Every Which Way (Sloan Brothers Series Book 1)

by Calia Read

  “Haley, I just got out of class.” Macsen said as he leaned down to quickly hug her. He towered over Haley’s medium sized frame. It was like watching a poodle beg his or her owner for a treat. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” she answered back. I’m-so-different-than-the-rest-of-you girl pointedly glared in Severine’s direction.

  He laughed with enjoyment and patted her arm. Severine watched every touch and action closely.

  “You wanna get some lunch?” Haley asked.

  If Haley were an animal, this would be about the time she’d start peeing around Macsen to claim her territory. Severine wasn’t going to stick around for her second act of tricks.

  Macsen looked over at Severine with uncertainty in his eyes. Severine’s eyes gleamed as he looked over Haley’s head and held her stare. “See ya later, Macsen,” Severine called out as she slowly walked away.

  Her smile was attractive—a smile that could slay a guy—and walked away. Severine didn’t look back. She already knew Macsen would be staring, and Haley would be launching invisible switchblades her way.

  Her conversation with Macsen answered the question her mind had been asking the minute she saw him. There was something to Macsen Sloan. Severine wanted to know more than something, though, she wanted to know everything.

  * * * * *

  “So it’s been a whole week, eh?” Lily ripped open a package of chips and leaned back in her chair with a smug grin.

  Severine stabbed her fork at a large chunk of lettuce. Her salad was far from healthy. The cafe they went to for lunch had a salad buffet, and Severine always piled the pieces of lettuce with cheese, bacon bits, an unhealthy amount of ranch and anything else available. “You make it seem like I’m marking every day not spent talking to Macsen on a calendar.”

  “I wouldn’t doubt it,” Lily muttered.

  A week, a whole week and Macsen still hadn’t said more than a few words to her. Last week, when they talked, she was assured that it wouldn’t be the last time. She worked her anger away by stabbing a tomato with her fork.

  “What are you thinking about?” Lily asked cautiously.

  Severine answered as she reached for her drink, “Nothing. Why?”

  “You look like you’re constipated,” Lily blurted out. “So that shows me you’re thinking about something that you shouldn’t.”

  Lily knew Severine almost too well. “I’m good.”

  “So,” Lily said in between chews, “you’re telling me that you’re gonna leave this dude alone?”

  “What? I can’t make a friend?” Severine asked innocently.

  “Have you had a ‘guy’ friend? Ever?” The skeptical look on Lily’s face made Severine laugh.

  “Yes! There’s Benji. He’s cool.”

  “Well, he’s not the norm,” Lily said sternly and looked away with a blush on her cheeks.

  Severine threw her hands up in the air. “Whoa. Are you kidding me—do you like him?”

  The look Lily gave her was enough to know she was right. She squirmed slightly in her chair and finally responded, “Is this grade school?”

  “Yes,” Severine said deadpan.

  “In that case, yes, I do. I was playing a mean game of M.A.S.H., and well, his name came up last. He had the mansion. We had two kids and a pet lizard. It seemed like the most viable option.”

  Severine smiled across the table at Lily. “You’re so lucky.”

  Lily picked up the lone piece of lettuce sitting on the table and threw it at Severine. While Severine picked the piece out of her hair, she saw the object of Lily’s affection looking for a place to sit. “Hey there, Benji!” Severine called out loudly.

  “Sever-ineeee!” Lily whined out and gripped the sides of the table in a panic.

  Severine was an only child. While she grew up creating imaginary friends to stay entertained, Lily had four other siblings to drive her insane. Lily was the only person close enough to her, Severine considered her to be a sister. All she wanted was for someone to see how amazing Lily was on sight.

  But expressing her feelings wasn’t exactly Severine’s strongest suit. Most times things just burst out of her mouth without thought. With a shrug, Severine dropped her fork and leaned closer. “Lily, I’m just trying to nudge you toward him. I’m helping you get someone, someone you know you’ll probably never talk to otherwise!”

  “Hey, what the hell? I’m not mute, you know!”

  Lifting an eyebrow, Severine looked doubtfully at her best friend. “To me, or anyone else close to you, you’re not. But come on, you turn mute around any dude you’ve ever salivated over!”

  Lily slouched forward and rubbed her forehead. “I know,” she groaned loudly. “That’s never gonna change, is it?”

  Severine shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? That’s like asking if I’ll ever stop being a serial dater. Doubtful, but you never know. Things could always change for us.”

  Lily snorted and took a long gulp of her Coke. “Why? Because we’re in college and this is the time for self-discovery and liberation?”

  “Sure...why not. Now shut it, Ben’s close.” She scooted over and allowed him to take her chair. “Hey.”

  Severine glanced at her best guy friend—maybe her only guy friend—and all but did a happy dance at the thought of him getting together with Lily.

  Ben sat loudly and ripped the wrapping around his burger. He slid a glance at Severine. “What’s up with you?”

  “Nothing! Why does everyone keep asking me that?”

  He answered her as he attacked the fries on his tray. “You look like you’re thinking something.”

  “He’s right. You’re thinking something,” Melissa confirmed next to Lily.

  Melissa shared a class with Lily and with her glasses and preppy outfits that consisted of peach cardigans, layered with a white polo, Melissa looked like she belonged on a debate team. Severine thought she had her pegged, but she was completely wrong. When they’d go out, Melissa would show a different side outside of school. The girl could drink with the best of them and didn’t vomit all over the place. Severine was a guarded person, but she let Melissa in instantly.

  “Melissa! You’re too sweet to be agreeing with Ben!”

  Melissa shrugged and adjusted her glasses. She glanced up at Ben and quickly blushed. She turned red at the sight of anyone she didn’t know.

  “He’s right. What are you thinking?” Melissa asked.

  “I was thinking,” Severine said slowly, “that we should do something tonight.”

  Across from them a dude belched loudly. Severine looked up at the noise and crinkled her nose. Ben followed her gaze with a frown. “Tim? Are you interested in him?”

  Severine gave Ben a look and slowly shook her head no. “Did you see my face? That wasn’t an ‘Oh my gosh, I need to be near that dude’ face. No, my face was, ‘Ugh. I can smell his lunch from here.’”

  “I’m not deaf, Blake!” Tim called out.

  Severine gave him a short wave. “Don’t belch like a sumo wrestler then.”

  He had a good sense of humor and laughed loudly as he moved his chair closer to their table and smiled at Lily and Severine. “There’s a party this weekend. Are you girls going?”

  Severine glanced at Lily and shrugged her shoulder. When she looked across the table at Ben, an idea started to slowly form. “Depends...are you going, Benji?”

  “Stop calling me that,” Ben gritted out.

  Honestly, she couldn’t help it. She took one look at him during freshman orientation and knew that with his low-key demeanor, he’d be an instant friend. With his blonde hair and blue eyes, he looked like an All-American boy. After that, Benji just kind of stuck.

  “Fine, Benjamin,” Severine pronounced slowly. “Are you going to the party? Lily, Melissa and I might go.”

  “I’m not going,” Melissa put into the conversation quietly.

  Severine pointed the tip of her fork in Melissa’s direction. “Yes, you are.”

  “Do you r
emember what happened the last time we went to a party? I kept giggling at some dude because he was brooding. I kept calling him Gabriel.”

  “Why did you call him that?” Lily asked.

  She shook her head. “Because he looked like one? I don’t know, I can’t remember.”

  “Oh yeah!” Severine snapped her fingers and leaned across the table. “Didn’t you tell him he looked like the guys on the romance novels you read?”

  “Okay. Don’t make it sound like I’m the only one who reads them. They’re underneath your bed just like they are for me.”

  “Not really. When the eReader came into my life, my books were hidden from sight. Literally.”

  “Yo!” Tim waved his hand in the air. All three girls looked at him, forgetting he was still waiting for an answer. “You ladies coming?”

  “Just sit there and look pretty, will ya?” Severine patted his arm and focused on her food. Her fork was inches away from her mouth when she heard a voice behind her.

  “Does she always snap out orders to you, Tim?”

  Severine’s sat up straight. The low-toned voice came from behind her, but close enough that Severine knew whomever it was, they were sitting close by. Close enough to hear everything she was saying. She turned around quickly, partially out of fear that it was Macsen.

  Instead of those chartreuse eyes that Severine fell over, it was eyes a shaded color of gray that stared back at her with untamed energy. Thayer waited for her to answer, and when she only gave him a dark look, a smug expression crossed his face.

  Sure enough, he sat right behind her. Depending how long he had been there, he had probably heard everything she and Lily talked about. Severine had no time to be embarrassed, she wanted to punch that conceited little grin off his face.

  She ignored everyone at his table and placed her elbow on the top of her chair. Her expression was serene as she leaned closer to Thayer. “Tim’s smart. Any brilliant guy knows that the key to success is to always follow my directive.” Her smile brightened her features as Thayer backed further toward his table. She knew he was probably thinking of something biting to say back to her. Severine had thrown a gauntlet his way when she shouldn’t have. “Besides, you’re just pissed that it isn’t you I’m dragging by the shirt.”

  She should’ve stopped while she had the chance. She was like a kid near a candy jar. There was no way she was just going to take one piece, she needed more than that. From the slow blaze in Thayer’s eyes, she knew that her jab was completely worth it.

  A low whistle came from the guy sitting across from Thayer, and Severine glanced in his direction. Thayer’s gaze was still on Severine, and she felt giddy, like she could do twenty cartwheels in a row, giddy.

  “That might be the first time a girl’s ever given you shit, Thayer. I think I’m in love.”

  Severine recognized the muscular dude as the same one with Thayer and Macsen at the coffee shop, Lily’s make-out buddy. He grinned deviously at Severine. She smiled back and leaned forward. Her movement caused her shoulder to brush against Thayer’s arm. Energy zinged between the two of them. Ignoring the feeling, she placed her hand out to Chris. “Severine Blake.”

  He raised a brow and shook her hand. “Chris.” She moved her hand back, but stayed close to their table.

  “So, how do you know my good buddy, Thayer, here?”

  Severine glimpsed a look at Thayer’s profile. He sat forward and chewed his food slowly. “I don’t know him.”

  Chris slapped his hands together, and his shoulders shook with laughter. “Oh, this is fucking great! I love you Say-vuh-reen,” he pronounced her name slowly.

  Severine cringed. “Not Sayvuhreen, not Sever-reen...it’s Seh-vreen.”

  Chris gave her a funny look. “There’s no way I’m gonna remember that.”

  “Carry on then,” Severine said dryly. “Everyone says it wrong.”

  “So how come I’ve never seen you around?” Chris asked.

  Severine took a glance at the girls sitting at their table and raised her eyebrows. “Maybe because you surround yourself in a sea of bleach?” Chris laughed even louder the second time.

  He stabbed a finger in the air, right in her direction. “Next party I hear of, you’re coming with us.”

  Thayer’s shoulders stiffened slightly over Chris’s declaration, and Severine smiled brightly. “Sounds amazing!” It was doubtful that she would go. Severine just wanted to piss Thayer off.

  She turned back toward her table. Melissa had left and now it was only Lily and Ben. Apparently, while she was volleying barbs back and forth with Thayer, Lily had decided that, in fact, she could talk and struck up a conversation with Ben.

  “I gotta go to the library. I’ll see you later, Lily.” Her friend barely gave her a glance. “Lily? You there?”

  Finally, Lily looked her way, nodded her head and practically shooed her away.

  Before she left to go to her next class, Severine glanced at Thayer’s table one last time. The girls she’d insulted earlier were dressed like they were about to catch a flight to Cabo. Severine stopped a groan from emerging from her throat. There should be a shirt for all girls like them. Not even that...maybe a club. Their slogan: Destroying the impression of girls everywhere since the word ‘tramp stamp’ was invented.

  Chris called out her name, and she didn’t have to look far to find his wide smile. But from his shout everyone in the room stopped to look in her general direction. This isn’t awkward at all, Severine thought. “Yeah?”

  “There’s a party tomorrow. You coming?”

  Severine quickly glanced at Thayer. He stared sharply at her and looked her up and down. It wasn’t a leer that creepy dudes always seemed to achieve.

  His eyes bore through her in a way that she couldn’t describe, maybe because she had never been looked at that way. Thayer’s eyes connected with the pale pink, sequined cardigan that ended around her knees; she paired it with a skinny belt that was wrapped around her mid-section. He hardly glanced at her jeans before he stared her straight in the face. He looked pissed and frustrated as hell.

  “So, you going?” Chris called out again.

  Severine nodded her head instantly and kept her gaze connected with Thayer’s. “Lily and I just might have to show up.”

  It didn’t surprised her when he turned his back and started talking to the blonde seated next to him.

  Chapter Three

  “Hey!” Lily shouted over the blow dryer. “Is Anne here yet?”

  Severine looked up from putting her socks on long enough to shout out, “She’ll be here in like five minutes. So hurry!”

  Anne lived in the same dorm as them and was the perfect friend to bring along to any party. It was all about the buddy system. And when that didn’t work, Severine made Ben tag along. Tonight she had both options coming with her.

  That should’ve made her relax, but her nerves were cinched together and refused to loosen up. As it was, she already knew what, or rather, who, had her emotions so distorted right now. Thayer.

  After her encounter with Thayer, she had a headache the size of Russia. It was long gone, but she was still stressed out and edgy. The two of them around each other would equal complete chaos. She wanted to sweep through and triumph over him. Severine knew that the feeling was mutual—he wanted the same thing.

  She had always had a streak of competitiveness in her blood. But Severine wasn’t used to it going to this level. It was bizarre, completely unnatural. All that feeling told her was that his brother, Macsen, was where she should place her focus.

  A black silk shirt was thrown at her head. She snatched it away impatiently. “Lily!” Severine shouted and sifted through her way-too-small closet.

  Between the two of them they were stuck in a room with not enough space...closet space. Cubbyholes in kindergarten were bigger than the square footage of their closet. Severine could handle the tiny room. It was a given, living in a dorm. Both she and Lily decorated their sides with personal touches th
at defined who they were. It was a miracle the two of them hadn’t butted heads when it came to their room.

  Lily gravitated toward bright colors. Sometimes when Severine woke up in the morning, she’d get an instant headache if she gazed over at Lily’s side, probably because Severine preferred dark and muted tones. All her side of the room consisted of was a dark blue, floral comforter, gray sheets and a bunch of pictures in frames on top of her desk.

  Clutter made her stress out. If her side of the room was clean and organized, she could take a deep breath of relief. With the entire room clean, she was on cloud nine. But with Lily, that never happened. Severine could come to terms with never having an organized room, but one thing she couldn’t accept was a tiny closet. When your clothes were piled on top of one another and you were in a rush, all you wanted to do was cuss out the poor, innocent space. “That’s your sixth shirt! Chill out, okay?”

  “I can’t chill!” Lily quickly straightened her hair near the mirror on her side of the room. It was the fifth time she had straightened that particular piece of hair. Severine kept her mouth shut and dug around their clothes to find a shirt. A brown low cut cross-front shirt was the only thing hanging up. It was the winner for tonight. “Here.”

  Lily caught it with one hand and put it on quickly. “Are you sure this is okay? It doesn’t look like I’m getting an interview for Hooters?”

  “Not really.” Severine leaned over Lily and quickly put on her lipstick. Her breath slightly fogged up the mirror, but her reflection would be the same as it had always been. Clear or blurry, her green eyes would still be shining. The freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks would always be a reminder of summers spent in the sun. The dark slant of her eyebrows would constantly give her the appearance of haughty superiority. And her lips would always appear plump.