by Lexi Ryan
I shake my head. “No. I’m going out.”
She looks me over and gives a wolf whistle. “You look hot, sweetie. Do you have a date?”
I shake my head. “Sebastian’s picking me up to introduce me to some of his friends.”
“That’s nice,” Mom says. “I’ve always liked Sebastian. Are you going as friends or”—she waggles her brows—“something more?”
That’s the million-dollar question. “Friends, Mom. Seriously.”
Dante scowls as he pulls a stack of plates from the cupboard. “Better be. When I asked him to introduce you to his friends, I wasn’t suggesting that he take advantage of my little sister.”
The excitement that’s bubbled in my blood since getting Sebastian’s text simmers down to cold sludge. “You asked him to do this?” My smile falters despite my best efforts.
Dante is oblivious. “Sure. He hangs out with guys from the team and their girlfriends all the time. You were always so shy in school. I thought he could help you fit in.”
Before I can reply—though really, what would I say?—the doorbell rings.
Grinning, Mom turns down the heat on the stove, wipes her hands on a towel, and rushes past me toward the door.
“I can get it, Mom.”
“I want to see Sebastian,” she calls over her shoulder.
I feel helpless as I follow her. I was nervous before, wondering if maybe it would be better to stay home than to be awkward in front of new people, but after what Dante just revealed, I don’t want to go at all.
“Mrs. DeLuca,” Sebastian says when Mom opens the door. He’s dressed in jeans and a T-shirt that’s fitted around his biceps, his tattoos peeking out under the tight sleeves. “You look beautiful, as usual,” he tells Mom.
She hugs him and chuckles. “Call me Elaine. Please.”
“Whatever you say, Mrs. DeLuca,” he says.
Mom steps away, and when Sebastian’s smile turns to me, I fully understand what Martina used to say about bearded guys.
There’s something about a bearded man with a cocky smile that will make me imagine his face between my legs. Every. Single. Time.
No kidding, sis. No kidding.
“Are you ready, Alex?” Sebastian asks.
“Sure.” I force a smile for Mom’s benefit and grab my purse off the front table before following Sebastian outside. When he opens the passenger door of his brown pickup truck for me, I arch a brow. “Seriously?”
He shifts his eyes from side to side, as if looking to see if I’m talking to someone else. “What?”
“Why are you opening the door for me? Did Dante say you had to?”
“It’s called manners, Alex. It’s not a marriage proposal.”
I swallow hard and climb into the truck. He closes the door behind me, and I buckle my seatbelt as he comes around the front to his side. He cuts a glance at me from the corner of his eyes, but he slides his key into the ignition. The truck comes to life with a rattling growl, as if it’s as cranky about being here as I am.
He pulls out on to the road and is heading out of town without either one of us uttering another word. His silence only adds to my irritation. If he doesn’t even have anything to say to me on a short drive, why did he invite me?
We pull up to the house, and I’m so preoccupied with my anger that I barely register the enormity of the brick home.
He pulls the keys from the ignition and takes a deep breath before facing me. “So you are mad about last night?”
I blink at him. “What?”
“I said I wished I’d kissed you.” His gaze dips to my mouth, but it’s brief, nothing like last night’s lingering, tingle-inspiring mouth ogle. “I said it, and now things are weird between us, and I’m sorry.”
“I’m not mad about what you said.”
He frowns. “Then what’s wrong?”
“Dante told me you only invited me tonight because he asked you to.”
“Does it matter?”
I gape at him. Surely he’s not this clueless. “I told you last night that I don’t want your pity friendship, and this was what I was talking about. I don’t want to be included out of some sense of duty or honor or because you’re doing my brother a favor.” I turn away. It’s a beautiful night, and the sun spreads low across the horizon like it’s stretching out in bed. “Contrary to what my entire family seems to think, I didn’t move home because I need special assistance to live my life. I’m capable of making my own friends.”
He sighs, and his fingers brush my shoulder before falling away. “I’m sorry I made you feel that way, but— Would you please just look at me?” When I turn in my seat, his eyes meet mine. His irises are dark brown and he has the thickest eyelashes. “I wouldn’t have invited you if I didn’t want you here.”
He’s really trying to kill me, isn’t he? Each moment of his sweetness is like a melon baller to my heart, scooping out what I’ve spent the last two years painstakingly reclaiming. Two weeks from now, I fear there will be nothing left.
“I’ll take you home if you want,” he says, studying me, “but I hope you’ll stay. My sister’s here, and I’ve never had the chance to introduce you two. I think you’ll like her. Plus, when I told Mia I was bringing you, she was really excited. Please stay.”
I made it through high school knowing Sebastian wasn’t interested in me, and even if it hurt, I never held it against him. But he changed everything that night two years ago when he almost kissed me.
I’m going to have to get over it. Sebastian’s part of my life. Thanks to his dad’s body shop, our families are close, and I’m going to work with him and go to school with him. Maybe getting over him won’t be easy, but it’s what I need to do.
“I’ll stay,” I say. “But next time, if you don’t think of inviting me somewhere without my brother mentioning it, please don’t invite me at all.”
“I would have thought of it.” His brow wrinkles as he studies me. “I might not have acted on it without your brother’s suggestion, but I would have thought of it.”
I’m not sure what to make of that, but instead of letting myself analyze it, I climb out of the truck. Sebastian points to the gate at the side of the house, and we walk around back, where half a dozen people are scattered between the pool area and a fire. A couple of girls lounge on rafts in the pool, one guy flips burgers on the grill as a girl hangs on his arm, and a couple of other guys poke at a smoking pile of logs in the fire pit.
“I didn’t bring my suit,” I whisper to Sebastian.
“Neither did I,” he says. “I wasn’t planning on swimming so I didn’t think about it. Do you want to go back to the house and grab one?”
I shake my head. I’d be even more self-conscious in a swimsuit than I am in this shirt. Truth be told, I’m glad I didn’t know. It gives me the perfect excuse to stay covered. “I’m fine.”
“Come on, let me introduce you to Arrow.” He points to the tall, broad-shouldered guy at the grill. “This is his place. We hang out here a lot because he’s not allowed to leave.”
I arch a brow. “Not allowed? Like, his mom won’t let him or…”
“House arrest,” Sebastian says. “He got mixed up in drugs for a while and got caught.” When I don’t move forward, Sebastian squeezes my arm. “He’s not into that anymore. I wouldn’t have brought you here otherwise. He was going through some bad stuff, but he got through it.” He waves to the group. “We all got through it together.”
I swallow hard. I wish Martina had had friends to get her through her “bad stuff.” Instead, she only had people happy to offer her the chemical escape she craved.
My thoughts must be all over my face, because Sebastian drags in a ragged breath. He takes my hand and squeezes my fingertips. “Will you be okay?”
“I’m fine.” I give what I hope is a reassuring smile, but I’m disappointed when he drops my hand. I follow him over to the grill.
“This is my friend, Alex,” Sebastian announces to the couple.
The girl on Arrow’s arm steps back and smiles when she sees us coming. She’s beautiful, with long, soft brown hair and light brown skin. She extends a hand. “I’m Mia. This is my boyfriend, Arrow.”
I shake her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.” Arrow turns away from the grill, and my eyes go wide because—wow. He’s as gorgeous as Sebastian. How do girls handle them both in the same space at the same time? “Thanks for letting me crash your party,” I tell him.
“Any friend of Sebastian is a friend of ours,” Arrow says. “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”
“Sebastian, why don’t you introduce Alex to everyone?” Mia suggests.
I’m so out of my league with these people, it’s not funny. It’s as if Arrow’s having a gathering of all the beautiful people but no one has the balls to tell Sebastian he shouldn’t have brought me. I have a fleeting thought that Martina would fit in here much better than me, but I push it away, lift my chin, and paste my smile in place.
Sebastian leads me around the pool to a stone fire pit and points to a curvy blonde with short shorts and hair that’s longer than her T-shirt. I’m stepping toward her with a smile even as he says, “This is Bailey.”
Bailey hops up, her jaw dropping. “Oh my God! What a small world!”
We hug, and Sebastian clears his throat. “So you two know each other. That’s…great?” He doesn’t sound too sure. Sebastian points to the brunette who was sitting beside Bailey before she jumped up to hug me. “Alex, this is my sister, Olivia. I don’t think you’ve met before. Olivia, this is my friend, Alex.”
Olivia has one of those sweet and innocent faces. She could play the part of “girl next door” without missing a beat, but she arches a brow, and some of her sweetness leaves her face as she studies me. “Friend? You don’t say.” She gives me a once-over, and even though I put a lot of thought into my outfit, I feel a little frumpy. It’s not that there’s anything cruel or hateful in the way she looks at me—her gaze is more curious than critical—it’s just that she’s so put together in her beaded brown tank dress and matching sandals that I feel awkward and unfashionable.
“Alex and I graduated together.” Sebastian either ignores the implication in her tone or he’s missed it entirely. “She’s going to be running service for Dad part-time, and she’s starting at BHU next week.”
Olivia points across the pool to where we just came from. “Mia’s a transfer student too.”
My cheeks heat. “No, I’ll be a freshman. I took some time off after high school.”
“She’s been in Boulder, working with family,” Sebastian says.
“Lucky,” Olivia says. “Think you could hook me up with a job? I’d love to get out of this town.”
I laugh. “I mean, I guess if you know how to do oil changes and check brake pads, go for it. It wasn’t exactly glamorous.”
“But at the end of the day, you were still in Boulder,” she says.
“True. I can’t deny that was pretty cool. It’s beautiful out there.”
A tall guy with messy brown hair comes to stand next to Sebastian and offers me his hand. “I’m Chris Montgomery,” he says, and I catch a hint of a Southern accent in those three words.
“Nice to meet you.” I shake his hand and can’t help but return his smile when he flashes me the cutest damn pair of dimples I’ve ever seen.
“Mind if I steal Sebastian away for a minute?” he asks.
I shrug. “I don’t own him.”
“You’ll be okay?” Sebastian asks.
“She’s fine,” Bailey says, shooing them away.
The guys head to the back of the house. Chris points at a television that’s mounted in the covered cabana area.
“They have to talk football,” Bailey says. “Chris’s girlfriend just went back to New York, so he’s pretty much eating, breathing, and sleeping football to keep his mind off how miserable he is without her.”
“Poor guy.”
“More like poor us,” Mia says, joining us by the fire. “Since Arrow’s on house arrest, he can’t even play until midseason, but he’s spending all his free time watching film and analyzing all they can about every team they’re up against, even the ones he won’t be playing.”
“They’re obsessed,” Olivia adds. “Every one of them.”
Another guy joins us by the fire. “The word you’re looking for is dedicated.” He offers a hand, and I take it. “I’m Mason. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Alexandra,” I say. Mason’s as drop-dead gorgeous as the others. He’s tall and broad-shouldered, but it’s the contrast of his dark brown skin and bright green eyes that makes him gorgeous in that I’d-like-to-just-sit-and-look-at-you-for-a-while way. “You must play football too.”
He grins right at me, and my cheeks heat. “Number eighty-eight. Wide receiver. Are you a fan?”
“Um—”
“She will be,” Bailey says, saving me from an awkward explanation of how I’ve never really been into sports. “She doesn’t have a choice if she’s going to hang with us.”
“It’s true,” Mia says. “Prepare yourself to learn the playbook like you’re part of the team.”
“If Chris keeps running them this hard, they’re not even going to have the energy for sex,” Bailey says.
“Wanna bet?” Mason runs his gaze over her, from her crop top all the way down to her bare feet. With this one look, he achieves what I would have thought was impossible, and makes her blush.
She clears her throat. “Anyway, I hope you didn’t want to spend too much quality time with your boy Sebastian.”
“Oh, no.” I shake my head. This whole conversation makes me uncomfortable, from having to be introduced to Sebastian’s friends like a backward child who needs the teacher to tell the class to be nice to her, to having to explain that my relationship with Sebastian is entirely platonic. “Sebastian and I aren’t together. He’s best friends with my brother Dante, and Dante asked him to introduce me to people.”
Bailey grins. “Your brother is Dante DeLuca? How did I never put that together?”
“Uh-oh.” Dante runs through girls faster than bottles of his favorite whiskey. “You know him?”
She shrugs. “I knew him from my old job. He was a good tipper.”
The humor drains from Mason’s face, and he turns on his heel and leaves the conversation.
“Is he okay?” I ask, watching him go.
“He’s in love with Bailey,” Mia says quietly.
Bailey waves away the explanation. “Mason doesn’t like to be reminded that I showed other men my tits for tips. It seems irrational to me, since I’m happy to show them to him for free.”
I grimace, not even sure where to start with all that information. “So you know my brother from the strip club? Where you worked, and he was…a patron?”
“Yep.”
“I can’t decide if I want to apologize or puke a little.”
Bailey lifts her arms out wide, her palms up. “I’m a big girl, and I made my own choices. I earned the money I needed for school, and I’m not sorry, so you certainly don’t need to be.”
“But that must have been weird for your boyfriend.” I look to Mason, who’s joined the guys by the television.
“He’s not my boyfriend.” She sighs. “He was my excellent booty call for a while, but he cut me off.”
I’m curious, but I’m not sure if it’s my place to ask her to explain. Before I can figure out a way to ask, Olivia’s changed the subject back to me and Sebastian.
“So you’re not with my brother.” Olivia surveys me critically. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
Bailey arches a brow. “Are you hitting on her? Because I saw her first.”
Olivia laughs. “If only my love life were that simple. But sadly, I’m all about the D.”
I bite back a laugh at her bluntness and shake my head. “Too bad for us both.” I lower my voice. “Though it’s been so long since I’ve had any quality D time, I’m not even sure I’d rem
ember what to do with it.”
Bailey guffaws, and the guys turn away from the television and stare at us. She makes two fists and holds them to either side—one for me and one for Olivia. “Sexually deprived chicks unite.”
“May our common bond be short-lived,” Olivia mutters.
I bump Bailey’s fist as Sebastian returns to stand by my side.
Bailey says, “May we have a reason to spread our legs very soon,” and Sebastian turns on his heel and walks away.
Chapter Seven
Alexandra
Sebastian’s friends are awesome. I’m not sure what I expected. Maybe a group of guys standing around, drinking cheap beer and belching the alphabet? Or girls rubbing themselves all over the nearest jock? What I got was a full dinner under the setting sun and lots of laughs.
As much as I objected to Dante thinking I needed help making friends, I have to admit that I’ve never had a group of friends like this. They tease and compliment each other in equal measure, and they seem more interested in talking than in getting wasted. This isn’t like the party Bailey took me to last night. This is quieter, calmer, and all-around better.
After the burgers and brats were devoured and Bailey’s bottles of sweet red wine were empty, we all helped clean up. Olivia said she was tired and went home, but everyone else has returned to the patio. The reflection of the fire dances in the pool, and the moon creeps higher into the sky.
I settle into the seat beside Bailey, my belly full and my cheeks warm from wine. “I’m glad you’re here. I was really nervous about meeting Sebastian’s friends. I don’t want anyone letting me into their circle out of obligation.”
She arches a brow. “Trust me when I say we don’t do that,” she says. “Life is too short to share with people who don’t make you happy. But I already like you, which is lucky for me, and lucky for you, too, because we’re the best friends you could make.”
“She’s right,” Mia says from the chair on the other side of her. “Wanna sit in the hot tub for a while?”
“I didn’t bring a suit,” I say.
“It’s cool,” Bailey says. “I don’t feel like changing into mine anyway. Let’s just put our feet in.” I shoot her a grateful smile, and she winks at me before toeing off her shoes and padding toward the hot tub. I follow her lead, rolling my jeans up to my knees.
