by Holly Renee
“Are you a virgin?” Staci leaned forward like this was the juiciest conversation she’d had in years.
“No. I’m not a virgin,” I whispered to make sure no one overheard us. As far as I knew, the guys were all still outside, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I would absolutely die if any of them overheard this conversation. “But I’m not that far off.”
“Having an experienced lover is a good thing.” Staci apparently wasn’t picking up on the whole whispering thing. She could be talking through a blowhorn and it wouldn’t have made much difference. “It just means that they know how to pleasure you. It’s refreshing really. You don’t have to twist and turn like they are performing an exorcism just to get them to hit the right spot.”
“What the hell are you all talking about?”
Holy Hello Kitty.
I was going to die.
I didn’t turn around to even acknowledge Brandon. Instead, I stared down Staci and Livy and prayed that the two of them were aware of how close I was to running out of this house and never talking to any of them ever again.
It would be better than facing this conversation.
“We were just talking about bad sexual experiences,” Staci said it as if it was the kind of conversations they had on the regular. “Your sex can be so bad at it. We were just talking about how we all had considered switching teams a time or two.”
“Mason not taking care of things at home, Stac?” Brandon said with a laugh as he made his way around the couch. The couch I was sitting on.
“Oh, fuck you, dude,” Mason said from behind me. “She is more than taken care of.”
“Hear, hear.” Staci held up her beer in comradery with her man.
“Hey, Freckles,” Brandon said quietly as he sat down right beside me.
“Hey.” I smiled up at him. I suddenly felt more awkward around him then I had ever felt before, and that was saying something.
I shouldn’t have even talked to Staci and Livy about him or David. Now they have planted things in my head that probably weren’t true, but I knew I was going to obsess over them.
I was fine when I thought that Brandon maybe, possibly wanted to sleep with me.
But more?
There was no way.
This wasn’t some nineties romcom where the super-hot high school quarterback fell in love with quirky, odd loser that he had barely ever noticed before. Those things only happened to Freddie Prinze Jr. and whatever lucky costar that managed to land the loser role.
“Livy has never even considered playing for the other team. I keep my woman satisfied,” Parker said with a cocky grin before sitting down next to Livy and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
Livy rolled her eyes.
“You do remember that you broke my heart, right?” She looked up at him playfully.
“Yeah, but then I healed it.” He ran his nose along her jaw, and I felt like I was peeking in on something I wasn’t supposed to see.
“Get a damn room.” Brandon chuckled before looking at me and rolling his eyes. “You’ll have to get used to it. They are always like this.”
I chuckled and looked back at the couple in time to see Livy flip Brandon off.
“What about you, Charlie? Have you ever considered leaving men for good?” Mason said from the arm of the couch he was perched on beside Staci.
I almost choked on the sip of beer I was already trying to choke down.
“Ummm.”
I wasn’t used to having conversations like this. Especially not in front of a bunch of super-hot men. I could feel my skin turning red before I could even form an answer.
“If she keeps dating construction workers, she will.” Brandon’s knee gently pushed against mine. “I heard that the only tools you assholes know how to use are the ones that you have on the job.”
Staci laughed, and Mason turned his sharp eyes down to his girlfriend. She held up her hands in surrender. “I didn’t say it was true, but it was funny.”
“And tattoo artists are better?” Mason said with a smirk.
Staci smacked him in his stomach, and he let out a small oomph before rubbing what I was sure was a six pack of abs.
“Of course, we are.” Brandon wiggled his fingers in the air. “We’re really good with our hands.”
Just the thought of those tattooed hands on me made me squirm in my seat. Brandon’s gaze moved to me at the movement, but I avoided it and took the final sip of my beer.
“You want another?” he asked, motioning to the empty bottle in my hand.
“Sure.” I nodded my head even though I knew it was likely to be a mistake. If they had an inkling of how big of a lightweight I was, they wouldn’t have given me the first.
Brandon stood from the couch, and I watched him walk away. His dark jeans hugged his butt like they were made with him specifically in mind, and I wondered if he ever wore anything that looked bad on him. If I was to bet, I would say not. I’d bet he looked even better without them.
He probably looked like some sort of fantasy.
My fantasy to be exact.
A fantasy I had been having about him since the first day I laid eyes on him.
I finally pulled my gaze away from his butt when he turned the corner into the kitchen, and I jolted in my seat when I finally noticed the four pairs of eyes that were watching me.
They had all just watched me check Brandon out for a solid minute.
“Told you.” Livy smirked and took a sip of her beer.
Parker grinned at me and I found myself dying to look away from his stare.
“Can we not.” I motioned to the hallway Brandon had just disappeared down.
“Don’t worry.” Parker pulled Livy farther into his body. “Your secret is safe with us.”
Then he winked at me.
He winked.
And I instantly knew why Livy was so smitten. If I wasn’t already having a come apart over Brandon, I would have swooned.
He was that good looking.
Brandon brought back two beers, one for me and one for him, and I avoided looking at him as I pressed the bottle to my lips. Liquid encouragement seemed like the smartest option to make it through the night without making a complete ass out of myself.
Brandon smiled down at me as Livy turned up the volume on the TV as Riverdale started.
I avoided his gaze like the plague.
But I couldn’t ignore the feel of his body so close to mine. Why did I sit on this loveseat? That wasn’t the smartest idea.
His thigh pressed against the outside of mine, and I swear I could feel the heat of that touch throughout my entire body. It was either that or the beer, but I was pretty certain the source was not the alcohol.
I stared at his profile as he watched the show so attentively. His jawline looked so hard. I wanted to reach out and touch it just to see what it would feel like against my fingers. I had an even stronger urge to press my lips against it.
I had never kissed a man who let his face get scruffy with a couple days growth, but I knew I would love the feel of it. Against my lips, against my thighs.
Dear God. I had to stop looking at him.
I took another sip of my beer and turned my attention back to the TV. I didn’t have a clue what the hell was going on, but Jughead was on the screen which was all that really mattered.
Brandon shifted in his seat, his hand tugged at his jeans near his knee, and just like that, my attention was back on him.
He had to have women clamoring over him. He was so damn handsome, and even though I called him an asshole yesterday, he could actually be sweet if he wanted to be.
And God, I just knew that he knew exactly what to do with a woman in the bedroom. Or against a wall. Or in a bakery. Or in the backseat of the car.
Dear God.
“I need to use the bathroom.”
Everyone turned to look at me as I stood up and announced my business right in the middle of the show.
“It’s the second door on the
left.” Parker pointed with his beer down the hallway.
“Thanks.” I quickly moved past Brandon and made my way into the bathroom.
I sat down on the edge of the oversized bathtub, and I stared at myself in the mirror. My eyes looked a bit wild, and I guessed they matched my hair that was all over the place.
I was a mess.
There was no way Brandon was interested in dating me. I wished that I could go back to before tonight when Livy and Staci hadn’t planted that absurd thought into my head.
It didn’t matter whether or not they thought he was into me. He hadn’t given any indication that he wanted that.
I had to stop thinking about it.
I was tipsy and way too deep into my own head.
This was how girls screwed things up. You know what I’m talking about. They get all these fancy thoughts in their head about someone, thoughts that should have never been there in the first place, and then it all comes crashing down on them because they make a move and get rejected.
That wasn’t happening here.
No sir.
I was going to get myself together, and I was going to march back out into that living room. I was not going to give two thoughts to the way Brandon would watch me as I made my way back to the couch, and I sure as heck wasn’t going to think any more thoughts about his scruffy beard against my thighs.
I was going to watch Riverdale then I was going to go home and think about Jughead and feel guilty about it like any grown woman should.
There. That was a foolproof plan.
What could go wrong?
CHAPTER 12
DRUNKEN IDIOT
Brandon
Charlie was drunk.
I wasn’t positive about the full capacity of her drunkenness, but I knew there was no way in hell she was going to drive home.
I had only seen her drink three beers, but it would appear that those three beers were beyond her limit.
Especially if her constant giggling had anything to do with it.
“Seriously, Brandon.” She turned to face me as I walked her to my car. “Livy can take me home.”
“Livy lives here,” I reminded her. “There’s no point in her getting out when I’ve got to drive home anyway.”
“That’s true.” She scrunched her brow in concentration as if she was trying to figure out the next excuse to get me to not take her home.
“Don’t you have something else you need to do?” She took another step backward, and I reached out for her when she almost fell over her own damn feet.
“Nope.” I opened the passenger side door and waited for her to get inside.
“You mean to tell me that a handsome thing like you doesn’t have a gaggle of women waiting for you to call them?”
“Did you just say gaggle?” I chuckled, but I definitely didn’t miss the fact that she had just called me handsome.
“Don’t avoid the question, mister.” She pointed her finger at me then leaned her head back against my car. I prayed she didn’t pass out or puke.
“It’s nice to know that you think I’m handsome, but no. I don’t have a gaggle of women.”
She lifted her head to look at me before she rolled her eyes so hard in the back of her head that I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Puhhlease.” She drug out the word. “You don’t need me telling you how handsome you are. I’m sure that you are quite aware.”
I grinned as her eyes slid down my body and did a slow perusal.
I took a step closer to her, and her gaze slowly moved back up to reach mine. “I like that you think I’m handsome.” I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “It’s good to know that I’m not the only one who is attracted to the other.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “I didn’t say that I was attracted to you.”
Her skin was already a light shade of red from her drinking, but I knew that if she was sober, I would have been able to watch the blush creep up her neck.
“Didn’t you?” I cocked my head to the side.
“I think that a lot of women are beautiful, but that doesn’t mean I am attracted to them.”
“That may be true.” I nodded my head. “But I think you are just lying to the both of us.”
“Of course, you do.” She pushed off my car and moved to get into the front seat. Her body slid past mine, and I breathed her in. She constantly smelled sweet enough to eat. A side effect of the job I assumed. “That’s because you, my dear friend, are arrogant.”
She plopped down in the front seat, and I smiled at her assessment of me as I reached in to help her get the seatbelt buckled.
“What would you prefer for me to be? More like David?” I didn’t know why I even brought him up, but I was dying to know if she was planning to go out with him again. I needed to know where they stood.
“For your information.” She jerked the seatbelt out of my hand and quickly pressed it into the buckle. “David hasn’t even called me after your display the other night.”
What?
David hadn’t called her? If anything, I would have thought she would have been the one who decided she was no longer interested in him. He was a fucking idiot.
I told her so. “David is a fucking idiot.”
“Well.” She folded her hands in her lap and pressed her head back against the headrest as she looked up at me. “You should be happy. He’s an idiot who no longer wants to date me.”
“That doesn’t make me happy, sweetheart.” It did, but not like this. Not with that sad damn look on her face. Not when that asshole had somehow made her feel like she was less than.
“It doesn’t matter.” She reached past me, forcing me out of the way, as she forced the door closed.
I ran my hands through my hair and walked over to the driver seat. I didn’t want her dating David, but I didn’t want it to be like this. I didn’t mean for this to happen. At least the part where she was sad.
I climbed into the car, and she kept her face turned toward the window. I knew she wanted to avoid me, and I was going to let her. She deserved that at least.
When we pulled up outside her apartment, she pushed her door open before I could shut off the engine.
“Freckles, wait up,” I called out to her as I jogged behind her to catch up to her speed walking.
“I’m sorry.”
She swiveled toward me with her finger in the air. Her mouth opened, but then she seemed to think better of it. She turned on her heel and continued her pace.
When she shoved her keys into the door, I finally caught up to her.
“I didn’t mean for him not to call you. Please forgive me,” I said to her back.
“Yes. You did.” She left the keys hanging in the door. “That is exactly what you wanted to happen.”
I thought about what to say to her, but I came up blank.
What I wasn’t expecting to happen was for Charlie to wrap her arm around my neck and push her body against mine with a force I didn’t know she had. When her mouth pressed firmly against mine, it took everything inside of me not to kiss her back. Not like this. Not when she was upset and definitely not when she was drunk.
I unwrapped her hand from the back of my neck and gently pushed her away from me. I could see the hurt in her eyes before her feet were firmly planted back on the ground.
“Charlie,” I whispered her name.
“No.” She chuckled and waved me away. “I get it.”
She most certainly didn’t get it. She didn’t have a clue.
“You’re drunk.”
She rolled her eyes as if it was the worst excuse I could possibly have come up with, and I guess in her head it may have been.
She turned the key to her front door, and she looked back up at me before she walked inside.
“I’m an idiot.”
Then she was gone.
CHAPTER 13
HANGOVER FROM HELL
Charlie
I felt like I had eaten a bag of cotton balls.
It didn’t help that my head was pounding, and I could barely open my eyes against the sunlight that was streaming in through my living room window.
Apparently, making it to my bedroom wasn’t on my top list of priorities last night. I was still wearing the clothes that I had worn the night before, and I had managed to kick off one shoe somewhere.
I walked unevenly into the kitchen because I didn’t have the energy to pull off my other shoe. I filled a glass with water and quickly drank it before I filled it again. It wasn’t until I was halfway through the second glass that I remembered what all had happened last night.
The water got caught in my throat and a bit came out of my nose as I remembered how big of a fool I had made of myself last night.
I had tried to kiss Brandon.
Kiss him.
And he pushed me away.
I could never show my face at the bakery ever again. I was going to have to send my mom to pack up all my things and tell Livy that I was breaking my lease.
Or I could pretend that I didn’t even remember that it happened.
I most certainly did. I remembered every damn second of it. The way his skin felt under my hand, the way his tense lips felt against mine. I was such an idiot.
But Brandon didn’t need to know that I remembered it. For all he knew, I was too drunk to recall how I made a move on a man who wasn’t even in the same stratosphere as me.
I just had to keep this embarrassing little secret to myself, and hopefully, Brandon did the same. I could just imagine the laughs everyone would get if they found out.
But I couldn’t think about any of that. My bakery was opening in two weeks. That was two weeks that were going to be filled with getting everything ready. I didn’t have time to worry about men. Let alone two of them.
Although, in all honesty, I really was only concerned with one.
Unfortunately for me, it was the one who I shouldn’t even be thinking about.
By the time I made it to the bakery, I was ready to go back to bed. I had forgotten that my car was still at Livy’s when I walked out into the parking lot of my apartment building, and I had to talk to my creepy upstairs neighbor for ten whole minutes while I waited for my Uber to arrive.
