Forgotten Rules: A Brother's Best Friend Romance

by Eliah Greenwood

  With that said, he resumes walking.

  “Okay, cut the crap.” I snap.

  He stops cold.

  “We just kissed, Will. Again. Y-You kissed me and you…” The words get caught in the back my throat. “You touched me. Please spare me the part where you pretend like nothing happened.”

  “Fine.” He pivots. “It happened. What’s your point?”

  He’s so detached, miles and miles away from the boy kissing me a moment prior. Is he faking it? Did I read this wrong? Does he really not care about me at all?

  “My point is…” You can do it, Kass. “My point is we’re not fucking friends, Will.”

  For a fragment of a second, my words seem to affect him, but he restores his default blank face too fast to tell for sure.

  “What else would we be?”

  For fuck’s sake.

  He can’t do this anymore.

  I gather all the courage in my body to say, “That kiss meant something, and you know it.”

  “Fine,” he gives in.

  Did he just… agree with me?

  “You’re right,” he adds. “It meant something.”

  I hold my breath.

  “It means we had a moment and it passed.”

  Ouch.

  He turns to leave.

  “Why did you kiss me?” I blurt. It’s a simple question. Yet, it all comes down to this.

  He exhales, shaking his head as if to set his thoughts straight. “Fuck, I-I don’t know, okay? You were crying and you… you begged me to take your mind off it, so I did. It didn’t mean shit. If anything, it just means I was horny and you were there.”

  My lips part.

  It takes me a few seconds to realize what he just said. To process that I got rejected by not one, but two men I cared about in the same day. Swallowing the pill the best I can, I nod and mentally collect the pieces of my shattered ego.

  He doesn’t like you.

  He literally said it to your face.

  Time to accept it.

  “Message received loud and clear,” I reply, heading for my car. He stands there, watching as I unlock and open my door. Seconds before I slide in, I hear him curse beneath his breath.

  “Kass, wait, I…” he tries—a dash of regret in his voice—but I ignore him, climb into the driver’s seat, and drive.

  “I like this one.” Zoey squeals, parading around her bedroom in a glittery silver, fitted dress. Morgan and I have been watching her throw every outfit she possesses onto the floor for two long hours now.

  On any other day, we’d be whining, making jokes about how there’s a whole world outside of her closet, but today? Today we keep our mouths shut and bend to Zoey’s every will. Because today is the most important day of the year in Zoey world.

  Her birthday.

  Zoey’s always been extra when it comes to celebrating her existence. Her absent mom usually rents out some ridiculously expensive place to host the thing, but this year, Mommy managed to steer clear of the birthday expenses.

  How?

  Sean.

  Yep, Zoey recently got back together with her cheating, self-absorbed, selfish frat guy ex. How’d Prince Charming win her back, you ask? A text saying “Sorry. Miss u.”

  And they say romance is dead.

  I tried talking her out of it, but frankly, I’d much rather see her with Sean than barking up my brother’s tree, or worse, Haze’s. Not to mention Sean came back into the picture with an offer Zoey couldn’t refuse: access to his uncle’s club for her birthday. It’s no secret that Zoey is obsessed with dating older guys. Thinks it makes her look cool.

  So, hosting her birthday at one of the trendiest clubs in town around while underage?

  He didn’t have to tell her twice.

  Bright side is, she had the good sense of only inviting a few people from school rather than her usual country. Sean’s uncle is kind of—okay, totally—breaking the law here, and getting caught serving the whole senior class would definitely land him in hot water.

  I haven’t heard a peep from my dad since I found out about his indiscretions that day. Looks like he took my wish to never see him again very seriously. Let’s just say if I suspected he didn’t care about me before, I’m definitely sure now.

  I’ve barely said a word to my mom all week. And it’s not for her lack of trying. Her new passion is blowing smoke up my ass and being nauseatingly nice. She’s reaching out to me, building a bridge, and while I want to meet her halfway, I’m stuck on the other side.

  They lied to me. Kept me out of the loop like I was a poor, fragile china vase waiting to break. She must’ve apologized a thousand times, but I’m not over it. I can’t help eyeing her bedroom door every time I pass it.

  She needs to burn her bed.

  Ridding myself of negative thoughts, I check my phone to find an unread message.

  From Luke.

  Luke: We missed you at work today:) Tell Zoey Happy Birthday for me.

  He wasn’t lying when he said he’d be filling in for Jenny for a while. He’s been working at the store ever since she quit. I thought it might be weird, seeing as he’s interested in me, but he hasn’t been acting on it, which relieves me to no end. Truth is, all this time spent together brought us closer. We’re friends now. And not Will’s version of friends. Platonic, don’t-almost-fuck-in-a-tree house, friends.

  Our dates constantly getting cancelled were probably the universe stopping me from using someone who didn’t deserve it. I never want to be that person again.

  A knock rattles Zoey’s apartment door.

  “Who is it?” Zoey calls from the bathroom. The shower is running in the background.

  “Must be the Chinese food,” I holler back, darting toward the entrance. Out in the hall stands a soaked-by-the-rain, green-eyed, dark-haired guy. Not going to lie, he’s pretty cute, although his red eyes and the smell emanating from his jacket make it clear he’s no stranger to smoking a blunt.

  “Sorry about the delay. We’re getting our asses kicked out there.” He hands me the takeout bag.

  “Don’t worry about it.” I offer him the fifty Zoey threw at me like it was nothing. She won’t miss it. “Keep the change. For your trouble.”

  “Damn. Gorgeous and generous? Must be my lucky day.” He shoots me a seductive grin before retreating down the hall.

  Something about him reminds me of Will. Maybe it’s the dimples, the attitude, or merely the way he carries himself. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I instantly want to smack myself for thinking about he-who-shall-not-be-named. I’ve tried everything. Deleting his number. Avoiding him like the plague. Nothing worked.

  No matter what I do, I can’t shake him.

  Next step is putting a penny into a jar every time I let him in. Or getting one of those elastic bracelets you snap on your wrist.

  Sauntering to Zoey’s bedroom, I give Morgan her food and plop down on the bed next to her. Zoey pads into the bedroom in a towel fifteen minutes later. She hasn’t even taken two bites of her fried rice before she’s slapping foundation onto her bare face. Because, you know… priorities.

  “So… Kass?” She winces mid-eyeliner-application. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

  Why do I feel like I’m going to be pissed?

  “What?”

  “Promise you won’t be mad.”

  I brace myself for the worst. “Zoey, what did you do?”

  “I might’ve… sort of slipped up when I was inviting people to the party.”

  That’s all it takes.

  She invited Will, didn’t she?

  “You didn’t,” I beg.

  “I’m sorry. It’s just… I invited this cute Alex guy because he’s single and I have a friend I want to set up and… Will was there. What was I going to do? Only invite his friend and tell him to shove it?”

  I don’t bother arguing, falling backward onto Zoey’s unmade bed and groaning into my hands. I fessed up to the girls about what happened at the tree house
. Morgan, being her supportive self, made a priority of telling me I deserved better every five seconds. As for Zoey, well…

  We all know how that turned out.

  Either way, I’ll be seeing Will tonight.

  Will

  “How the hell are you still going? You should be on the floor,” Blake accuses, ironically leaping off the mat himself. Wiping the drizzle of sweat off his forehead with a towel, he feels his jaw with a wince. Can’t blame him. I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the receiving end of that last punch.

  “What? Am I too much for you, grandma?” I taunt.

  “He’s right,” Alex cuts in from outside the arena. “What’s up with you? You juicing or something?”

  “I told you, I just got a shit ton of energy lately,” I lie, watching Blake slink out of the ring. “Hey! Where are you going?”

  “Where do you think?” He snorts. “It’s been five hours. I’m going home and taking a fucking shower.” Blake grabs his shit, heading for the exit.

  “Coward,” I call, and he flips me off as he walks. “Alex, you down?”

  “I’m good.” Alex shakes his head. “Think I’m going to bail, too.”

  Kendrick skipped training again today. The fight with Haze will soon be at our door, but Blake insists Kendrick isn’t ready to slide back into his routine and get his hands dirty.

  I think Kendrick’s fine, but Blake has been in the game longer than any of us have—although he doesn’t measure up to Kendrick or me in the ring. If Blake says to rest, Kendrick rests. It’s slowly eating at my sanity. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Blake is betting against us.

  “You should do the same. Take a shower so you don’t smell like ass tonight,” Alex advises.

  “Why? What’s tonight?”

  “Are you shitting me? You were there when she invited us.”

  I frown. “Who?”

  “Zoey.”

  It clicks in my mind.

  “Zoey… as in Kass’s friend?”

  “Yeah. It’s her birthday. She’s got an entire club waiting for us. She knows the owner.”

  Right. She came up to us in the hall earlier. I didn’t listen to a single word coming out of her mouth, lost in my head.

  “Who’s going to be there?” I ask.

  Alex begins listing people I couldn’t give less of a shit about. Then he says the name I’ve been secretly waiting to hear.

  Kass’s.

  It may sound stupid, because of course she’d attend her best friend’s birthday, but I needed to hear him say it.

  “Between us, you could stand to get laid, dude. You’ve been training twice every day this week. Get a life,” Alex mocks.

  Oh, the irony. He has no idea I’ve been training every single day precisely because I need to get laid.

  Jesus Christ, I’m horny.

  Going from having sex regularly to not at all will do that to you. Had to find an outlet for all that frustration. Fighting seems to be the only thing that takes my mind off it. It’s more a temporary fix than a cure, really, but I’ll take anything I can get.

  To my surprise, I didn’t hit up Callie—or any of the other girls who could’ve easily helped me with my blue-balls problem. Tried to scratch the itch myself, hoping it’d do the trick.

  Spoiler alert: it didn’t.

  The way I left things with Kass hasn’t exactly been helping. This fucking girl could give me blue balls for weeks.

  “So, you coming?” Alex questions, slinging his gym bag strap over his shoulder.

  I shrug. “Meh. I’ll let you know.”

  I highly doubt Kass wants me there, if her ghosting me is anything to go by. Alex nods, walking out of the crass building I’ve grown to know like the back of my hand.

  I wait for the roar of his car to fade into the distance and hurry toward the old gym’s showers. The plumbing screeches a high-pitched, hissing sound when I flick the faucet on, leaving me to wonder if this is the day a pipe finally bursts in my face.

  I could probably shower at Alex’s, but I’ll die before letting the guys find out about my situation. Before I let anyone find out. I don’t need them. I’ll figure it out on my own.

  I always do.

  I strip naked, my muscles sore from the five hours I spent wiping my hands with Blake, and toss my phone onto a nearby bench before entering the water.

  She hasn’t texted me today.

  Or yesterday.

  Or the day before that.

  Not that I’m surprised. I deserve every bit of her silent treatment. As much as I hate to admit it, I almost texted her a few times. Caught myself wishing I could tell her whenever something funny happened.

  I think… I kind of miss her?

  I promised myself I wouldn’t touch her again, but… she was standing there, looking at me with those big blue, teary eyes, and it triggered something in me.

  It gutted me.

  Made me want to fix it.

  Then she started sobbing in my arms, and every atom in my body spurred to life, begging me to make it stop. So, when she flat out asked me to, I did the only thing I could think of.

  Kissing her was the plan.

  Almost fingering her wasn’t.

  Shit, what are you doing to me, control freak?

  I should’ve had more self-control, kept my mouth—and my hands—to myself. I can still feel how wet she was. I wasn’t even touching her, and she was ready for my…

  Fucking hell, Will, stop!

  I give myself a stroke in the hope it’ll expel her whimpers from my mind. The way she called my name, gasped at my touch. We were so close. Then she got a call from that dumbass Luke, and I lost my temper. She was supposed to be on a date with him while I was making her moan. I lashed out, told her a bunch of BS I didn’t mean. I hurt her.

  Trying to protect myself.

  I know I made the right decision. I was being a good friend to Kendrick by walking away—fine, a slightly less awful friend—but then again, a good friend wouldn’t be beating his dick to his friend’s sister right now. It’s wrong. Kendrick would kill me if he knew, but I can’t change the fact that I want her.

  Bad.

  Maybe if I just get her out of my system.

  Maybe if I just give in once.

  All I know is I can’t stay away anymore.

  And, so tonight…

  I won’t.

  Kassidy

  The second Zoey, Morgan, and I step inside the piping hot, cramped club, the urge to charge back into the Uber slams into me. Zoey is quick to locate Sean and snatch mine and Morgan’s wrists, hauling us toward the bar.

  “There’s the birthday girl.” Sean flirts over the music, earning himself a luscious kiss from Zoey, who flings her arms around his neck, hungrily devouring his mouth. Morgan and I make eye contact, exchanging Well, this is awkward smiles like the five-year-olds that we are.

  “I still can’t believe you got us in. Are my friends all here?” Zoey gushes.

  Sean directs a glance over his shoulder, most precisely at the man mid conversation with the bartender. His uncle, I presume. Sean says something I can’t hear, and the bald forty-something-year-old nods.

  “Yeah. They’re here,” Sean confirms. “Bouncers took their names at the door.”

  “Great, I’m going to go find them.” Zoey sees someone in the distance. “Mia!” she shrieks, stumbling off without so much as a warning. Sean trails behind her, smacking her ass and looping his arm around her shoulders as they push through the crowd. Mia. I never met the girl, but if I remember correctly, she’s the single friend Zoey is hoping to match with Alex.

  I make “What the hell are we doing here?” eye contact with Morgan again and seriously consider jumping ship. Odds are Zoey wouldn’t even notice I’m gone.

  Morgan tells me she has to use the bathroom before we can order a drink, and I offer to come with. I’d much rather hang in smelly, questionable bathrooms than stand alone in a crowd of horny guys that look at me like I’m an all-you-can-eat
buffet.

  The line is so long and the bathroom so tiny, I decide to spare myself the claustrophobic attack and wait outside. Morgan manages to get in after ten minutes, and I recline against the wall, arms folded over my chest.

  Then I hear him.

  “Remind me why we’re here again?”

  Will.

  I crane my neck to catch a glimpse of him and Alex holding beers right around the corner. They haven’t seen me yet.

  “Because Zoey got me a hot date, and I’m not missing it.” Alex shrugs. “I’d tell you to go home, but… I know you won’t.”

  “Want to bet?” Will drawls.

  “Will you just drop the act already?”

  “What act?”

  Alex tips his bottle back for a sip, taking his sweet time.

  “What, Alex?” Will grows restless. “What makes you so damn sure I won’t bolt?”

  Alex snorts. “You’re not going to bolt because Kass is here.”

  My pulse shoots up.

  What I wouldn’t do to see the look on Will’s face right now. I only have a clear view of Alex from here.

  “What are you talking about?” He feigns confusion.

  “Save your breath. Phone died earlier, so I grabbed yours to call Blake. You’ve been texting her like crazy. What the hell is up with you two?”

  “Remind me to put a password on that shit later.” Will sighs, backed into a corner.

  “I’m serious, man. Are you… getting down and dirty with Kendrick’s sis?” Alex presses. “Because I’m not covering for you like I did with Blake. I can barely live with myself as is.”

  “No, of course not. We’re just friends.”

  “Look, you fuck whoever you want, but if you don’t tell Kendrick, I wi—”

  “I told you we’re fucking friends,” Will snaps, his temper slipping away, but Alex doesn’t buy it for a second. “I mean it. Okay, yeah, we’ve been talking. We have shit in common. I feel like she understands me, but she’s like a sister to me.”

  Instant gag reflex.

  A tsunami of emotions sweeps me away. Rage, disgust, pain. They infiltrate my lungs, destroy every ounce of hope in my system. A sister? He’s going to play the sister card when he practically fingered me?