“Do we need to know what age anyone was when they had sex?” Dante asked reasonably as the three of us went outside and moved away from the main door. “Or can we talk about how nice it is to see you, Naya. Unexpected but nice.”
The flat stare I gave him as my sister practically swooned made the fucker wink at me.
I turned back to Naya. “What he said — why are you here?”
“You never listen to me. I told you at Christmas I would be here for two days with the debate team.”
“Christmas was months ago.” How was I supposed to remember that? “So why are you dressed like that for the debate team? And why is the debate team in a bar?”
Naya’s hands dropped to her hips. “Dressed like this? What’s wrong with how I’m dressed?”
“Don’t answer,” Dante murmured beside me.
“You look...”Like you need to put clothes on?Nope, can’t say that. “Cold.”
“Jesus, man,” Dante muttered, shaking his head.
The bar door opened, and Noah walked out. He looked at Naya. “You’re Dustin’s little sister, Naya, right?”
If she swooned for Dante, she practically fainted for Noah. “You remember me?”
“You bat your lashes at him one more time, Naya Slater, and I will trash every pair of fake lashes you own.” I looked at my two roommates. “You both go back inside, I’ll talk to this one out here.”
“Out here? I thought I wascold,” Naya sassed me.
“Quit it,” I growled as Dante and Noah walked back inside, fighting their laughter.Assholes.I turned my glare to Naya. “You can’t call first?”
“Mom told me to find you. I need money for food.” She looked around. “So give me money.”
“So give me money?” I was already pulling my phone out of my pocket. “Do I look like an ATM?” I dialed my mom and had a quick conversation with her about why my sister needed money. When I hung up, I met her guilty look. “You used your trip money for a concert ticket?”
“It was a really good concert.”
“You’re such a spoiled brat.” I looked past her into the bar. Dante and Noah were sitting back in the booth, Dante was facing me, watching. I saw the small smile; he knew I was bailing. This wasn’t the first time I’d dropped stuff for my little sister.Exactlywhy he and I were the tighter friends.
I sounded like a possessive dick. Or obsessive. Either way, it wasn’t a good look for me. Naya might be the fresh break I needed this evening.
“Come on,” I said as I slung my arm over Naya’s shoulder. “Let’s get you fed.”
Movement at the door caught my attention, and I looked over to see Hadley watching us. Her nose wrinkled with distaste — either she hadn’t noticed the family resemblance, or she simply disapproved of me in general.
She’d already looked away — smart woman. I filed it away. The way she’d clocked me, assessed, and moved on. No lingering. No obvious interest. That was either genuine indifference or very good discipline. I suspected the latter.
Either way, it made it easier to push the ‘hot girl from the bar’ out of my mind.
Dante and Noah would call that a good result at least.
Maybe it was. The smart play was to walk away, take the out Naya had handed me, and stop thinking about a woman who was going to be a problem no matter what angle I came at her from.
I kept walking, and I didn’t look back.
Chapter 3
Hadley
I leaned back in my seat, the straw from my soda forgotten between my teeth, as I watched him outside with his QB best buddy and some... girl.
Dustin Slater — the superstar in the making, a wide receiver for the Alabama Lions. With his good looks and a movie-star smile, he looked like the perfect poster boy. Until you looked closer and realized he had the morals of a feral raccoon. I’d watched him guide the girl through the crowd with one hand at the small of her back. Casual. Confident.Possessive.