“Should I be worried?” I asked when Amber held a hand out for me. I let her pull me up and push me toward my room.
“Hell no. You want to forget about the dick, that’s what we’re gonna do. So slut it up, get yourself looking hot, and let’s go shout from the rooftop that your vagina is finally free!”
I laughed and shook my head. “You’re disgusting, you know that?”
“You love my kind of disgusting though. Hurry up, I want to run home and change too.”
Turning around, I pointed at her. “I just want to go have fun, I don’t want to find another guy.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Let’s get a few shots in you and see if you feel the same.”
Note to self: Buy a chastity belt and wear it whenever going out with Amber.
Chapter Five
Connor
I SHOOK MY head and drained my beer as Dakota leaned over far enough that he was about to—oh, never mind. There he went. Dumbass fell out of the damn chair leaning over to watch the girl leave with her friend.
“Shit, Kota, you already got her number, you don’t need to look like a fucking loser wishing he’d had the balls to talk to her.” I signaled the waitress for another beer and held out my hand. “Keys. You’re not . . . driving.” Shit.
My eyes landed on long, vibrant red hair. Messy in a way that only a girl like Maci could pull off.
“. . . not drunk, man,” Dakota’s voice filtered in as I shamelessly stared at his sister. “I just couldn’t stop looking. Did you see her ass?”
“Yeah,” I answered automatically. “Definitely saw it.” And I was still staring at it.
Maybe I shouldn’t be driving tonight; because other than having a death wish, a guy would have to be drunk to continue checking out his friend’s little sister right in front of him.
“Maci!” Dylan called out her name when he caught sight of her from where he was working on a table of girls I was positive had used fake IDs to get in here.
Maci’s body stilled before turning to the sound of her brother’s voice, followed by Dakota’s once he finally spotted her. She caught sight of me, and her eyes widened before narrowing. Her gray eyes didn’t leave me the entire time as Dylan walked her and that girl that was always at her apartment over to our table.
“I said where the fuck is he? Which one, Mini?” Dylan growled toward her ear, but loud enough that Dakota and I could still hear him.
Maci tried to shrug Dylan’s arm off her shoulders, and when he didn’t give, started pushing at his side. “I’ve already told you—”
“Is her boyfriend here?” Dakota asked and stood up quickly, his eyes scanning the area where she’d just been standing.
“There’s no boyfriend! For fuck’s sake, can’t you leave me alone for one day?”
“Hi, which one are you?” Maci’s friend asked Dylan as she pressed against him.
“Amber, no, gross! Seriously, back off my brother. We’re leaving, you boys have fun getting wasted and hitting on girls too young for you. I’ve told you a dozen times there’s no boyfriend, and there isn’t,” Maci said, and her eyes met mine again. This time they were stone cold, and all expression had left her face. “There’s no man in my life, because not only do you all make it impossible, but every guy I’ve come across has proved to be nothing but an asshole.”
There was no way to take that as anything other than a direct attack. I still had no idea what I’d done this time though.
“Amber, get off my brother, we’re leaving.” She finally succeeded at getting out of Dylan’s grasp, and pulled on Amber’s hand.
“Maci, should you be driving? Do you want me to call you a cab?” She didn’t look intoxicated, but she looked pissed . . . and if I was being honest with myself, I wasn’t ready for her to leave where I could keep an eye on her. But just as soon as she turned to look at me, eyes bigger than I’d ever seen, I realized exactly what I’d done.
“And since when do you give a shit about me, Connor Green?”
I could feel Dakota and Dylan’s eyes on me, and had to force myself not to react to her question. Instead, I shrugged and sipped at the new beer that had been placed in front of me. “I’m a cop, Mini . . . it’s ingrained in me to make sure everyone is okay to drive.”
With a slow shake of her head, she stared me down for a few tense moments before walking backward, with Amber in tow. “I’m fine. The last thing I need is you looking after me. I already have four brothers, I don’t need another.”
I’d deserved that. I’d called her the name she hated the most coming from me, judging by her reaction yesterday in her office. But I couldn’t think of anything else to do without her brothers thinking something was up. When had I ever stopped her from leaving when it turned out we were all at the same bar together? Never. But, fuck, having her call me her brother hurt. Not nearly as bad as the way those gray eyes went from challenging to hurt in a split second, though.
What was happening between us? Had I been missing these small signs from Maci for months . . . years, even? Or was I just imagining things because for the first time in my life, I couldn’t get this frustrating girl out of my mind?
Dakota pounded on my back and I had to throw my arm out over the table when the beer in my hand sloshed over on me. “Scared me for a second there, bro. You’ve never offered to call a cab for Maci.”
Think, Connor, think. “It’s just usually when I see her coming back to her apartment with that girl, they’re pretty trashed. Guess I was just automatically thinking ahead for the night.”
“They’re fine. Mini knows not to drive drunk, but, shit, Amber gets hotter every time I see her.” Dylan said, and looked over his shoulder at the door. I didn’t need to look with him, I’d watched out of the corner of my eye until Maci had left.
Dakota held out a fist over the table and Dylan smacked his own on it. “Hell yeah she does, and she’s going to Mammoth with us this year. You’re still coming, right, Connor?”
“Yeah, of course I am. When have I missed a winter with you guys up there?”
“Fifty says I get with Amber first,” Dylan said, challenging his brother.
Dakota snorted and chugged his beer. “You’re on.”
Fifty says I don’t last until Mammoth before I lose my fucking mind trying to stay away from their sister.
MY EYES FLASHED open and I automatically, and quietly, reached for my Springfield XDm on my nightstand. Slipping out of bed, I took slow and calculated steps, with my arms raised in front of me. More noises came from the front of my apartment, and I stopped just at the turning point in my hallway, trying to listen to figure out how many people were in my apartment. It sounded like one, and whoever it was wasn’t trying to be quiet. Just before I rounded the corner, I heard it. That damn raspy voice I’d been dreaming of the last two nights.
“Shit. Fuck. Sorry, lamp! Shh! Stay quiet,” Maci whisper-yelled in the front of my apartment.
I dropped my arms and let out a huff as I rounded the corner and found her fumbling with a lamp on the table at the end of my couch. I scratched at my forehead and dropped my hand to cover my mouth when I started to laugh as I waited for her to get it stable again.
“Good boy, lamp. Now, stay!”
“Maci.”
She whirled around so fast that her purse hit the lamp and knocked it off the table and onto the floor. “Fuck! I’m sorry! I told you to stay,” she hissed down at the lamp, and fell half onto the couch, half onto the floor, bending over to see where it had fallen.