The Bad Boy's Girl (The Bad Boy's Girl Series Book 1)

by Blair Holden

  See, when I raced to Megan’s house a couple of nights ago, I found her a sobbing mess. Beth and I spent hours coaxing her into telling us what was wrong. A sleepover, an Audrey Hepburn movie marathon and two boxes of KitKats later, she told us everything. Apparently Alex had asked her if she wanted to go to the gala with him. They had reached the point where they were friends but both wanted something more. When Alex posed the question, she ran. She ran until she locked herself up in her room and tried to find some way around this. Her parents flat-out refused to let her go with a date and they weren’t budging. On the other side, Alex had been terrified that he’d scared Megan off. Bombarding her with calls and texts, Cole told us later that his best friend had been a mess.

  It was a disaster of epic proportions and so we needed to fix it and sew our friends’ hearts back together. For that to happen we needed a master plan and who better to concoct one than the master of manipulation himself?

  Beth has set the mood; I notice this as I walk out with the menus and bread basket. She’s seated them at our cleanest booth and as promised the rest of Rusty’s is empty. It took a while to convince my boss but after we promised him a lifetime supply of Farrow Hill’s special tomatoes, courtesy of my father, he agreed.

  I walk out smiling like I’d been taught during my training. Holding back laughter as I take in Cole’s attire I appear at the table placing the basket in the middle of their table and watch Mrs. Sharp’s eyes light up.

  “Tessa, dear, we didn’t know you would be working today,” she exclaims, and it takes every facial muscle I’ve got to not let my smile disappear. I hate this woman; I really, really hate this woman.

  “Good afternoon Mr. Sharp, Mrs. Sharp. I’m glad I could be of service. Here are your menus. Let me know when you guys are ready to order,” I say politely before setting the newly laminated menus in front of them and backing away.

  “Well, we’ve never been to a place like this.” She looks toward her husband, who’s swiping his finger against the tabletop, no doubt checking for dust. Thank God I scrubbed and cleaned their booth thoroughly a few hours ago. He’s short and more or less bald. Megan inherited her good looks from her maternal grandmother and it’s no secret.

  “Well, in that case, how about I bring you the house special?” There is no house special. We’ve bought some lobster dishes from a fancy restaurant and are hoping that they fall for it. Immediately Mr. Sharp looks interested and stops scrubbing at the singular spot before him.

  “Special? Is it the most expensive thing you have here?”

  Before I grab the pitcher of water placed on the table and pour its contents over him, Cole intervenes. He looks . . . different in his baby-blue button-down and khaki slacks. He’s actually managed to tame his hair, which is combed and gelled back so that none of it is falling into his eyes. I’m not a big fan of the look but Megan’s parents are eating it all up. He’s the one who went to talk to them and invited them here. He convinced Mrs. Sharp to let their daughter go to the gala and that he’ll even find them a boy they would approve of.

  That boy would be Alex, or Alexander, as he’s been calling him all the time. They’re here to meet, or rather give him the third degree, and I’m certain the poor guy is sweating bullets in his truck.

  “It’s the best dish on the menu; my parents have it all the time.”

  At the mention of Sheriff and Doctor Stone, their ears perk up and they immediately place their order. Beth is behind the counter, wiping the imaginary dust off it. She winks at me as I go to the kitchen. Even though we’ve already got the food plated, Megan and I wait a little before I go back. By this point she’s chewed her fingernails to the point where you’d almost see skin.

  “What if this doesn’t work? What if they figure out . . . I’ll be in so much trouble! I can’t believe I’m making Alex do this. He must hate me; he must think he was an idiot to ask me out.”

  I listen to her rant, as we wait. It’s good for her to get rid of the stress. When she’s done, she lets out a huff of air and her shoulders slump in defeat.

  “Listen to me, and I’m only going to say this once. The person behind this whole operation is Cole. He’s been manipulating and scheming since the day I met him. The guy’s a genius. There’s no way he’s going to fail. Also, Alex is crazy about you, like crazy-cat-lady crazy. He’s doing all this to spend one day with you, Megs, don’t you think that’s proof enough?”

  She seems to calm down a little after my lecture. I briefly consider becoming a motivational speaker.

  I peek out of the kitchen door and see Cole chatting up Mr. and Mrs. Sharp, looking so positively perfect, but he’s so much more than that. He’s not the golden boy, the prodigal son or whoever he’s pretending to be. In the past I’ve held his imperfections against him but today his flaws are helping my best friend out and all that does is endear them to me.

  Placing the dishes on a tray I walk back into the diner, to find that Alex has joined the party. Only, he doesn’t look like Alex at all. Instead of wearing his usual band T-shirts and ripped jeans, he’s taken a page out of Cole’s book and gone down a more conventional route. A white button-down shirt, with a sweater vest on top paired with tan slacks.

  He looks like my grandfather, almost exactly. His short, almost cropped, hair has been brushed back but that’s not the most apparent change. My eyes zero in on his nerd glasses and I stifle a laugh, or more like the loudest snort on the planet. I try to keep a straight face as I catch Beth’s eye over the counter and notice that she’s trying just as hard to not double over.

  Placing their food in front of them, I smile once more at the couple who are eating every word that comes out of Alex’s mouth. He’s discussing some high-profile murder case that’s been in the papers a lot. Mrs. Sharp has her attention focused solely on him and is yapping away at record speed. Mr. Sharp is, on the other hand, trying to catch up with their fast-paced conversation.

  “Tessa, you never told us you three were friends with Alexander Hastings.” She emphasizes his last name and I realize that the boys have told her. Alex’s father owns a chain of high-end restaurants up in New York plus his mother has a lot of old family money. I can practically see the dollar signs glimmering in her eyes as she drinks him up.

  “Well, I thought Megan would have mentioned him.” She waves her hand dismissively. “The silly girl told me about a boy, but I had no idea he was Alexander.”

  “Well then, I’ll leave you guys to it; nice to see you Cole, Alexander.” I nod at them before walking away.

  ***

  About an hour later, the five of us are sitting in the empty diner laughing our butts off. They bought it; Megan’s parents bought and paid full price for the Alexander Hastings show. They believed him to be the good boy; he definitely isn’t. They don’t even know that his father’s threatening to disinherit him or that he wants to drop out of high school.

  “If you had stayed with her for one more minute, I think Mom would’ve proposed to you.” Megan chuckles.

  “What can I say; no one can resist the Alexander Hastings.” He emphasizes his name just like Mrs. Sharp did and we all start laughing once more.

  I study Cole, who’s leaning back in his seat and shaking his head at something Alex is telling him. We haven’t really had the time to talk today, in fact we haven’t been alone since the day he got me the dress. The dress which is still sitting packed neatly in my room. I haven’t had the guts to open it. Something’s scaring me and it’s not one of his pranks. It’s knowing that I never suspected him of being up to his usual tricks. Not once did I consider that he might be tricking me by coating the dress in itching powder or something. Have I really put down all my guards, when it comes to Cole Stone?

  “Penny for your thoughts, shortcake?” He’s grinning at me and I snap out of my deep, life-questioning dilemma. As if knowing the reaction it would cause, he touches the beer bottle in his hands to his lips and takes a sip. Once more my eyes can’t help but be fascinated by his
throat muscles. Watching them flex is as fixating for me as delinquency is for Cole—I just can’t stop.

  “You’re ogling.” Beth elbows me, smirking like she’s clearly enjoying this. I squirm under both hers and Cole’s gazes. He’s cocked his head to one side, a crooked smile on his lips.

  “I was just thinking about . . .”

  “Jumping Cole?” Beth offers discreetly so that I’m the only one who can hear her. Alex and Megan are too lost in their own little bubble of happiness by this point.

  “I was thinking,” I pause to give Beth a pointed look,” about how crazy today was.”

  “Everyone needs to have a little crazy in their lives, Tessie; I don’t know how you guys got on without me.”

  This normal, cocky Cole is acceptable. It’s when he’s heart-achingly sweet that I have palpitations.

  “We didn’t.” Beth grabs a beer of her own and takes a long sip. “We used to hide out and allow that single-brain-celled ho to walk all over us.”

  “Beth,” I hiss and she rolls her eyes at me. I don’t need her to remind Cole about the things Nicole has done in the past. He was mad enough when it came to the Hank situation. Reminders like these would cause him to completely blow his top and that wouldn’t be pretty, for anyone. “Well, it’s going to change, all of it,” he says simply, but the viselike grip he has on the bottle in his hand tells me this is affecting him more than he lets on.

  ***

  Beth goes to work some time later, claiming she doesn’t want to be the third wheel. I argue that while Megan and Alex were skirting around the edges of a relationship, Cole and I were far from it. She shook her head, at my lunacy, perhaps, and then left. Alex took Megan shortly after; they needed some time to talk about all their issues, specifically her parents.

  Cole and I are sitting in his car and he’s driving me home. My parents are out meeting my grandparents. Dad has some serious schmoozing to do before the gala if he wants Grandpa to attend, and they’ll probably stay the weekend. While some other time this might have scared me, the thought of being in a house all by myself isn’t all that intimidating anymore. Travis is home more often than not these days. When he’s not trying to avoid Dad, he spends time with me and Mom. I’ve helped him look for some online courses he can apply for and I think he’s looking for a job, too. Things are turning around and not all change is scaring the life out of me.

  “You sure you’ll be okay? I have this family dinner Dad wants me to go to but I can come check on you later,” Cole offers and I shake my head, smiling to myself.

  Concerned and worried Cole is one that I definitely want to get used to.

  “I’ll be fine, I have Travis now. It’s so sweet though that you’re worried about me,” I coo and I see, just for a second, a reddish tinge color his cheeks.

  “Sweet? I’m not sweet; I was just looking for an excuse to spend the night in your bed.”

  I gasp and hit his knee. “Pervert.”

  “Hasn’t anyone ever told you to never hit the driver?”

  “I’m sorry; I’ve never had the misfortune of driving with a sex-crazed egomaniac.”

  “Hey, you’re the one who brought up sex. I just really liked your silk sheets.”

  My face reddens almost at once and he laughs at my discomfort—typical. How do I continue making myself look like an utter idiot in front of him all the time? He needs someone who knows how to flirt back and be all coy and smooth. I’m as smooth as chunky peanut butter.

  He doesn’t bring up the dress, nor do I but I feel like I should. It’s only polite; after all if he actually went through the effort to look for one I should say something.

  “About the dress . . .”

  He groans and hits his head against the back of his seat before I finish the sentence. “You hate it, don’t you? I knew it! I’m sorry, Tessie, I was being stupid. The only thing I know about dresses is how to take them off.”

  I blush once again at the insinuation. Is taking dresses off something he’s done a lot of?

  “No—I didn’t mean it like that,” he corrects himself but obviously it’s too late.

  “It’s okay, your lifestyle isn’t exactly the biggest secret, is it?” I work really hard to keep the irritation and anger out of my voice. After all why should I even feel that way? What Cole does in his spare time is none of my business. He’s a hot guy; he must have girls throwing themselves at him all the time, and if he sleeps with them then . . . I want to pull their fake blond extensions out with my bare hands.

  “Tessie, come on. It’s not what it sounded like.”

  “You don’t need to explain yourself, Cole, I’m not your girlfriend or anything.” I laugh nervously, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. “I just wanted to tell you that I haven’t seen the dress yet, I don’t know why but I haven’t.”

  “I swear I haven’t put a dead frog in the box, you can ask my mom if you want to,” he says pleadingly and I can’t help but notice how cute he looks. The little boy in him, desperate for approval, is too darn irresistible.

  “I have a semi-sober brother now, Stone, so if you have done that tell me now,” I say mock seriously and his eyes widen in panic.

  “I forgot about Travis, dammit. He’s going to kill me.”

  “Why would he do that?” Any conversation about dead, rotting amphibians and busty fake blondes is forgotten.

  “Because he told me he’d beat me to a pulp if I ever came near you.”

  “When was this?”

  “Right before I left town. I’d dropped by your house to say good-bye to you but I found Travis first and well, that guy scares the shit out of me.”

  His answer leaves me speechless. Cole had come to say good-bye? All those years ago, he’d actually wanted to come see me before he left for good? Maybe back then I would’ve started happy dancing right in front of him but knowing this now, my heart can’t help but hurt a little.

  “I’m sure he was kidding. He’s not that bad.”

  “I don’t think he wants you to know why he never let me see you that day. I’m not sure I want you to know.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He’s being shady and cryptic, not the arrogantly honest Cole I’ve come to expect. This is news to me, the fact that my brother threatened him in some way. Well, it’s not that surprising. The old Travis used to do that a lot; he was fiercely and sometimes insufferably protective. The Travis I have now is only a shadow of his past self but I know and belief that he’ll be back.

  We arrive at my house before I get answers. The light is on, which means that Travis is home and can probably see us from the kitchen window. Since I want to avoid watching the live version of Fight Club in my front yard, I let my questions go.

  “See you tomorrow,” I say as I climb out of his Volvo. He acknowledges it with a nod and starts the car again. He realizes that I have questions but he’s also smart enough to know that he needs to protect that pretty-boy face of his. For someone who claims to not be attracted to him, I sure as heck compliment him a lot.

  “Open the box, Tessie, I have a feeling you’ll like what’s inside,” he yells as he drives away.

  ***

  Inside the house I find Travis sitting at the kitchen island with a bowl of Lucky Charms. He isn’t wearing his usual ratty old shorts and torn T-shirt, which means he hasn’t just gotten up.

  A good omen, perhaps?

  I give him a smile and make an attempt to scurry past him so that he doesn’t question me but alas I fail.

  “Was that Cole Stone that dropped you off?”

  He sounds like himself again, his old self. Well, if getting in trouble means I’ll get to see glimpses of my big brother, then why not? It’s not like he’ll go all raging bull and red cloth on me. Things are different now; I’m not his fragile little sister anymore. For two years I’ve faced the big bad world all on my own, I’ve learned things and I’ve been in situations he never wanted me to be in.

  He’ll need to understand.

&nb
sp; “Yeah, it was.” I rock myself on the balls of my feet as he slurps down his cereal.

  “You got into that car willingly?” He raises an eyebrow, which is all I can see since the bowl is covering half his face.

  “Pretty much. He’s been giving me rides to school and back for like a month and I’m still alive.”

  “He hasn’t tried something on you? He hasn’t tried to hurt you?”

  “Nope.”

  “Well, it’s about damn time,” he mutters under his breath, making me strain my ears to hear him.

  “He’s doing what I knew he would; I’m surprised he didn’t come back sooner.”

  What is it with the men in my life going all fortune cookie on me today?

  “Trav, what—”

  “Forget it, forget I said a thing. So I met a girl today.” He grins and just like that I forget all about the conversation we’re having. It’s a huge deal, the hugest, in fact. Travis hasn’t been in a relationship since Jenny broke up with him two years ago. He was in love with her; he wanted to marry that gold digger. I never liked her, not even when she was sucking up to me and letting me sit with her cheerleading friends in school. That conniving thing knew that the only way to get to my brother was through me. As soon as she had him where she wanted him, she went back to pretending I didn’t exist. He had been happy with her but if she wasn’t my brother’s girlfriend I would’ve done something unimaginably cruel to her. In my dreams, of course.

  Knowing that he’s finally met a girl he’s interested in has me both ecstatic and frightened. I can’t have him relapsing because of his poor taste in women. This time around, I need to protect my brother.

  “Oh? When did this happen?” Walking on over to the island, I grab a stool and sit opposite him.

  “I went to the music store downtown and ran into her in the Indie section.”

  “That alone was enough for you, wasn’t it?” I smirk; knowing my brother he probably thinks he’s met his soul mate.

  “Kind of, I mean she didn’t look at me like I’d just run away from rehab. She didn’t know who I was, Tess; she didn’t know I was Travis O’Connell.”