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And the worst part? She’s my brother’s new girlfriend, completely off-limits.
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Except what’s that old saying? I saw her first…
Copyright © 2022 by C.G. Blaine
All rights reserved.
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Visit my website at www.cgblaine.com
Edited by Willow Oak Author Services
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No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
PROLOGUE
BENJI
The moment I fell in love slowly burned me. Not like the storm of realization I always expected. Instead, a calming heat smoothed over my skin and settled like a pool in my chest, growing hotter and hotter. It felt like I’d always known, but only at that moment was I understanding what it meant for the first time, first felt the burn. Her head rested on my shoulder while we lay on the wooden dock at the lake. Stars stretched from one end of the world to the other above us and this damn blaze kept spreading. The harsh strike of reality followed. The beautiful girl who had slowly stolen my heart, the one giggling and snuggling into my chest, wasn’t mine. She’d never be mine.
She smiled at me when passing her first day our Junior year. Match. Ran to me the first time Michael fucked up and made her cry. Strike. Knocked on my window the night my father died. Spark. Her hand tentatively brushed mine before our fingers entwined on the dock. Flame.
No way to sweet talk my way around it. I was heartbreakingly in love with my best friend’s girlfriend. And the worst part? Every fiber of my being told me Charlie Jo Davis and I were meant to be. Meant to be each other’s everything.
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Graduation Night
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The barking of laughter could be heard all over the lakeside cabin. A gift to one of my fellow graduates from his father was a few kegs, a stocked liquor cabinet, and the keys. The old dude was lurking around somewhere, no doubt making a few high school girls feel uncomfortable. Whatever happened to a good old fashioned Congrats Graduate! card and some cold, hard cash?
I’m about three shots and two beers deep by the time my best friend comes barreling through the door to the study where I’ve taken up residence. A few stoners lounge on the plush couch, leaving me be in the leather chair by the only bookcase.
Which just leaves Michael, in all his drunken glory, to bother me.
“Dude.”
It’s all he says in greeting before plopping down in the leather chair across from me, red cup in hand.
“You missing something?” I ask.
He shrugs with his face in a trashed sort of way, looking at the drink in his hand and then grabbing his crotch. “Nope. Got the important things.”
I all but roll my eyes at that one. Is it possible to hate the guy you consider more of a brother than your actual brother? For the past year, I’ve been teetering that line, not sure if I want to punch him or bro-hug when I see him. It sucks because he’s always been my person. The one I could tell everything. Until her.
Now it’s all awkward smiles while he wraps his arms around her and pulls her into his lap. Except that’s not what happens this time when Halsey waltzes in with her own drink and a non-existent skirt. I tilt my head to the side to see what else she might not be wearing—I’m in love with my best friend’s girl, not blind. Only when she gets close enough, Michael’s arm shoots out, gripping her ass and pulling her down until she’s straddling him.
“I thought I’d lost you,” she coos, throwing a quick glance over her shoulder at me.
