Scarred: A New Adult Romance (The Anderson Brothers Series Book 1) (14 page)

I
nod and return to the living room. While waiting for my brother, I finish the
rest of my beer, do as much as I can with the circuit board for the time being,
and catch the final few minutes of the game.

My
mind’s so numb right now, I don’t even wanna think.

* * *

Chauncey’s is pretty busy by the time we arrive. With
the place being only blocks away from campus, it’s one of the most popular
bars, and our favorite hangout spot. Kevin finds a space across the street to
park, and we get out, hustling across the street as rain pelts us.

“You
know, you look ridiculous wearing those at night.” I point at his sunglasses.

Kevin
adjusts his ball cap and stuffs his hands in the pockets of his brown hoodie.
“I don’t give a fuck. I’m not in the mood to deal with fans right now.”

Dim
lights and the smell of stale beer welcome us as we enter. The groups of
college students that frequent here are standing or sitting around in their
usual spots. Kevin and I find two empty stools at the bar, near where a bunch
of frat guys are playing darts.

“You’re
Miss Dee Dee tonight, li’l bro,” Kevin says with a smirk, and then points out
the vodka to Olivia, the bartender.

I
roll my eyes. It’s an inside joke Kevin and I have whenever we go out and
drink. The one who’s named “Miss Dee Dee” first is responsible for driving, so
they’re not allowed to get hammered.

“Whatever
you say, Miss Daisy,” I say, and order my usual.

Olivia
fills three shots and slides them in front of Kevin. He downs the first one in
a single gulp, and then winces and hisses through his teeth.

I
spin around in my stool so my back’s against the counter and watch the crowd at
the dartboard. I recognize a few guys from Xi Rho Nu. The girls watch each guy
who takes aim like predators assessing their prey. I look sidelong at Kevin,
who quaffs his second shot. “Hey, Kev. You still single?”

Kevin
looks up. “What the hell kinda question’s that?”

“An
important one, ’cause … well, I met this girl at the club the other night,
right? Name’s Trinity. Pretty sexy. Thing is, she’s one of Denise’s friends.
She knows you and I are brothers.”

“Mmhmm.”
Kevin downs his third shot and then signals Olivia to fill up three more.

“She’s
cool,” I say. “But I don’t think we’d make a pair, y’know?”

“What?
You can’t like her?”

“Not
anything more than friends. I mean she already knows I have a thing for Denise.
But the moment I mention your name her panties practically drop.”

Kevin
smirks. “I tend to have that effect on the honeys.” Three more shots slide his
way. He picks one up and tips his head back, emptying shot number four.

“She’s
a good girl who’s looking for love, bro. You should talk to her.”

“Naw.
I’m done with relationships for a while. Not after the shit I went through with
the last one.”

I
shake my head. “Seriously, I don’t think she’s anything like that. She’s
Denise’s best friend, and from what I’ve seen, Denise doesn’t hang out with
skanks like Justine.”

“Justine
was worse than a skank.” Shot number five disappears quicker than I can blink.

“Trinity
loves the fact that you play basketball,” I say.

“You
told her that?”

“Yeah.
And she thinks it’s hot.”

“Does
she, now?” He traces his thumb across his smiling lips.

“Yup,
and she said she wants to watch you play sometime.”

“Play
what?”

“
Basketball
!”

He
nods absently. Has the vodka already started to kick in?

“Oh,
and she’s a bit chubby, too.”

He
looks sidelong at me. “So?”

“‘So’?
I thought you were into chubby girls?”

“Who
told you that?” Kevin quickly reaches for a shot glass and puts it to his lips.

“You
did … and that’s empty.”

He
blinks and looks into the glass. “Oh, shit. So it is.” He picks up the sixth
shot instead.

“Right,
so”—I pull out my phone—“you should give her a chance, bro. She idolizes you.
Just think how happy it would make her for DJ Kevitron, the all-star basketball
player, to be her boyfriend.”

Kevin
rolls his eyes. “No. She’s probably just another groupie. She only
cares
about DJ Kevitron, the all-star basketball
player. Not plain ol’ Kevin.”

“I
don’t think she’s like that. Gimme your phone.”

“No.”

Sighing,
I copy Trinity’s name and number from my phone onto a square napkin sitting on
the counter. While Kevin gulps his seventh shot, I stuff the napkin in the
front pocket of his hoodie.

Kevin
coughs. “What the hell, man?”

“Trust
me, bro. Call her. Please.”

He
sighs heavily but says nothing and gestures to Olivia to fill up two more
shots.

I tried.

The
darts crowd suddenly erupts in cheers, and I turn my head to the commotion.

“Gimme
those darts! Let me show you how this shit’s done.”

William.

The
asshole stands up from behind the crowd where he was sitting and swipes a
handful of darts from a nearby frat guy wearing a dark green shirt with Greek
letters on the front. William makes a stupid face at someone I can’t see, then
looks seriously at the dartboard. He pauses, then throws a dart. It narrowly
misses the bull’s-eye, but it’s the closest I’ve seen out of all who tried. He
throws another, and that one makes its mark.

“Bull’s-eye,
baby!” William does a fist-pump and the other players cheer and congratulate
him. A frat guy wearing a Xi Rho Nu shirt hands him a full mug of beer.

“Damn,
you never said anything about being a beast at darts,” the Xi guy says.

William
smirks. “No one asked.” He returns to his seat.

The
crowd disperses revealing William’s date.

Denise!

My
heart sinks. She and William sit at a tiny table. She holds a glass of amber
liquid. Probably her usual Long Island iced tea.

William
looks in my direction and squints. I spin back around on my stool and nurse my
drink. “Fuck. Fuck.
Fuck!
” I say
through clenched teeth.

Kevin
plays with one of his empty shot glasses. He hasn’t touched his two new shots
and doesn’t appear too buzzed yet. But I know that won’t last much longer.
“What?”

Lowering
my head, I whisper, “William’s here.
With
Denise.
” I discreetly thumb over my shoulder in their direction.

He
looks over his shoulder and tips his sunglasses down slightly. “So that’s her,
huh? The girl that swept my baby brother off his feet?” He chuckles, turns back
and sets his sunglasses back into place. “Meh, she doesn’t look right with
Fratboy.”

I
growl.
No shit.

“It
is
you!” someone says from behind me.

My
anger quickly ebbs when I recognize the familiar female voice: Adrienne.
There’s a sudden tightness in my throat, and I turn to her.
Shit.
I forgot Chris said he was going
to be here. And I hadn’t thought about Adrienne being with him, too.

Her
hands on her hips, Adrienne glares at me with murderous eyes.

Kevin
casts one brief look her way, then turns back and nurses his seventh shot.

I
clear my throat. Trying to play things cool. “Hey, Adri.”

She
slaps me, and my head whips to one side. I’m staring at Kevin, and the side of
my cheek stings. Bad.
Did she really just
slap me?

“Don’t
you ‘hey Adri’ me!” she growls.

I
place my hand to my cheek. I’ve never been slapped by a girl before. But I
probably deserved it, given that I’d passed her number off instead of calling
her like I said I would. Denise just totally did it for me. I wasn’t interested
in other girls. My gaze drifts over to Denise, and she and William are looking
in my direction. In fact, the small commotion Adrienne managed to cause has
most of the people in the bar watching us.

“That’s
for thinking you can pass me around to your friends like a fucking whore!”
Leaning her face closer to mine, Adrienne prods me in the chest. Her breath
reeks of alcohol.

I
wrinkle my nose. “Ugh, you’re drunk. And I was
helping
a friend. Not passing you around.”

“You
piece of shit!”

I
wince.

She
leans back and teeters a bit.

Kevin
looks over his shoulder again, this time a bit more amused. “Damn, you fuckin’
her, too?”

“Hell,
no!” Another quick glance in Denise’s direction, and she’s still watching me, this
time with narrowed eyes. God. Why does Denise have to see this? I can already
guess what’s going on in her head—thinking she was just another flavor of the
week for me or something.

“You’re
lucky Chris is good in bed, else I’d be kicking your sorry ass right about
now,” Adrienne says.

I
open my mouth to protest, but Kevin suddenly bursts out laughing. I glare at
him. I’m glad
he’s
enjoying himself,
at least. I’ve half a mind to blow his cover for being such an ass.

“Speaking
of Chris, what the hell’s taking him so long? Is he jerking off in the bathroom
or something?” Adrienne mutters, wandering off to an empty table.

With
the commotion dying down, people in the bar lose interest and turn away.

Someone
slaps me on the shoulder, and I snap my head up.
William.

“Hey,
Dom. Here’s a tip: Girls don’t like table scraps.”

I
clench my fists. The bastard’s got balls, I’ll give him that. My fists shake as
I hold back the urge to knock his head off.
No,
not in front of Denise.
I calm and give a quick flick of my nose with my
thumb. “Yo, Willy, here’s a tip: Mind your fucking business.” The last thing I
want to do is get kicked out of here because of this asshole, but damn it, I’m
not about to stand here and let him talk to me like a bitch.

William
shrugs and laughs. “Well, damn, just trying to help, geez. And you wonder why
you’re still single.” A few of his frat buddies nearby laugh.

Grinding
my teeth, I elbow Kevin. I’m ready to leave before I end up doing something
I’ll regret. “You ready?”

Kevin
empties another shot and sets the glass with the rest. Eight. “Yeah, sure.” His
hand fumbles for his pocket. Finding it, he pulls out some money, and his car
keys fall out. I catch them before they hit the floor. Looks like the vodka’s
finally caught up with him.

Not
looking back at Denise or the frat group, I tug Kevin by the arm and we leave.
Outside, the rain has stopped and the air is cool. I help him into the
passenger’s seat, and he manages to buckle himself in. He lays his head back
against the headrest and closes his eyes, groaning.

“You
good, Kev?” I ask.

He
mutters gibberish.

“Don’t
go and chuck all over your own car, man.” I smile crookedly and shut the door.

As
I make my way around to the driver’s side, I hear the hurried clopping of heels
approaching.

“Dominick?”

I
pause in mid-reach for the door handle and then turn. “Hi, Denise.” Time seems
to stop as I take in her beauty from head to toe. She wears a red tank top
under a thin, unbuttoned long-sleeved shirt, and dark denim flared jeans. A
matching red hairband decorates her cornrows, and her
fleur de lis
necklace hangs vibrantly around her neck.

She
smiles, and my body warms. But I’m constantly looking toward the bar’s
entrance, waiting for William to come out. She follows my gaze, glancing over
her shoulder.

“Hey,”
she says, looking back at me. “I’m sorry about what William said.”

I
shake my head. “It’s cool. You okay?”

“Yeah.”

By
the way she says that, I know she’s definitely
not
okay. “What’s wrong?”

She
looks at the ground, opens her mouth.

“Denise!”
It’s William’s voice, and Denise instantly clams up.

Damn it.

I
glare at the entrance, where William is standing. For a moment, he and I lock
eyes. I hope he crosses the street, because I don’t intend to hold back my
punch this time.

Denise
glances at William, then looks back to me apologetically. “I gotta go. I’ll
call you tomorrow, okay?” she says softly.

I
nod and watch her join William.

William
wraps his arm around her waist, resting his hand on her ass. “What’re you doing
out here talking to that punk, baby? You missed me get another bull’s-eye.”

My
fists tighten. I stare at the closed door.
She’s
gone.

I
hop in the car with a defeated sigh and rest my forehead against the steering
wheel. If Denise is worried about something, I want to help her.

But
does she want
my
help?

My
thoughts are interrupted by Kevin’s sudden snoring. Looking sideways at him, I
smile, pluck those stupid sunglasses off his face, and drive off into the
night.

Chapter 15

Thursday I leave my digital systems class with time to
spare, but for the first time ever, I dread having to go to work, knowing
William will be there, telling me all about Denise.

Arriving
at Frank’s, I find William in bay one, tinkering under a wheelless black sedan
that’s up on a lift. He doesn’t seem to notice me. Checking the whiteboard, I
discover my name alongside William’s with a list of jobs for one car: brake
repairs and replacements, struts, and a wheel alignment. Fuck. This looks like
Frank’s doing.

I can’t believe I’m paired
up with that asshole again.

Larry
walks out of bay two, toward the bathroom. He stops and looks at me.

“’Sup,
Larry,” I mutter.

Larry
does a little double take and lifts an eyebrow. “Hey. Something up?”

I
purse my lips. I don’t want to come off as a whiny bitch, and I guess I’ll have
to get over the fact that William’s my coworker. Fuck it all. “Nothing, man.
Just … ” I lower my voice. “Girl problems.”