The Hastings Series

by Vanessa Siena

  “You came!” Sage laughed, and the guy put her back down on her feet. “Here, let me introduce you to my new neighbor. Well, he’s been around some weeks now, but I never got to meet him. Joey, this is Jagger. He lives downstairs. Jagger, this is Joey. My boyfriend.” Joey and I shook hands and I nodded toward Sage. “How do you keep up with a crazy one like her?” Deep inside, I was hoping he wouldn’t take it seriously.

  Joey eyed me for a second before he let out a hard laugh, wrapping his arm around Sage’s shoulders now. “If I ever find out, I’ll let you know.” He grinned and then turned to his girlfriend, who couldn’t stop beaming at him. See, that’s what I would never want. Someone who adored the shit out of you. That wasn’t going to happen to me because I didn’t want it to. Well, I did have Harlow, whom I adored just as much as she adored me. But that’s different. We have a history. And she’s the only one who’ll ever understand and accept me for my past.

  “Sadie is looking for you. She’s in the kitchen.” Sage nodded and stood on her tiptoes to kiss Joey on the lips. “I’ll be right back. And don’t start drinking without me,” she warned him and then disappeared in the crowd.

  I took another sip of my beer and turned to watch some girls dance. They were all dressed in either shorts and a t-shirt, or a nice little summer dress. Yeah, those girls were going to be easy. And maybe one of them would help me get Bliss off my mind completely. But not tonight. I didn’t want to be known as the new guy in town who fucks around.

  “Distracting, right?” Joey said beside me and when I looked at him, his eyes were on the same three girls I was just watching. “They’re trying to get our attention and before you know it, they got you naked and above them.” I was confused as to why he was talking about having sex with those girls when he clearly was in a relationship with Sage.

  I nodded slowly, puckering my lips to hide my confusion. “I know those types.” I didn’t need to say more. Instead, I kept drinking my beer and enjoying the music. Joey didn’t seem like the type of guy I needed to become close with, but Sage was nice, so I couldn’t just leave him standing there alone when he clearly tried to start a conversation with me.

  “Ah, there he is,” Joey then said and pointed toward a tall, blond guy. He walked toward us and greeted Joey with a fist bump before turning to me and holding his hand out for me to take. I shook it and immediately noticed his crooked nose. Must’ve been broken one too many times.

  “I’m Dallas,” he introduced himself and I nodded once. “Jagger.” Dallas seemed a little calmer and relaxed. Laid back. He was more my speed. “You new around here?” he then asked and leaned against the bar next to me, grabbing a beer too.

  “I moved in a few weeks ago. I live downstairs,” I explained and was surprisingly relieved when Joey left us to go look for Sage.

  “Nice place, huh? I live one floor up. I wasn’t in town though for the last three months.” I turned to look at him and studied his face. Something about him looked familiar. My eyes dropped down to his hands and that’s when I saw the bruises on his knuckles and two fingers that were a hundred percent broken recently.

  “Dallas Washington,” I said, getting his full attention now. He nodded, an amused grin spreading on his lips now. “The one and only.”

  I chuckled and shook my head. “Pleasure to meet you, man,” I told him. “You’ve seen some of my fights?” he asked and took a long sip from his beer.

  “One, yeah. In Hastings. But that was years ago. Shit, man, I was close to getting in that fucking ring to beat you up,” I joked.

  Dallas Washington’s an underground fighter. He was known for his fights and people tried to win against him. None of them ever did, though. They lost all their bidding money because they were sure that one day, someone would kick his ass.

  One night, when I was still fighting myself, I heard about Dallas coming to Hastings and I wanted to go against him. That was before I met Hunter and back then I wasn’t as good as I became later.

  Dallas let out a laugh and turned to look at me with amusement in his eyes. “You still fight?” he asked, challenging me. I shook my head. “Stopped some years ago. Had some family issues going on.”

  “Too bad. But then, I would probably just put you to the ground faster than you’d think.”

  That made me laugh. Because he was probably right. “I’ll come and watch one of your fights, though.”

  “Good, you’re back,” Sage stated and looked up at Dallas. “Gray will freak out when she sees you. Not in a good way. You should’ve called her,” she added.

  “She’ll understand,” Dallas said, suddenly annoyed with her. “Is she here?”

  Sage nodded, pointing in a direction where a girl with fiery red hair was walking toward us, her eyes set on Dallas and a deep frown between her brows.

  “Your girlfriend?” I asked. Dallas chuckled and shook his head. “Nah, my little sister.”

  I could work with that. Maybe, after all, I could get to know one girl who would show me a good time. Gray, as they called her, suddenly sparked some interest in me. Her hair distracted me. Her expressive blue eyes were another thing telling me to get to know her better.

  “I was worried sick!” Gray’s voice was full of disappointment mixed with relief and a tiny bit of anger. Not just her hair was fiery, but her attitude was dynamic, and I wanted more of that.

  With a push against Dallas’s chest, she stomped her foot for emphasis and propped her hands on her hips, showing him just how mad she was. Damn, I liked that girl already.

  “I missed you too, Rusty,” Dallas said with delight in his voice. I wasn’t sure if it was okay to laugh at the silly nickname, but then, Sage and Joey couldn’t hold back a chuckle, either.

  Gray’s eyes shot up at me and she looked a little unsure how to react to a stranger laughing at her nickname, which was, fair enough, very fitting.

  She tore her eyes off me again to look at Dallas, then her face fell and relaxed and her arms crossed over her chest. “Next time, make sure to tell me when you leave town.”

  “I will. Now, turn that frown upside down and grab a beer, sis. Party’s just starting.”

  Their relationship seemed to be fun and tight. I had a tight relation with Harlow too. But if I ever called Low by a stupid nickname like that, she would probably get offended. I liked how easygoing Gray was.

  I decided I wanted to talk to her too. I took a step forward and held out my hand for her to take. “I’m Jagger. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Her eyes went straight to my hand and I could tell she was trying to decide if I was safe or just some random guy who wanted to get inside her panties…because that’s what I imagined guys wanted to do with her. Gray was a different kind of beautiful. Rare and pure. Her freckles around her nose seemed almost aggressive with the contrast of her pale skin, but with her long hair and those naturally red lips, it all tied together perfectly.

  She still didn’t take my hand, but her eyes were on mine now. She studied my face and probably saw the amusement in my eyes. I could tell the others were watching us and my attempt to introduce myself to her. I was making a fool out of myself. Great.

  But Gray then decided to go ahead and make the situation even worse for me, but funnier for the others. She smiled at me with a fake, devilish smile, then tilted her head to the side and said: “Rusty.”

  With that, she turned on her heel, reaching for Sage’s arm and pulling her into the crowd.

  Damn, that girl knew how to leave a good first impression.

  Chapter Three

  Gray

  I felt his eyes on me the whole time. I was dancing with Sage, and to be fair, neither of us were great dancers. So he might’ve been staring at us to entertain himself. My dance moves were horrible and not sexy at all, which was my way to keep guys far away from me.

  Most guys in this town knew me personally and they all saw me as their friend. Their funny, kind friend who was always up for a party but never down to fuck. That’s what Joey once sa
id to me in front of Sage and Dallas. But then, Joey was an asshole and I still didn’t understand why Sage wouldn’t dump him. Sure, he was good looking, but his way of expressing himself was terrible.

  To me, every man was pretty much useless unless they could show me what good there was in dating them. I didn’t want a relationship just to rub it in others’ faces and say: “Hey, look, I have sex every now and then and you don’t.” I never felt the need to sleep with one of them just because they were hot. Now, I did enjoy some men’s company. They were fun, and most of them were great to talk to, but they never seemed to spark interest in me the way Joey did in Sage. I wanted to stay on the safe side and be the girl who’s free, strong, and independent.

  “He can’t take his eyes off you,” Sage whispered in my ear as she leaned in, still moving her body to the music. I turned to look in the direction Sage and Dallas’s new neighbor was standing, looking directly into Jagger’s eyes.

  See, that’s my dilemma. Men wanted me. They always saw me as a challenge, considering I wasn’t like the other girls. Sure, that last sentence was so cliché, but I knew for a fact most girls would’ve acknowledged Jagger’s flirting and probably ended up in his bed after the party was over. I had a different approach to guys like him. I let them stare, dream about what they would do to me, and then I’d explain to them why I wouldn’t let them in my panties.

  “Let’s grab a drink,” I replied to Sage and pulled her into the kitchen. Some people were taking shots and others were watching with beers in their hands. Sage’s parties were always wild, and thanks to Joey’s connection to Newton College, a whole bunch of people attended.

  I opened the fridge, knowing Sage stored some more drinks in there, and I grabbed two bottles of Smirnoff Ice. I loved that stuff. I wasn’t a heavy drinker, but I enjoyed getting slightly drunk now and then. I drank responsibly, not like Sage. She ended up passed out on the kitchen floor more than once at her parties. Luckily, Joey was kind enough to carry her to bed.

  After opening the bottles, we made our way outside to the fairly big balcony which was connected to the kitchen. No one was out there, but people had been smoking before, hence the filled ashtrays on the small table. We sat down on the couch and Sage immediately grabbed her pack of cigarettes out of her back pocket and lit one. As her best friend and cousin, I should’ve been telling her to stop smoking. But with Sage, it was never a good idea to tell her so. Smoking was her way of getting back at her parents for kicking her out of the house when she was seventeen. She was a bit of a rebel and her parents were uptight. Her dad, my uncle Will, has always been strict.

  I lucked out. My dad always supported me and my decisions, and even if I most times helped Sage out with her sneaking out late at night, he never got mad at me. Dad was more easygoing than his brother. It also showed in their marriages.

  Uncle Will and Aunt Faye were high school sweethearts and got married right after college. You could tell that they’ve been married for a long time by the way they acted around one another. They didn’t hold or kiss each other anymore and their attitudes were almost cold.

  My parents were different. Dad had Dallas with a woman I never met. Dallas was still little when dad divorced his mother and some years later, after raising Dallas on his own, Dad met my mom. Dad married her and quickly after, I was born. Even if he wasn’t my mother’s son, my mom took Dallas in and even got him adopted. So, even if Dallas technically was my half-brother, I saw him as my real one. That would also explain my red hair and blue eyes, and Dallas’s very blond hair and green eyes. We also didn’t really look alike. We just got the same sense of humor from Dad, which helped me deal with Dallas’s nicknames he gave me.

  “Mind if I join you?” I didn’t even get to talk to Sage alone and yet, there he was.

  “No, not at all,” Sage answered Jagger and he smiled, sitting down on the chair next to her. “Smoke?” Sage asked, holding out her cigarettes for him to take.

  Jagger shook his head and gave a crooked grin. “Trying to stop,” he explained. I chuckled and eyed him. He doesn’t seem so bad. He was being nice, and I shouldn’t have any prejudices toward him.

  “Sage told me you paint,” Jagger started the conversation. I took a glance at Sage, who shrugged, then I looked back at Jagger and nodded.

  “Yes. Well, I’m not a pro but…turns out people actually like my work.”

  “No, it’s amazing. I could use some artwork in my apartment. It’s dull right now. Maybe you could show me some of your paintings someday,” he told me with a smile.

  I returned his smile and decided that he wasn’t as bad as I thought. He was being nice, so I nodded in agreement. “Where are you from?” I then asked.

  “Hastings,” he replied, then quickly added “Nebraska.”

  “And what made you come over here?” Sage asked, taking the last drag of her cigarette before putting it out in the ashtray.

  “Family,” was his simple answer. It didn’t seem like he wanted to go deeper into that matter, so I wanted to change the subject. Dallas stepped outside and interrupted my plan.

  “Still don’t get why you’re with that idiot in there.” Dallas pointed the bottom of his bottle toward Joey, who was chugging a beer, and others were cheering him on. He then handed Jagger another beer and sat down next to him. Sage shrugged. “Mom and Dad hate him.”

  “Ah, right. You’re still getting back at them.” Dallas laughed and shook his head. “Can’t wait for you to hear them fight almost daily. These walls are thinner than you think,” Dallas explained and took a sip of his beer.

  Jagger let out a chuckle, then he shrugged. “I think I’ve heard worse than fighting.” His eyes then landed on mine, and with a smile, he asked, “Where do you live?”

  “Five-minute walk from here. I had the chance to move into your apartment when it was still empty, but I wanted to get some distance between them and myself.”

  Dallas and Sage both let out hard laughs. “But you still spend most of your time here with us,” Sage pointed out. I rolled my eyes but couldn’t hide a grin. She was right. I did like spending time with them.

  “Means I’ll see you more often, then.” Jagger wasn’t holding back on flirting with me, even with my brother and my cousin next to us. His flirting was so subtle though, that I didn’t mind. I liked it. He wasn’t pushing me in any way, and he was testing my limits and how far he could go. He was respecting me. That was different and nice for a change.

  Chapter Four

  Jagger

  I was having a good time and talking to my new neighbors was very entertaining. I learned that Gray and Dallas had the same father, but not the same mother, that’s why Sage’s only cousin to Gray. I also found out that the three of them pretty much spent their whole childhood together up to now. They never left each other’s sides, which is nice.

  Gray got quieter the later it got, and I could tell she was tired. I watched her from time to time to make sure she wouldn’t fall asleep right there on the couch outside. I wondered if she stayed at Sage’s overnight or not.

  To assure me she wasn’t falling asleep, Gray gave me a small smile here and then. I smiled back, looking at her face a little closer. She was pretty. But then, she knew. But even though she was aware of her beauty, she didn’t flaunt it. That made her as a person even more interesting. She was down to earth, yet she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.

  “You staying here?” I asked her when Dallas and Sage went inside to grab another drink and make sure Joey wouldn’t down another bottle of vodka. What an idiot, I thought. Surely, Sage wasn’t in love with him the way Harlow was in love with Hunter. It was a different kind of love.

  “No,” Gray answered and sat up straight, reaching for her drink and taking the last sip. “I have to do some work tomorrow, so I need to get some sleep.”

  I nodded, then slightly pushed my phone out of the pocket to check the time. “It’s getting late for me too. Would you like me to walk you home?” At first, the question sound
ed stupid and creepy, but Gray’s smile changed the way it sounded.

  “That would be nice,” she told me and pressed her lips together to hide a grin. I nodded, relieved that I didn’t make a fool out of myself.

  “Let’s go then,” I suggested, and Gray quickly got up, stretching for a second and putting on her jacket. Just as we were about to walk back inside, Dallas came our way and looked at us with a questioning look. “Already leaving?” he asked and Gray and I nodded simultaneously. Dallas then looked at me. “Taking her home?”

  “Yeah,” was my only response. I wanted to ask if he wanted to take her himself since he’s her brother, but I didn’t want to miss the chance to get to know her a little better.

  Dallas was silent for a second, then he nodded. “See you around,” he told Gray and passed us to go back outside to the balcony.

  As we stepped back inside, there were still a lot of people in Sage’s apartment. If I wasn’t mistaken, even more people arrived after ten. I must’ve stopped walking when I realized there wasn’t a way to get out of there without pushing past everyone because Gray’s hand grabbed mine, pulling me through the crowd. I guess that was one way of doing it. But in my experience, when a guy like me pushed through a crowd like that, other guys thought I wanted to start a fight.

  Gray’s hand never left mine as we made our way to the door, and even after leaving the apartment, she kept on holding on. “Sage’s parties are pretty wild,” she explained with an apologetic grin and I shrugged.

  “It was fun,” I told her, getting a better look at her now that we were under some bright lights in the stairwell. She smiled now and looked down at our conjoined hands. She wasn’t going to let go if a too damn familiar voice hadn’t broken through our silence.

  “Good reason to ignore my texts,” Bliss said in a voice I wanted to be able to just get out of my system. Her eyes were focused on me, but I knew she was directing her almost arrogant, angry tone at Gray. Her hand quickly left mine and then she buried both her hands into her jacket.