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She snickers, but Stacy cuts in with a serious, “Don’t even think about it, girls.”
“Oh,”Addy sighs dramatically, “I already told her they’re off limits—I mean,we’reoff limits. But you and Dad know that will only make us want them more, right?” Cal walks in halfway through her spiel and directs a stern look her way from over Stacy’s shoulder, his arms wrapping around her waist in a hug.
“Addison Blake Mason!” Stacy scolds at the same time, but her tone softens in the weight of Cal’s hold.
Addy ignores them both, stacking our plates together with a dramatic roll of her eyes that Cal and Stacy can’t see but somehow sense is there anyway, and brings them to the sink for washing.
“I don’t know what your father was thinking, but a few of the boys will be staying in this house for the next few weeks, and while I know they’ll be on their best behavior, I expect you both to be on yours, too,” Stacy adds, and if my heart weren’t already galloping from my lingering anxiety, it would’ve taken off for the races just now.
I don’t know why I didn’t tell Addy about the mysterious guy in her hallway last night. Except that, maybe, I’m still not surehe exists. Proven by the fact that I couldn’t help but notice his absence in the kitchen this morning.
Addy redirects my thoughts, breaking in between her parents and slinging an arm over each of their shoulders. “Declan and I will be on ourbestbehavior. Won’t we, Dec?” She smirks.
Standing between them, it’s easy to see where she gets her looks from. To see where Cal and Stacy’s features have bled and blended together flawlessly, creating one gorgeous best friend of mine. She’s a beautiful mix of both her parents. Curly hair, caramel apple eyes, and warm-toned skin. Pouty lips, and curves grown women might actually kill for. It’s no wonder Cal warned his guys off of her—and me, by extension.
The thought inevitably leads me back to last night. To a barely lit hallway, and a dark stare, and a half-naked guy in a low-slung towel with eyes that could pierce your soul.
Goosebumps break out along my skin.
“Yeah, of course,” I agree softly. “Our best behavior.”
Something about my tone has the three of them studying me with varying levels of suspicion. Cal quickly assessing and letting it go, Stacy considering me with a mild level of apprehension, and then there’s Addy, visibly holding back her laughter because she knows I’m full of shit, but she just hasn’t figured out exactly why yet.
But they quickly move on, discussing our plans for the rest of the day as I smother a smile.
I wonder back on Stacy’s warning. If it means the wall of tattooed muscle is staying in a room on the second floor, too. If it means I’ll be bumping into him again. If I think I can survive something like that for an entire summer.
Chapter Three
Declan
As it turns out, Addyisseeing Mr. Burly and Rugged from the kitchen this morning. I learned that small bit of information as soon as we left the house today, and I heard all about it through shopping, lunch, and manicures. I expected as much from the way they were looking at each other, but I was still surprised when she told me. Especially because she said they’ve been dating for a few weeks now. She’d failed to mention it my first night here—or mentionwhoshe was seeing, to be more accurate. I knew there was asomebody,just not one of Cal’scollegesomebodies. He would seriously flip if he found out. But then again, Addy’s eighteen, so maybe he won’t totally murder the big guy if he does find out.
Maybe.
Unbuckling and twisting to face me from the driver’s seat of her car, Addy pulls a small flask from her leather jacket and hands it over to me. Her hand hovers in the air as I eye the smooth silver between her fingers.
“For you,” she says. “So you can walk in there feeling comfortable and ready to have fun.”
If the words didn’t sound so terrible being said out loud, I’d climb over the center console and hug the shit out of her for being so thoughtful. I wrap my fingers around the flask instead, plucking it out of her grasp and twisting it open as she tucks a curly lock behind her ear with a smile. Her lips curve higher as I swallow down not one, not two, but at least three shots worth of whiskey, already feeling the warmth of alcohol flower in my chest and weed through my veins.
Handing it back over to her, she chugs the rest down like a champ, putting back even more than I did. And I guess we probably should’ve taken an Uber here because now we’re going to have to take one home and then figure out how to get her car back in the morning, all without Stacy and Cal figuring it out.
Addy claps her hands together and bounces in her seat, her head full of curls bouncing right along with her. “You ready?”
I look up at the brick-and-mortar building. Music pulsates from it, leeching into the car with a muted echo. A friend of a friend of a friend, or something along those lines, owns the building and lives in an apartment that takes up the entire upper floor, Addy says, throwing parties when all the shops have closed up for the night.
I lift my shoulders and let them fall back down with my exhale. It does seem pretty fun. Especially with Addy giggling in the seat next to me, waggling her eyebrows like a total goofball.
My goofball.
“Come on, girl.” I open my door, and music spills into the car, dancing with the warmth in my chest. Her excited squeal gives the pounding bass and rising chatter a run for its money, and my head falls back in laughter as I push my door closed. I throw my arms into the air in an attempt to match her level of excitement. “Let’s do this!” I shout up at the sky, much to Addy’s amusement.
And three shots of whiskey in, I guess I’m not feeling so bad myself.
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If I thought the music was loud downstairs, it’s ear-piercing up here. In that beautiful way that occupies all space in your mind, leaving next to zero room for thought—or deep thought, anyway.