Bull: An MMA Stepbrother Romance Read online

  “Tell you what,” Janis said, “Tonight I want to dress you–”

  “I don’t know–” Lisa began to protest.

  “Listen, tonight you’re borrowing my clothes–”

  Janis’ phone dinged. “Wait, that’s probably Scott,” she said looking at the message. “Oh damn. The bad news is Scott’s going to be here in five minutes. Not time to change. The good news? He has that guy Danny with him!”

  Lisa bolted up out of her chair. She needed to do something. Fix her hair? Put on makeup? Run? She wasn’t sure. She felt the panic inside her rising, again. Would she ever be...normal? Why did this have to be frightening to her?

  “Okay, okay, I need to get ready,” she said to Janis. She breathed on her palm and tested her breath. Not good enough. “I’ll brush my teeth,” she said.

  Janis jumped into action as well. “You know, maybe a quick change is possible. I’ve got a shirt and pants that will look super cute,” she said as she bolted to her dorm closet.

  Lisa brushed her teeth as fast as she could and began tweaking her hair, to what end she couldn’t say.

  Janis popped out of the closet with an outfit, “Here, put this on,” she said.

  Lisa took the outfit out of Janis’ hands. She undressed and squeezed her petite frame into the slinky outfit.

  Once in the outfit Lisa took a look in the mirror. It looked...it looked pretty damn cute, actually. Lisa was beginning to think this could work.

  “You look hot, girl,” Janis said. “Here, ditch the glasses,” she said. She reached up and pulled off Lisa’ glasses

  “Oh yeah, you’re ready. You’re getting lucky tonight!” she said as she gave her hips a lewd thrust.

  They heard a knock at the door.

  Janis went to the door and opened it a crack. “Hey guys!” she said. “Come on in.”

  Scott walked in, handsome as always. Behind him was another man. Tall, hard jaw, thick shoulders. His rolled up shirt revealed his thick, veiny forearms. He looked amazing, or frightening, or amazing and frightening. Lisa wanted him, but it took a total of five seconds for her to realize there was no way in hell she was going out with this man.

  Scott scooped Lisa up and gave her a kiss. It was long, sexy, hungry. He ran a hand up Janis’ back and cupped a breast. Lisa could hear Janis sigh, but Janis gave back as good as she was getting. She reached down and grabbed Scott’s bulge and gave it a little squeeze. It gave Lisa an ache between her legs to watch, but she finally managed to rip her eyes away.

  Maybe tonight would be her night, maybe Janis was right. God, it would be good. She could feel her body tingling at the thought, but one look at the brutish man had her quivering in fear again. It was like being with Roger. She would never be able to give that man what he needed, could never live up to his expectations.

  Scott and Janis finally tore themselves away from each other.

  “Wow,” Lisa said, “Good to see you too. Maybe we should just stay here tonight and have our own fun,” she teased.

  “Yeah, sounds good,” Scott said with his usual no-nonsense air.

  Janis laughed. “Don’t be silly, we’re going out tonight! Right Lisa?”

  She turned to Lisa for some enthusiasm, for any sign of life.

  “Uh..., yeah, about that–” Lisa began.

  Janis saw where that was going and jumped in, “Scott, who’s your friend?”

  “Oh, this is Danny,” Scott said. “Danny, say hi.”

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Oh, wow, the talkative type,” Janis joked. “This is Lisa, Danny, you don’t mind if she comes along, right?” She flashed a winning smile and gave Danny the tiniest little do-your-thing nod.

  “No, that sounds like fun,” he said. He walked across the room to shake Lisa’s hand. “Good to meet you, Lisa. You look hot,” he said as he stripped her with his eyes.

  Janis cleared her throat.

  “I...I mean, you look pretty,” he said, his eyes still roving the curves of Lisa’s body. “Scott, why didn’t you tell me your girlfriend had hot friends? I mean, pretty friends.”

  Scott seemed perplexed for a minute as if he was noticing Lisa for the first time. “Yeah, um, I guess I didn’t know,” he finally managed.

  Danny took Lisa’s hand in his massive hand and shook it.

  The way his hand felt gave Lisa a momentary panic attack. It was too much. He was gorgeous and muscular, but so...intimidating. She couldn’t. This night would end in her failure as a woman...again.

  “Yeah, Jan, you know, I’m not feeling so great right now. I think I’m going to have to bail, I–”

  “Like hell you are,” Janis said. “Let’s go.” She grabbed Lisa’s hand and pulled her, but Lisa stood rooted to the spot. Janis turned around and saw the panic in Lisa’ eyes. It was an obvious lost cause.

  Janis made a show of trying to get Lisa to join them but knew Lisa was out. As she and the boys left she looked back at Lisa with disappointment on her face.

  Another night alone. Another missed opportunity. The guy was hot, the kind of man Lisa craved, the kind of man she burned for. Muscular, confident, even a bit arrogant. He was the kind of guy that expected sex on a first date and usually got it.

  The thought of that man taking her aroused Lisa more than she wanted to admit. She found herself fantasizing about him taking her in every way imaginable. Somewhere along the way she realized it wasn’t Danny that was taking her. It was her new stepbrother Jake.

  She hated herself for it, but she couldn’t stop thinking about spreading her legs for Jake. She wanted him inside her. She tried to shake the thought off. She tried to forget how he brushed her breasts with his tattooed, muscular arm. She couldn’t. She spread her legs and buried a hand down her pants as thoughts of Jake filled her mind.

  Chapter 3

  Cornered

  “What about this?” Lisa said as she held the dress up to her.

  “Too frumpy,” Janis said.

  Lisa put the dress back on the rack and flipped through a few others.

  “This one?” she asked, half-knowing the answer.

  “Seriously?” Janis said, exasperated. “Girl, why do you insist on wearing sacks? You have a fantastic figure. You need to show it off.”

  She brushed Lisa aside and flipped through the rack herself. “Ahhhh,” she said. “This!”

  She held up a dress that made Lisa cringe. “You’ve got to be kidding. There is no way I would ever wear that thing out!”

  “What, this?” Janis said. “This thing is fabulous! Look at it! The sequins, the strappy little...straps. It’s perfect!”

  “It’s for prostitutes, Jan. No way! Put it back.”

  Janis put it back, deflated.

  “You need to dress your age, Lisa. How do you expect to pick up a hot guy looking like the local librarian?”

  “I don’t dress like a librarian!” Lisa argued.

  “You do–look, what is this?” Janis said as she flipped Lisa’s collar.

  “What? It’s a perfectly professional blouse that any–”

  “That’s just it!” Janis interrupted. “Professional? Who cares about professional? You’re in college! You need sexy! You need hot! You need flirty! You don’t need fucking professional!”

  “Okay, okay, I hear you. It’s just that, I don’t know, it feels weird wearing that stuff. Like I’m playing dress-up or something.”

  “You’re not playing dress-up, you’re dressing your age to get hot guys!” Janis said. “I’m not talking about some wimpy, nerdy do-gooder like you usually hang out with.”

  She bent her head and lowered her voice. “I’m talking about a 6’4” tattooed, don’t-take-home-to-your-mama, musclebound stud. I'm talking about a guy that will fuck you six ways from Sunday and leave you...dear god.”

  Janis had gone still. She was staring in the distance.

  “I’m talking about that!” she said as she pointed across the store.

  Lisa followed to where Janis was pointing. She saw t
he back of a huge man with gorgeous brown hair and tattooed arms.

  “Oh my god,” he whispered. “That’s Jake!”

  “Jake?” Janis asked.

  “Jake! My stepbrother!”

  Lisa had turned away from him and was trying to hide behind a rack with clothes without being obvious about it.

  “That’s Jake? Good lord, girl. You are in deep trouble. He’s fucking gor–he’s walking over here. Someone’s with him.”

  “What?” Lisa said, panic rising inside of her.

  “Girl, you need to grow a pair and go for that!” Janis teased.

  “Grow a–”

  “Shhh, here he comes.”

  “Lisa? Is that you?” Jake said as he walked up to them.

  “Oh hey, Jake,” Lisa said as she turned to him in mock surprise. “Uh, what are you doing here?”

  “I’m here with, um,” he turned to the tall blonde that had followed him over and snapped his fingers. “Um...”

  “Zoe,” she said with an obvious air of disgust. She was gorgeous, exactly the kind of girl Lisa expected Jake to have.

  “Yeah, Zoe, of course. Zoe, this is my sister Lisa,” he said.

  “Stepsister,” Lisa corrected.

  “Oh, it’s like that huh?” Jake said with a chuckle. “You trying to keep your options open with me?” He brushed his hair back as he said it.

  He might be a major prick, but damn, he cleaned up nice. His hair fell in waves to the collar of his button-up shirt. The way he rolled up his sleeves, showing his muscular forearms...

  Lisa blushed. “No, it’s not that, I just meant, you know–”

  “Uh huh, sure sis,” he said interrupting her. “And who is this with you?” he asked with just a little too much interest.

  “This is my roommate, Janis,” she said.

  Janis stuck her hand out, palm down as if expecting him to kiss it. She smiled, “Hi, Jake. Lisa has told me all about you.”

  To Lisa’s astonishment, Jake took her hand into his and kissed it, never taking his eyes off hers.

  “Wow, Lisa, you never told me you had such...nice friends,” he said with a mischievous smile. “So, what are you lovely girls doing here?” he seemed to have forgotten all about Zoe who stood behind him looked bored and pissed.

  Did he just say lovely?

  “Well, I was just telling Lisa here how she needs to get some confidence,” Janis said. “I mean, don’t you think this would look good on her figure, Jake?”

  Lisa snatched the dress Janis was holding out of her hand and shoved it back onto the rack. “Don’t be ridiculous, I’m confident,” she said in a I-can’t-believe-you-just-told-him-that tone.

  “You should take some BJJ lessons. That would definitely help with your confidence problem,” Jake said.

  “Confidence problem? Who said I have a confidence problem?” Lisa protested, but they were ignoring her.

  Janis was laughing. “Did...did you just say she needs to take some BJ lessons? Like...you know....BJs?”

  It was Jake’s turn to laugh. “No, not BJs. BJJ. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Builds confidence.”

  “I don’t lack confidence,” Lisa said as they continued to ignore her.

  “It’s settled then,” Jake said. “I’ll teach you some BJJ.”

  “You will do no such thing, I’m perfectly–”

  “Good. Meet me at my gym, nine p.m. tomorrow night.”

  Lisa started to protest but Janis threw a quick elbow into her ribs. She gave her a look that told Lisa she was about to blow it.

  “Uh, nine...nine pm? Where is it? Your gym, I mean?” she said, trying not to sound too eager.

  Jake ignored her again and pulled out his mobile phone. He tapped a few times on the screen and put it away.

  “Cool, see you tomorrow at nine,” he said as he turned, grabbed Zoe’s hand and dragged her away. “See you, sis. Janis.”

  “Jake, I’m not making any promises. I may not be able to–”

  She gave up. He was no longer listening and was walking away.

  Janis checked his ass out as he walked away. “God, look at that,” she said biting her lower lip. “You lucky bitch. Have you ever seen what those guys do when they roll around on the floor together? You’re about to have more Jake than you can handle,” she said with a self-satisfied smile. “And you can thank me for that.”

  “Gee, thanks,” Lisa said. Her phone dinged from her purse. She pulled it out. There was a message from a number she didn’t recognize. It had an address and said See you at nine, Jake.

  Lisa thought back trying to remember if she had ever given him her number.

  She hadn’t.

  Chapter 4

  Mom

  “You should definitely go,” her Mom said.

  “I was all set to, but...I don’t know. I don’t see the point, and–”

  “Lisa, look at me,” her mom said as she grabbed Lisa by the shoulders.

  Lisa looked up and met her mom’s gaze.

  “Lisa, baby, you know I love you, right?”

  “Yeah, mom. I know.”

  “Then you know what I am about to say I say from love,” her mom said. “I only want to help. Honey, all your life you’ve been...scared. You’ve been shy and afraid of men. And that experience with...what was his name?”

  “Roger.”

  “Right, Roger. That whole thing didn’t help. What exactly happened there again?”

  “Nothing, mom. He just was...I wasn’t for him.”

  “Well, I don’t know about all that, but ever since then you’ve been...different. When you walk down the street you look like a victim. I don’t want you walking through life like that.”

  Lisa nodded.

  “Hon, you’re beautiful, smart...kind. You have everything going for you. Somehow, though...it’s like you don’t know it. It’s like you don’t realize how amazing you are and you go through your days in fear and doubt. It’s time you conquer that, sweetie. You need to get past it and I think he can help. Jake has trained women to defend themselves and he swears up and down that he can help you.”

  “Mom, I–”

  “Just try one session with him,” she said. “If you don’t like it or you don’t think it is helping, I won’t say anything else about it. Ever. I promise. Deal?”

  Lisa looked at her mom. She knew if she just said yes right now it would make her mom so happy.

  “Okay,” she said. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

  “Thank you, sweetie, I really think this will help,” her mom said. She turned her attention to her phone and typed a few words. In a moment her phone dinged.

  “Great. He said he’s glad you’re in.”

  “You...you just texted him?” Lisa said.

  “Yeah, I wanted him to know you were definitely in.”

  “Mo-om!” Lisa said. “I could have...you know, told him myself. Now he thinks I’m some big baby!”

  “Oh, don’t be silly, hon,”

  “Hey, wait a minute. Did you give him my number? He sent me the address to his gym yesterday, but I don’t remember giving him my number,” Lisa said.

  “Oh, yeah, he asked for your number after you left the day you two met. He said he figured since you guys were now family he should be able to reach you in case of emergencies.”

  For a moment there Lisa had hoped he wanted her number for other reasons.

  Chapter 5

  Triangle Choke

  Lisa walked into the dank gym. Most of the lights were out and only a few people were still working out. She could hear someone hitting a speed bag. The rhythmical rata tata tata echoed throughout the gym.

  A loud crack shot through the gym and Lisa jumped in surprise sending a jolt of adrenaline through. Another loud thud boomed through the gym. She looked for the source of the sound and saw Jake standing in a fighter stance in front of a heavy bag.

  He threw a leg out and kicked the bag. Crack! The sound boomed with surprising loudness. Crack! Each kick was like a gunshot going off in the g
ym and the violence and loudness made Lisa anxious.

  He threw a three-punch combination into the bag. Pop-pop-pop! He looked to Lisa like a cobra. One second he was bobbing and weaving, a millisecond later he was unleashing hell on the bag. His arms and legs were a blur as sweat flew from his muscular body.

  He paused to catch his breath and turned around. He looked up and saw Lisa watching him. He smiled and motioned her over. His chest heaved with each hard breath. His expression showed no kindness or even familiarity.

  Lisa crossed her arms in front of her, holding herself as she walked over to him. Her gaze never met his.

  “Hey, sis,” he said.

  She looked up at him, but found it impossible to look into his eyes. He stood in front of her in only shorts. His muscles rippled and bulged as he moved and a glistening sheen of sweat shined on his tattooed skin. The hard features of his rugged face matched the animal virility of his body.

  “Sis,” Lisa spat. “Please. We barely know each other.”

  Jake laughed. “You still at that, sis? You still trying to find a way to get me?”

  “Oh please. I knew this was stupid,” she said as she turned and tried to storm off.

  Before she had managed to move Jake shot out a strong hand that grabbed her by the arm, stopping her in her tracks.

  She jumped from his touch and he snatched his hand back. Fury boiled within her. How dare he? Was he suggesting she was hot for him or something?

  “Hey, sorry, I was just teasing,” he said. “That was lame. I apologize,” he said as she looked up at him. It seemed sincere. Maybe she had overreacted. Why had that touched such a nerve?

  “Listen, let’s start over,” he said. “I know women don’t like being touched by men unless–”

  “No, it’s not that. Never Mind. I overreacted,” she said, ready to move beyond her embarrassment.

  “So, you can train me or whatever? You’re going to...what? Make me some kind of ninja or something?”

  Jake laughed. “No, nothing like that. But there are some tools I can give you to help you a little. Give you a fighting chance if something unexpected ever happens. More than that, I wasn’t kidding when I said that what I can teach you will give you a little confidence. It’ll make you look like less of an easy target.”