A crossover adventure an.., p.1
A Crossover Adventure: An Anti-Stepbrother, Hate To Love You, and Evil novella, page 1
A CROSSOVER ADVENTURE
AN EVIL, ANTI-STEPBROTHER, HATE TO LOVE YOU NOVELLA
TIJAN
Copyright © 2023 by Tijan
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Edited and proofread by: Kara Hildebrand, Rochelle Paige, Amy English, Crystal R Solis
Cover designer: Regina Wamba, reginawamba.com
For the readers who love the couples from Evil, Anti-Stepbrother, and Hate To Love You!
This novella was written for you.
* * *
Two short stories from the Evil universe are also included.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Acknowledgments
Damien’s Sister
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
A KELLAN CHRISTMAS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Also by Tijan
Micaela’s Big Bad
Davy Harwood
1
“Babe.”
Nope. I wasn’t hearing him. It’s like he hadn’t spoken, and I kept going, tugging Caden forward, my hand in his.
“Babe.” A little more insistent. A little more serious. He was starting to slow down behind me.
Nope. Again. Totally ignoring. I kept trucking along.
“Summer.” Okay. A little snip there, which I got because I was ignoring him and we both knew it. He pulled on my hand, halting me, and as I turned, his head was angled down, an eyebrow in the air, and he was giving me the look. The look. The one that was asking, ‘What the hell are you doing? Are we doing?’
I got that look a lot.
“I just want to check out this bar. I heard that lady at the gas station. She said there’s a mermaid here.”
Caden barely restrained his groan, but he kept moving forward. Success. We were still going, and I’d already won in that brief movement. He and I both knew, but he was going to argue the whole way there because of… I didn’t know why. Male ego? Because he felt he needed to put up some form of protest? I wasn’t sure, but Caden would go with me to see the mermaid in the bar, even though we both knew there really wouldn’t be a mermaid, but who would turn down a chance to see a mermaid? Um. Hello. No one. Or no one should.
Let’s all live in our imaginations, or as much as possible, because this world was hella dark at times. Let me get excited about meeting a mermaid even though I knew we wouldn’t. Are you feeling me? I was feeling me. That’s all that was important. Me feeling myself. And with that, I had a little bit more of a bounce in my step as we walked down the street to the infamous mermaid bar.
Also, I really liked having the chance to say mermaid. It’s not something that came up in everyday conversation, so now it did, I was going to milk it.
Mermaid.
Okay. I was done.
I think…
Mermaid. One last time.
Done. So done.
I was getting annoying by now, but we were here. The M-word Bar. It was an older bar, a large blue wood sign hanging out from the wall over the door with a mermaid in white paint. I was so excited. I was vibrating, and Caden stepped next to me, his hand going to my hip and sliding around as he went past me, reaching for the door. He held it open, and I walked in first, feeling Caden right behind me.
It. Was. Everything.
The little girl in me who always wanted to be a mermaid was in heaven. They had paintings of mermaids everywhere. On the walls. The ceilings. The bar. Under the bar, it looked like an underwater sea scene with bubbles running up the length of it. I had no idea how they did that, but it was amazing.
And right over the bar was a giant mermaid hanging from the ceiling. She looked suspended in time and air, frozen, but so beautiful. She took my breath away. And looking through the bar, there was a back section with a giant aquarium that ran the entire length of the wall. It went all the way up to the ceiling, and I would not be surprised if they had people put on mermaid tails and drop down for a show.
I was vibrating again, or I hadn’t stopped.
The bartender gave us a nod. “What would you like?”
I breathed out, “Everything.”
Caden smothered a laugh, stepping forward and giving our order. A beer for him. Something fruity for me, fruity and delicious.
The bartender gave a nod and started working. He was large and looked in charge, a white T-shirt plastered over his giant-sized chest and forearms. Dirty blonde hair was piled high on his head, in a messy bun, that made him look even more buff. Chiseled features. Ice blue eyes. A very prominent jawline with a little dent in his chin. This guy looked like he’d been born specifically to work in a mermaid bar. His gaze ran over both of us. “You’re not from around here.”
Caden nodded. “We’re on a road trip, stopped for gas. Then this one heard a mermaid frequented this bar, and we had to come and see for ourselves.” He gave me a little head nod, a fond tone coming from him.
The bartender studied me a little longer before a slight grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “You should stick around. We got a little show coming up tonight.” He slid Caden’s beer to him, his hands reaching to start working on my drink. “Where are you going for your road trip? Got a tight timeline?”
Caden picked up his beer, coming to stand right next to me, his other hand resting on the small of my back. He wasn’t answering, and I tipped my head back, seeing he was studying me instead as he took a pull from his beer.
“What?”
He finished, swallowing, those dark eyes already knowing because he knew me. “You’re going to want to stay, aren’t you?”
I flushed and my vibrating was back, because hell yeah. I gave him a dazzling smile. “Well, you do love me…”
His eyes darkened, dipping to my lips, and his hand flattened against my back. He sighed. “Looks like I need to look for a local hotel.”
The bartender laughed, sliding my drink to me. “My buddy runs a place on the ocean not far from here. It’s usually full, but he tends to keep an area open at all times in case he uses it. He’s not around right now. I could see if he wouldn’t mind making an exception?”
Caden tensed next to me. “It’s a hotel?”
He nodded, pulling out his phone. “A small boutique sort of place, but people go mad over it. Can’t guarantee he’ll give you a deal, but it’s a nice place. Everywhere else is going to be booked up since it’s agate season.”
I had no idea what agate season was, but I was down for a boutique hotel. I looked back up at Caden, saw he was giving the bartender an assessing look, which I got. This was a small town on the Oregon coast. We didn’t know him. Didn’t know anyone here, but the whole point of the road trip was for us to be adventurous. If worse came to worst, we could sleep in our truck since it was renovated to be a camper. It was awesome. Caden’s brother, Marcus, was a big traveler so it’d been a gift from him and their other brother to Caden. The message had been to breathe a little and live since the business Caden started with his brothers was doing phenomenal. Though, it hadn’t started that way. The first five years had been hard, and Caden took on the brunt.
Since getting the camper truck, this road trip was partly a gift from Caden to me as well since we’d had a miscarriage a few months ago. I knew it was his way of trying to keep me busy, keep my mind off the little girl we were going to name Circe. So a mermaid bar? Totally need to stop a night to experience this place. If it was making me smile, Caden would do anything to keep that going.
“Here’s his info.” The bartender scribbled on a piece of paper and slid it over. He held his phone up. “I’ll send him a text, but you can check it out. It’s legit.” His eyes were sparking in amusement, but Caden took the paper and pulled up the website he’d written.
I gasped as he showed me. The place was amazing. Chic and sophisticated on the inside. A very cute building on the outside, a little dated, but the inside made up for it and there were pictures from the basement, a walkout going right to the beach.
Caden took his phone back and I knew he was going to do a search on the place, on the owner, etc. Just making sure everything was safe.
A beat later, the bartender’s phone buzzed. “My buddy said that’s fine. He trusts me. You can contact him at this number to figure out payment.” He gave us the number, and Caden took it from there. He already knew I wanted to stay. The trip’s purpose was to be adventurous and to lean in towards being spontaneous. This was exactly that. As Caden took his phone outside, the bartender went over to fill orders for oth
“I’m Summer.” I nodded outside. “Caden.”
He glanced at my hand. “Married?”
That’s right. My fingers had swollen so I took my ring off, and since then, Caden asked for it. He was going to get it resized. “Yeah.” I didn’t explain anything about why I wasn’t wearing my ring, and he gave an easygoing nod.
“Cool. If you’re a fan of pizza, the chef here makes the best kind. Locals will start trickling in in about thirty minutes or so. It gets busy, and with the show tonight, the place will stay full.” He indicated a corner table in the back section. “That has the best view. It’s open now, so I’d grab it if I were you guys.”
“Okay. Thank you. We’ll do that.”
He gave another nod before heading back down the bar again, handing off the drink to another customer waiting.
When he came back, I put in an order for the pizza Caden liked, and ordered a second refill for myself before heading for the table he’d suggested. My back to the wall, I turned so my feet were resting on the seat next to me, and I got comfortable. Bring on the pizza, another drink, and whatever this show was going to be. I was down for it all.
Caden came in a few minutes later, spotted me, and headed my way. A slight grin was back on his face as he took the seat across from me. “We’re getting comfortable?”
“It was the bartender’s suggestion, and I agree with him. This table has the best view.” I informed him what else the guy had said and Caden was nodding by the time I was done. I asked, “All set for the place?”
“Yeah. The guy didn’t want to talk, but seemed fine with it. We figured it out. It’s not far from here.” The bartender was coming over with my drink, and Caden watched as he did. “I asked Marcus to run this place too, see if anything weird popped up.”
“Did it?”
His eyes narrowed as he shrugged. “Nothing that’ll affect us. Think he was just being helpful, not setting us up for anything.”
That made me feel better, and also the excitement just got even more. I felt like I was a full balloon and floating to the ceiling. Drinking with Caden was my favorite thing, or one of them. Mix in pizza, mermaids, and watching the locals? I was in!
Also, it was close to Christmas so the place was decked out in decorations. A giant palm tree was in the corner with little flamingos hanging from it.
2
The pizza came over. A second beer for Caden. A third fruity drink for me.
I was buzzing when the locals started showing up, and there was a whole other buzz coming from them. They were excited as well, and I was feeding off that. We were getting a few looks, mostly the women were checking Caden out, and I could not fault them. A few middle-aged ladies were giving him looks, but also giving me smiles because whatever I was doing, they were enjoying.
Not that I thought I was doing anything. Maybe they could just see my excitement levels because I was not hiding that.
After eating, Caden and I played darts. It was heated and competitive. The heat level kept getting stoked because Caden would stand behind me as I threw and I wasn’t about to push him away. We’d been together all through college, been living together since, and we married five years ago. We also had two little girls, twins. Caden was doing his business, a tech company, but it was growing massively and I’d been busy going to graduate school. I was now doing post-graduate work, which I got paid for, but it wasn’t much. The last couple years had been hard so this trip had been a welcomed adventure.
We were reassured that the girls were good with my dad. Repeatedly reassured. The last I heard they were going gnome hunting in the backyard.
“Babe.”
I’d been picking out music, but looked back. Another couple was at our table, standing next to Caden. It took a second for it to click who they were, but once I did, I was across the room in a heartbeat. Shay and Kennedy Coleman.
Caden and Shay had been friends first. Each knew of the other through university events, or knew of each other because while we didn’t go to the same colleges, both were in the same social circle. Also, everyone at our school knew Caden and it was similar with Shay. He’d been the starting quarterback of his football team, and one time at a conference, the two hit it off over a beer. They’d been tight ever since.
Kennedy and I became friendly later. I heard about Shay, but it was a couple years before I met him, until one time, he and his wife were driving through and they stayed at our place for the night. I liked Kennedy, but I was also a little scared of her. You didn’t mess with Kennedy Coleman. Though, she was hella loyal. But fierce. I was sure that came in handy with her career since she was a broker. Shay, I wasn’t quite sure what he did. It was some sort of liaison person between colleges and professional football teams. He did a lot of traveling. Kennedy mentioned that a lot, if Shay was home or not.
Seeing them now, as I wrapped my arms around Kennedy for a hug, I had to wonder if Caden did this as a second surprise. “What are you guys doing here?”
Kennedy held me a little longer before stepping back, blinking rapidly. She tucked a piece of my hair back for me, a soft wistfulness flashing over her face before totally stepping back. “We’re–”
Her husband moved in, bending down to give me a hug too. A strong hug. And firm. He murmured while he was there, “We’re so sorry about the baby.”
That had me choking up because that was so sweet of him. I stepped back, brushing a hand over my face, and moved right into Caden, who wrapped a hand around me, going to my hip. He tucked me close to him.
“Thanks for that.”
Caden and Shay shared a look. I took a breath, beaming at Kennedy. “For real. What are you guys doing here?” I looked up at Caden. “Did you do this? Was this planned?”
He opened his mouth, but Kennedy said, “No, but kinda. He mentioned a while ago that you guys were doing this road trip and we’re also up here in Oregon visiting my brother.” She moved into his side, almost mirroring us. “Shay remembered, wondered if we were in the same area.”
“I couldn’t reach Caden, but I got a hold of Marcus. You must’ve just talked to him?”
Caden nodded. “Yeah. I called him about a place here, if it was safe or not.”
Shay nodded too. “He mentioned that place, and it’s good. It’s better, actually. They’re usually booked out years in advance so you kinda hit the jackpot.”
“How do you know this?” I asked.
Kennedy replied, “My brother lives in the next town up, but we come here a lot. The place you’re staying at, no one knows the owner. It’s run through a vacation company.”
“No one knows the owner?” I glanced beyond Kennedy, to the bartender. A piece of his hair had slipped out so he had a strand covering his forehead and eyes. As he worked, he kept reaching up to brush it aside and it’d only fall back in place. It didn’t seem to deter him. He kept working, which he needed to because the place was nearing standing room only. His hair was a bit messier too, with stray strands flying around.
“We don’t think he’s around that often, but it’s fine. Everyone who stays there raves about the place.”
Well, that made me feel even happier. I asked, “You guys are staying, right? There’s a show happening here sometime.”
Kennedy laughed, nodding. “Gage might come later tonight, but yes. That’s the plan.”
Gage was Kennedy’s brother, who’d I forgotten lived up here in Oregon. He took a job with a local company. I couldn’t remember what he did, but as we settled back around the table, I asked Kennedy how the rest of her family was doing. Shay’s as well. I was on my fourth drink when Kennedy was telling a very in-depth story about how potty training their little boy was going. He liked to yell for his butt to get wiped and would bend over to be helpful. Shay demonstrated the pose, and I almost fell off my stool from laughing so hard.
