Stepbrother Bad Boy's Baby Boxed Set(16)

I pulled together the ingredients for a quick berry smoothie and made myself my mid-afternoon snack, pouring a second glass for Julian. Coming over to the sofa, I handed him a glass, then sat down on my only other chair in the living room. When Kimberly or another friend comes over, we tend to relax at the kitchen island to eat, or just hang out on the floor. "So level with me Julian," I said, taking a drink from my smoothie and setting the glass down on my coffee table. "What brings you to Chicago?"

"I don't suppose you'd believe that I had a business deal that I'm negotiating with the guys at Forrester Hotels, do you?" he said, grinning.

I rolled my eyes. "Considering they relocated to Miami a year ago, no. Besides, I doubt you've ever done a regular business negotiation in your life."

"What do you mean?"

I decided it was time to put Julian on full blast mode. "Well, since graduating from high school, you dropped out of two universities, both times by your own choice. The first, Boston College, you said you didn't fit in at. The second, the University of Southern California, asked you to leave after what the newspapers called 'repeated violations of the student conduct policy.' I'll not go further on it. Since then, you've settled into the Los Angeles socialite scene, fueled by the fact John gives you enough money to basically allow you to do whatever you want. So I'll say it again Julian, what are you doing in Chicago?"

Julian looked down at his glass for a moment, then drained half of it in one long gulp. He looked down at his glass again, then at me. "You want the truth?"

"Yeah, the truth. Not saying I'm going to judge you, but I won't tolerate a liar. So make that rule four. You lie, and I'll be happy to find you a hotel room."

Julian nodded. "Okay. Truth is, I'm not sure why I'm here. A buddy of mine in Los Angeles said I needed to get my head straight, and I couldn't do that in LA. There was just this little voice in my head that said come to Chicago, you could help. So I went with it."

I thought about it for a moment, touched. "Why?"

Julian looked at me, and I swore it was the first time I'd ever seen the real him, other than glimpses as he had been lifting weights one time before our parents' wedding. "Because of all the people I know, you seem to have your head screwed on best. Your trust fund, it pays for this apartment, right?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "But I don't use it for much else."

"I gathered that from the way Yuki talked about you," Julian replied. "Do you know in almost a decade of working for Johnathan, she's never called me Julian? I've always been Mr. Castelbon, or sir to her. You know what that means."

"She doesn't like you very much," I replied. "I got clued in on Yuki's naming scheme very quickly."

"It's not even doesn't like. She doesn't respect me. Krystal, I thought about it, and I realized other than some guys in the gym, there's nobody who really respects me. They respect the Castelbon money, they respect the numbers I can put up in the weight room, and they probably respect the fact that I could whip their ass if I really wanted to. But not too many people respect me as a human being, let alone like me."

I couldn't argue the point. The fact was, I didn't even respect Julian all that much. I only took him in because he was technically family, and he hadn't pissed me off that much yet. Even while I said this to myself, a little voice in the back of my head added and because he looks.... I shut it up before it could go on much further.

"Okay. Well, here's the deal then. You can stay, as long as you can follow the four rules. Stay as long as you want. Honestly, if you’re serious about getting your head right, I'm all for it. I would like to get to know you, and it would be great to have a brother. I have way too many cousins as it is. A brother.... a brother would be nice."



* * *



Two nights later, while I was in the kitchen working the meat preparation station, Horst came by to check my work. "Four more steaks, two medium, one rare, one medium rare," he said. "Also, we have a large party that just came in. Six, young, too much money. Be prepared."

I inwardly groaned. While Chicago was nowhere near as filled with these types as New York or Los Angeles, it still had them. Normally when Horst came by like that, it was because a baseball player, musician, or someone else who rolled with an entourage came in. The worst in my opinion was a week when not only did the Bulls have the Heat in town for a game, but the Bears were playing against the Raiders. That was three days of hell. "Yes Chef."

"Eight minutes on the steaks."

I got back to work, and prepared for the tsunami. It hit like I expected, with appetizers coming in and flooding our stations. As I worked my way through a flood of seven steaks, Horst came by again. "When those are done, check the dining room. I think you'll know who the party is for.”

I nodded as I finished the steaks, and turned my station over to another person on the line, wiping my hands and ducked over to the pass, where there was a see through portion that looked out on the dining room. "Excuse me, Tim?"

Timothy, the head waiter, turned and looked over at me. "Yeah, what's up Krystal?"

"Horst said I should take a look at the tsunami party. Which table?"

"Table twelve, over by the window next to the column," Tim said, pointing over. I followed his gesture, and felt my face go slack. Sitting in the middle of the table, surrounded by four women and another guy, was Julian. He seemed to be having a grand old time, laughing and drawing a bunch of attention to himself. He hollered for a waiter, and I turned away, not saying anything. My face was burning too much, and I only stayed in control by balling my hands into fists and squeezing until my forearms felt like they were going to explode.