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Prologue
THIRTEEN YEARS AGO
I narrowmy eyes at the teenaged guy ogling the small of Jolie’s bare ivory back, exposed by her low-cut prom dress. We’re slow dancing, if you can call it that. It’s more me holding her at arm’s length and at a perfect distance to see perverted guys like the one behind her, letting their gazes roam where they don’t belong.
“You need something?” I growl.
The senior attempts bravery. It’s a stiff, uncertain stare down—or stare up in his case because at my height that’s how I glare at most people, from the top down. His gaze slips quickly when I flare my nostrils. He thinks he can look at this girl?Wrong.
Like a dance twirl, I swing Jolie’s body around one-eighty in my arms. I make an opaque human wall with the cheap polyester of my blazer as a barrier between Joey and this loser.
My surrogate little sister lets out a long, exasperated sigh that blows curly tendrils off the side of her forehead. “I thought you’d be more… fun.”
Her eyes are round and lined lightly with eyeliner, not a severe black like a lot of the other girls have going but the color of eggplant. She has a glittery shadow of a similar shade on her eyelids, and the makeup makes her green eyes pop. She’s pretty tonight. Logan was right to send me as her date. That pimply twat was the first of many who would have her, I’m sure.
Jolie deserves better, which means she’ll end up alone, because after going to college I realize all men are fuckwits. Or maybe it’s being in the hockey world. Since discovering puck bunnies in college and the way my teammates treat them, I’ve become pretty disgusted by how we’re led around by our cocks.
Sadly, I’m not immune to these male genes. I count myself among the fuckwits, but Logan knows I’d never be one with Jolie.
I hold my hands steady, floating just above putting any pressure on her hips. I balance between being polite enough to perform my duty as a stand-in big brother, and touching her enough so she doesn’t feel ugly, because she’s anythingbut. It’s a fine line I walk, as tough as keeping the steps to this slow dance. I have no rhythm.
She tips her head sideways. Long blonde curls drip down her bare shoulder, and she casts flirty eyes upward. “Come on.” She reaches up and fists my shirt. “Loosen up.”
I gaze down at her. In heels, she’s a good five or six inches shorter. She’s a tall girl. Even just this last year of me being away in college she sprouted up a couple inches.
Inches.The flutter of her eyelashes that tease and urge me to be more fun reminds me of the shameless sass of her invitation. She sure is getting a mouth on her. Jolie texted me when the prom invitations hit email inboxes…
JOEY
Hey- The hall of fame quarterback asked me to prom but I was hoping you and your extra five inches would come with me.
I’m tall. Taller than most men I meet and apparently five inches taller than that guy. But I knew what she was really saying. And her vocal advances have made their way to her hands tonight. She fists my shirt again like it’s bedsheets and yanks me hard enough to pull me one breath closer.
I said no to being her prom date when she asked. Her innuendo has snuck into nearly every conversation and brush of a shoulder since she turned fifteen. The last thing I want to do is lead her on. Besides her basically being my little sister, losing my best friend is not something I can handle. Especially after what I found out tonight—the universe-shifting lie tucked in the most obvious hiding spot, under my dad’s ties.
If I’d said no to prom with Joey, I would have never found that piece of paper.
It would have never fucked my entire sense of reality.
But here I am. Logan urged me to say yes; to come back to Starlight Canyon tonight and escort his sister to prom. He’d said he’d rather it be a fucker he knows than a douchebag he doesn’t. I came back from college for the weekend to do him a favor. That’s it. And I’ll be damn sure not to enjoy it the way she’s suggesting and allow my best friend to demote me from fucker to douchebag.
Jolie sways her body, dancing herself through the last bit of personal space holding us apart. “Earth to Ashton. You’re… far away… again. You’ve been a total space cadet tonight. What’s up with you? Do you have something to talk about? I’m not Lo but I’ll listen.”
“Nothing to talk about, Joey. I’m just being your brother’s soldier. Keeping an eye out for trouble. What I came here to do.”
She tuts then releases a sassy scoff. “What? You actually think any of these losers would try something with me while you’re here? You could fall asleep and they wouldn’t dare. Or maybe you already know that because you’ve been hazed half the night.”
I have a lot on my mind, but I won’t be a downer. It’s my shit to handle, and I won't stink up her evening. I half-smile. “You want entertainment, do you? How about I do the running man to the next song?”
She giggles and tugs my shirt’s fabric back and forth frisky as always. Her strength isn’t enough to jostle me, but I move under her spirited touch anyway and the corner of my mouth tilts upward, playing along to lighten the mood the best I can. She’s a good girl. I want her to have fun tonight. And I’m being pretty crap at giving her a prom to remember.
But it seems her idea of a good time and mine are very different.
She releases the fabric from her grip. It’s crinkled now. She smooths it and stares at the spot where her hand was. As she strokes my chest, her cheerfulness washes away, and it’s replaced by pure mischief. “I have an idea that could spice up the night.” She eases herself up and into me as if she wants to drop a secret in my ear, and the top of her hip skims my dick in the process.
I’m pretty sure Logan wouldn’t like this.
“Yeah? What’s the idea?” I hope it has more to do with finding some spiked punch than the suggestion her bony pelvis is making against my cock. “Shoot.”
