New Step Brother, New Family, New Life? Thanks for Nothing, Dad

Chapter 26

The day after we returned from the trip, Anne's mother, Elizabeth dragged us from our comfortable beds at about 7:30 in the morning. I was still exhausted from partying and sure as hell didn't want to wake up.

The guys had stayed the night (I swear, they spend more time at our house then their own) and were awoken by Elizabeth, too.

"Come along little chitlins. Time to get moving, we have a wedding reception to plan!" Elizabeth said excitedly, clapping her hands together.

Yep, that's right. Dad and Anne wanted their children, and Tyler and Trent too, to plan the wedding reception. I guess Anne thought it would be more meaningful if we created the reception. And Daddy always does what Anne wants.

Anywho, I got ready long before the others, so I decided to make breakfast. Hopping down the stairs, I jumped on to the floor and slid through the swinging kitchen doors into the kitchen.

"That was awesome!" I shouted, sliding into the island to stop myself. I smiled, though no one saw it, and got out the ingredients to make cinnamon rolls, Southern style eggs, hash browns and fried bologna.

Yes, you read that correctly. I said fried bologna. It's easy to make, just take a slice, throw it in a frying pan. Poke some holes in it, some slits in the edge. Make sure it's cooked on both sides and voilà! Fried bologna.

With the cinnamon rolls and hash browns in the oven and bologna in the skillet, I started the eggs. I grabbed some cheese and the already-cut red pepper, green pepper, red onion and green onion from the refrigerator. With the dozen eggs or so cooking in the pan, I added the vegetables and cheese.

As I reached up to grab the salt and pepper from the cabinet, I found I was too short. So I stretched up on my tip-toes and tried to grab it. Someone reached over me and took the spices from the cabinet.

"Need these?" Tyler said, as I turned to face him.

"Yes," I said, jumping to take them from where he held them over my head. He chuckled as I reached for the salt and pepper.

"Fine, fine," Tyler said, lowering his arm just enough for me to reach. I turned and added them to the eggs. "I didn't know you were such a cook," he stated, looking at the food. I shrugged and smiled.

"Yep!" I said with a smile, moving around him to take the other food from the oven. When everything was done, I moved it all to serving plates and sat it buffet-style on the bar on the built in warmers.

"So are you hungry?" I asked him. Tyler tilted his head and nodded a bit, smiling.

"Yep! Sure looks delicious!" he said, grabbing a plate. My cell phone began ringing, playing 'The Feel Good Drag' by Anberlin. I answered without checking Caller ID.

"Hello?" I asked into my phone cheerfully. For a moment, there was only breathing, which made my smile transform into a frown. "Hello?" I said again.

"McCartney, don't hang up," the familiar voice said in a rush. Something in the tone of his voice made me obedient. It wasn't harsh or mean, simply begging and sort of sweet.

"Kris," I growled, "What in the hell could you possibly want?" I caught Tyler's eye, confusion written all over his face. I shook my head.

"I need to talk to you. I've been thinking. And I've been to a therapist. That's what I needed to talk to you about that day I came to your house. Seeing that guy there set me off. I need to apologize and I know the only way you will forgive me is if you can get some of your anger out on me," Kris said and I couldn't help but listen.

Now I know what you're probably think. I need to hang up. This is the guy who beat me, who yelled at me, who scared me beyond belief when he was angry. But I couldn't. I had to know what he was getting at. After all, curiosity killed the cat.

"You don't mean..." I trailed off.

"Yes," Kris replied, and I could hear the smile in his voice. "I mean Kletka." Kletka is Russian for cage. And it is also the name of the street fighting club Kris and I fight at.

"You want me to fight you..." I said slowly. Tyler's eyes widened in shock. Well eavesdroppers always hear something they don't want to know.

"Tonight. At eight. I've already talked to Jackson and he said he couldn't wait to see a Shadow-Artist match up," Kris replied.

Just to fill you in, Jackson is the leader/owner/martial arts expert of Kletka. When I was dating Kris, he took me to Kletka for the first time. Kris had been fighting there for a while under the name Artist, and he introduced me to Jackson. After a bit of training, Jackson deemed me a natural fighter and gave me my fighting name: Shadow. He always said, "You're small and pretty. But once you step into that ring, you're your opponents worst nightmare."

"Fine, fine. It's on," I replied, and then I hung up. Tyler couldn't help but stare at me, confusion, curiosity and an overall 'you-better-tell-me-what's-going-on' look on his face. I smiled and hugged him tightly around his waist. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around me.

"I will explain. But I have to tell you something," I stated, pulling just enough to look at his face. "You're my best guy friend. And because of what's about to happen tonight, I can't tell Smokey." He opened his mouth to interrupt, but I shook my head then continued,

"I am going to sneak out. And you're going to cover for me."