“What the hell was that about?” he asked. His words weren’t nearly as clipped as I’d thought they would be. In fact, when I turned to face him, I noticed his features had gone soft.
“I don’t want to be here right now and I don’t appreciate you demeaning me like that.”
“Demeaning you? How do you figure?” He shoved his hands in his front pockets. The beer I’d seen him open moments before must have been left inside, and a boyish look flitted across his face.
I crossed my arms over my chest, but didn’t meet his stare. “By telling everyone I’m majoring in accounting when I’m actually undecided, for starters.”
“I only said that because I figured you’d be embarrassed to say you were undecided. I know how much you enjoy spending money, so I figured something with money involved in it would actually seem funny to you. I honestly thought this would be something we could laugh about later tonight.”
My stomach knotted. Had I overreacted? Sometimes I was known to be melodramatic about things. “For real?”
Craig took a step closer to me. His hands reached out and gripped my hips. “Yes, and I didn’t mean to upset you by saying those other things. I just think you should apply yourself more. You have so much going for you, so many advantages others don’t, but you waste them. You spent last year fooling around with school and not knowing what you wanted to do, and now you’re doing the same this year. It’s time to make some decisions is all I’m saying.”
“I get what you’re saying, but—” I didn’t get to finish, because Craig interrupted me.
“I’m not trying to tell you what to do here, Paige. I’m sorry if it’s coming out that way, okay?” He kissed my forehead. “Do you want to come back inside?”
The thought of stepping foot back into that house with all those people staring at me and wondering why I’d stormed off was not appealing. “Actually, I think I’m ready for you to take me home.”
“Yeah, okay.” His chest rose and fell with a heavy sigh. “Let me step inside and tell the others I’m taking you home, and I’ll be back in a minute.” He released me and disappeared through the red front door to mingle with his guests and smooth things over.
I waited on the porch instead of walking to his car, wondering what excuse Craig was choosing to tell them for why he was taking me home. Would it be some other boldfaced lie like the accounting degree had been? My face flamed at the thought, and then even more when I reflected on how I’d acted in front of his friends seconds before. But damn him, he should know me better than to think I’d find something like that funny.
Music blaring from somewhere caught my attention. I spun around and spotted a sporty silver car barreling up the driveway. I couldn’t see the driver through the tinted windows, but I did see smoke bellowing out the cracked driver’s side one. The car lurched to a stop, blocking Craig’s Explorer in. I smiled, ready to see his reaction to that.
The song playing from the car flowed to my ears—Break Me Down by Seether. I loved this song. Generally, I wasn’t much for rock music, but this one I liked. The engine cut off and the driver’s side door opened. My eyes zeroed in on the guy getting out—dark hair, sideburns, and a five o’clock shadow. Whoever he was, he wasn’t going to fit in with the crowd inside dressed in a plain white T-shirt and a dark pair of jeans. The guy took a drag off his cigarette and then flicked it to the ground, stomping it out with his black biker boots before he started walking my way.
CHAPTER TWO
CAMERON
Why there was a girl standing on dickwad’s porch instead of inside, at the party he obviously had going on, was beyond me. All I could assume was that she’d figured out before the others that Craig’s parties sucked. I walked straight toward her, fighting not to take in every inch of her with my eyes as I did so. If I’d had my shades on still, then I would have, but this girl looked too innocent in the face. She wasn’t the type you devoured with your eyes in plain sight of her; she was the type you did it when she wasn’t looking, so the thoughts you had about her sweet, innocently sexy appearance didn’t make you feel so damn dirty.
She continued to stare at me with those doe-like eyes without moving the closer I got to her. This was rare. Most girls either turned into airheads and pressed their tits out for me to view better, or became timid and shy as they moved out of my way and dropped their eyes to the ground. It wasn’t that I preferred one reaction to the other, or that I even liked either of them, it was just what I’d come to expect from the opposite sex.
“Can I get past you?” I asked, realizing too late it was a dickhead thing to say. I should have said excuse me, or some shit.
She sidestepped me and her creamy cheeks flushed. “Oh yeah. Sorry. I’m just waiting on my boyfriend. I’m Paige. Craig is my boyfriend. I’m waiting out here for him to take me home.” Her hands waved around in exaggerated motions.
So, she was Craig’s girl. How the fuck had he snagged her? I chuckled. She was cute when she was flustered, and she blushed. Blushing girls were my favorite. The desire to see just how deep a shade of red I could make her cheeks become slipped through me.
“Hi, my name is Cameron. My dick isn’t as big as everyone says it is; it’s just that money holds the power to make shit grow in people’s minds.” I kept my face hard set and serious. Shock pooled in her brown eyes, and I knew she was questioning my sanity right about now. I grinned at her. “Oh, and I’m addicted to porn.”
Paige’s mouth dropped, and she had this who-the-fuck-is-this-guy-and-why-is-he-saying-this-shit-to-my-face look going on. I loved it.
“What?” she asked. She batted her eyelashes and looked at me in a dumbfounded way, as though maybe she hadn’t heard me correctly.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought from your little intro this was circle time and the whole class was supposed to share.” I winked and waited for her to slap me, or storm off to retrieve her lover boy and complain about my behavior.
Instead, a loud laugh bellowed from her. It was surprising and contagious, completely not the reaction I’d been expecting. My lips twisted into a smirk and I chuckled right along with her.
The front door opened and Craig stepped outside.
“Jesus, what are you doing here?” he asked me. Hard-set hatred reflected in his eyes. His eyebrows pulled together as he glanced at Paige, taking note of the laugh she was trying hard to contain. His lips dipped into a frown before he brought his gaze back to me. “Is it that time already?”
“Sure is.” I shifted my gaze from him to Paige.
“How long are you staying this time?” Craig asked.
I hooked my thumbs through the belt loops on my jeans, and held Craig’s stare. “Until I feel like leaving.”
“Nice.” He scoffed, and then grabbed hold of Paige’s hand. He started toward his Explorer, the one I’d purposely blocked in. “Move your car and don’t run my guests off. I’m taking her home and then I’ll be back.”
“You didn’t say the magic word,” I teased. I spun around to face him and shook my finger as though I were scolding a small child.
“Enough with the theatrics, Cameron. Let my fucking Explorer out,” Craig insisted. I noticed Paige tense beside him, and I wondered if this was the first time she’d ever witnessed him angry. If so, it was time she learned Craigy-boy had a temper. “Now!”
I started toward my car, deliberately walking as slowly as I possibly could. Craig was an ass, but there was no better satisfaction than pushing his buttons. I damn sure knew how to do it well. “All right, don’t get your panties all in a wad.”
Paige walked between my car and the back of Craig’s Explorer. I watched her, liking this view as much as I’d enjoyed the front. I wasn’t a horn ball, not entirely. I just knew how to enjoy a beautiful woman when I spotted one. Craig climbed into his Explorer as I reached my car door. I slid in behind the wheel and started the engine. The end of Break Me Down by Seether blasted through the speakers. I smirked as I changed the song to something more fitting. The beg
inning lyrics to Three Days Grace’s Just Like You blasted from my car as I rolled the windows down so Craig could hear. The bass line vibrated my chest, and I lit another cigarette, purposely trying to piss Craig off even more as I took my time. He popped his vehicle into reverse and rolled back. I laughed, knowing he would never tap my car. He’d have a panic attack at the thought of dinging his black beauty. I shifted into reverse and backed up, guiding my car into the grass so he could pass.
Craig gassed it, and then jerked to a stop beside me. He rolled down his window and narrowed his eyes at me. “Get out of the fucking grass, asshole.”
“Yes, sir.” I saluted him and took another drag off my cigarette. I leaned around him so I could see Paige better. “Nice to meet you.” I winked at her and let up on the brake.
Pulling into Craig’s spot, I cut my engine. The song continued to play and I remained where I sat, finishing my cigarette before I had to step inside and share the same air as all his nimrod, country club friends. Why he hung out with those people at all was beyond me.
I hated that I was here, but it was a necessary evil. It was the end of another quarter and I needed my trust fund money. One of the stipulations attached to it was that I showed up in person to sign the papers that were drawn up by Craig’s lawyer for a father. If I missed two consecutive signings, then I forfeited everything. It was a pain in the ass to deal with four times a year, but the money was worth it. Normally, I came, signed, said my hellos so everyone knew I was still alive and kicking, and then booked it to wherever the hell the wind took me next. This time though, I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted to do. The ache that had been building over the last few months swept through me again, just as images of Paige’s doe eyes and sweet features flashed through my head.
Yeah, maybe this time I might be inclined to stay a little longer.
After I finished my cigarette, I headed inside to see if Craig’s circle of snobs had changed any since the last time I’d been here. The mellow elevator music Craig always listened to when in their presence played through the house lowly, and the scent of cinnamon potpourri met with my nose as soon as I stepped through the door. I crossed the foyer and entered the main room as the song was changing. My eyes swept over the room as I paused in the threshold. Jesus, why did all of his friends insist on acting as though they were fifty-five, and at some fucking high society wine tasting or some shit? This was beyond ridiculous.
“All right, now that dickwad has left, can we please consider livening up this…whatever the fuck you want to call this thing?” I glanced around at everyone’s astounded faces.
“Well, well…if it isn’t Cameron,” Drew Deshane, Craig’s best friend, said in the most condescending voice I’d heard in a long time. God, I fucking loved being home.
A smile twisted at the corners of my lips. “Damn right, in the flesh.”
Drew moved from where he’d been standing off the kitchen to sit on the armrest of the sofa. I knew his type and this move; it was intended to make him appear more intimidating. It wasn’t working. The dude tried too fucking hard sometimes. “Payout time again? Let me ask you, what drugs are you planning on blowing it on this quarter?”
I nodded my head and smirked. What a douche. “Ask Genevieve what she’s in the mood for. I’m sure she’ll want in on whatever I find.” I cast my eyes to Genevieve, who was sitting in the recliner, and licked my lips as my smirk grew.
Genevieve and I had a thing a few years ago. She and Drew had been taking a break, and I happened to be in the bar during one of her breakdown moments because of it. She’d come on to me, said she knew I could help her escape from her mind for a bit, so I did her the favor of allowing her to be free. We’d snorted some shit, gotten drunk off our gourd, and one thing led to another. To me it hadn’t meant much—she’d just helped to occupy my mind by occupying my body for a while—but to her it meant much more. She thought somewhere along the line that night that we’d become a couple, and I had to let her know straight away that was not the case. She’d gone crawling back to Drew and claimed I’d taken advantage of her at a weak moment, and, of course, he believed her. This was where his current chip with me remained in place on his shoulder. If you asked me, that chip should be with Genevieve, because I swore the girl still undressed me with her eyes every time she saw me.
Drew’s face changed to beet red. The veins in his neck bulged and his jaw grew tense. I wanted to laugh. He hated it when I brought up the fact that I’d slept with Genevieve and he was playing house with my sloppy seconds. I wasn’t an asshole woman-hater; I simply enjoyed fucking with Drew. Make that people in general. Some would describe me as a trust fund baby addict with asshole tendencies. I liked to describe myself as someone who knew how to live life to the fullest and had a shit-ton of personality.
“I highly doubt that,” Drew seethed. “She’s grown up. We all have…except for you. Some people never change, do they? Are you planning on living like you’re sixteen for the rest of your life?”
I stalked across the main room and into the open kitchen, purposely making him and everyone else wait for my response. Nothing in this house had changed since I’d been gone. Well, nothing besides the paint color. Candace, Craig’s mom, painted the walls in the kitchen at least twice a year. She was an interior decorator and constantly changed things around in her house—wall colors being one of them.
I opened the fridge and grabbed one of the Heinekens I saw in everyone’s hands. Pulling my lighter from my pocket, I popped the top off and took a long swig.
“You only live once,” I said. I opened the fridge again, and grabbed two more beers. Clasping them tightly in one hand, I headed through the kitchen and into the dining room.
The French doors leading to the backyard and the pergola porch were my destination. I had a few phone calls to make, and I needed peace and quiet to do so. The last thing I wanted was for any of the assholes inside to figure out what I was doing and tip Craig off. No, I wanted him to come back from dropping off gorgeous at her place to find his house chock-full of the rowdiest people I could round up.
Picturing his expression in my head, I sat down in one of the wooden lounge chairs that overlooked the backyard, set my extra beers beside me, and dug my phone out of my pocket. Tipping my beer back, I scrolled through my contacts, wondering who I could call that would come liven up this party on such short notice, and smiled. Craig’s party was about to get crashed.
CHAPTER THREE
PAIGE
“What did he say to you that had you laughing so hard when I came out?” Craig asked. His voice was clipped, as if he was pissed at me for something.
I thought for a moment, realizing if he was pissed because of that, then he definitely didn’t want to know what had been said to make me laugh. I hated how I always seemed to be walking on eggshells with him lately. “Nothing really, just introductions. I was trying to be friendly.”
“Well, future reference, don’t. Don’t be friendly with him. He’s a player of the worst kind and an addict. He’s no good.” Craig’s grip tightened on the steering wheel, and I noticed him gritting his teeth together. I’d never seen him this serious about something.
“Okay. So what’s he doing at your house, then? You obviously know him. Is he your brother or something?” An image of Cameron flitted through my mind, and I doubted he was Craig’s brother. Half-brother, maybe?
“Fuck no, he’s not my brother.” Craig cut a sharp right onto Clearcove Avenue. “He’s just someone’s son my parents used to be close friends with. His parents died when he was sixteen, and my parents sort of became his legal guardians. He’s not my brother.”
I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, and glanced at my chipped nail polish. My heart sank to my stomach at the knowledge of his parents dying when he was a teenager. Granted, I didn’t always get along with my parents, or approve of the way they’d raised me, but I never would wish them dead. I couldn’t imagine how tough that must have been, and at such a crazy age
too. “Why don’t you guys get along? Is it because he’s an addict, like you said?”
Craig shifted his eyes from the road to glare at me. “Why are you asking so many questions about him, Paige?”
His words took me by surprise. “I’m not. I’m just curious as to why there’s so much hostility between the two of you.” Mainly Craig. Cameron didn’t seem too aggressive toward him. In fact, he seemed to enjoy pushing Craig’s buttons and teasing him. That was part of the reason I’d thought they might be brothers.
“It’s none of your business why; just know that I don’t want him around you. He’s not someone you need in your life.”
Coldness slipped through my core at his words. What the hell was with him tonight? He was being an ass.
“Don’t you think I can pick and choose who I want in my life?” I wasn’t normally one who dealt well with confrontation, but sometimes there were moments when you had to have a little backbone with people.
Craig inhaled and then exhaled, as though he were frustrated with me beyond comprehension. His features softened and his grip relaxed on the steering wheel. “He’s an addict, Paige. He’s manipulative and can’t be trusted. It’s best if you stay away from him.” I took note of his concerned tone as his hand moved to rest on my thigh.
“Okay.” I shifted to look out the passenger window, glad I was going home. Craig was a little too intense for me tonight, and now that Cameron was here, I was sure that intensity would only magnify.
The leaves on the trees caught my attention as we passed by an overlook area where you could see mountains for miles. It was only the end of September, but the leaves were already in the midst of changing from green to gold. Pressing the button for my window, I cracked it, letting in the cool night air. I let out a loud sigh and felt Craig’s thumb move in a lazy pattern across my skin.
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