Sweet and Sunshiney

2

                                        *******

***ALEX POV***

“WE SHOULD TAKE THIS SOMEWHERE MORE…PRIVATE.” THE BLONDE

trailed her fingers down my arm, her hazel eyes bright with invitation as she

swiped her tongue over her bottom lip. “Or not. Whatever you’re into.”

My lips curved—not enough to classify as a smile, but enough to

broadcast my thoughts. You can’t handle what I’m into.

Despite her short, tight dress and suggestive words, she looked like the

type who expected sweet nothings and lovemaking in bed.

I didn’t do sweet nothings or lovemaking.

I fucked a certain way, and only a specific type of woman was into that

shit. Not hardcore BDSM, but not soft. No kissing, no face-to-face contact.

Women agreed, then tried to change it up halfway through, after which I’d

stop and show them the door. I have no tolerance for people who can’t keep

to a simple agreement.

That was why I stuck to a roster of familiar rotating names when I

needed a release; both sides knew what to expect.

The blonde was not making it onto that roster.

“Not tonight.” I swirled the ice in my glass. “It’s my friend’s farewell

party.”

She followed my gaze toward Josh, who was basking in female

attention of his own. He sprawled on the couch, one of the few remaining

pieces of furniture after he’d packed the house up in anticipation of his year

abroad, and grinned while three women fawned over him. He’d always

been the charming one. While I put people on edge, he put them at ease,

and his approach toward the fairer sex was the opposite of mine. The more,

the merrier, according to Josh. He’d probably fucked half the D.C. metro

area’s female population by now.

“He can join too.” The blonde edged closer until her tits grazed my arm.

“I don’t mind.”

“Same.” Her friend, a petite brunette who had been quiet up till now but

who’d eyed me like I was a juicy steak since I walked in the door, piped up.

“Lyss and I do everything together.”

The insinuation couldn’t have been clearer had she tattooed it across her

exposed cleavage.

Most guys would’ve jumped at the opportunity, but I was already bored

with the conversation. Nothing turned me off more than desperation, which

reeked stronger than their perfume.

I didn’t bother answering. Instead, I scanned the room for something

more interesting to hold my attention. If it were a party for anyone else but

Josh, I would’ve skipped it. Between my job as COO of The Archer Group

and my…side project, I had enough on my plate without attending pointless

social gatherings. But Josh was my best friend—one of the few people

whose company I could stand for more than an hour at a time—and he was

leaving Monday for his gap year as a medical volunteer in Central America.

So here I was, pretending like I actually wanted to be here.

A silvery laugh pealed through the air, drawing my eyes toward the

source.

Ava. Of course.

Josh’s little sister was so sweet and sunshiney all the time, I halfexpected flowers to sprout on the ground wherever she walked and a coterie

of singing woodland animals to trail behind her while she traipsed through

meadows or whatever girls like her did.

She stood in the corner with her friends, her face bright with animation

as she laughed at something one of them said. I wondered if it was a real

laugh or a fake laugh. Most laughs—hell, most people—were fake. They

woke up every morning and put on a mask according to what they wanted

that day and who they wanted the world to see. They smiled at people they

hated, laughed at jokes that weren’t funny, and kissed the asses of those

they secretly hoped to dethrone.

I wasn’t judging. Like everyone else, I had my masks, and they ran

layers deep. But unlike everyone else, I had as much interest in ass-kissing

and small talk as I did in injecting bleach into my veins.

Knowing Ava, her laugh was real.

Poor girl. The world would eat her alive once she left the Thayer

bubble.

Not my problem.

“Yo.” Josh appeared beside me, his hair tousled and his mouth stretched

into a wide grin. His hangers-on were nowhere—wait, nope. There they

were, dancing to Beyoncé like they were auditioning for a gig at The Strip

Angel while a circle of guys watched them with their tongues lolling out.

Men. My gender could use a little more standards and a little less thinking

with their small head. “Thanks for showing up, man. Sorry I haven’t said hi

till now. I’ve been…busy.”

“I saw.” I arched an eyebrow at the lipstick print smeared on the corner

of his mouth. “You have a little something on your face.”

His grin widened. “Badge of honor. Speaking of which, I’m not

interrupting, am I?”

I glanced at the blonde and brunette, who’d moved on to making out

with each other after failing to capture my interest.

“No.” I shook my head. “A hundred bucks says you won’t survive the

full year in Bumfuck, Nowhere. No women, no parties. You’ll be back

before Halloween.”

“Oh, ye of little faith. There’ll be women, and the party is wherever I

am.” Josh swiped an unopened beer from a nearby cooler and cracked it

open. “I actually wanted to talk to you about that. Me being gone,” he

clarified.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting sentimental on me. If you bought us

friendship bracelets, I’m out.”

“Fuck you, dude.” He laughed. “I wouldn’t buy your ass jewelry if you

paid me. No, this is about Ava.”

My glass paused an inch from my lips before I brought it home and the

sweet burn of whiskey flowed down my throat. I hate beer. It tastes like

piss, but since it was the drink du jour at Josh’s parties, I always brought a

flask of Macallan whenever I visited.

“What about her?”

Josh and his sister were close, even if they bickered so much I wanted to

duct tape their mouths sometimes. That was the nature of siblings—

something I’d never quite gotten to experience.

The whiskey turned sour in my mouth, and I set my glass down with a

grimace.

“I’m worried about her.” Josh rubbed a hand over his jaw, his

expression growing serious. “I know she’s a big girl and can take care of

herself—unless she’s getting stranded in the middle of fucking nowhere;

thanks for picking her up, by the way—but she’s never been on her own for

so long and she can be a little too…trusting.”

I had an inkling of where Josh was going with this, and I didn’t like it.

At all. “She won’t be alone. She has her friends.” I inclined my head toward

said friends. One of them, a curvy redhead in a gold skirt that made her look

like a disco ball, chose that moment to hop onto the table and shake her ass

to the rap song blasting through the speakers.

Josh snorted. “Jules? She’s a liability, not help. Stella is as trusting as

Ava, and Bridget…well, she has security, but she’s not around as much.”

“You don’t need to worry. Thayer’s safe, and the crime rate here is close

to zero.”

“Yeah, but I’d feel better if I had someone I trusted looking after her, ya

know?”

Fuck. The train was heading straight off a cliff, and I couldn’t do

anything to stop it.

“I wouldn’t ask—I know you’ve got a lot of shit going on—but she

broke up with her ex a couple of weeks ago, and he’s been harassing her. I

always knew he was a little shit, but she wouldn’t listen to me. Anyway, if

you could keep an eye on her—just to make sure she doesn’t get killed or

kidnapped or anything? I’d owe you big.”

“You already owe me for all those times I saved your ass,” I said wryly.

“You had fun while doing it. You’re too uptight sometimes.” Josh

grinned. “So, is that a yes?”

I glanced at Ava again. Took her in. She was twenty-two, four years

younger than Josh and me, and she managed to appear both younger and

older than her years. It was the way she carried herself, like she’d seen it all

—the good, the bad, the downright ugly—and still believed in goodness.

It was as stupid as it was admirable.

\#TO BE CONTINUE\#

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