Forgotten Rules: A Brother's Best Friend Romance

by Eliah Greenwood

  I texted my mom that I was crashing at Zoey’s after the hot tub disaster, but I highly doubt that she bought it. I should be worried about her grounding the life out of me tomorrow. But, to my greatest disbelief, right now, my mom’s wrath is the furthest thing from my mind…

  Because I just spent a night of madness with my brother’s insufferable best friend.

  And what’s worse?

  I liked it.

  Kassidy

  My eyelids weighing a thousand pounds, I take the exit leading straight onto the highway and cast a glance toward Winter in my passenger seat. We’re both hungover, hissing at the sun like vampires at every street corner.

  After Will dropped me off at six last night—or was it this morning—I collapsed into bed, only to be woken up by Winter and Kendrick bickering downstairs five hours later.

  I stumbled out of bed and decided to go shopping with my cousin. Why? Because I felt bad for breaking my promise to spend time with her when she first got here. Oh, and because I do stupid things sometimes. Like break into a stranger’s backyard high as a kite with William Martins.

  I suggested we get out of the house in the hope that it would take my mind off my nonexistent job. I’ve been thinking—more like obsessing—over why I didn’t get a callback from the pet store since my interview. Granted it’s only been a few days, but I really need this to work out, and the wait is slowly driving me insane.

  Here we are, driving back home, stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic after a few hours of wasting money and trying to convince Winter to touch anything with heels.

  “So… About the party,” I start, my thoughts drifting to the text Zoey sent me this morning. She said last night took quite the turn, and after Will and I left, the cops showed up.

  She also said, her voice loaded with jealousy, that she saw Winter leaving with Haze. No, wait—running with Haze. Something about Haze dragging her away from the police. Winter didn’t come home until eleven this morning. It’s not rocket science. She must’ve slept at his place.

  “What about it?” Winter asks, rubbing her temples as though she’s hoping to make her headache disintegrate.

  “Rumor has it you slept at you know who’s?”

  She scoffs. “You can say his name. He’s not Voldemort.”

  “Haze,” I barely say.

  “Yeah. I did.”

  I can’t help myself. “What’s the deal between you two, Winter? He’s dangerous.”

  “No shit, Sherlock.”

  “I’m serious. You need to be careful. I can’t believe you let him take you to his house. You need to stay away from him.”

  “I’m trying to,” she assures me.

  “Oh, really? Is that why you keep hanging out with Kendrick and his trouble-magnet friends? They’re involved in…” I stop, too much of a chicken to resume. “Some stuff.”

  I hate lecturing her, but I have to do something. I know she thinks she’s safe, but she has no idea what she just got herself into. I don’t want anything to happen to her.

  “Stuff?” she questions, and I almost laugh. We’re doing that thing where we pretend we’re not aware that Kendrick’s favorite hobby is punching people.

  “Stuff.” I clear my throat. “Do you know what happened yesterday? I was already gone, but I heard it caused a panic.”

  She zeroes in on her feet. “Cops.”

  Winter’s always been a terrible liar.

  Glad to see that hasn’t changed.

  “I know that’s what everyone said, but it seemed like a lot more than that. Some people said they heard a gunshot.” My thoughts wander to the few posts I saw scrolling through social media.

  “Cops these days.” She shrugs.

  “Yeah.” I struggle to hide my frown. “I’m just saying to be careful. Haze Adams is not one to do romance and—”

  She cuts me off. “Wait a minute. You were gone? With who?”

  Shit.

  “With… with a friend,” I stutter.

  “Oh, come on. Who’s the boy?” she insists, and I scold myself for letting that last detail slip out.

  “There’s no boy. Don’t try to change the subject. What were we talking about?”

  “You were lecturing me about Haze.” She heaves a sigh.

  “Right. All Haze wants is fun. Like what he does with Bianca. He keeps sleeping with her even though the poor girl’s head over heels in love with him. Just don’t let him fool you, too.”

  I’d never forgive myself if she got her heart stomped on by Haze like Zoey and I didn’t at least try to warn her.

  She holds her hands up. “Believe it or not, I’m actually not a fan of heartless douchebags. I’m one of the girls who don’t enjoy when a man doesn’t give a crap about them. Yes, we do exist.”

  “Says the girl who literally just let him take her home,” I mutter under my breath.

  “Okay. You know what? I didn’t sleep at his place willingly. Something happened to me, and I was in trouble. Haze helped and offered me a place to stay.”

  Shocked by her honesty, I can’t gather a response.

  I give in. “Some street fight trouble?”

  Disbelief fills her eyes.

  “You know?”

  “I’ve known for a while now. I’m not blind. Neither is my mom. She knows Kendrick is involved in something she can’t control. I hear your fights at night. Kendrick needs to stop taking the world for idiots. Not to mention Blake’s behavior was so weird back when we were dating. Eventually, I put the pieces together.”

  “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “Because it’s better to pretend not to know certain things, Winter. I don’t want to get involved in his mess, and I’ve managed to do that successfully until…”

  “Until me,” she finishes.

  “Well, don’t get me wrong, but you literally threw yourself into the fire. What were you thinking following my brother when he goes out?”

  She’s astounded. “Seriously? You heard that, too?”

  “You guys are pretty loud when you argue at night.”

  The following minutes are spent in utter silence. We haven’t moved one bit, still stuck in traffic.

  “Look at her.” Winter motions to the lady dancing in the car next to us.

  “Can’t. I’m driving,” I grumble.

  “You’re sitting in an unmoving car, actually.”

  I surrender, glancing over at the woman. “What?”

  “I hope I can be this carefree when I’m older.”

  “If and only if you live beyond the age of eighteen.” I regret my bitter words as soon as they roll off my tongue. I can’t help myself when it comes to Haze. Listening to Zoey sob over this guy for a year gave me a full-blown Haze allergy.

  “Harsh.” She exhales.

  Guilt coils in my throat.

  “I know. I know. I’m being an asshole, I’m sorry. It’s just… Haze Adams is only as nice as he needs to be to get your trust. Promise me you’ll stay away.”

  It takes her too long to agree for my liking. “I promise.”

  I nod, focusing on the road and attempting to convince myself that I fixed it. That I fixed her. But deep down, I know… if Haze decides he wants Winter, homegirl is screwed.

  Haze Adams always gets what he wants.

  “Finally! Alex, they’re back,” Will shouts when Winter strolls into the house, dropping our shopping bags onto the tiled floor. I come in after her, immediately locking eyes with the broad-shouldered blond in my kitchen.

  “Aw, did someone miss us?” Winter teases.

  Tucking his hands in his sweatpants pocket, Will analyzes me. He looks like he’s debating on something. Then, as though he’s made up his mind, he cracks the ghost of a smile. It’s a two-second smile, if that, but in that last second…

  Something different lingers.

  Something new.

  I feel like we share some sort of secret now, which is dumb seeing as we did nothing wrong—I mean, except break onto private property
together. Intimidated, I sever the eye contact and pluck my phone out of my purse. I have two missed calls from an unknown number.

  As if our return is the most anticipated event of the year, Alex rushes inside the room with nerve-racking anxiety flowing out of him.

  “What’s up with you?” Winter asks.

  “You’ve been gone for like two years, that’s what’s up,” Alex pants, eyeing our shopping bags on the floor.

  I look up from my phone. “We’ve been gone for like four hours.”

  “What the hell were you doing at the mall for four hours anyway?” Will mocks, making me want to slap the cocky grin off his face.

  “Hunting elephants,” I deadpan. “Isn’t it obvious? We were shopping. What do you think we were doing?”

  Will lifts an eyebrow. “Shopping for what? And don’t tell me shoes. You already have 2,433 pairs.”

  “That’s not true,” Winter cuts in.

  “Thanks, Winter,” I say, grateful for her support.

  “She has 2,435.”

  Alex and Will suppress a laugh. What? It’s not my fault shoes bring me more joy than the male species. Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I pick up as many bags as humanly possible and take the stairs two at a time, eager to find out who the missed calls are from.

  “Thanks, Jenny. Of course I’ll be there. Thank you again.” I hang up and drop onto my bed with a squeal.

  I have a job.

  Me.

  I have a freaking job.

  I spoke with Jenny, the store manager, for around twenty minutes, clearing up the last details. I unlock my phone to call Morgan and tell her I’ll be able to afford fixing my shitty car in the near foreseeable future, but just as I’m about to press the Call button, a new message pops onto my screen.

  Unknown Number: I think you need glasses

  I frown. I don’t have this number registered in my phone.

  Kass: Who is this?

  Minutes pass before my phone goes off again.

  Unknown Number: I was in the kitchen just now and you didn’t say hi. Obviously you didn’t see me so I’ll let it slide this once.

  I grin. How did Will get my number?

  Kass: I never say hi to you. You never cared before.

  Unknown Number: Yeah, but I took you to my secret spot. We’re friends now.

  Kass: You mean your shagging spot.

  Unknown Number: Same thing.

  Kass: Fine. Hi Willy Wonka.

  Unknown Number: Don’t call me that, control freak.

  Kass: That nickname is never going to go away, is it?

  Unknown Number: Are you going to stop wanting to control everything?

  Kass: No.

  Unknown Number: Then it’s staying

  I add his number to my contacts under Willy Wonka.

  Kass: Are u still at my house?

  Willy Wonka: Yep, waiting for your cousin. We have this thing tonight.

  A thing? Probably some street fighting bullshit. I still can’t believe how quickly my cousin got herself involved in my brother’s mess. That’s got to take some serious skills. She hasn’t even been here a month yet.

  Kass: What thing?

  Willy Wonka: Would you believe me if I said fighting for world peace?

  Kass: Nope.

  Willy Wonka: Didn’t think so.

  Kass: Does that “thing” have anything to do with Haze by any chance?

  Ten minutes go by.

  Willy Wonka: Maybe

  Of course.

  Kass: Just watch out for her please. I know Haze’s type. Winter is not prepared for that kind of player.

  Willy Wonka: Believe it or not, I think he might actually kind of like her.

  Kass: Good one.

  Willy Wonka: I’m serious

  Kass: Are you crazy? Because he helped her at the party doesn’t mean shit.

  Willy Wonka: I’m just saying.

  I’m not sure how to reply to that, so I don’t, letting the conversation die. I used to carry text conversations on my back all the time with Blake. I’d kill myself trying to rekindle our boring exchanges and come up with new topics, only to get short, one-word replies every time. I swore I’d never bend over backward like this again. Unless Will makes an eff—

  Ding!

  Willy Wonka: How’s the hangover?

  Ah. Shit. Stop smiling.

  Kass: I’m still alive, aren’t I?

  Willy Wonka: I’m always here if you need a glass of water or… anything else.

  Wait…

  Kass: Are you hitting on me, Martins?

  He takes a few minutes to reply.

  I hate that I’m growing restless.

  Willy Wonka: Do you want me to be hitting on you?

  Do I?

  Kass: Why are you texting me?

  Willy Wonka: I felt something last night. A connection. I can’t explain it. All I know is I’d like to get to know you better.

  A bit flustered, I read his text on repeat. There’s no way he means that. He’s fucking with me.

  Kass: Translation: you’re bored waiting for Winter and need a distraction.

  I hold my breath when three dots bob up on my screen. Two minutes go by. Is he writing me a novel? The dots disappear, then reappear, until finally…

  Willy Wonka: Busted.

  I knew it.

  Another message comes through right away.

  Willy Wonka: You’re also not the worst person to talk to.

  Kass: Gee, thanks

  Willy Wonka: My pleasure.

  Kass: Still didn’t answer my question

  Willy Wonka: What do you want me to say? I’m texting you because I want to. Or do I need a permit, officer?

  Kass: That’ll be $300

  Willy Wonka: Ha. Ha.

  Kass: Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other things to do than entertain you

  Willy Wonka: Like what?

  Kass: Like make an important call

  Willy Wonka: Ooh, are you giving golden boy a chance?

  I know he’s referring to Luke.

  Kass: Not quite.

  Willy Wonka: Poor fella. Just put him out of his misery and go on a date with the kid already.

  Kass: Why do you care if I date him or not?

  Willy Wonka: I don’t. I’m just saying you could use the experience.

  I frown.

  Kass: And what would you know about my experience?

  Willy Wonka: Blake was your first, wasn’t he? And, last I heard, you didn’t have anyone else after him. Just putting two and two together.

  Kass: My experience is none of your business.

  Willy Wonka: Well, well. A control freak who has no idea what to do in the bedroom. Who would’ve thought?

  My cheeks blaze. Is that really what he thinks about me? That I’m awful in bed?

  Kass: And that’s my cue to stop texting you

  His reply is instant.

  Willy Wonka: Come onnn

  I head inside my bathroom, rest my phone on the counter, and stretch my arm out to start the shower. I strip off my clothes, but my phone pings again.

  Willy Wonka: I’m sorry:( come back

  Against all expectations, I smile.

  Kass: Bye Willy

  I switch my phone to silent and step under the scorching water, still with this stupid, unwanted grin plastered to my face. This is the first time Will’s ever texted me.

  And call me crazy, but…

  I have a feeling it won’t be the last.

  Kassidy

  Willy Wonka: Do you think honeybees know they’re going to die before they sting you? Like do they have a little bee funeral and say goodbye to their family before they bite the fuck out of you?

  Lying in bed with my eyes open a crack, I scoff at the text that pulled me out of slumber and double-check the sender. Will. He’s still texting me?

  It’s barely seven thirty. Today is Sunday and my first day working at the pet store. I set my alarm for eight o’clock as I start at nine thirty.
<
br />   Kass: You woke me up thirty minutes before my alarm goes off for THIS?

  A few seconds elapse.

  Willy Wonka: Yep.

  Kass: I need to have a chat with whoever gave you my number.

  He texts back right away.

  Willy Wonka: Good morning to you too, gorgeous