Chapter One
Brooke
Ten months earlier
The last thing I expected—or wanted—to see when I walked into the apartment was my brother balls deep in his girlfriend. I shrieked, covering my eyes.
“Lock the fucking door next time you two decide to have sex in the living room!” I tried not to gag. “People sit on that couch, you assholes!”
My long dark brown hair whipped around me as I practically ran out of the apartment. My skin crawled, and I wanted to bleach my brain after witnessing something no sibling should ever have to, especially when the girl he was having sex with was one of my best friends. God, I’d kill Riley if she tried to pull that shit in our apartment.
“You have a bedroom, Josh! Fucking use it!” I slammed the door behind me and shivered again. “Not enough alcohol in the world to be okay seeing that,” I mumbled under my breath, stalking across the hall to my best friend Dominic’s apartment.
At least there was no chance of walking in on him or his roommate screwing anyone in the living room. Dom hadn’t gone on a date in over a year that I knew of, and Drew preferred to keep his extracurricular activities to his hookup’s place.
Dom was sitting on the couch, earbuds shoved into his ears and staring intently at his O-chem book when I stormed into the apartment. He looked up and flashed me one of his spectacular grins he seemed to save up just for me. I motioned for him to pull out his earbuds.
“You’re early, B,” he said, checking his watch. “I thought we were meeting up for dinner later. It’s only two-thirty.”
I ignored him and walked into the kitchen. He watched me wrench cabinets open with amusement on his face.
“Where did you put that bottle of vodka we were drinking the other night?”
“Above the fridge,” he said slowly. “What the hell’s going on with you?”
I grunted, lifting a chair and carrying it over to the cabinet next to the refrigerator. “I’m hoping to get wasted enough to forget I walked in on Josh and Riley having sex in the living room.”
Dom burst into laughter, and I shot him a dirty look.
“It’s not funny! I sit on that couch. And other people live there too.”
“Like Austin?” He rolled his eyes.
I flushed and focused back on the barstool. “Like Austin and Jared. I don’t know that I can look Riley in the eyes ever again.”
I climbed up onto the barstool and stood on my tiptoes, reaching for the vodka. Dom came up behind me and put his hands on my thighs to steady me. I didn’t even realize he’d climbed off the couch. At five foot two inches, I had a hard time reaching anything, but trying to snatch the bottle from where he’d shoved it in the back of the cabinet was a nightmare, so I was thankful for the help.
“Please don’t kill yourself climbing. The last thing I need is to have to go knock on your brother’s door because you busted your head open. One of us catching them like that is enough, don’t you think?”
I flipped him off, then stretched farther to reach the bottle. Dom’s fingers flexed on my thighs, but I ignored him as I stood higher on my tiptoes. My fingers grazed the glass, and I cursed. I swiped again, grinning triumphantly when I clutched the bottle in my fist.
“Thank baby Jesus.” I showed him the bottle.
Dom laughed and took the vodka from me. I gasped when he reached back to lift me off the chair. My fingers dug into his strong arms, and I took a moment to appreciate all those yummy muscles—he might be my best friend, but a girl can look. Dom carried me like I didn’t weigh more than a feather, but I noticed the muscles in his forearms flexing. Something about that movement made me more aware of how close we actually were as I slid down his body.
The second my feet hit the ground, I reached for my prize. Dom held it out of reach and grinned. His eyes twinkled as he taunted me.
“Me first.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, and his eyes dipped down briefly. “I risked life and limbs to get that.”
He cracked the bottle open, and I watched with interest as his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat while he greedily sucked down a shot. My pulse raced as my body rubbed against his while I tried to grab at the vodka.
“What the damn hell?” I demanded. “Share!”
He shrugged and wiped his mouth with his arm, but I noticed the mischievous glint in his eyes. “I bought it,” he teased.
“I’ve also endured undue trauma. I think I deserve that more than you do.” I tried my best puppy dog eyes to see if that would sway him. “Seeing my brother screwing his girlfriend on his couch should trump you paying for the vodka. If it’s that important, I’ll pay you for the damn bottle.”
He grinned as I reached for the bottle again. The wicked look on his face was enough to piss me off as he held it above my head.
“If you want it, you’ll have to jump.”
I glared at him. “I’m going to knee you in the balls if you don’t give it to me.”
He took another drink and twisted to the side when I grabbed for it. The liquor dribbled down his full lips and onto his shirt as he fought me back. I playfully shoved him, and he wrapped his arm around my waist. We wrestled until my back was pressed against the refrigerator and Dominic was pressed against my front. I bit down on my lip and stared into Dom’s impossibly dark brown eyes. A flicker, something I never expected, flashed, and I realized he wanted me. He licked his lips and stared back, examining me just as closely as I was him. Our lips were inches apart. One slight movement and they’d be touching. Just as he leaned closer to close the space, the sound of the door opening reached us, causing us to rip apart. He took a step back and handed me the bottle of vodka.
“I’m so ready for this year to be over,” Drew called over his shoulder as he walked to his room and threw down his bag.
I took a deep drink of the clear liquid, and it burned all the way down. My pulse was still racing, and my body felt flushed. If it hadn’t been obvious, I would’ve fanned myself like the good little Southern belle I was.
What the hell was that?
Whatever it was, it was fucking hot.
“There are only two months left until graduation,” Dom said, walking back to the couch where he’d set down his book. It was irritating how normal and unaffected he looked. Apparently our near kiss—or whatever the hell it had been—hadn’t affected him as much as me. “You’ll be out of here soon enough.”
Drew leaned against the doorframe to his room and smirked. “Admit it, Dom, you’re going to miss the hell out of me next year.”
He scoffed. “I will, but only because I have to find a new roommate.”
I forced a laugh and Drew looked up.
“Why don’t you just move in here, Brooke? You’re here all the time anyway.”
Trying to shake off the weird feeling, I took another drink and leaned over the breakfast bar. “Dom says I take up too much room in the bathroom.”
“You have all those girly things that there’s no space for. The last time I was in your bathroom there wasn’t even room to lay down a toothbrush,” he complained. “My bathroom is just fine the way it is, thank you.”
I flipped him off. “I did go to cosmetology school. What do you expect?”
Drew shook his head. “I still don’t get how you ended up here after finishing. I’m so sick of studying.”
“It wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.” I shrugged. “Who actually knows what they want to be when they grow up, especially at seventeen? New York was fun, but I wasn’t ready to commit.”
Drew flopped into the recliner in the corner of the room dramatically. “Fuck, I don’t even know what I want to do at twenty-one. That’s why I ended up with an engineering degree and no job to speak of with graduation two months away. My parents are going to be thrilled when I move back in with them.”
Dom snorted a laugh. “You won’t be home much anyway. You’ll be out at your latest conquests apartment.”
I fought back a smile, and Drew grinned.
“Always. What’s for dinner? I’m going to stay in tonight for a change,” he said. “Do you two mind if I crash whatever it was you were going to do?”
Relief filled me. I didn’t want to spend too much time examining what had happened in the kitchen, and Drew would be a good buffer. My throat burned as I took another drag off the bottle. This was going to be a long night.
***
I was curled up in the corner of the couch in the living room with my roommates, Caroline, Quinn, and Riley. It had been a lazy afternoon. We were all catching up after our eventful spring break trip. After my craziness with Dom, I was happy to have some normal girl time. Caroline and Riley were stretched on the floor while Quinn was on the other side of our huge leather couch. The piece really was too big for our living room, but it was plenty big for all of us and our company, so we’d decided to keep it.
“I feel like we haven’t hung out in forever,” Riley said. “How was y’alls trip to South Carolina? Did you spend all your time hanging out with Hannah?”
Caroline and I shared a look. We’d spent spring break with her cousin. It was great catching up with Hannah, but there was some drama between her and her boyfriend, Chance. Hopefully things would work themselves out because I think they both deserved some happiness. Neither of them deserved the hands they were dealt, but maybe they could figure out how to fix each other together.
“We had a blast catching up,” I finally answered. “And the week ended perfectly.”
Caroline smiled. “Hannah’s happy, and she’s doing great. We’re trying to talk her into visiting us sometime this summer.”
“I’d love to finally meet her. You two talk about her all the time,” Quinn said, rolling over onto her stomach and resting her face in her hands. “I feel like I already know her.”
My phone buzzed from the coffee table. I groaned and glared down at it. I didn’t even want to move enough to pick it up. Caroline rolled over and grabbed it before I could reach for the offending device. She glanced at the screen before handing it over and grinned.
“It’s Dom.” She smirked. “Wonder what he wants?” she asked innocently.
“I know you think there’s something going on there, but there’s not.” Except for that odd moment in the kitchen yesterday. “We’re just friends.”
She rolled her eyes. “I wish I could believe you, but I have eyes, and I know how that man looks at you.”
“And just how does he look at me?” I pursed my lips. I’m not sure I even wanted to hear what she had to say about this.
“Like you’re a piece of cake and he wants something sweet. That man wants to fuck the shit out of you,” Quinn answered for her.
Riley smirked. Clearly she agreed with Quinn’s analysis too.
I groaned again and pointed at Riley. “Not you too. Don’t you owe me or something for having sex with my brother?”
She laughed. “It doesn’t work that way, but sorry we didn’t lock the door yesterday. We were a little…preoccupied.”
I shivered and tried to block out the memory. “Don’t remind me, I still might bleach my brain after walking in on that.”
Caroline and Quinn looked between the two of us in confusion. I shook my head as I tried to shake off the memory. “Unfortunately I walked in on my brother and that skank having sex on the couch in Josh’s living room yesterday.”
Quinn laughed. “You’re really good at deflecting, lady, but what’s the story with you and Dom?”
I shrugged. “Seriously, there isn’t one. Caroline just wants there to be one. We’ve never even kissed.”
Technically not a lie.
Caroline shook her head. “Uh-uh, it’s not just me. Hannah asked about him too, remember? You talk about him all the time, more than you would if you two were just friends.”
“I talk about Drew and Jared too,” I said, my voice strained. We’d had this conversation way too much lately. “I also said that if Austin texted me I’d be all over it, but that hasn’t happened yet. He’s been acting different lately. I think he might be feeling Josh out to get permission.” I made air quotes with my fingers and rolled my eyes. “Not that any guy needs to get permission to date me.” I turned to Quinn. “Have you heard anything?”
“Nope, not a word, but Josh normally keeps me busy. We don’t normally talk about you and the guys you like.”
She smirked, and I threw a pillow at her. “Shut up! I don’t want to hear about your sex life with Josh!”
Her laugh was muffled for a few seconds. “You mean you don’t want to hear about—”
“Lalalalala,” I sang, shoving my fingers in my ears. I waited a few seconds, then checked to make sure she’d actually stopped before removing them.
Riley and Quinn cracked up. Caroline studied me for a moment, but eventually decided to drop it. After what happened yesterday, I was relieved. Eventually I’d tell her what happened, but for now, I just wanted to digest everything by myself. Whatever was going on between me and Dom wasn’t anyone’s business.