His New Roommate : Stepbrother Standalone Romance

by Vanessa Kinney

  “NATE!’ Samuel shook me. His voice was crystal clear.

  “I’m going to kill him. I’m actually going to kill him.” I got out of my chair and headed toward the door.

  “NO! You promised!” He was pushing me away. Samuel was a little bigger than I was but I was filled with too much anger to let him push me away.

  “Do it for Lily,” Samuel said.

  “What! DO what!” I yelled.

  I’m sure the whole floor could hear, but I didn’t care.

  “Keep your voice down!” Samuel begged.

  “Why!” I yelled. “I was serious when I told you before that I didn’t care if I got fired.”

  “Just sit down.” He said in a calm voice.

  Maybe I need to think about this. But I couldn’t. Mike violated her. Mike fucking forced himself on her. On my Lily! I’m going to kill Mike.

  “Nate. For fuck sake, just sit down.”

  I sat down and started to control my breathing. My breath started to go back to normal but my heart was at a whole different speed.

  “Can we talk about one thing at a time?” Samuel said.

  He knew there were a thousand and one thoughts running through my head.

  “How long did you know?” I furiously asked him.

  “Since Saturday.” He sheepishly said.

  I turned my head toward Samuel. “You knew since SATURDAY and you didn’t tell me!” I started to raise my voice again.

  “She told me not to tell you!”

  “This is something I need to know. This is something that needs to be reported to the police. Mike can’t get away with this!”

  “Lily didn’t want to involve the police. She made that very clear.” Samuel went back to his calm voice. “I told her the same thing, but she made it very clear.”

  “Why?” I started to think about Mike having his way with Lily. Shoving his disgusting tongue into her perfect mouth.

  FUCK! I should have been there!

  “She said that he was so drunk he didn’t know what he was doing.”

  “Bull. Fucking. Shit. He probably knew exactly what he was doing. He had it for her since the first day. FUCK!” I slammed my fist on my desk as hard as I could.

  The bang of my fist echoed throughout the whole office. We sat in silence for a little while.

  “Why didn’t she want me to know?” I looked over at Samuel.

  “She- she just didn’t want you to worry about her.”

  I let out a harsh laugh, “Great.” I shook my head and hid my face in my hands.

  Lily’s so angry with me that she couldn’t even ask me, her stepbrother, for help. God. Dammit. I fucked up so hard.

  “She misses you,” Samuel confessed.

  I looked up at him with a little bit of hope in my eyes.

  “She started using the new phone after what happened with Mike.”

  I let out a sad smile. At least she was finally using one of the gifts I got her.

  “It’s all my fault. If she never came to live with me she would have never met Mike and this would have never happened.”

  Samuel looked at me with his tired eyes. “It’s not your fault. You know that. It’s Mike’s fault.” Samuel clarified.

  There was still a part of me that wanted to blame myself. I should have just left Lily alone. I should have never brought her to Chicago, but I was selfish. There was a long silence as I tried to keep my emotions on track before I went up to the meeting.

  “Were you serious about this job?” Samuel asked.

  “Yes.”

  Samuel looked my way with worry in his eyes.

  “I really like her,” Samuel admitted.

  I chuckled. “I thought you didn’t like her.”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “She grew on me.”

  “Yeah. She does.” I looked down at my phone. I wanted to call her and text her to see if she was okay, but I can’t.

  “You need to control yourself when we get to the meeting.” Samuel changed the subject. “You can’t do anything irrational. Nothing that can burn your bridges. You can’t do anything stupid. You promised me.”

  I chuckled. I don’t even know what will happen when I see Mike again.

  “I don’t know if I can keep that promise anymore.”

  ***

  “As you can see on the screen, our software is in high demand in Asia as well as Europe. We are still trying to improve our numbers in both North and South America-”

  I zoned out as Samuel’s presentation droned on, and focused on the door. The conference room was made of frosted glass so I couldn’t see anyone outside. I looked over at Samuel who was keeping an eye on me. He knew I was looking out for Mike, who was 30 minutes late.

  “Now let’s talk about the changes we can develop for the software to make it more profitable in these other countries.” He pointed at the projector screen.

  “Nathaniel Atom, head of the Software Development, will be filling us on with the potential changes to the software.”

  I stood up and headed toward the front of the room. Samuel sat down next to me to change the slides.

  “As you can see our software is run on the older programmed computers which are why they are fav-”

  Mike walked into the room. My heart started to beat a hundred times in the span of a second, everything started to become foggy. I looked over at Samuel who was giving me strong eye contact as if he was trying to speak to me. I cleared my throat. My only focus was on Mike now. Him and his busted-up face.

  “-which is why they are favored in Asia and Europe mostly. If we just change the codes to support the different platforms of the-”

  Mike started to whisper something to his Dad while gesturing his face. He chuckled thickly. My nostrils flared and I started to feel a little light headed. I loosened my tie and unbuttoned the top button of my dress shirt.

  “Are you feeling alright Nathaniel?” One of the older gentlemen asked. I cleared my throat.

  “Yeah. I’m just feeling a little light headed.” My eyes focused only on Mike.

  He had a smile spread across his face. I hate that he thinks he got away with it. I cleared my throat again. I looked at the power point and went back to my slide.

  “If we just change the codes to support the different platforms then we can improve the software. Here are the booklets for the new programs we need to improve the coding and software overall.”

  I grabbed the booklets and started to pass them to each individual at the table. My heart started to pound rapidly the closer I got to Mike. He was all the way at the end of the table.

  I skipped over two people.

  “Nate, you skipped-” One of the gentlemen said.

  I dropped the booklets in front of Mike. The paper smacked the table leaving the room speechless.

  “You went into the bathroom for Lily.” I snapped.

  “What?” Mike’s eyes widen.

  I couldn’t tell if he just remembered the truth or if he genuinely didn’t remember anything from that night.

  “Do you remember? You went into the bathroom to find Lily. To-” I couldn’t get the rest of the sentence out.

  “Dude. I- I was drunk. I didn’t know what I was doing.” He smirked. “No one got hurt. Don’t worry-”

  His smirk was my last trigger to apply the final blow. My fist connected with his face and his chair tipped backwards, dumping him on the floor in a heap.

  I heard Samuel’s faint whisper, “Fuck.”

  No one in the room said anything. Mike’s dad was looking at me with anger on his face but didn’t say anything.

  “WHAT THE FUCK,” Mike yelled as his face was dripping with blood.

  “YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF HER!” I yelled. “AND YOU TELL ME NOT TO WORRY. LILY IS MINE. LILY IS MY GIRL! NOT YOURS OR ANYONE ELSE'S!” I roared at him

  Mikes eyes widen as he opened his mouth in disgust.

  “Nate. I think-” Samuel tried to reason with me, but it was too late.

  The front of M
ike’s shirt was covered in blood, but I felt nothing toward him. My eyes darted to Mike’s dad who was probably wishing that would I drop dead.

  “I quit.” I calmly said while fixing my tie.

  Mike’s father slapped the table as he pulled himself to his feet. “NO! YOU ARE FIRED! You will NEVER get to get a job in this company or any other company as long as I live! DO YOU HEAR ME? You’re DONE in this city.” He slammed the table again.

  He went over to help his son.

  “Good.” I gave him a little smile and headed toward the door.

  “Lily-Lily’s your sister and you’re fucking her???” Mike yelled in disgust as I opened the door.

  “Stepsister,” I smirked at him as I walked away.

  I heard muffled noises from inside the conference room, but it wasn’t my problem anymore.

  I didn’t turn back. I was never going to turn back.

  Now, it was time to get my girl.

  26

  Lily

  The Talk

  “Are you okay?” Mindy asked for the hundredth time.

  “Stop asking if I’m okay.” I was getting annoyed with her questions. I know what I had been through was a lot, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

  “I’m fine,” I mumbled under my breath.

  I looked down at my phone and there were no new messages from Nate. I unblocked him after I activated the new phone but I only got one text from him earlier today while I was at work. He was probably thinking about me while he was working from home.

  Hey, Lilypad. -Nate

  I really regretted blocking him before. I wanted to know what he said before but it was too late now.

  I grabbed my phone and pretended it was Nate’s strong hand. I missed him so much. I looked over at Mindy who was flipping through the TV channels. I don’t know what I could have done without her.

  “Any new texts?” Mindy asked.

  “No.” I wrapped a blanket around me.

  “So, I still don’t understand why you won’t go to him?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I mumbled.

  “I’ve been here for five days and you still don’t want to talk about it?” She sighed. “Just go see him.”

  “He’s not going to want to see me.” I started to tear up.

  Mindy turned off the TV.

  “You finally want to talk?” She used her serious voice. “What level of honesty do you want?”

  “10.” I sighed.

  “10? You sure. That is full blown truth serum.”

  We both chuckled.

  “Yeah. I don’t want to be lied to.”

  I wanted someone to be honest with me even if it hurt. I needed to know if I was making a huge mistake. Or if I did the right thing.

  “Well, first off- I understand why you are mad at Nate and what he did to get you the job. But since when did you believe in luck and signs and all that crap.”

  I started to laugh as a tear rolled down my eye.

  “I mean you basically live off that quote your dad said with ‘Make it happen if you can’t find a way’ or something like that.”

  “If you can’t find a way. Make a way.” I corrected her.

  She rolled her eyes as she let out a snort. “That one. One thing I know about you is that you aren’t really into being patient and letting things fall into place. You’re a go-getter.”

  “I know. But it was easier this time to pretend that- that maybe if I magically got this job then maybe me and Nate would- you know.” I took a deep breath. “But he lied to me to get in my pants. He lied and used me.”

  “The way I see it is. You got a job. Your dream job and your stepbrother, Nate was the one that got you it. Why are you punishing him instead of praising him?”

  “Because he did something wrong!” I yelled. I was still not over what he did. I wasn’t as mad as I was when I found out, but he did lie.

  “In plus, that whole faith thing was bullshit. You would have fallen apart at his feet sooner or later. You were a Level 7.”

  “10,” I mumbled.

  She started to crack up. “10? You got to a 10. WOAH. Yeah. You were NOT going to last. Even if you didn’t get the second interview.”

  I didn't say anything.

  “There’s another problem isn’t there?” Mindy read my mind.

  “Yeah.” I hesitated to tell her cause I knew what she was going to say. “Holly.”

  “Holly the Bad Molly!” Mindy shrieked.

  Mindy designated my mom the Bad Molly after she first met her my junior year. I don’t know how I felt about her comparing my mom to a bad drug trip.

  My mom always came off as chill and nice, but then when something doesn’t go as she had planned, she will try to manipulate the situation.

  Mindy was getting fired up just thinking about her. “She was here. To Chicago. When did she come to visit-?” She gasped. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She aimed her fired up fury my way.

  “Because you were going to react this way.”

  “How could I not? She’s the only reason we didn’t dorm together your senior year, remember? I am a ‘bad influence.’” Her imitation of my mother’s voice was uncanny.

  “Well, you were.” I chuckled.

  She laughed along with me.

  “TRUE! But you didn’t care until she told you.” She giggled and took a deep breath. “So, what happened?”

  “Nate invited my mom and Mickey over and one of the nights we went to a Mexican restaurant. She saw Nate and me…. Getting close and then she freaked out. She was telling me- demanding that I move out.”

  I sighed.

  “She has a way to get to you. A way to get under your skin, twist your thoughts and make you think like she does, but you have to stop. I know you’ve trying to please her and make her happy ever since your dad died. But it’s your life. Not hers.” Mindy told me.

  “But it made me realize that we’re RELATED! It would have NEVER worked out.”

  Mindy rolled her eyes. “You’re not related. He was basically a stranger when you met him. You can’t even call him a relative, let alone your brother. He avoided you because he didn’t accept the fact that he had a sister or he didn’t even care. You don’t even know his middle name!”

  I chuckled. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “I don’t know. I was trying to make a point that you don’t know him enough to be confused about being related.” She laughed with me. “It was a bad point.”

  “I don’t even know if he has a middle name,” I confessed.

  We both laughed.

  Our laughter started to dim down.

  “To be honest. I’m more confused than mad.”

  Mindy got serious again. “I think it might be time to see him. At least talk to him. You can’t be confused forever.”

  I shook my head. “I hurt him too much. He probably doesn’t want to see me.”

  I also didn’t know what I wanted anymore. And if I saw him. I didn’t think I can handle it.

  “It’s time to make yourself happy.” Mindy started to preach. “Forget about his “betrayal” and praise him. Forget about making your judgmental mother happy. And forget about this ‘he probably doesn’t want to see me’ bull crap.”

  What if I go back and I get rejected. What if he doesn’t forgive me for calling him the biggest regret of my life. I mean I just left him. As soon as it got tough between us.

  I left.

  I didn’t even try to talk to him. I let my emotions take over and I ruined something good.

  Mindy grunted and rolled her eyes. I can tell she was sick of my hesitation. “Well, I did my job. But it’s up to you now.”

  She got off the couch frustrated by my silence.

  “Do what you want. But I think you’re making a huge mistake.” She flapped her hand at me and left me sitting there to wallow in my fear and confusion.

  27

  Nate

  No-named Fish

  BING!
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  The elevator rang in my ear. I got off the elevator making sure I didn’t drop the box.

  It was the most important box I’ve ever held. I shuffled through my pocket for my key.

  I placed the key inside of the door, but the door was already unlocked. I must have forgotten to lock it. I walked into my apartment when all of a sudden, I tripped over something.

  “SHIT!!”

  I caught myself before my body or the box hit the ground.

  “What the FUCK!” I looked over at what I tripped.

  It was a box. It was Lily’s box. My heart was skipping with joy and confusion. I placed the important box on the couch before something happened to it.

  “Lily?”

  I looked over and Lily appeared in my bedroom doorway. A chill washed over my body. I looked over to her moving box and back at her. She had a faint smile on her face.

  Does this mean that she is back?

  “What are you d-doing here?” My voice broke. “Are you coming back?”

  Why wasn’t she at work today? It’s a Wednesday. She couldn’t say anything she just stared at me with her puppy dog eyes.

  I walked to her quickly and gathered her up in my arms. I spun her around like she weighed nothing.

  “I missed you so much.” Her scent overwhelmed me.

  Finally, she is back.

  “I’m not staying.” she whispered.

  What? I let her go and looked into her sad eyes. I sat down on the edge of my bed.

  “What?”

  “I’m here to grab my other things.” She looked away.

  “Lily.”

  She walked away, but I carefully grabbed her wrist. This felt too familiar with the first time she left. I need to make this right.

  “I’m sorry.” I pulled her in and gave her a tight hug. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m so sorry I betrayed you, but I promise I didn’t mean to use you. Or hurt you.”

  She looked confused. As if she wanted to believe me but she couldn’t.

  “I know you were trying to make me happy but-but you lied to me.” She pushed me away. “You used me.” She mumbled.

  “Fine. I won’t ever lie to you again.” I gave her a faint smile. “I’ll tell you the truth from now on. No more secrets. I promise.”