Stepbrother Troubled: The Complete Series Read online

  Stepbrother Troubled: The Complete Series

  © 2015 Sybil Ling

  Cover Photo Copyright Can Stock Photo Inc. / artjazz

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all products of the author’s imagination.

  Please note that this work is intended only for adults over the age of 18. All characters represented as 18 or older. All sexual relationships depicted are between adults who are not blood relatives.

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  * * * * * * * * *

  “Don’t do this!” Emily calls again just as Blair starts to turn around. He stops again where he is, still facing her. Emily, mustering up her courage, walks towards him and stops a foot away, trying to look into his face, but he’s keeping it down. “You don’t have to run away from your past like this. We can be friends, Blair. We can talk about things, and be open with one another. You didn’t have any siblings growing up and neither did I. But we can help each other out, okay? We don’t have to go through our problems alone anymore.”

  Blair doesn’t say anything. Emily thinks she can see his eyes shimmer again, and she takes a tentative step towards him. He doesn’t move, so she takes another, placing her right in front of her stepbrother. She can feel the heat coming off of him; his white t-shirt is practically etched against his chest.

  “Do you want me to give you a hug?” she asks, and Blair doesn’t respond. Emily hesitates, waiting for any sign of affirmation or rejection. Finally she decides to go for it and lifts her hands up, wrapping them around Blair’s arms and pulling herself close, pressing her body to his.

  The hug is completely one-sided for a long few seconds, but then Emily feels her stepbrother’s arms lift up and out of her grasp as he wraps them around her as well. Emily readjusts herself, the two being brought closer together. She can feel her chest and stomach pressing into his abs, the fronts of her thighs touching his. Despite all that she said about only being friends, Emily can’t deny the strong physical attraction she has towards Blair. If this hug could go on all night, she would let it.

  Blair is breathing deeply, and Emily feels him burrow his face lower down against her shoulder, into her short, straight hair. His fingers clench on her back, clawing slightly at the shirt that’s covering her. Emily allows herself to be pulled in deeper to him, breathing in his scent, closing her eyes against him.

  She feels Blair’s grip lessening and Emily relaxes her own arms too. She starts to pull away, but as they separate Blair’s hands come up and land on her upper arms, gripping her there. He holds her as Emily, honestly confused for a second, furrows her brow, looking up into Blair’s face. She sees him looking down at her, his expression unreadable, his glowing blue eyes alive with something … something …

  Emily can’t breathe. She’s trapped in those eyes of his, unable to get away. She feels her lips part and Blair’s gaze drops down to them for a second. She sees him part his own lips, ever so slightly, and as he moves his head down to hers she closes her eyes, her body acting through instinct, without any intervention from her brain.

  * * * * * * * * *

  Part 1

  Chapter 1

  Emily Florence looks out of the airplane window, watching the clouds slowly drift past as they cruise at 22,000 feet. Her carry-on luggage — the messenger bag she’s toted around on her shoulder throughout her four years at medical school — lies closed at her feet. On the tray in front of her is her pair of reading glasses and a thick, unabridged version of Gray’s Anatomy. It’s closed for the moment; Emily can’t concentrate on it, even though her internship at the hospital starts tomorrow. She takes a deep sigh and continues looking out of the window.

  Chapter 2

  “Come on Wayne, the house needs to look tidy! Emily’s going to be here in only a few hours!”

  Emily’s mother, Cassandra Stanford, zips around their large suburban house, rearranging pillows on the couch and clearing off surfaces, only to clutter them again with different things.

  “Honey,” Wayne Stanford begins. “Emily’s not going to mind if the place looks a little lived-in. She’s just going to be happy to see you.”

  “Well, I just want her big return home to be special,” Cassandra says, coming up to her new husband and straightening the collar of his shirt. “She hasn’t seen the house in so long, and I’ve moved everything around twice since she left! And her room, she’s going to want that swept up, and I should make sure that there’s food in the fridge in case she wants something to eat when she gets in, and-”

  “Honey,” Wayne says, grabbing his wife by the shoulders. “Look at me.”

  Cassandra snaps her head to look into her husband’s eyes, his calm demeanour like a statue against her own frenetic energy.

  “Emily’s going to be happy no matter how the house looks, okay? She’s just going to want to see you, and that’s all that matters. Four years is a long time to be away from home.”

  “She’s going to want to see you, too,” Cassandra says, putting her hand on her husband’s chest. “Finally meet the man of my dreams in person.”

  Wayne smiles and kisses Cassandra on the lips.

  “And I’m looking forward to finally meeting her too.”

  Cassandra smiles back.

  “And Blair, too,” she points out. “I know she’s been talking about how nice it’ll be to finally have a sibling, after twenty-two years of being an only child. I just hope the two of them will get along.”

  A flicker appears in Wayne’s eyes at the mention of his son, something quick that his wife doesn’t notice. But soon it’s gone, and he’s back to his old self.

  “I’m sure Blair will be happy to meet her too,” he says, and he kisses Cassandra again. “But you know, there’s something about Blair’s past that I haven’t been entirely honest about. Come here for a minute. You’re going to want to sit down …”

  Chapter 3

  Emily steps out of the airport, two large suitcases being pulled behind her on their wheels, her messenger bag slung across her back. She stops at the edge of the curb and stands her suitcases up, brushing a lock of her short, straight brown hair back behind her ear. Looking around the parking lot, the place only looks vaguely familiar, as though she remembers it from a dream. She’d only been there only once before, though: when she boarded her flight four years earlier.

  “Emily!” comes a call, and Emily’s heart skips a beat as she turns to see her mother getting out of a vehicle she’s never seen before.

  Smiling from ear to ear, Emily grabs onto her luggage again and pulls it along behind her as Cassandra shuts the driver’s side door of the car and rushes to meet her daughter half-way. The two women reach each other and Emily lets go of the luggage, them both wrapping their arms around one another in a tight embrace, one that’s been four long years in the making.

  “Ah, it’s so good to see you again, sweety,” Cassandra says, her voice already cracking from emotion.

  Emily herself has wet eyes as she squeezes her mom tightly. She sniffs and they pull away from each other, but only far enough to hold one another at arm’s length.

  “Oh my God, look at you!” Cassandra says. “You look all grown up! Turn around, let me see you.”

  Emily smiles and steps ba
ck, spinning for her mother like she’s a little girl again. Her hair, usually held back by a thick elastic headband but loose now, fans out around her ears. The hours of sitting and studying at school have given her a thicker frame than when she began, but she wears it well, the bright smile that comes out when she’s truly happy shining now from her face.

  “Oh, I’m so glad you’re back,” Cassandra says again, and she hugs her daughter once more. “Now come on, we should be getting back. Wayne’s just getting dinner going — pot roast, your favourite. Er, it is still your favourite … right?”

  Emily smiles again as she picks her luggage back up.

  “Mom, nothing could be better than your pot roast recipe.”

  The two women beam at each other as they make their way to the new car — well, new to Emily.

  “What happened to the van?” she asks.

  “Oh, Wayne and I decided to give that thing up since I wouldn’t need to be driving you back and forth from school anymore. Besides, it was terrible with gas. This one is much more efficient.”

  The shiny silver paint job on the Mercedes Benz is almost reflective as Emily closes the trunk and gets into the passenger’s seat.

  “I’m excited to finally meet Wayne and Blair,” she says, doing up her seat belt. “It’ll be nice having a brother, somebody I can talk to when I’m not at work, you know?”

  Cassandra bites softly on her lower lip just as the key slides into the ignition. But she doesn’t turn it just yet. Setting her expression, she twists in her seat to look at her daughter instead.

  “Emily … I didn’t want to bring this up that soon, but there’s something you should know about Blair.”

  “Oh?” Emily asks. “What is it?”

  “Well honey, Blair is … Blair’s had a … hmm,” she pauses, at a loss for the right words.. “Blair is going to be very quiet,” she finally settles on. “He’s a mechanic, you know, and he works a lot. He’s practically taken up the whole garage, but that’s all right, we never used it anyways. But I just want you to know that he may not be … well, honey, he may not be the most conversational person you’ll meet.”

  “Oh? Why’s that?”

  Again, Cassandra seems to struggle.

  “Ah, I’m not sure if I should say it … well, let’s just say that Blair has got a lot on his mind, and while I’m sure that he’ll be happy to finally meet you, I wouldn’t get your hopes up for a stepbrother who’s going to be very close to you. Do you understand?”

  Emily furrows her brow.

  “I guess so,” she says. “But … why is that? What happened?”

  Cassandra turns the key in the ignition and the engine roars to life.

  “Maybe if he decides to tell you, then you’ll find out,” she says. “But honestly, I don’t think it’s my place to say.”

  Pulling out of the parking space and leaving the airport parking, Emily watches the once-familiar scenery appear before her out of the passenger window.

  I wouldn’t get your hopes up for a stepbrother who’s going to be very close to you. The words repeat in Emily’s brain, and already the mechanics of her brilliant, logical mind are hard at work, coming up with scenarios, ways of getting on Blair’s good side, even if he’s cold to her at first.

  Ever since the announcement of her mother and Wayne’s wedding, and the discovery that Wayne has a son her age, Emily has been looking forward to having somebody she can be close with, something that she never had growing up. And if he’s not going to be willing to give her what she wants, then she’ll just have to figure out a way to make it happen.

  After all, she didn’t graduate at the top of her class for nothing.

  Chapter 4

  “Knock knock, look who I picked up at the airport!”

  Cassandra’s voice echoes through the house as the two women enter the building where Emily grew up, spent all of her childhood, and experienced the hardships and nuances of teenage life before leaving on an airplane to travel to the other side of the country. Emily pushes the handle of her wheeled luggage back into itself just as Wayne, looking exactly as he did during their Skype conversations, comes out of the kitchen, an apron covering his clothes and a large smile on his face.

  “Emily!” he says, his voice sounding less tinny in real life than it does over the internet. He approaches her with open arms and she smiles up at him, allowing herself to be brought into a strong hug. It’s an oddly familiar hug, as though Wayne feels very comfortable in her presence, even though they’re only meeting in person for the first time right now. “Ah, it’s so good to see you in person. You look … well, you look great. How was the flight?”

  “Good,” Emily says. “Long.”

  He lets out a bellowing laugh, one that Emily feels is a bit forced.

  “Well, I can imagine. Can I get you girls anything to drink? Some wine?”

  “Ooh, wine would be lovely,” Cassandra says, making her way into the house.

  “Wine for the lady,” Wayne says. “And for you, Emily?”

  “Oh, nothing for me right now, thanks,” Emily says. “I’m just going to take my luggage up to my room.”

  “Of course, of course, get settled back in,” Wayne says, waving his hand. “I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

  Emily grabs one of the heavy pieces of luggage and begins dragging it up the stairs to her bedroom. The house is familiar, and yet it feels different at the same time. It’s as though she’s remembering a long-forgotten inside joke, able to remember how everything goes but unable to pinpoint the importance or significance of any one thing.

  As Emily opens up the door to her room, though, she’s immediately flooded with true memories. This makes more sense, now: her bedroom was the place where Emily spent most of her time as a teenager, studying, memorizing, making sure to get herself into a decent medical school once she graduated from high school.

  And she did it. She accomplished her dreams. She looks around, smiling to herself, feeling elated with pride.

  Emily goes back downstairs to grab her second suitcase, but as she reaches the bottom of the stairs she hears a strange noise: a high-pitched screeching noise and some deep grunt and words she can’t make out coming from the door to the garage.

  Blair.

  Emily’s heart skips at the thought of meeting her new stepbrother. She bites her lower lip, looking at the handle of the door leading into the garage. She glances over to the kitchen and can hear her mom and Wayne laughing with one another. Looking back towards the door, she takes the few steps needed to reach it and just softly touches the handle, then wraps her fingers around it …

  Suddenly, the door flies open and Emily lets out a short yelp of surprise. Standing in front of her is a boy — no, “boy” isn’t the right word. This person is a man, even though Emily knows he’s the same age as her. He’s taller than her by about 8 inches and has got a lean frame covered by dark blue jeans and a tight-fitting white t-shirt, presently stained with grease. His chest is expanding richly with every breath, and his arms are taut, muscles covering their entire lengths.

  Emily looks up from his body to the man’s sweaty, clean-shaven face, his short, spiky brown hair, and his eyes: shining blue things, the colour of bright sapphire, looking down at her out with a shocked, almost scared, expression.

  Blair.

  Emily realizes that she’s not breathing and she brings oxygen into her lungs before speaking to the man who’s stopped in front of her.

  “Hi,” she says, her voice sounding timid to her own ears.

  He doesn’t answer her right away. His eyes narrow slowly, and she sees him open his mouth.

  “Hello,” he says, his voice coming out like the deep purr of a jungle cat. Emily, surprising herself, feels her knees get weak at the sound of his voice.

  “I, uh … I’m Emily,” she says glibly.

  Blair doesn’t answer at all this time. Instead he takes his eyes from her, seems to tear them from her, and pushes past her before marching down the ha
llway towards the bathroom, turning into it and shutting the door behind him.

  Emily stands, stunned. She swallows, then hears Wayne’s voice coming from the kitchen.

  “Blair?” he calls out. “Is that you?”

  He appears in the kitchen doorway again, looking around with a furrowed brow.

  “He went to the washroom,” Emily says.

  “Oh,” Wayne replies. “Well, dinner will be five minutes.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Emily returns. Looking at her last piece of luggage, she goes to grab it and take it upstairs. As she carries it up, the image of Blair in the doorway floats back to her mind.

  If that’s my stepbrother, she thinks, then I can’t wait to get to know him better.

  Chapter 5

  The dinner is a success, with lots of talking on Emily and Cassandra’s end, and lots of laughing on Wayne’s. He even gets a few words in edgewise, but mostly it’s the girls speaking, gushing to one another — and the table as a whole — about their past four years and what’s changed and what they’ve gone through.

  The only person who doesn’t speak throughout the entire meal is Blair. Blair, who is sitting beside Emily at the table, eats in concentrated silence. Whenever Emily looks at him, taking a break from talking while her mother fills in the silence, she sees a calm, focused look on his face, almost as though he’s meditating.

  During one of those moments, as Emily is watching his jaw work and is absentmindedly labelling the parts of his skull and brain in her mind, Blair’s gaze suddenly darts up and their eyes lock for a second. Emily freezes like a deer in headlights before dropping her gaze. She grabs her glass, pretending to take a drink as she blushes madly, feeling the burn of her cheeks like fire. When she finally looks back up again at Blair he’s focused on his meal once more, as though nothing ever happened.

  The meal ends and everybody gets up, clearing their plates and putting everything in the dishwasher. Blair disappears before anyone else, gone to somewhere in the house. Emily yawns.