The Boxer: A Stepbrother Romance

by Dark, Roma

  “Doctor?” Emery heard herself ask, but also heard her voice echo.

  “Wake up, my dear.” He replied.

  Emery opened her eyes and could smell coffee brewing and sighed. She had just missed out on tea time with the Doctor. She sat up and grabbed her robe off of her dresser as she headed for the door. She wrapped it around herself and headed downstairs, thinking her father was probably already awake by that time. She hadn’t looked at the clock and headed downstairs, figuring she would just check the clock in the kitchen. Emery walked into the kitchen and screamed. Chance was there.

  “What are you doing here?! How are you here?!” Emery yelled in a whispered tone of voice.

  “Oh shit, it's you! We’ve gotta talk.” He said but they both shut up as they heard footsteps quickly coming down the steps.

  “What’s going on?” Roger asked, walking into the kitchen and right passed Chance as he looked for some intruder before he turned back around and walked back into the kitchen.

  “He just startled me was all. I take it this is the son I never got the name of?” Emery said, realizing she had forgotten to ask Beverly what her son's name was the night before. She gave Chance a look that told him to play along with it.

  “My name’s Chance Fowler. It’s good to meet you. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He replied, extending his hand as if it were the first time they’d met. Emery awkwardly shook his hand, trying her best to act like she didn’t know him and felt like she was doing a good job but still feared they would find out about Vegas.

  “What time did you get in dear?” Beverly asked as she sat down at the kitchen table across from Chance.

  “Oh, like three in the morning. I hope I didn’t wake anybody up. I didn’t know that door slammed shut.” Chance said, glancing over at the front door before he looked back at his mom, then everyone else. As he looked at Emery her stomach tightened up and she looked away, faking like she was trying to find something for breakfast even though she wasn’t hungry anymore, “Looking for something?”

  “Uhh…” Emery replied, trying to think up a reason why she was just going through the cabinets now, “Where are the coffee mugs again dad?”

  “They’re over here hun.” Roger said, opening up a cupboard across the room, “How could you forget that? They’ve been put in this cupboard for forty years. Years before you were even thought of.”

  “Haven’t had my cup of coffee this morning yet.” Emery replied as her reason for acting strangely. She walked over and grabbed a coffee cup her father was holding out for her and poured herself a straight black cup of coffee, “I remember when I used to tell you that this stuff was bad for you because it smelled gross.”

  “Yeah, and now you love that smell don’t you?” Roger said with a chuckle before he took a drink of his own coffee, “Well, I’m gonna go back upstairs, watch some TV and rest in bed for another couple of hours.”

  “Alright dad, see ya later. You two youngin’s be good.” Emery said with a grin, making Beverly laugh as she headed off with Roger. Emery waited until their footsteps reached the top of the stairs to start whispering again, “What the fuck?!”

  “Yeah, this isn’t good.” Chance said before he took a drink of water; he sighed and dug something out from his pocket, revealing a marriage certificate, “We uh…”

  “No…” Emery said, her eyes widening as she realized where Chance was going with it, “No, no, no, no, no!!”

  What the actual fuck did we do that night? I remember the bar and later that night, but there is some fuzziness to what happened between the bar and the hotel room.

  “Yeah; we’ve gotta do something about this and we gotta keep it on the down low…” Chance said, shaking his head to the side for a moment before he grinned a little, “It was a great night though.”

  “I can’t be married to my dad’s stepson.” Emery said in a whispered tone as she sat back in her chair, feeling the stress winding her right up. She took a drink of her coffee and sighed, using a breathing technique she knew that helped calm her down, “We have to go get it annulled and we’ve gotta do it like now. Is that why you called off your engagement? Your mom said you had called it off just before you got married.”

  “Well yeah, it is. You can’t get married twice. I went in to get our marriage certificate and found out that I was already married, to you.” Chance said, thinking about that night in Vegas. He couldn’t believe the odds that he had had sex with who would become his stepsister, “Look, we’ll just keep acting like we just met, but you’ve gotta stop acting so nervous.”

  “You didn’t help.” Emery asked, “I didn’t know what I was doing at the cabinets and you put me in the spotlight.”

  “I didn’t know; this is your childhood home.” Chance replied, “But already being married to you wasn’t really the reason why I called off my marriage to Lizbeth… That night…”

  “Enough Chance.” Emery said with a glare, “It didn’t happen.”

  “No, it did and… it made me realize that I didn’t love her.” Chance said, looking over at Emery with hungry soulful eyes.

  “Look, Chance, it was a wild night and it was a lot of fun but we can’t do this. It doesn’t matter how we feel our parents are together. We’re step siblings.” Emery said, shaking her head as she thought about how messed up of a situation she was in from the one time she allowed herself to have a one-night stand, what luck, “We just need to focus on dealing with being in the same family together. We’re going to have to get along and act like nothing happened. You’re going to have to suppress your real feelings for me. I don’t believe that you really love me either. I think that you want that mysterious girl you met at the bar that night and that’s not me. I mean, I wasn’t lying about anything but still. We can’t do this.”

  Emery stormed out of the kitchen, panicking as she tried to think up what to do to get out of the situation she was in. She walked up to her room and shut her door behind her, not wanting even her dad to follow her in there. She paced back and forth, still trying to figure out what to do. She knew they needed to get it annulled or get a divorce since they might be too late for an annulment. She sighed again and felt herself wanting a drink but shook it off by focusing on getting dressed and keeping her mind thinking about the Thanksgiving dinner her and Beverly still hadn’t completely set up yet.

  “What the Hell…” Emery thought feeling like she was going to have to go into bitch mode to try to ward Chance off and sighed, “I don’t want to do that to him…”

  Later on at dinner they were all sitting around the table. There was a massive feast prepared for the four of them and Emery didn’t think they’d be able to eat it all even over the weekend. There was delicious mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, sliced ham, cottage cheese, bread buns, a veggie platter and of course the turkey. There was several other things scattered all over the table and Emery knew what everything was. They had made so many different kinds of food just for the main course and had various kinds of pies ready for dessert.

  “Let’s go around the table now and say what we’re thankful for.” Beverly said with a smile on her face and looked at Roger, “I’ll start. I’m thankful that Roger came into my life and filled it with joy. He’s the nicest man I’ve ever met and I couldn’t be happier.”

  “Thank you my love.” Roger replied, giving Beverly a kiss after her cute little speech, “I’m thankful of course for my new wife, but not just her, but for getting to see my daughter again for the first time in quite a while. I can’t leave Chance out; He’s the son I never had if I can just get his name right, haha. I’m thankful for you all and thankful you all spent the time here this weekend.”

  “I’m thankful for good memories.” Chance said, looking right at Emery. She diverted her eyes to her plate and then started putting other things on there just to do something.

  “Emery, you’re next hun.” Roger said, getting her attention.

  “Uh…” Emery said, stammering for a moment.

  “
Why are you so nervous?” Roger asked, tilting his head to the side a bit as he asked.

  “You look pretty nervous. You cheeks are getting red dear. Are you warm?” Beverly asked. Emery was glad she had mistaken her blushing for getting too warm.

  “No, I’m thinking about the restaurant.” Emery bluffed, cleverly coming up with a new realistic topic, “I just got a promotion to chef and I run the whole store now. It’s a bit more stressful than I thought it would be.”

  “Well you cooked stupendously hun, I believe in you.” Beverly said with a warming smile on her face, “I saw you cook and if you can teach people to cook half as good as you did today and yesterday then you’ll be making some decent chefs on your own. Do you even realize how good you are at cooking?”

  “Well, I don’t like to think I’m too good.” Emery replied, feeling a bit embarrassed but thankful for the compliment. Emery happened to glance over at Chance and he was just eating his meal, attempting to seem casual but there was something sad about him yet Emery looked back at Beverly, holding the smile on her face to make things look normal, “Thanks Beverly. That means a lot to hear that I’m a great cook.”

  “You’re a great chef my dear.” Beverly said, “You’re being modest, and that’s not a bad thing, but you also seem unaware of your real talent from your modesty.”

  “Thank you.” Emery said with a huge smile on her face, “I’ve got a huge review coming up from Theo McDowell.”

  “Oh, he’s a toughy and likes to intimidate people with his reputation but he’s actually a nice guy. He’ll put on a tough guy act but just be sweet with him and don’t be afraid, that’s his weakness. Kinda like protective dad’s always feel the safest letting their kid go off with someone that doesn’t back down? He’s just like that, but food's his baby.”

  “Ha!” Emery laughed, envisioning a military general all tough swaddling a well-done steak with a side of minced potatoes on a plate like it was his baby, “Thanks again Beverly, this is a make it or break it moment for me.”

  Chapter Six

  The next morning Emery knew she needed to catch her flight back to Atlanta and hoped she didn’t get seated next to a weirdo again. She would take a crying baby over a weirdo any day; okay, she knew that was a lie. She couldn’t figure out which one was worse to get seated next to. She got up and got a cup of coffee fully dressed with her bags packed upstairs. The others were talking and having their own conversation so Emery just did her own thing.

  “Hi Miss Quiet.” Chance said, somewhat irritating Emery as he said it.

  “I’m not a morning person.” She replied coldly as she walked over to the table and took her first sip of coffee of the morning.

  “What time do you gotta be getting back?” Beverly asked,

  looking at Chance.

  “Uh, like three, er, well, my flight is at three.” Chance replied, looking over at his mother, “I’ve got an upcoming fight in Orlando. I can’t wait to knock this guy out.”

  “My flight’s in two hours.” Emery said after checking the clock, it was only ten o’clock in the morning, “I’ve gotta get going shortly.”

  “I’ll give you a ride to the airport hun.” Roger said before he took a drink of his coffee.

  “Of course dad, I’d love it if you gave me a lift to the airport.” Emery said with a grin on her face but as she looked around the room she caught Chance looking at her. His look was telling her that he wanted to talk to her but he hadn’t said anything, “I still have two hours dad, we could watch almost two episodes of Dr. Who.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Roger said as he sat at the table. He took a sip off of his coffee and got up from the table, “I’ll get it ready, you eat breakfast first.”

  “We’re gonna sort this out.” Chance whispered after their parents walked into the living room. Emery’s phone beeped and she looked down, frowning instantly.

  “Aww, damn it. Dad I’ve gotta go now.” Emery said, biting her lip, “I’m sorry. My boss just texted me and asked me why the store wasn’t going to be open. I guess we’re supposed to be open right after Thanksgiving.”

  “Well people get hungry trampling each other on Black Friday.” Chance said with a chuckle as Roger walked back out into the kitchen and sat his empty coffee cup down by the coffee maker.

  “Are you already ready?” Roger asked, already being dressed and ready to go if he needed to like he always was.

  “Yeah, I just gotta grab my suitcase from upstairs.” Emery said before she quickly headed off for her room.

  Chance wanted to chase after her but he knew that would be way too suspicious, the same reason why he didn’t offer to driver her to the airport like he wanted to. Emery walked down the stairs and was already at the front door before Chance and Emery made eye contact. He made a motion that he would call her as she and Roger walked out the door.

  “Bye!” Emery yelled as the door shut behind her, “I’ll see you at Christmas.”

  Emery and Roger got in his Cadillac and started pulling back onto the road before a speeding truck nearly slammed into them. Roger shook his head and sighed, actually more angry that his daughter was on that side of the vehicle than he was about his own self getting injured. Despite putting all that blood, sweat and money into the car Roger was more than willing to put more into it to fix it back up had they got hit. It was what he was afraid he would have done to the truck driver had he hit them on Emery’s side. He gritted his teeth as he pulled out onto the road and turned on the radio to calm down.

  “It was a great time. Beverly and Chance are pretty awesome. I think Beverly should be a chef.” Emery said, looking over at her father as they drove down the road, “She cooked so many delicious things this Thanksgiving. I can’t wait to cook with her again for Christmas.”

  “I’m glad you’re all getting along. I bet you’re feeling better getting back to your shop.” Roger said, “I’m sure you’re ace the test.”

  “It’s a critique, not really a test.” Emery replied as they got onto the highway, “He’s gonna come test my food and my cooks to see if the food they prepare is good enough.”

  “I’m sure it is.” Roger said trying to inspire his daughter like Beverly had as they drove down the highway. Emery hoped that Chance would get their papers signed to get it annulled, thankful that it wasn’t too late, “You’re really pretty worried about this, huh? You’ve gotta stay calm hun. Don’t let him see that you’re panicking and if he asks why just say you’re trying to stay calm under pressure. Be honest and hold your cool. I mean, well, it worked for me in the business world I kinda think it’ll work here too.”

  “Kinda?” Emery replied jokingly, “Thanks dad, I’ll try that.”

  “I really wish you could stay longer.” Roger said as they pulled into the airport driveway. He sighed and parked the car, “I love you darling.”

  “I love you too daddy.” Emery said in a sweet voice before she gave her dad a hug and got out of the car. She opened the back door and pulled her luggage out, “I’ll see you at Christmas. This time I’ll see if I can’t get more time off.”

  “Good luck on your critique hun. Love ya.” Roger said as he drove off, leaving his daughter to walk into the airport and head home.

  All the way home Emery couldn’t stop thinking about Chance and how she wished they could be together. She was frustrated that the first time she meets a guy that’s into Dr. Who he ends up being her new step sibling. She wished she could take that night in Vegas back or meet another guy but she figured with her luck he would end up being her long lost brother. When she got back home she felt relieved to be back in her small apartment that she’s gotten so used to. She sighed, hoping that Chance called her soon and had the annulment papers.

  “This is just… ugh…” Emery said, shaking her head from the stress as she walked over to her refrigerator and grabbed some water, “That was the weirdest Thanksgiving weekend I’ve ever had.”

  Emery poured herself a tall glass, hoping the phone would rin
g soon, half to hear Chance’s voice and half to get annulled from their marriage. She racked her brain trying to think when they went and got married. She thought they had gone right to their room and had sex but the more she thought about it the more she remembered leaving the hotel for a while and hitting the town. Her jaw dropped as she remembered laughing and joking about getting married. She thought about grabbing a mixed drink to settle her thoughts as she remembered that was the reason that they went and had sex, the Captain and Coke. It wasn't just a one night stand at all, they were consummating their marriage. She sighed and got ready for work, vowing to drink more water and less alcohol. I need to change, the quicker the better. She pulled out her phone and called Shane up, hoping he was working.