Heartbreakers

by Ali Novak

  “You mean pretty damn good,” Oliver corrected me.

  “Of course,” I said and picked up another. “My bad.”

  Giving me a nod of approval, Oliver grabbed a pickle thing and popped it into his mouth. As he chewed, a smile spread across his face. He looked like a kid who had just been told he could eat dessert for the rest of his life. I chuckled as I grabbed another roll-up, one that had a little more cream cheese than the rest.

  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a bit crazy?” I asked, licking some excess cheese off my finger.

  Oliver shrugged. “I’m a rock star.” The way the words rolled off his tongue made me stop, pickle halfway to my mouth. He swiped it out of my hand before I could protest, shoved it in his mouth, and lounged back on the steps. “People like me are allowed a little bit of craziness.”

  “Are you now?” I asked and shifted away from him. His comment made me uncomfortable because it reminded me of exactly whom I was sitting with.

  “You know it, babe,” he said with a lazy smile.

  “Don’t call me that,” I said. I had no problem with pet names, but when guys used them in such a casual way, they came off as demeaning. Appetite gone, I pushed the box of pickles and ham away from me. Maybe coming out here with him had been a bad idea.

  Oliver froze, the smug smile wiped off his face. “Sorry,” he said, sitting up straight. “I didn’t mean anything by that.”

  “It’s fine,” I told him, even though it wasn’t. For a moment, I had forgotten that I was sitting with the leader singer of the Heartbreakers. Oliver’s goofy personality had made me bubbly, but now I only felt deflated. And with my disappointment came the realization that I actually kind of liked Oliver—that was, when he wasn’t being pretentious.

  Unable to hold his piercing gaze, I focused on my nails. The black polish was chipped in places, my left pinkie completely free of paint.

  “Stella?”

  “Hmm?”

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, fine. Why?”

  An almost silent sigh hissed out of his mouth. “Nothing.”

  Thankfully, my phone buzzed. “It’s Drew,” I said, glancing down at the text. “We should head to the pool. He’s wondering where we are.”

  Oliver studied my face. “You’re right,” he said, his expression unreadable. Then he stood up, brushed off his jeans, and held open the door. “After you.”

  Chapter 6

  The door to the pool was unlocked, and when we stepped inside, I inhaled a deep breath of chlorine. I scanned the room quickly, looking for the guys. There were deck chairs and white plastic tables, a towel rack, and a sign that read: WARNING! No Lifeguard on Duty. Someone had dumped a cell phone, car keys, and a T-shirt on the nearby table. I recognized them as my brother’s stuff, but I didn’t see the boys anywhere.

  “Where are they?” I asked and turned to Oliver. He smiled and pointed to the deep end of the long, rectangular pool. All four guys were sitting at the bottom under the bright blue water. “What the heck are they doing?” I asked, as air bubbled up and broke the surface.

  As the words left my mouth, one of the dark shapes on the bottom shot up. Xander gasped when he reached the air. “Dang it!” He wheezed and slapped his fist across the water. “I always lose.”

  “Oh! A breath-holding contest,” I said with a laugh. “They don’t stand a chance. My brother used to be on a club swim team.”

  “You need to cheat!” Oliver shouted across the room.

  Xander turned around in the water at the sound of Oliver’s voice. “But I did!” he complained when he spotted Oliver. “I waited almost fifteen seconds after they went under, and I still can’t hold my breath long enough. Oh God, I think I need my inhaler.”

  As Xander made his way over to the edge of the pool, Alec popped up, followed by JJ. “There you guys are,” JJ said. “We were starting to think you didn’t get away from Aaron.”

  “Aaron?” I asked, turning to look at Oliver.

  “Our bodyguard.”

  “You know, the one without hair?” Xander added when he reached the table. He grabbed his inhaler off the table and sucked in a deep breath as he sprayed it.

  Drew finally shot to the surface and inhaled a deep breath of air. “I am the champion, my friends!” he sang in victory. Alec and JJ responded by splashing him in the face.

  “Hey, don’t be sore losers.” Drew grinned and splashed them back.

  “Maybe someone shouldn’t be such an obnoxious winner,” I teased.

  Drew’s head snapped up at the sound of my voice. “Stella.” The grin on his face disappeared, and he raced to the edge of the pool. After pulling himself out of the water, he stormed over to me. During his approach, Oliver took a hasty step back. I didn’t blame him; my brother could be intimidating sometimes.

  “Where were you?” he demanded. Both of his hands gently grasped my shoulders, and he looked me up and down to make sure everything was okay. “You were only supposed to be gone for ten minutes.”

  I rolled my eyes. “We stopped for some dinner. I’m fine, promise.” Knowing that this interrogation still wasn’t over, I planted my feet firmly on the concrete and crossed my arms.

  “Well, what took so long?” Drew asked. He eyed Oliver suspiciously.

  “Oliver was cooking.”

  Drew blinked and turned to Oliver. “You were?” His reaction mirrored what mine had been, and Oliver nodded his head. “Well, that’s…unexpected.”

  “You didn’t make anything for me?” JJ asked. The rest of the guys had joined us at the table, still dripping wet from the pool. JJ was frowning. “I didn’t eat dinner yet.”

  “You had two Quarter Pounders on the way back from the signing,” Oliver responded.

  “So?”

  “Do you want to die of a heart attack?”

  “I’m a growing boy, Oliver,” JJ said and pointed at his muscles. “Sorry that’s something you and your scrawny arms will never understand.”

  “Lean, not scrawny,” Oliver corrected him. The two continued to bicker as JJ tried to explain the importance of daily McDonald’s runs.

  “So,” Xander said as the rest of us tuned out the stupid argument. “You guys have any problems ditching Aaron?”

  “Nope.” There were the two girls from the stairwell, but I didn’t think they were worth mentioning.

  “Good,” Xander said. “I don’t remember the last time we ditched our bodyguard. I was afraid Oliver might be out of practice.”

  “You’ve done this before?” Drew asked.

  “We used to, loads,” Xander said. He looked like he was going to say more, so Drew and I waited, but then a loud yell and splash filled the room, echoing off the walls.

  “Jerk,” JJ complained when he broke the surface of the water. Oliver was standing next to the edge of the pool with a guilty smirk on his face. JJ pulled back his arm and sent a spray of water in his friend’s direction.

  “Dude, what the hell?” Oliver yelled and jumped back. “I still have my clothes on.”

  “Good,” JJ said and continued to splash a wall of water in Oliver’s direction.

  Alec turned silently to Xander before glancing back at Oliver. Xander smirked as if he knew exactly what Alec was thinking. “You take the left side. I’ll get the right.” Alec nodded before both boys dashed toward Oliver. They grabbed his arms, lifted him up, and threw him into the pool, clothes and all. Everything happened in a split second, and all I could do was blink in surprise before Oliver resurfaced. He sputtered for a moment and then pushed his bangs, which were plastered to his face, out of his eyes.

  “You’re both assholes,” he said.

  Xander and Alec gave each other a high five. “That’s for giving my phone number to that crazy chick in Dallas the other weekend,” Xander told him. JJ was laughing so hard he had to clutch the
metal ladder for support.

  “Very funny,” Oliver grumbled as he swam over to the side, waterlogged clothes weighing him down. “You two better sleep with your eyes open the next few nights.”

  Drew nodded in the direction of the pool. “You coming in?”

  “Yeah, hold on a second.” I quickly stripped off my shorts and camisole, folded them up, and placed them on the table where they wouldn’t get wet. I turned back around to find my brother glaring at me. Putting a hand on my hip, I snapped at him. “You didn’t pack a swimsuit either! What did you expect me to wear?”

  As much as I wanted to keep my cami on, I needed something to sleep in at night. Drew muttered something under his breath, picked his T-shirt up off the table, and handed it to me.

  I crossed my arms. “Do you want me to drown?” I asked, refusing to take it. The shirt was an extra large and would fall well past my knees.

  “Stella,” Drew hissed, “you’re about to go swimming with a bunch of famous, probably horny guys…in your underwear!”

  “What difference does it make that they’re famous?” I questioned him and put a hand on my hip. “Do boy bands suddenly have the ability to impregnate girls with devilish smolders?”

  “You know that’s not what I meant.” Drew sighed, clearly unimpressed with what I thought was a rather funny remark. “They are probably used to getting whatever they want.”

  My face turned red at his words. “Are you suggesting I’m easy?”

  “No!” Drew snapped, and threw his hands up in frustration. “All I’m saying is that your outfit might give someone the wrong idea.”

  Suddenly, I found myself repeating Oliver’s words. “What’s the difference between this and a bikini?”

  “Stella, you are wearing a lacy bra!” Drew bent over and hissed in my ear.

  “Are you guys coming in or what?” JJ shouted from the pool. I glanced over to see that all of the Heartbreakers were in the pool. Oliver had pulled off his wet clothes with the exception of his swimming trunks and left them in a sopping pile on the edge. They were waiting for us to join them.

  “Don’t worry, Drew. With you around, I’m going to be stuck a virgin until I’m thirty.” With that, I left my brother by the table, strutted over to the pool, and plunged in.

  The water had a sharp bite, and I felt the hairs on my arms stand up as I sank effortlessly. Bubbles rushed up around me, making it feel as if I had jumped into a fizzy bottle of champagne. I floated at the bottom for a moment with my eyes shut tight before pushing off and springing toward the surface. The tight pressure on my lungs released when I gasped for a deep breath.

  “Surprise attack!” someone shouted, and I was dunked back under the water as quickly as I had popped up.

  After I struggled back to the surface and pulled the hair out of my eyes, I found a smirking JJ in front of me. “Jerk,” I said and splashed him in the face. He just smiled, looked down at my bra, and then winked at me. He was lucky that his back was facing Drew, who was trying to demonstrate that looks could kill.

  Then an idea popped into my head. I swam closer to JJ and trailed a hand down his bicep, my nail digging into his skin. “You have such big muscles,” I told him, and JJ’s mouth slowly dropped open in disbelief. I moved closer and slid my arm around his neck. Leaning in, I whispered in his ear, “But my brother’s are even bigger and he’d love to kick your ass.”

  Before JJ knew what was happening, I wrapped both of my hands around his neck and shoved him under the water with all my strength. When he came back up, coughing on water, he was greeted by a room full of laughter. “Surprise attack,” I told him innocently.

  I looked over at Drew, who was now smiling ear to ear. He swam over to me and pulled me into a headlock. “Have I ever told you that I have the best sister in the whole world?” he asked as he gave me a noogie.

  “Ow! Drew, stop!” I shouted, trying to squirm away from his knuckles. Chuckling, he let me go.

  JJ, who had finally stopped coughing, turned to me. “You’re sneaky,” he said with a smile, “but I can totally take your brother.”

  “Just like you beat him at CoD and Xander beat him in a breath-holding contest?” I asked.

  “Hey!” Xander protested. “Asthma over here!”

  Shrugging his shoulders, JJ responded. “We just lost to save your brother the embarrassment.”

  Xander looked horrified. “Wait, that’s not true! I never said—”

  But Drew wasn’t paying attention. “Is that a challenge?” he asked, his eyes lighting up.

  “Damn straight it is. Chicken fight. Best two out of three.”

  “I won’t need three tries, but okay,” Drew agreed. “If I win, you have to admit that I am stronger, better looking, and overall more talented than the Heartbreakers,” he said, grinning. Alec raised an eyebrow at him. “Minus Alec, of course,” Drew apologized to him. “He’s cool.”

  “Fine,” JJ said, nodding his head in acknowledgment. “But if I win, I get a kiss from Stella.”

  I let out a snort, knowing that Drew would never agree to that. But then one shocking word left his mouth. “Deal,” my brother said and held out his hand for JJ to shake.

  “Hey!” I shouted angrily and sent a spray of water in Drew’s direction. “You can’t offer me up like a piece of meat. I’m not kissing him!”

  My gaze darted to Oliver for a split second, and my heart thumped when I noticed that he didn’t look happy with the situation either.

  “You won’t be kissing him,” Drew said confidently, “because we won’t lose. Now get up here.” Water rushed around his neck as he sank down so I could easily get up. Suddenly, a very fun game turned deadly serious.

  Grudgingly, I swam over to my brother and situated myself on his shoulders, just like little kids do with their fathers. Drew stood, and I was raised up out of the pool, streams of water droplets cascading off me.

  “If we lose,” I warned him, “you’re paying for my therapy sessions.”

  My brother grabbed my legs and held on tight. “Stella, when do we ever lose?” he questioned.

  “Never,” I responded and ground my teeth.

  Alec, who was almost the same size as JJ, was too big for his friend’s shoulders, and Oliver refused to participate, so Xander faced me in the air a few moments later.

  “No biting, nail digging, hair pulling, or cheap ball shots.” Xander recited the rules as I stared him down.

  “No grabbing my sister,” Drew added quickly.

  Xander flushed red, but JJ complained. “What is he supposed to do? Not touch her? Topple her over with a huff and puff?”

  “Can we just get this over with?” I intervened.

  “I know I’m a sexy beast, Stella, but you need to be patient,” JJ said and blew a kiss in my direction.

  Ignoring him, I focused my attention on the best possible way to beat Xander. He was so skinny, and without his glasses, he might not be able to see as well. But he had long fingers, which would make it easier for him to hold on to my wrists in a death-like grip. It seemed best to go for a quick shove to the chest before he could get his hands on me.

  “Someone say ‘go’ already,” Xander demanded. “Stella looks like she’s going to kill me.”

  “On your marks, get set, go!” Alec said in a loud, clear voice. If I weren’t so focused on crushing Xander and JJ, I might have been shocked by the number of words that came out of his mouth.

  Drew and JJ circled one another, neither making the first move.

  “How long do you think this will take?” Drew asked me. I could tell that he was grinning. “Two minutes? One?”

  I glared at JJ. “Ten.”

  “Ten?” Drew asked, confused.

  “Seconds,” I replied confidently. I dug my heels into his sides, like one would a horse, and my brother lunged forward in response.

&nbs
p; My hands darted out and connected with Xander, slamming into his chest before he had time to react. I watched gleefully as his arms flailed and he and JJ collapsed into the water. One down, one to go…

  “Xander, what the heck was that?” JJ sputtered when he resurfaced.

  “Sorry,” Xander muttered as he tried to wipe the water from his eyes.

  “Well, just don’t let it happen again,” JJ grumbled as he sank under the water so Xander could get back on his shoulders.

  Alec directed the start of round two with a smile on his face. When he said “go,” JJ charged forward and the clear, blue water rippled away from his waist, creating a small wake.

  Even though his face was pale with nerves, this time Xander was ready to counter my attack. As I shoved my hands against him, trying to knock their tower over, his fingers coiled around my arms, forming an unbreakable grip. I tried to rip free, but his hands stayed firmly clamped.

  “Damn, you’re a lot stronger than you look,” I admitted to Xander as I tried to wiggle my way out.

  “Thanks.”

  “Concentrate, Xander,” JJ growled below him.

  With newfound confidence, Xander furrowed his brows and tightened his hold on me. Then he started to pull.

  “Come on, Stella,” Drew said, his voice rising in alarm. He moved forward, trying to find his balance so I wouldn’t slip forward off his neck.

  A wicked smile spread across Xander’s face before he yanked me to the left with all his might. My stomach dropped and I hit the water with a splash. It happened so fast that Drew didn’t even fall over. Xander had pulled me right off the top of him.

  “And that’s how it’s done, boys,” JJ gloated. Xander reached down and fist-bumped his friend, his lips turned up in a half smile.

  Sighing, I peeked over at Oliver, who was sitting on the edge of the pool. He was glaring holes in the back of JJ’s unaware head. I cleared the hair away from my face again and swam back over to my brother.

  “Anyone have any breath mints on them?” JJ called out.