Page 1 of Under the Lights (The Big Boys of BRU #2)

One

Sierra

“Oh my God! What the hell was that?” My tongue was burning and numb at the same time. I wanted to scrape it off with my fingers to get rid of whatever that shit was. “Fucking gross!”

The bar was packed wall to wall, a blur of bodies and flashing neon signs advertising drink specials no one actually wanted. Bass-heavy music thumped through the floorboards, causing every table to vibrate and making every conversation feel like a shout.

Giggles rang out around me, though I wasn’t the only one struggling with the choice of drink. Somewhere nearby, a girl shrieked with laughter, and the sound of pool balls cracking together echoed from the back of the bar.

The bartenders moved like they were in a race, slinging shots and dodging outstretched hands with practiced ease.

I was far from a novice when it came to drinking. Three years of college and being part of a sorority had taken care of that. I could handle my liquor, but whatever this had been was unholy.

“Oh, come on, Sierra, have you lost your edge?” Aria teased with a roll of her light blue eyes, swinging her perfectly slick, long, chocolate brown ponytail over her shoulder. She resembled a doll — perfect if her insides weren’t so rotten.

My lips curled into a sharp smile. Aria loved to spit venom.

She was the epitome of what everyone expected a sorority girl to be. It infuriated me that she was a legacy, which meant we hadn’t been able to reject her.

I had joined my sorority because it wasn’t a stereotypical organization, but I guess there were bad seeds everywhere.

That didn’t mean I was going to roll over and take it. Aria kept trying me, but I was the wrong fucking person for that. Tonight was undoubtedly the wrong time to mess with me.

“Don’t worry, Aria. If my edge ever dulled, you’d be the first to stop sweating.” I smirked.

Her smile turned caustic. Come on, I fucking dare you. Bite back, push me further. If she tried me too much tonight, Harley Quinn would have nothing on me. I watched her with a steely gaze.

With a sniff, she averted her eyes, and I turned to my left to one of my closest friends, Jasmine.

“Seriously, what was that?”

“No idea.” She shuddered. “Yuck. Whatever it was, I don’t ever want to smell it again.”

“Well, I hope it at least packs a decent punch. I didn’t knock this stuff back for nothing. After the afternoon I had, I would almost welcome a little blackout, arms wide fucking open.”

She pursed her lips and wrinkled her nose slightly. “I’m so sorry—”

“Save it.” I slashed my hand through the air. “You know how much I hate pity, Jas. What’s done is done. I’ll get over it…preferably under someone else.”

”You sure about that? I mean, you and David, you’ve been together for quite a while.” Jas’ eyebrows knitted together.

“Yup. We were. Doesn’t change what happened, though. He can get fucked all the way. I’m not the kind of person to ignore or even forgive something like that.”

Near the dartboard, someone let out a cheer, and a bartender yelled over the din for someone to close out their tab or lose their card.

I touched the slightly sticky bar as little as possible, my fingertips skimming across the lacquered wood that had seen too many spilled drinks and drunk confessions.

A few feet away, a group of frat guys tried to start a chant but slurred half the words. Meanwhile, two girls took selfies with bright flashes that lit up the dim room like strobe lights.

I scanned the room for… something. Maybe someone. I wasn’t even sure.

A distraction. An excuse to not think about him for one damn second longer. The room buzzed with that Friday night kind of electricity, like anything could happen, even if most of it would be regretted by morning.

“OMG, there they are!”

Even over all the chatter and music, I could hear Aria’s voice drifting over to me, so I turned my head.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as she ran her fingers through her ponytail, adjusted the neckline of her top to perfection. Then she strutted across the room with a “Hey, boys!” to the hockey guys.

Too bad. That meant they were out of the question. I didn’t mind their shaggy hair and laid-back attitude, but if it meant dealing with Aria’s commentary, I was out.

At least for tonight.

“Just don’t do anything rash,” Jas said, touching my arm.

I stifled a scoff. When had I ever done that?

Same old Sierra — always composed, always cautious. Always doing what I was supposed to do. The girl who color-coded her planner and scheduled self-care like it was a meeting with the dean.

Predictable.

Boring .

I didn’t know how to give up control. Chaos made my skin crawl. To me, surprises were just disasters with good PR.

I used to thrive on being the person people followed, the person who had everything figured out. Now?

I was trying so hard to be better. To be softer. To be good .

But being good had rules. It meant saying the right things, staying calm, staying composed. It meant not messing up. Ever.

So I triple-checked everything. My schedule, my grades, my tone. Unsurprisingly, I majored in Public Relations because I was my own best PR campaign.

Flawless image. Impeccable narrative. A rebrand in heels. I could control how people saw me, could frame the story before anyone else had the chance.

It wasn’t just a persona anymore — it was a compulsion. The control. The polish. The effort to be someone who was beyond criticism, especially now.

After everything. I might not be Queen Bee anymore, but I’d be damned if I let anyone see the cracks. If I seemed a little rigid or boring, well, that was better than falling apart.

Was that why David had done it?

Was I just not exciting enough?

“Me? I would never, you know that,” I finally answered.

Ugh . I ordered a hard seltzer and checked to make sure it was still sealed. This wasn’t some shady house party, but that didn’t mean nothing bad could happen to me here.

“Hey, I’ll be right back, okay? I have to see Cade for a minute, he needed something earlier. You gonna be alright?”

I chuckled. I wondered how long she’d wanted to go over to his booth. The two of them had been dancing around each other ever since they started working on a group project together.

“Sure, I’ll be fine. The others are still here.”

After three more follow-up questions from her, which I waved off with increasing vehemence, she finally made her way to the booth where Cade was sitting with a few other guys.

I watched the exact moment he spotted her. His eyes lit up, and he tried to appear deliberately nonchalant, although to me and, judging by his friends’ reaction, it wasn’t quite as subtle as he’d intended.

My heart constricted painfully. Had David ever looked at me like that?

A few hours ago, I would have said yes, without a doubt. Now I wasn’t so sure.

Nothing like walking in on your boyfriend pounding into another girl, followed by the obligatory, “It’s not what it looks like”.

Yeah, right.

I snorted disdainfully, swirled the liquid in the can, and took a sip before looking around again. Suddenly the back of my neck prickled — an unmistakable sign I was being watched.

I had a kind of sixth sense for this. Inconspicuously, I turned my head in the direction in which I suspected the culprit without rotating my entire upper body like a fool.

My head jerked back as I met a piercing stare.

He was tall. Not just tall — massive.

Broad shoulders stretched the seams of his faded black shirt, and every inch of visible skin was inked. Tattoos crawled up his neck and wrapped around the hand that was holding a lowball glass.

At first, it felt strange to be watched so openly.

But then — somewhere between the rust-colored hair slicked back from his face, the short-trimmed beard framing a maddening smirk, and the glint of rings and chains that somehow worked on him — I found myself oddly impressed by this dude’s massive set of balls.

Most people would’ve looked away once they got caught staring, but not him. He met my gaze head-on, calm and unbothered.

Brazen .

Like he’d been doing this sort of thing his whole life. Like he knew I wouldn’t look away, either.

It should’ve been obnoxious. Guys like that usually were.

But instead of cocky, he looked … comfortable. Hazel eyes held mine steadily and unreadably. The corner of his mouth curved as if he knew a joke I didn’t.

Then he raised his glass in a slow, deliberate toast.

Huh .

My eyebrows lifted before I could stop them. That casual confidence did… something to me.

A strange tingle unfurled in my stomach — sharp, unwelcome, and far too interesting. I felt my spine straighten instinctively, the familiar urge to smooth myself over, to stay composed.

To stay above it.

I didn’t lift my can in return. Didn’t smile. Didn’t give him anything back. Still, he didn’t look away. He just smiled wider, as if he already knew I’d cracked.

He wasn’t here alone. On the contrary — his group was so large that they had not only taken over one of the main booths but were also spread out around it. One of his friends said something to him, and he still didn’t look away.

Okay, admittedly, neither did I… but he started it.

He answered the other dude and then nodded in my direction, causing a few heads to turn toward me. Some of them were familiar, and I wasn’t sure yet if this was a good thing or not.

The dude who had been watching me started to push away from the wall, but a hand on his chest stopped him. Craig, the captain of the football team, looked intently at the guy and said something that seemed rather insistent, his face serious.

I tore my eyes away from them because I’d been looking over there too long anyway. Instead, I turned back to the bar, drained the can, and decided a cocktail wouldn’t hurt.

Just as I was about to hand the bartender my card, a large body appeared beside me.

“Put it on my tab, Eli.”

Disappointment jolted through me unexpectedly as I realized it wasn’t the man I was expecting.

“That won’t be necessary.”

“I know, but I thought it might soften you up a bit because I have a favor to ask you.” Craig’s voice sounded a bit resigned, almost exasperated. I wondered what this was all about.

“Well, go ahead. What can I do for you?” I asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Look, I know David—”

“I’m going to stop you right there because David means nothing to me anymore. Never again, as far as I’m concerned.” He probably wanted to organize a party or something with David’s fraternity.

I had expected his face to fall or for him to scuttle away with a half-hearted apology. Instead, his eyes suddenly lit up.

“You’re not together anymore?”

Woah . He sounded way more interested and enthusiastic than I liked.

“No … why?”

He raised his hands in appeasement. “Hold up, I’m not asking because I’m interested or something. I have a girlfriend. I don’t care, trust me. Look, my boy over there noticed you, and I actually wanted to ask you to talk to him as a favor because he—”

“So why didn’t he come here himself?” I watched Craig carefully, my eyes narrowing.

“Because I kind of told him not to. I thought you and David were still dating.”

“Definitely not.”

“In that case … would you do me a favor and come over there with me? Just talk to him real quick? I promise he’s not a dick.”

I eyed Craig. He was a reasonably decent guy, but then again, my radar seemed to be shot anyway, so what did I know?

Fuck it. Time to find out what my not-so-secret admirer wanted.