Steamed 3 (Steamed #3)

Steamed
#3

By Nella
Tyler

This
book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are
products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not
to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual
events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Copyright
© 2015 Nella Tyler

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Click here to read Steamed #4

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Chapter One

I stared at the closed door, shock making me immobile.
Stunned was a better word and I didn't know what to do about it. Tears sprang
to my eyes. “Oh my god, what did I do?” I couldn't believe what was happening;
it was almost too much for me to bear. I thought for a moment that I was going
to throw up. Yes, I could definitely throw up at any moment.

Link was by my side instantly, putting his arms around me.
“I'm so sorry Gemma; I know how you must be feeling.”

Tears were rolling down my cheeks now and I turned into his
embrace and cried on his shoulder. I had hurt my brother and there was a chance
he would never forgive me. I didn't know what to do, or how to fix the
situation. I should have told him. I should have been honest and
straightforward
.
Instead I hid the fact that Link and I were dating and he saw it as a betrayal.
I wasn't betraying my brother. I was just trying to be happy with a man that
made me feel complete in every possible way. I didn't know how to let go of
Link and I knew for a fact that I didn't want to. Link had become such a huge
part of my life in such a short period of time that I couldn't imagine being
apart from him. So I had dated him, knowing that it could hurt Jared, hoping
that it would all work out in the end. But how could I have possibly done
anything else? He was everything to me; I couldn't possibly let him go. Not now
and possibly not ever.

But it hadn't worked out. Jared had found out and I hadn't
meant to hurt him but I did anyways. I wasn't sure how I could possibly hope to
get him back. How could I explain that I was falling in love with his mortal
enemy? He would never forgive me and I didn't think I could bear the thought of
losing my brother forever. I had no idea what I was going to do to fix things.
I wasn't even sure if it was going to be possible to fix things. It was a
terrifying thought.

“Gemma? Gemma baby are you okay?”

I looked up at him, tears staining my cheeks. “I can't
believe he's gone. I really messed this up.”

“It's going to be okay Gemma, I promise.”

“No, he's never going to forgive me Link.”

He brushed the hair out of my face and wiped the tears
gently off my cheeks. “Gemma, I'm falling madly in love with you.”

My breath caught and I just stared into his eyes in
disbelief. “What?”

“It's true. I love you and I want...no I need you to know
that you can trust me. My whole life I have wanted to make something of myself
you know? I wanted to be something more than just being a chef. Don't get me
wrong, I love cooking but I always believed in being something bigger than
that.”

I nodded.

“I know you must be so confused right now, unsure of what to
believe, especially since your brother keeps calling me a crook. I need you to
trust me baby. That sauce recipe was the key to my fortune and it has been with
me all along.”

“Link, where did the recipe come from in the first place?”

“It's been in my family for generations. It was my
great-great-grandmother’s recipe and she passed it down amongst the generations
until it came to me. It's mine Gemma, I promise you that.”

I looked deep into his eyes and whispered, “I believe you.”

He kissed me firmly on the lips and I got lost in him for a
moment. I always felt so safe and comforted being with Link. He was my calm
when my life got stormy. I never felt anxiety around him; he was like a human
Valium. He was the one person that could help me, and be there for me if I
needed him.

“It's all going to work out Gemma, please don't worry about
it.”

Chapter Two

The next afternoon I headed over to Jared's restaurant to
talk to him. I was sure that if he just heard me out that he would forgive me.
I had no intention of ending things with Link, but there was a possibility that
if he heard how innocently things had started between Link and I that he could
see that I wasn't out to hurt him. Fate had brought Link and I together, I
couldn't help but to have fallen in love with him. I needed Jared to forgive me
but I was afraid he never would. What if he didn't forgive me?

I walked into the restaurant and headed to the back. Marcus
was prepping for the dinner crowd. A couple of the servers were there taking a
break as well. I waved to them and looked at Marcus.

“Hey Marcus, where is Jared?”

“No idea. He didn't come in today.”

“What? Are you serious? You haven't seen him all day? I
don't think he's ever missed a day of working at his restaurant since it
opened.”

“Nope, and he's been acting really strange lately; I think
something is wrong with him.”

Dread filled my heart as I looked over at the servers. They
both nodded their heads in agreement.

“You guys have seen the same thing?” I asked.

A blonde girl whom I didn't recognize answered, “Yeah, he's
been pretty weird lately.”

“How has he been acting?”

“Well paranoid.”

“Yup, that's the word for it,” Marcus added, “Paranoid and
quick-tempered, it doesn't take much for him to go off the handle. It's not
like him at all. He acts like he should be suspicious of all of us. Like we're
all going to start taking his stuff and moving on. The servers have taken the
brunt of it, because I don't take any of that shit from him.”

“My god, what is going on around here?” I couldn't have been
more alarmed by the news and to hear that he has been abusing his staff was so
unlike him that I worried that he was unraveling at the seams. But why? What
was going on with Jared? I needed to find him immediately.

“I'm going to go to his house and see if I can find him.
Call me if he shows up here.”

“Will do.”

I drove to my brother’s place as quickly as I could. I was
worried sick about him. The behavior that his staff suggested was so unlike
Jared that it scared me. What was going on with him these days that he was
starting to fall apart in all aspects of his life? It couldn't possibly be
about that stupid recipe? Would he really let it get to him this badly? It just
didn't make any sense. It seemed that my brother was unraveling at the seams
and I didn't know why. Even if he believed that Link had stolen from him, why
not just let it go? Instead he was letting it destroy him. He was an incredible
chef and he had created many recipes on his own, he didn't need to worry about
one recipe. He had a successful restaurant and he was throwing it away over a
recipe that Link claimed was his from the beginning.

When I arrived at Jared's place I saw his car parked out in
front of his house. I still couldn't believe he hadn't shown up for work that
day. He was always working hard for his business because he loved being there.

I got out of my car and ran to the door. I banged on it
while I called out his name. I waited but I didn't hear a sound in the house.
Was he actually just in there ignoring me? What, were we five all over again?
It annoyed me that he was acting this way instead of just hearing me out. I continued
to bang on the door. When it became obvious that he wasn't going to answer I
decided to take matters into my own hands. I knew where he hid the key for his
back door so I headed to the back yard. Underneath a turtle statue was his
spare key. I went up onto the porch and used it to let myself into his back
door. Once inside I went in search of him.

I went into the living room where I found him passed out on
the couch. Okay, maybe he wasn't ignoring me but what was he doing sleeping in
the middle of the afternoon?

I looked around the room where I saw a bottle of whiskey and
to my utter disbelief, something that resembled cocaine was scattered on his
coffee table.

“Holy shit.”

I went to Jared on the couch and shook him until he woke up.

“What the hell?” He muttered.

“Get up. Get up right now Jared and explain to me what the
hell is going on here? Did you lose all your brain cells recently or what?”

He sat up on the couch and looked at me bleary-eyed. When he
realized I was standing there in his house he asked, “What are you doing here
Gemma, get out!”

“I'm not going anywhere.”

“This is my house,” he shouted.

“I don’t care whose house it is,” I yelled back at him, “You
need to get your life under control because what I see here is someone whose
going to throw everything good in his life away.” I motioned to the cocaine.

“You are one to talk. You're a traitor to your own family.
Now get the hell out of my life.”

I stood there stunned by his words. I didn't even know the
person that was standing before me. He was a stranger. Drunk and drugged up,
ready to throw his life and family away over nothing. This recipe situation,
Link, it was all a ridiculous reason to ruin your life and disown your family.

“You make me sick,” I said as I turned and left him sitting
on the couch.

I headed out to my car with tears in my eyes. Just a few
weeks ago my brother was a healthy and happy man. I didn't know who that other
person was in that house but he wasn't Jared. I couldn't believe what kind of
person he was becoming and why? Over a recipe? It just didn't make any sense to
me.

As I drove away from his house I felt totally lost. I felt
like I had lost my brother forever.

Chapter Three

I drove straight to Link's restaurant practically in
hysterics. I knew that I should just let my brother live his own life but I
couldn't do it. There must be a way to pull him back from the abyss. I was sure
that I could do it if I just found a way to get through to him. There had to be
a way.

As soon as I parked I ran into the restaurant; it was
starting to get busy for dinner. I walked right past the hostess without saying
a word, noting her alarmed expression. I headed straight for Link's office,
hoping that he would be there. I stormed right in and caught him by surprise sitting
behind his desk.

He looked up startled. Seeing the look on my face he said,
“Gemma, are you okay?”

I shook my head as tears streamed down my cheeks. Link
got
up
quickly from his chair and circled the desk coming to me. He wrapped me up in
his arms and held me tight. He didn't ask what was wrong right away, he just
held me like that for a few moments. It allowed me to calm down and get a hold
of myself. When we parted I looked up into his eyes.

“What's wrong
sweetheart?
Please
tell me.”

“It's Jared, he's completely fallen apart.”

“What do you mean?”

“I went to his work this afternoon and no one had heard from
him.”

His eyebrows shot up, “Wow really? That's not like him at
all.”

“No. And it gets worse. I went to his house after that and
he was passed out drunk on the couch. There was a whiskey bottle and...oh
god...cocaine.”

“What??”

“I'm serious Link.”

Link was silent for a moment taking it all in. I knew
exactly how he felt. I still hadn't processed everything that had happened that
day.

“Link, I don't know what's happening to him. I wasn't even
aware that he ever did drugs. I don't know if this is a new thing or if
cocaine's been around this whole time.”