Ouch. That one stung. But I'm shit hot at hiding when things get to me, especially when it comes to her. Hell, no one knows that she gets to me, after all. At least, not in the way they think she does. I school my expression into something lazy and amused. “Please, you love when I screw with you. Bet it gets your panties all hot and wet when you're laying in bed thinkin' about me at night.”
I wait for her to get embarrassed at that, and she doesn't disappoint. Those cheeks get even brighter and her big, bright blue eyes widen comically. She looks like she belongs in a Disney movie. I bet birds fucking dress her in the morning and make her pancakes and clean up her mess while she's out on stage making everyone fall in love with her. “You know what you are? You're just a gross freak. From now on keep whatever futurenanigans you've got planned to yourself and leave me out of them – bug somebody else for a change. I'm done with you.” Yeah, she says that a lot. “And stop wriggling those eyebrow pubes at me!”
“Jesus, it's like talking to a fuckin' coconut. I don't even understand half of what you say.”
“So don't talk to me, ya dumb mo. It's not rocket science.”
This girl gets me more riled up than anyone I've ever met. I'm about to retort when a hand claps down on my shoulder, and Ibbie immediately perks up with interest at the figure behind me. This pisses me off, but when I spin and see my brother, Aleix, standing there, a grin stretches out my cheeks involuntarily. Aleix is only a few years older than I am, but when our mom went and abandoned us when I was twelve he took care of me, watched over me and never once failed to have my back. The guy's my fucking hero.
“Hey, bud. Knew you'd be here.” He nods at the bartender and the guy quickly makes his way over, even though he went back to ignoring me the second he'd finished with Ibbie. But that's just the kind of man my brother is; people look at him and automatically know he's a guy they want to get things done for.
“You only just finished with your clients?”
“Took them out, wined 'em and dined 'em, got the deal.” He flashes me a toothy grin as he orders us a couple of beers. “I always get the deal.”
Ibbie is watching on curiously, obviously trying to figure out the connection between the two of us – it's always the same when Aleix and I are together. He catches her looking and stands up straighter with interest. A flare of something white hot and jealous flames in my chest.
“Well hey there, beautiful.” He takes her hand and brings it to his lips. “I'm Aleix, Walt's brother. And who might you be?”
She blinks in surprise. “I'm Ibbie. Now wait just a cotton picking minute, did you say you were his brother?”
Though Aleix and I look alike with our dark hair and our dark eyes and our similar features, we're just about as opposite as two guys can get. Aleix is a management consultant, and he fits the part well – he's smooth, polished and educated with his smart suits and his shiny shoes and his expensive watches and his classic good looks. And I'm a tattoo artist who barely scraped his way through high school. When people look at me they see a grumpy, tattooed, pierced punk. When they look at my brother, they see a man who's got his life together.
“You got it.” He flashes a smile at her. It's his deal closing smile, and of course it works on her. I can practically see the stars forming in her eyes as she gazes up at him. “So may I get you a drink, beautiful Ibbie?”
She flutters her eyelashes. “You may.”
When she turns to the bar, Aleix quickly shoots me a look. “Not stepping on your toes, right?” he asks quietly. “She's not one of yours?”
I want to tell him to back off, to tell him to keep his hands off her because she's. . .because she's. . .mine. But she isn't, so instead I grit my teeth and force out a smile. “Go for it, man.”
+++
FOR THE NEXT hour I'm forced to watch the two of them flirt. Ibbie eats up the shit he's dishing out like she's never met anyone so goddamned charming before, and it drives me fucking crazy. It drives me fucking crazy because I like the stupid girl so much I don't even know what to do with it.
Yeah, I like her. I'm an ass to her, but I like her.
Hell, I more than like her. I've been head over heels for her almost from the very first time Jemma brought her around. She annoyed the hell out of me at first – was just this psychotic, crazy as shit little pixie who wore stupidly bright clothes and never stopped talking long enough for anyone else to get a word in. When somebody annoys me like she did, I'm a dick. I just don't see the point of playing nice. The more I saw her, the more irritated I got. She drove me insane to the point of distraction. I couldn't stop thinking about her.
It didn't take me long to figure out that I was in love with the girl I hated. Except I didn't hate her, obviously. Not at all. But by the time I realized how deep my feelings ran it was too late, she already thought I was an ass.
She was just so different to the other girls I knew, and so much better than me. I knew that, and it pissed me off. Guys like me didn't get princesses like her. And I. . .I didn't know how to act around her, how to be around her. The feelings I had, I didn't know what to do with them. So instead of being a decent guy and apologizing, I just kept lashing out. Didn't help that she gave it right back, that she drove me just as crazy as I drove her.
So I kept bugging her and bugging her like that annoying kid on the playground pulling the pretty girl's pigtails, because all I ever really wanted was her attention. I sure as hell got it.
I piss her off because I love the fire she gets in her eyes when she looks my way. As for guys, whenever I see her with one I do everything in my power to scare him away. That's my genius plan and I'm sticking with it.
I'm seriously pathetic.
And now I'm sat here watching my perfect older brother, the one guy I can't scare away, sweep the girl I'm crazy about off her feet, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.
Reid joins me a while later at the bar as I watch Ibbie and Aleix dance. I've never talked about my feelings for her with him, or with anyone, but he's always known me better than most.
“You okay?”
I take a sip of my drink, but I've been staring over at Ibbie and Aleix – at the way her body moves and the way his hands are all over her fucking skin – for so long that the ice has melted and it tastes like shit. “I'm fine.”
“You should go ask her to dance.”
“Don't know what you're talkin' about.”
Reid was never one for accepting bullshit. “If you don't do something you're gonna lose your chance with her.”
“Dude.” I shake my head, abandoning the drink on the bar. “Don't go there.” Because there's just no point. Ibbie already hates me, and even if she didn't I could never offer her even close to anything Aleix could.
“Just let her see the real you for once.” He grins. “You know, the one who ain't a complete dick.”
“I said I don't know what you're talkin' about,” I reply stubbornly. Standing, I slap his shoulder a little too hard. “Anyway, I gotta split. Got a client in early tomorrow.”
“At my place?”
“Digby's.” Ever since Reid opened up his own tattoo shop, I've been splitting my time between his business and the tattoo shop we used to work in together when we first started out. I earn more with Digby, but Reid's been my best friend since middle school and I'd do anything for him. “This guy can only come in Sunday mornings, so I need to shoot and get some sleep.”
“Just give yourself some credit,” Reid continues, clinging to this Ibbie thing like a dog with a bone. “And give her some too.”
Backing away, I hold my hands up in front of me. “Look, we both know she's too good for a shit like me. Let's not go there, okay?”