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“Yeah, real wild night you’re having,” I drawl, gesturing at her glass of water. “Someone’s got a good girl complex, huh?”
If I’ve learned one thing from rom coms, it’s that you are not allowed to be friends with someone you’re attracted to.
But anyone who places themselves directly in the path of temptation is only asking for trouble.
“This is the second time I’ve walked up to you and seen that look on your face.” “What look?” Apparently, I just repeat everything he says now. But the intensity in his eyes has triggered a rush of anxiety. “The look that says you want more.” “I want more … And what more do I want?” He continues to study me. “I don’t know. Just more. It’s like … a mixture of boredom, dissatisfaction, frustration, and yearning.”
“Act like a dumbass, get called a dumbass.”
People spend their whole lives complaining about things they’re unwilling to change. At a certain point, either pluck up the courage or shut up.”
“No, I’m telling you there are plenty of ways that life and circumstances beyond our control conspire to keep us down. The least we can do is get out of our own way.”
“So I behave myself. It’s still a choice.”
For the first time since we hatched this plan, I’m starting to wonder if I’m in over my head.
I wake up in the morning to a text from Cooper. Only I guess Evan must have taken the photo, because it shows Cooper asleep in bed with the puppy snuggled on his chest, her face buried under his chin. It’s fucking adorable.
“You better watch out for your man. This kid is shit at cards and doesn’t know when to quit.” “So … not good?” I ask, shooting a teasing smile at Pres. “Not good at all,”
“Cheating isn’t unusual?”
“For some people.”
“I’d be a complete fool to jeopardize our relationship, babe. I know wife material when I see it.”
I think he’s saying it as a compliment, but the fact that he uses Melissa’s exact phrasing brings a queasy feeling to my gut. If I’m the wifey, does that mean he has a Marilyn? Or multiple Marilyns?
“I’m wife material, huh?”
Mackenzie: My bio prof just shared with the class that he’s got a dog named Mrs. Puddles. I say we steal the name and never look back.
Mostly we argue about names and how to train our dog. Mac has granted herself partial custody and visitation rights. I tell her she’s welcome to chip in for puppy pads and dog food. She demands more photos.
“You’re right, I don’t get it. I just spent the past couple hours watching you seek out every wild ride at that festival. You get off on the thrill. You get off on life. There’s fire in you, Mac.”
Sugar and sex, an addictive combo.
It’s a humbling experience, discovering you’re not as morally virtuous as you once thought.
Like the gentleman he is, he hops out of the convertible and runs over to open my door. Then he extends a hand,
“Well, that’s true. It costs money to make money. But give it some thought. If this is really something you want to build a business out of, I can help. Co-sign the loan for you.”
“I don’t have to know them. I know you.”
“Mac, you are a force to be reckoned with. You don’t take shit, you take names. Don’t forget that.”
“Face it, princess. Your Prince Charming pulls more ass than a barstool.”
“This isn’t stress. It’s clarity.” My humor fading, I meet his gaze. “You’re cheating on me, Preston.”
“Are you saying it’s not true?” I challenge. “That you aren’t just like your buddy Sebastian, sleeping around with girls that aren’t ‘wife material’ while pledging his undying love to Chrissy? Chrissy, who doesn’t even care that he’s sleeping around.” I shake my head incredulously. “Look me in the eye and tell me you’re not like that.”
I mistook boredom for comfort and comfort for romance.
His girl. I know he doesn’t mean it that way, just a turn of phrase, but the idea of being his, being entirely owned by him tonight, triggers a fresh wave of desire.
“I don’t know where this is going with us, but I expect you all to be nice to her. Forget we ever hatched this stupid plot. It’s not happening anymore. No more rude comments,” I say to my brother. To the girls, “And no scheming behind her back. For better or worse, you assholes are my family. I’m asking you to do this for me.”
Heidi shoves a hand through her short hair and continues to eye me. In her expression, I see a flicker of anger. A hint of pity. And a gleam of something else. Something vindictive, alarming.
Cooper’s still in the backyard, only now he’s standing around the bonfire next to a very cute brunette whose ass is trying to climb out of her shorts. When her hand touches Cooper’s chest I want to charge her like a bull. Instead, I keep my cool and saunter up to him, grabbing him by his belt loops.
I wince when her fingers skim over the rapidly swelling spot beneath my left eye. “I’m fine.” I search her face just as intently. “Are we okay?” I don’t regret slugging Evan over what he said—nobody gets to talk to Mac like that—but I am sorry she had to see it. Fuck, if this is the thing that drives her way …
“I don’t know what to tell you. She’s different. If you gave her even half a chance, you’d see that.” There’s no good reason Mac and I should work. I can’t give him one. And hell, maybe we won’t work. She’s a stubborn, opinionated pain in my ass. She’s also gorgeous, funny, spontaneous, and ambitious. Turns out, that’s my type. She makes me crazy. I’ve never met a girl that stays on my mind days and weeks after I’ve seen her. She’s under my skin. And for all the ways we’re completely different, she gets me in a way few others do.
“They count too,” she argues. “You’ve got an entire group of friends, and you’ve all known each other forever. I have like two friends, one of whom is my roommate so she’s kind of forced to like me.”
Green eyes gleaming from the headlights of a passing vehicle, she leans toward me and kisses me. Hard. With a lot of tongue. Then she pulls back breathlessly and whispers, “I won’t bail on you.”
Cooper has to practically push his brother through the door to get inside and out of the storm. He appears a bit perplexed to see me on his friends’ couch, wrapped up in a blanket like a soggy corn dog. “Couldn’t help noticing my truck outside,” he says with a raised eyebrow. “Went and helped yourself, huh?”
That’s how quick it happens when he’s around. From zero to fuck me in ten seconds flat.
“We’re lucky she came,” Steph says as the guys pour themselves a couple cups of coffee in the kitchen. “This crazy bitch got up on the roof and patched the hole all by herself.” Alana holds out her coffee mug for Evan to refill, which he does, rolling his eyes at the sight of the three of us bundled up in our cocoons. “On a related note,” she adds, “no one use the guest bathroom. It’s an aquarium now.” “I’ve always hated the wallpaper in there anyway,” Steph remarks, and for some reason that gives Alana and me the giggles.
I jut my chin. “I don’t know what you think is happening right now, but I am not going—” Before I can blink, I’m being flung over Cooper’s shoulder. Staring at his wet boots as he marches us to the door. “Put me down!” I yell, but the downpour that hits us the moment we leave the house drowns out my furious request.
There’s fire in you, Mac. He’d told me that the night of the carnival. Said I get off on the thrill, on life. He wasn’t wrong. Since I broke up with Preston and started dating Cooper, I’d never felt more alive.
“First of all, they say? Who’s they and who cares? Every relationship is different. Some people fight, some people don’t. Some want calm, some want passion. We define our own relationship. And second, I hate to break it to you, but we’re both argumentative jackasses.”
This is what I dig about her. Her confidence. The courage. She had an idea and some gumption and went for it. Most people spend their whole lives talking themselves out of their dreams. Point out all the reasons it’s too hard or farfetched. Not Mac. “When you look at this place, do you still feel the same way as you did when you put the offer in?” I ask.
“Hey.” Then she takes my hand, and all I can think is that I’d stand in traffic for this girl. “Let’s make a pact: We won’t let each other become our parents. The buddy system never fails.”
I don’t understand how she manages to instill equal parts chaos and peace inside me. When we’re arguing, sometimes I want to throttle her. She drives me mad. She does crazy shit like climbing metal ladders during lightning storms. And then suddenly we have moments like this, where we’re sitting side by side, quiet, lost in our own thoughts yet completely in tune. Connected. I don’t know what it means. Why we can yell at each other one second, and be totally at peace the next. Maybe it just means we’re both nuts. Or maybe it means I’m falling for her.
Friends shouldn’t hook up, it’s just asking for trouble.”
I reach into my bag. “Do what you must, but I’m tired of living in fear of disappointing you both. I’m sick of never living up to your ideal. I have had my absolute fill of killing myself to make you happy and constantly falling short. I’m not ever going to be the daughter you want, and I’m done trying.” I find what I’m looking for in my purse. For the first time my life, my parents are speechless as they watch me fill out a check. I slide it across the table to my father. “Here. This ought to cover what you spent for the first semester. I’ve decided my interests lie elsewhere.” With nothing
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“What’s up, princess?” Sauntering up to the front door, Evan gives me a wink as he lets himself inside. We’re old pals now, me and the Bad Twin.
This chick is out of her mind. “What is the peanut butter doing in the refrigerator?” I shout from the kitchen. I swear to God, having three people in this house has turned the place into a circus. I used to know where Evan was by the creaks and groans the house made around him. Now there’s two of them and it’s like this old place is haunted—constant noises coming from every direction at once. Hell, at this point, you could probably convince me that Patricia exists. “Hey!” I shout again into the void. “The hell did you go?” “Right here, dipshit.” Evan appears beside me, shouldering me out of
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