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Parker isn’t intensely focused on her looks. It’s just not her thing. She’s not into clothes and shoes. She doesn’t spend a lot of time on her makeup, and the only time her nails are painted is when she does them herself—and probably at the behest of her mom or Hannah when they were painting theirs.
Parker is beautiful, but she knows what she has to offer the world has everything to do with what’sinsideher head, not what she puts on it.
The only time I have everknown her to change clothes to go to a second location is the night she came to a partyIinvited her to.
When she showed up, she wasn’t wearing what she wore to school that day. She’d put on a pretty dress, and she’d even gone to the trouble of putting on lipstick or lip gloss or some fucking thing like that. All she ever put on her lips at school was Chapstick, and even that was infrequent.
She made a visible effort that night because she was coming to see me.
So, when Parker comes bouncing down the steps with shiny lips and a low-cut red dress on, all of a sudden, I’m feeling pretty hungry.
She doesn’t even see me as she eagerly approaches her mom and my dad and tells them she’s ready to go.
We can’t fucking have that, now, can we?
“You know what?” I say, pushing up off the couch. “I think I’ll go, too.”
Parker’s brown eyes widen ever so slightly, and I can see the flash of disappointment mixed with alarm that tells me all I need to know.
I smile and watch her guard inch up as she follows our parents out to the car.
I catch up to her easily and fall into step beside her. “That’s some dress,” I murmur.
Her long red hair bounces as she shoots me a dirty look, wordlessly commanding me to shut my stupid trap.
I grin and bump my shoulder into hers. “Hey, you should be happy. I’m letting you win a battle. You wanted me to come to family dinner, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re doing it for me,” she mutters dryly, but she doesn’t say anything else, and I don’t bother pushing.
I know she won’t rise to any of my bait with our parents in earshot, and I’m not looking to make trouble for her to contain right now, anyway. I just want to go to that club and see who Parker was so excited to see without me around.
At school, it’s common knowledge that any asshole who even looks at Parker for too long is going to get a visit from me. Since middle school, the mere threat of it has sufficiently dissuaded most guys—and the more persistent ones got their asses kicked.
Iliketo fight, and none of them ever have.
The natural consequence is that Parker made it to senior year not only untouched, but probably with the notion that guys tend not to be that interested in her.
Parker’s social circle has never extended far beyond school, so I never had to worry about her meeting guys in other places. She worked at her mom’s dance school which is pretty much all girls, and she’s in enough school clubs to keep her pretty busy at Baymont High.
Obviously, when I didn’t live with her, there were certain places I couldn’t monitor her. I would have never known if she went to a restaurant with her mom and some overzealous waiter flirted with her. I would have found out if it went beyond that and turned into something more, but it never did.
After last time I refused to go to dinner with them, she probably thought she had a safe haven at the club.
But if she thinks I’ll fail to patrol my territory just because I’m pissed off at my dad, she’s going to be very disappointed.
Parker watches out the window as we approach the club. I’ve seen the million-dollar view so many times I don’t even notice it anymore, but since she’s gazing at it, I do, too.
The sun drops lower and lower in the sky as we inch toward sunset. The country club is built on the side of a cliff with killer ocean views. Outside, tables are set up on the patio area where plenty of Baymont’s more affluent citizens are enjoying their dinners.
Parker sighs softly, so I guess she enjoys the view.
I guess I do, too.
The car slows down under the portico. This place has valet parking, so my dad puts the car in park but leaves the engine running. Gemma grabs her purse and climbs out. Rather than get out on my own side, I scoot across and exit the same way Parker did so I can keep a close eye on her.
Dad gets out and approaches the valet stand.
Parker trails behind him, then lingers off to his side.
