Page 2

Chapter 2

Don’t Think About It

Connor

I f Keene has gone home, I’m fucking jealous. I should have taken a page out of his book and said my goodbyes.

I just felt bad because we’re out here for a late birthday celebration. It was Luke’s twenty-first on Tuesday, but we had back-to-back classes and two practices since we had our first game of the season earlier today. It was just an exhibition game, but Coach Harrison is a hard ass. And after not even qualifying for the playoffs in a disastrous season last year, he doesn’t intend to take any chances this year. Coach is planning on riding us as hard as ever.

The idea of letting off some steam in town wasn’t a bad one, and I didn’t have the heart to say no when Shane issued the invitation.

The truth is that until last spring break, life was awesome, and I would have been excited by every opportunity to hang out and party with my teammates.

Then my girlfriend of over a year broke up with me. It was totally out of the blue. When some of my teammates started saying that these kinds of breakups can only mean one thing, I didn’t wanna hear it.

But sure enough, Fiona was sleeping with one of her TAs.

Maybe I should have known. All the late nights in the lab, all the extra study group sessions, should have raised all sorts of red flags. But I trusted her.

What’s the point of being in a relationship with someone if you don’t give them your trust?

This is why I’m never going to date again. Hookups? Sure. But once the condom is disposed of, my involvement is done. Finito.

Tonight I let Shane guilt trip me into being here to celebrate Luke’s birthday. I explained how the entire town is out here for the fair, and I don’t want to bump into my ex and her new boyfriend.

I let Jamie talk me into coming out with the promise of being each other’s wingmen. That worked out a treat, for him at least. He disappeared with two townies and I haven’t seen him for the best part of the last hour.

Of course the second Jamie left, and all my other teammates disappeared too, I saw her.

Fiona dressed to the nines on the arm of the same guy she cheated on me with. The fucker should have lost his fucking job. However, since he wasn’t technically faculty, but a grad student, he didn’t get in trouble. Dating a student is frowned upon, but by the time their relationship became public knowledge, Fiona was no longer in that class, anyway.

Now she’s inside the bar with her new guy and a few of her sorority sisters. Or more accurately, was.

Because the second I look at the door Luke and his sister just came out from, my ex struts outside with her new squeeze in tow.

I’m glad I asked Talia if I could buy the whole bottle rather than just one shot at a time.

“Let’s drink.” I propose, when he pulls her close and kisses her before walking further down the pier. “Let’s toast to Luke’s birthday and to a new friend.”

“It was Bex’s birthday too. We’re twins.”

I signal to one of the waitresses, and she returns shortly after with a bunch of shot glasses.

What’s the best way to forget a cheating ex? Tequila, of course. And if you don’t have to drink it alone, you don’t look like too much of a loser.

I pour one double shot each.

“Happy birthday!” We all say before downing our shots.

The only difference is that the others lick salt off their hands and grab a slice of lime. I just down the harsh liquor and immediately pour myself a second shot and throw it down the hatch.

No one says anything except the newcomer. “That bad, huh?” Bex asks softly.

“You don’t know the first thing about it.” I snort, pouring myself another shot, and offering her more by tilting the bottle in the direction of her empty glass.

“What the hell,” she sighs. “Hit me up.”

We clink our glasses and this time, she follows my lead, forgoing the salt and lime.

“Shit.” She shivers. “It burns going down.”

At this point, I’m no longer in the mood for a hookup tonight; and my teammate’s sister is the last girl in town I should do it with, even if I was. She’s cute, though.

No, scratch that. She’s hot.

Her long, blonde hair looks so soft that I’m itching to touch it. She has vibrant green eyes, a sexy pair of tits, and a pair of legs I can’t help but imagine wrapped around my hips as I pound into her.

So much for not going there with my teammate’s sister. Thank fuck Luke can’t hear my thoughts.

“Want another one?” I offer, because why the fuck not? If I get wasted enough, my dick won’t rise to the occasion and I won’t be tempted to break every bro code in existence by trying to bone my roommate’s sister.

I usually hate it when people answer a question with another question. “What are we trying to drown in that bottle of tequila? Or shall I ask whom?”

Two can play this game, and I answer with another question of my own. “Am I that obvious?”

Bex shrugs. “Heartbreak recognizes heartbreak.”

I take a better look at her, and it dawns on me. “Fuck. Is that a wedding dress?”

She laughs.

The sound goes straight to my cock for some reason.

“It was before Luke updated the design for me. Believe me, I usually don’t dress this way. And what kind of psychotic bitch would wear a tiara on a normal Friday night out?”

Something in her tone tells me there’s some real pain under the casual hilarity.

“So you were at your wedding and… what? You left?”

Her smile fades away. “I didn’t leave. More like, I sneaked out of the church, got into a taxi, and ran for my life.”

I can’t wrap my head around it. Are all women flighty, volatile creatures, not worthy of an ounce of trust? Keene would definitely answer yes to that question, but my first impression of Bex was a good one. “You just left someone at the altar?”

Bex’s expression hardens. “I did what I had to do for my own safety. It wasn’t like we loved each other, anyway. It’s a long story, but trust me, I didn’t break his heart or anything. He just?—”

She pulls at the neck of her dress, as if the lace was too tight to breathe. It’s an instinctive gesture, but I think I spot something.

A purple bruise on the creamy skin of her neck.

I’ve just met this woman, but I can’t unsee what I just saw.

“Bex, are you?—”

“What the fuck, dude?” Jamie chooses that moment to return alone from wherever he had taken the two girls he was flirting with earlier. “I can’t leave for twenty minutes and you’re about to get fucking married on me?”

He’s just ribbing me, of course. But like everywhere he goes, Jamie turns every woman’s head. Bex is no exception.

Luke’s sister is staring at Jamie Hart as if she had been stranded in the desert and he was a tall drink of ice cold water.

Bex

Connor is next-level hot.

So the last thing I’m expecting, while coming dangerously close to spilling my life story to him over a bottle of cheap tequila, is to see who must be the other hottest guy on the planet.

Just as tall and strapping as Connor, the new guy has golden blond hair and the most intense blue eyes I’ve ever seen.

He saunters to our table with a confident smile that tells me that he knows how good he looks; more so, it’s like he expects every head on the pier to turn to look at him.

My father would bend over backwards to sign him to Pure Shine .

It just so happens that Connor was just asking about why I’m in a wedding dress.

His eyes drift down to my neck as I pull on the itchy lace of my dress, and they darken with what looks like concern.

“Bex, are you—” he begins to ask.

“What the fuck, dude?” the new guy interrupts, his tone teasing. “I can’t leave for twenty minutes and you’re about to get fucking married on me?”

He swings his arm around Connor’s neck, pulling him into a headlock.

It isn’t a violent action. It’s clear that these two are friends and Connor is being teased.

“Of course not.” Connor manages to get free from his friend’s hold.

“Good.” New guy chuckles. “Getting married at twenty-one is fucking insane.”

Yeah, I have to agree with that sentiment.

“So if you aren’t Connor’s betrothed,” he continues teasing. “What’s with the outfit? Wait, don’t tell me. It’s too early for Halloween, so you’re either a bridal clothes model, or a stripper who thought we were a bachelor party. Which one is it?”

I open my mouth, unsure about how I should answer, but Luke sweeps in to save me.

“Hey Hart,” he slaps him on the back. “Stop trying to get into my sister’s pants right this second. Bex, don’t believe one thing that comes out of this guy’s mouth. Everything Jamie says or does serves his agenda.”

The question tumbles out of my mouth before I can think better of it. “And what’s his agenda?”

My brother rolls his eyes at Jamie. His tone is amused, but his laughter doesn’t reach his eyes. “To get in the pants of every woman on campus and possibly in town.”

Jamie doesn’t look embarrassed by my brother’s introduction. “Nah,” he chuckles. “Not every woman. But your vote of confidence is flattering, Captain.”

Luke shakes his head. “Coulda fooled me. Are you trying to tell me that you and the two girls you disappeared with earlier spent half an hour talking about your hockey stats?”

Jamie’s smile widens. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Right.” Luke’s gaze hardens. “I don’t care where you stick your dick, Hart. As long as it isn’t in my twin sister.”

“Noted.” Jamie winks.

I’m about to open my mouth to tell my brother that I’m perfectly capable of deciding who I want to let in my pants—even though my track record proves the opposite—but Shane chooses that moment to come back from inside the bar.

“All right, boys and Bex,” he smiles at me. “I closed our tab with Talia. How about we check out all the games and the fair food stands? I promised Luke some funnel cake. Connor, you bring that tequila with you. Be a good teammate and share with us.”

“Sure thing, dude. But weren’t you our designated driver tonight?” Connor asks.

“I was, but what the hell? We don’t have practice tomorrow, so I can come back to get my car. We can take an Uber home.”

As we leave our outdoor table at the bar, Luke and Shane flank me, Connor and Jamie are right behind us. We spend the next hour wandering around Star Cove’s pier.

It feels so normal, it’s almost surreal. This could have been my life, if I had decided to leave with Luke, rather than staying with our father.

Maybe it’s not too late. Maybe this can still be my life, if Luke forgives me.

I banish the thought, accepting a paper plate of the most mouthwatering funnel cake I’ve ever had.

Tonight I don’t want to think about the future. I have the rest of my life to worry about it.

Tonight I want to live in the here and now. I want to be a normal twenty-one-year-old girl without a care in the world. I want to celebrate my birthday with my twin brother and avoid thinking about the past and the future.