“You’re so drunk,” I slurred.

“You’re drunker,” Kyle hiccup-laughed. He held me up as we made our way through Luke’s house. Or maybe it was me holding him up. Either way, our bodies moved clumsily as we tried to find our way out of the mini-mansion. It seemed unfair my new house was a modest two-bedroomed bungalow with a pool no bigger than the bathtub. I needed to talk to Uncle Gentry about getting Dad a pay rise. If I was going to be stuck in Wicked Bay for the foreseeable future, I might as well reap the benefits. Starting with a pool big enough to swim in.

“Shit, we drank way too much.” Kyle hiccupped again. “I blame Trey and those shots. Laurie will kill me.”

“Kill you? We,”—I stabbed the air with my pointer finger—“should kill her. She bailed on us.”

Kyle nudged my side. “I was supposed to look out for you, Baby Cous.”

“Baby Cous? I’m older than you, Kyle.”

“Yeah, but you’re a girl, it’s different. Besides, we’re both juniors.”

I stopped, pulling him back into me ready to protest, but we collided, bouncing off one another. “Motherfucker,” he groaned, rubbing his forehead.

The room spun, and I buried my face in my hands trying to make it stop. “Oh God, I think I’m going to throw up.”

“Come on.” He started tugging me again. “I called Uber.”

“Uber?” My head snapped up. “That’s a real thing? I thought it was one of those things made up for movies.”

“You’ve been here almost three months. Uber is like Starbucks. Everyone has to try it once. Wait, that’s not right. Uber is like beer, you can’t live without it,” he murmured to himself. “No, that’s not it, that’s sex. Uber is like…” Kyle paused, rubbing the back of his neck and then he frowned. “What the fuck was I saying?”

“Uber is like coffee and beer but you can’t live without sex?”

Sloppy laughter erupted from him as he dragged me toward the door. I was drunk. Beyond toasted but, unlike the football party, I still had my bearings. Maybe I should have drunk more. Teetering on the edge of control and the inability to walk a straight line wasn’t a fun place to be.

“Kyle, wait.” I yanked on his arm. “Wait, I need to—”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Kyle what the hell is your…” The words died on my lips when my cloudy gaze landed on Maverick. He was coming down the stairs, and I blinked to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Because… drunk.

“Hey, Rick and...” he blinked at the slim blonde tucked into Maverick’s side, hand curled around his arm. I'd never hated a hand so much as I did in that moment. “Hello, I don't think we've met.” Kyle stumbled forward, extending his hand, only to thrust it behind his back when Maverick sent him an icy glare. 

“I'm Selina. You're in my sister Bianca's class.” 

“Bianca Framer?” He seemed surprised. “You’re Selina Framer? Didn't you graduate like two years ago?”

“Yeah, I go to Cal State now.”

“And you,”—his head motioned from Maverick to the girl and back again—"two know each other how?” Kyle seemed to sober and I waited for her to answer. Not that it wasn't obvious how they knew each other.

God. I wanted to throw up all over the expensive parquet floor. 

“How are you guys getting home?” Maverick ignored Kyle’s question but kept his focus on his stepbrother, not me. 

Never me.

I was invisible.

Insignificant.

I was the drunk British girl.

Fuck my life.

“I called Uber.”

“Cancel.” It wasn’t a question this time. “I'll drive you. I have to drive Selina, anyway.”

Of course he did.

Jealousy burned through me as I followed them to the car. They stood too close. Close enough that Selina's arm kept brushing his. I wanted to hack it off with my hair clip. Maverick opened the passenger door for her and she climbed inside. He left me and Kyle to fend for ourselves so I yanked the door open and stumbled inside, slamming it behind me.

“Since Maverick is above introductions, I'm Kyle, his more handsome, more humorous stepbrother. And this here is our sister from another mister, Eloise Stone.” 

Selina twisted her body to Maverick and quietly said, “You didn't tell me she was your stepsister.”

It wasn’t quiet enough and her words hung in the Audi, filling the space. Kyle laughed while Maverick growled. “Stone,” he warned.

“Come on, bro, that shit is hilarious. Could you imagine?” He tried to catch his breath. Finally composing himself, Kyle added, “I’m just messing, Selina. Lo’s our cousin.”

“Oh,” she whispered.

Oh, I mimicked silently, letting my head roll back against the cool leather. Maybe if I pretended this wasn't happening... oh, who was I trying to kid? It was happening. I was trapped in a car with Maverick and his latest conquest.

First Caitlin. Then me. Now Selina.

Where was that bucket?

The car purred to life, and we sped out of the driveway. It was late. Past my curfew if Dad ever bothered to give me one like a normal concerned parent. I pushed my arse off the seat, fumbling in my jean pocket and slid my phone out. Everything was blurred, but not blurred enough to see I had no texts. No message reminding me to be home at a reasonable time. To watch my drinks and avoid dodgy boys. 

Fuck. My. Life.

I sank back again, drifting in and out of consciousness. Kyle's voice refused to let me slip under. He wasn't talking to me; his attentions were firmly on Selina. But the masochist in me couldn’t stop listening. Did she like school? How long was she back in Wicked Bay for? Would we be seeing her again? If I didn’t know he was crazy about Laurie, I might have thought he wanted to hook up with her.

When the car rolled to a stop, I pressed my face against the tinted windows, sighing when I realised we weren't at my house or the Stone-Princes. 

“It's been a pleasure, Selina.” Kyle saluted her as she climbed out of the car. The relief I felt was instant, and I sucked in a deep breath. But she had to go and stick her head back inside. “Good night, Lo,” she said. “It was nice to meet you.”

Nice my arse. I murmured a garbled reply, and the door clicked shut. Maverick waited for a second, raking a hand through his hair. His eyes found mine in the rearview mirror but I looked away. He didn’t deserve to see my face. To know what I was feeling. He climbed out and walked her to her door like the true gentleman I knew he wasn’t.

I didn't watch the exchange. I wanted to forget this whole night ever happened, but Kyle had other ideas. “She seemed nice,” he stifled a laugh, and I shot him an irritated look.

Maybe he wanted a reaction. Maybe this was all a game to him. But I was sick of it.

“Yeah, real nice,” I whispered, the words bitter on my tongue.

He chuckled, but it tapered off into a sigh as he pulled down his baseball cap, folded his arms over his chest, and tipped his head back against the seat. When Maverick got back into the car, he didn’t speak and we rode the rest of the way in silence.

“We’re here,” his voice pulled me from the darkness and I rubbed my heavy eyes. Kyle snored softly beside me apparently not as attuned to his stepbrother as I was.

“Thanks for the ride.” I fumbled with the door handle desperate to get out of there. I needed to be away from him—far, far away before I said something I would no doubt regret in the morning.

Maverick’s darkened gaze burned into the side of my head. “London,” his voice was smooth.

Too. Fucking. Smooth.

Just open the door. Finally, it clicked open, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Lo, wait.”

My eyes fluttered shut, his plea pressing down on me, sneaking under my skin and demanding I concede. But I couldn’t.

I wouldn’t.

Slowly, I turned and settled my narrowed gaze on his face. “Goodnight, Maverick.” Then I slipped into the shadows.

~

Sometime between Maverick dropping me off at the house, and Kyle picking me up Monday morning, I decided.

Move on.

It was simple, really. I couldn’t keep playing this game of cat and mouse with Maverick. I’d followed his rules. Stuck to his game plan. It wasn’t me who’d turned up outside his bedroom door in the middle of the night or jumped out of Laurie’s bushes to wish him a happy birthday. And I’d gone along with it because Maverick touched some place inside of me that needed soothing.

But after waking up and replaying the ride home over and over in my head, I realised something. Whatever reason he had for putting me at arm’s length, there was a much more obvious one—he wasn’t a one-girl kind of boy and I wasn’t emotionally secure enough, or deluded, to be with someone like him.

We were a disaster waiting to happen.

So, when I said goodbye to Kyle and Summer, and headed into school, I made a beeline for Devon. But he beat me to it. “Lo,” he said, his eyes darting anywhere but at my face. “Can we talk?”

“Sure.” Maybe my luck was turning because this was already going much easier than I’d anticipated.

Surprise flashed across his face as he met my gaze. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Lead the way.”

I followed him around the side of the main building to the gym. He leaned his foot against the brick and tipped his head back with a heavy sigh. “I owe you an apology.”

“How about we don’t?”

His eyes landed on me and his eyebrows quirked up. “Don’t what?”

“No apologies, no mushy heart-to-heart. You messed up. But so did I. I knew you liked me and I still went along with it telling myself it would be okay.”

“Okay, then, I think.” He looked hesitant, so I continued.

“But you should have told me about Caitlin and Maverick.”

“You know?” Devon dragged a hand over his face. “Shit, I—”

“No apologies, remember? I want to be friends. I’m not exactly swimming in them and I like hanging out with you, Devon. So how about it? No more secrets? No more lies? Friends?” I extended my hand, and he searched my face.

“Friends?”

“Friends.” I nodded.

His whole face lit up. “I can definitely do that. I missed you too. Does that make me a total girl?”

“Total girl,” I flashed him a genuine smile. “Now come on, class calls.”

We walked in comfortable silence until we rounded the main building and Caitlin noticed us. Her eyes hardened, burning with contempt. I tipped my chin at her and kept walking. Then I felt him.

Maverick.

He watched us—his eyes following me. I don’t know how I knew, I just did. It was a feeling I’d become accustomed to. But this time, I didn’t search him out. I didn’t pause to find him. I kept walking, chatting to Devon about his weekend. Because while Maverick and I couldn’t be anything to one another, Devon and I could.

We could be friends.

Maybe one day, we could be more.