment shook.

  “What the fuck! Don’t slam the door!”

  “Fine. You want to talk? Then let’s talk.” This is the angriest I have ever seen her.

  “How did I get my job?” She shouted.

  “What?”

  “How did I get my job?” She repeated it again in the same tone.

  “Wha- What does that have to do with anything? I wanted to talk about you moving out, and us.”