Stepbrother Bad Boy's Baby Boxed Set (8 page)

A
nervous sweat
ran down the small of my back as I walked into Kitchen Stadium for the first time. Shannon, my boss, glanced around as well. "Yeah buddy," she whispered under her breath. "Tomorrow, this is all ours."

I
nodded
and walked over to what we had planned would be my station. I touched the cutting board and looked at the array of knives on the magnetized strip above the surface. "I kind of prefer our own kitchen more though," I said. "Although I guess it'd be a bit unfair to do it there."

T
he rest
of the team also hit their stations up, and we spent the next twenty minutes talking through our various game plans for the next day. After we were done, Shannon called me over. "Krystal, are you okay? You've been a bit off this past week, and I need to know if you're going to be on point tomorrow."

"
Y
es Chef
, I'll be fine," I said quietly. "Just, you know my stepbrother is in town, and he's staying at my place. It's kind of thrown me off a bit. But I'll be focused and ready tomorrow."

"
O
kay
. You know, I had some doubts when Horst said you'd be a good add to our team, you being so new and all. But he's been dead on, you've been great. Now get your head in the game tomorrow, and we're all going home as champions."

S
hannon clapped
me on the shoulder, and walked out of Kitchen Stadium. I looked around the set one more time before turning to leave, when I heard my name called again. "Miss Aksoy?"

I
couldn't believe it
. Approaching me was the man, the myth, the legendary host of so many things I'd watched on Food Network since I was a little kid, Alton Brown himself. After Dad died, Alton's show was one my main comforts in life. Dad was a lot like Alton, quirky and focused, if sometimes a bit nerdy. "Yes? Wow, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Brown."

"
P
leasure is all mine
," Alton replied. "You may not have known, but I had the opportunity of meeting your father once when I was working on the pilot for
Good Eats
. This was back even before it was picked up here, and I was on PBS in Chicago. I'm glad to see you followed in his footsteps."

"
T
hank you sir
, it's an honor to be here. But I'm not the contestant, Chef Shannon is."

"
W
ell
, if I'm still around in five or ten years, I expect I'll be seeing you up here, or maybe over on
Chopped
. In any case, good luck tomorrow."

W
e shook hands
, and I turned to go. As I did, I stopped and turned back around. "Excuse me, Mr. Brown?"

"
Y
es
?" he replied.

I
smiled
, remembering a promise I'd made. "You wouldn't happen to know if Iron Chef Morimoto is around, do you? I promised a friend an autograph if I had a chance to meet him."

A
lton shook his head
, but then stopped. "Just a moment. He's not in the studio today, he's not filming until tomorrow, but let me give him a call. Maybe if you can get in here a bit early tomorrow you'll have a chance. You have anything he can sign?"

"
I
'll have something tomorrow
. If anything, I'll steal one of the swag bags that the celebrity judges get and see if he'll sign a t-shirt for me or something."

H
e smiled
at me and I nodded my thanks and left Kitchen Stadium, feeling better than I had in hours. Tomorrow was my day for battle, and Alinea was going to kick some ass.

I
looked
down at the stereotypical boxes of Chinese takeout in the bag in my hand, and wondered just what I was doing here. If I were back in Los Angeles, I'd be dressed up, ready to hit the clubs or maybe just find one of the never-ending parties that dotted the landscape. My night would end sometime around sunrise with at least one woman in bed with me, maybe more.

B
ut you were
a miserable asshole then
, a little voice said in my head. I'd come to hear that voice more and more often since meeting Krystal, and knew that most people called it a conscience. I wasn't really sure if that's what it was, considering I'd never heard it before. I didn't know if I was worthy of having such a term applied to any part of my thought processes, but so far it had been honest with me.
Face it Julian, you've had more peace and better sleep over the past few weeks than you have since childhood.

"
Y
eah
, but whose fault is that?" I muttered under my breath. "John Castelbon's dumping of Mom did a lot more than just get him some fresh pussy. And you know, like father, like son."

T
he voice
in my head didn't have anything to say to that, and I looked down at my bag of food again. Still, I was trying, and talking with Kimberly was one of those things that I didn't just tolerate, but I was kind of looking forward to.

I
searched
around for the buzzer box at the front door for a good two minutes before I realized the building didn't have one. It was that sort of place. I pulled out my phone again, and re-checked Kimberly's text messages. I saw I had missed one.
Third floor, apartment 304.

T
ucking
my phone back into my pocket, I tried the front door to the building, finding it open and unlocked. I made my way up the stairs, not trusting the elevator that looked like it had last been maintained maybe sometime around the time I'd been born. It was more difficult than I'd imagined, I'd stopped by Quads before coming over. The staff was nice, and the manager was willing to let me get a workout in. Since I was coming off of nearly two weeks with no weights, I knew I'd be sore the next day, but that didn't stop me from blasting a squat workout. The endorphin rush of getting that last squat when your back is on fire and your legs feel like they're going to explode is better than any of the so-called recreational drugs I've sampled. Not that I was ever a drughead or anything. I actually hadn't touched anything for over two years.

E
ither way
, by the time I reached the top of the stairs, my heart was thumping and my calves were burning again. Oh yeah, I'd be using the bathtub back at the apartment for a good soak, that was for sure.

I
found
the door to 306 and knocked, waiting for a response. It took Kimberly a minute to respond. "Yes?"

"
I
t's Julian
, Kimberly," I said, trying to stand in front of the fish-eye security peephole. "I've come bearing chicken and shrimp."

"
A
nd fortune cookies
?" Kimberly asked through the door. I heard the chain and locks on the inside disengage, and the door opened a few inches. "Because if you don't have a couple of fortune cookies, I'm locking you out and calling the police."

"
I
have four cookies
, you can have them all," I replied, laughing. "But I'm only giving you halfsies on the shrimp."

"
D
eal
," Kimberly said, opening the door wider, letting me inside. I walked into what I could only describe as a computer geek's paradise. The small living room was dominated by a huge four panel workstation, along with a tower computer that glowed like a Japanese street racer's car."Wow, this setup is insane." I said, looking at the custom made case. It was big, around the size of a small refrigerator, and was made of brushed aluminum. "This thing looks like it should be powering the
U.S.S. Enterprise
" I said, as I squatted down to take a look.

I
shook
my head and got up, backing away slowly. A rule I learned from a tech geek that I'd hired to clean up some official records of me in California, never, ever, fuck with their equipment. It was kind of like Krystal with her culinary equipment, I thought. "I'm impressed. Krystal said you were a computer genius, but this I wasn't really expecting."

K
imberly crossed
her arms over her chest and nodded. "Yep. Built the whole thing myself. It's a little expensive, but with my work it's necessary."

"
C
ool
. So does your computer ever start asking for Sarah Connor?" I joked, sitting down on the floor next to the only other piece of furniture, a cheap coffee table. Kimberly stuck her tongue out at me, and sat on the other side, letting me take out the food and divide it between us. For about five minutes we were in a relatively comfortable silence as we enjoyed the food.

I
was halfway
through my portion of lo mein noodles when she sat her chopsticks down and looked at me. "So how was your first day in Chicago without Krystal?"

"
W
ell
, it wasn't really my first whole day," I replied, slurping up another bite of noodle. "Just since this morning."

"
Y
ou know what I mean
, wise ass. Sheesh, I can tell what she likes in you."

K
imberly's words
caused me to almost choke on my noodles, coughing slightly to get the last bit down. "Sorry, hit a pepper," I said, covering myself. "But yeah, I know what you mean. I enjoyed it. After shopping like I told you, I went over to Quads. Nice place over there, I think I could make that a regular spot. I'm going to be sore tomorrow though, but the good kind of sore. How about you? I mean, how was your day?"

"
N
ormal stuff
. Some coding, some data collection, stuff like that. In fact, I have a couple of programs running now while we're eating, doing some work for me."

I
looked
over at the computer, which was pretty silent considering the size, and looked back. "What is it that you do anyway? I've been in town for weeks, and the most I can get is that you're into computers and jiu-jitsu, which normally don't mix. I think Krystal mentioned that you're a purple belt like her one time."

"
I
am
, although I'm a bit higher up than her, I've got one stripe. I'm a bit of a jack of all trades," Kimberly replied. "I build of systems for people, usually high end systems for graphic designers or video editors. I do a little data mining, analysis, and a bit of hacking. All legal on the hacking, of course."

"
T
here's legal hacking
?" I asked, surprised. "What is that?"

"
C
ompanies pay
me to try and hack their systems. If I can, it shows them where the flaws are in their systems, and ways they can defend against it. It's actually my most lucrative line of work since there's always new ways to hack, new protocols and new programs with holes coming online every day. That's what I'm doing on my system right now, using some of my cracker programs to probe an auto maker, see if I can get into their database. If I can, I put a marker inside their system and then e-mail their corporate security to tell them where to look, and what I did, which is tracked automatically by my computer."

"
C
razy" I said
, finishing off my lo mein and going on to my half of the General Tso's chicken.

W
e continued talking
, mostly about her and her work and her love of jiu-jitsu for the next hour or so, until the sun was down and the food was all gone. "Thanks for the dinner," Kimberly said as she polished off her third fortune cookie. She'd left the other one for me, happily enough. "Now, can I ask you a few questions."

"
S
hoot
," I replied, laying back. My legs were starting to stiffen up, and my stomach was filled to the point of nearly discomfort. "I'll answer what I can."

"
H
ow do
you feel about Krystal?"

T
he question stopped
me in my tracks, and I looked down my body at Kimberly. She was sitting cross legged, her chin in her hands with her elbows on the table, looking at me with a look I hadn't seen from someone in a long time. It wasn't judgmental, but it was interested, and at the same time discerning. I knew I couldn't bullshit her, she'd see right through me. "Damn, you picked a tough one right off the bat, didn't you?"

"
I
'll admit
it's a lot tougher than asking about what I do for a living, but I think you can understand why. No offense, but I'm not really interested in knowing how much you squatted today."

"
F
our fifty for four reps
, last set," I replied, grinning. "But damn. What can I say?"

"
T
hat you're
nuts about her, and that despite her being your stepsister, you have a major thing for her," Kimberly said. "I've seen it in your face and your voice the entire time you've been here, Julian. It's also why I think you're actually trying to change."