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  “Geesh, okay. I’ll go get dressed. As long as you’re styling me tonight, pick out shoes for me too. And you are also doing my hair and makeup,” I answered.

  “Duh,” she snapped back at me. “Like I would trust you to do it yourself. Left to your own devices, you’d probably waste that gorgeous dress with a pair of flip flops, a ponytail, a swipe of mascara, and some chapstick. I think not!”

  “Okay, okay. I surrender. It’s not like I can argue with you when you’re right. Snap to it, fairy godmother.”

  By the time we headed out the door, I didn’t look like my usual self at all. The dress Aubrey had picked did cover my ass, hitting my legs mid-thigh. The rich purple color was one of my favorites, and the dress had a deep cowl neck that hinted at my cleavage without shoving it in everyone’s faces. The girl certainly knew her stuff.

  She let me out the door in ballet flats since she knew we’d end up in the emergency room if she made me wear heels. My hair was swept off my face and pulled into a barrette to one side with soft curls flowing down my back. I might be a bit of a tomboy, but I did love to keep my hair long. Dad always said that my hair reminded him of my mom, so I didn’t have the heart to cut it too short.

  My makeup was lightly done, but it accented my green eyes so they would draw attention. They were slightly slanted at the edges, kind of like cat’s eyes. Aubrey always raved over them, often lamenting that it wasn’t fair that my eyes were so cool when she had boring blue ones. I thought she was crazy since she had the whole blue-eyed blonde thing going on. Her Barbie-doll looks always drove the boys crazy, and I was sure tonight wasn’t going to be any different.

  Even though she went a little conservative on my look for tonight, Aubrey had gone the opposite direction on her own. Her bright red dress would draw attention by its color alone. Add in the fact that it clung to her like a second skin and was a couple inches shorter on her than mine and we were in for a riot tonight when the guys got a load of her. She’d picked out a pair of silver stilettos with rhinestones on them that added several inches to her height. She had topped it all off with smoky eyes and shiny red lipstick that I knew from experience wouldn’t smudge all night long.

  “What the hell, Aubrey? Are you on a mission to pick up a guy tonight or what? Aren’t we way overdressed for a college party?

  “Lex, sweetie. Trust me on this. We will fit right in tonight. I swung us an invite to the hottest party on campus, courtesy of my big bro. The Sig Chi’s are throwing a ‘welcome back to campus’ party that is supposed to be epic. From what Faith and Natalie have said, the guys there are super hot. You know that means that the chicks are going to be dressed to impress tonight. There is no way I am going to this party without looking my best.”

  “A frat party? Really, Aubrey? I let you get me all dressed up so we could go to a frickin’ frat party?” I was not happy. I didn’t feel like partying tonight, and now I had to deal with a bunch of drunk frat boys trying to get in my panties all night long. “You are so lucky I love you right now. Or else I would be kicking your ass for putting me through this.”

  “Don’t worry. Jackson will be there in case we run into any problems. You know my big bro will look out for you just as much as he does me, maybe even more. He’s always been so protective of you. Which will work out great for me because you can distract him while I flirt with all his frat brothers!”

  Aubrey wasn’t joking when she suggested that I run interference for her with Jackson. That was part of why he and I had grown so close over the years. As the closest in age to her, Jackson was often tasked with running us around town and watching out for us at school. With us all on the same college campus now, he would definitely take his big brother role seriously. He had been bad enough in high school, scaring boys away from Aubrey left and right. I was surprised he was willing to get us into the party tonight.

  “How did you get him to cough up an invite to the party tonight?” I asked.

  “Well, I might have suggested that I was hoping you were finally ready to hit some parties tonight after working so hard all summer and settling into school the last couple weeks. And that I was worried you were never going to leave the room unless I had a really good reason to get you to go out tonight. And that if you knew we were going to a party he was going to be at, then you would feel more comfortable.”

  “So you basically guilted him into it then? Using me? And making me sound like a hopeless shut-in?”

  Aubrey laughed. “Yup. Worked like a dream! He even said that Faith and Natalie could come too, so maybe I did lay it on a little thick.”

  2

  Damn. Aubrey wasn’t kidding when she’d said that the Sigma Chi party was supposed to be epic. The house was packed with people, music was blaring, and drinks were flowing. Our IDs had been checked out the door, so we were stuck with lame under-21 hand stamps for the night. Not that it really mattered once we made it through the door, since Aubrey talked the first guy she saw into grabbing us two beers from the keg.

  As we wandered through the downstairs area with our red Solo cups in hand, I had to admit that she was right when she’d said that we wouldn’t be overdressed tonight. I could swear that I had the longest dress on, and that was with a hem a good two inches shorter than what I was normally comfortable in whenever Aubrey talked me into wearing a dress. Some of the outfits tonight showed more skin than bikinis with cover-ups did at the beach. And you’d think we were on the set of a music video with the way the girls were grinding against each other on the dance floor. I was so out of my element it wasn’t even funny.

  Aubrey was busy chatting up a totally hot redheaded guy when I noticed Jackson across the room. I tapped her on the shoulder and nodded my head in his direction so she would know where I was heading. I barely got a glance from her as she was busy flirting. That girl went through boys like water, with no particular type that appealed to her. She flitted from boyfriend to boyfriend, breaking hearts wherever we went.

  Speaking of broken hearts, Jackson had a flock of girls around him tonight. I hated to interrupt, but his was the only other familiar face at the party I had seen so far. Faith and Natalie were nowhere to be found, and I highly doubted any of the friends I had made in class had been invited to this party.

  Jackson glanced up as I approached the group of girls surrounding him. A wide smile broke across his face. With his curly blond hair tousled from running his hands through it and his eyes twinkling at me, I could understand why I was receiving death glares from his fan club. I had drawn his attention away from them.

  “Alexa, you made it!” Jackson reached out to pull me over to him, wrapping me up in a bear hug. “Fuck, you clean up nicely. I think the last time I saw you in a dress was at graduation. And your dress then left a little more to the imagination. Did Aubrey have to tackle you to the floor and wrestle you into this one?”

  Yup, those death stares were now hitting my back like laser beams. Add in the snarky little laughs and I was starting to get pissed off. Could they not tell that we were practically brother and sister? Geesh, catty bitches were guaranteed to drive me crazy. I kissed him on the cheek and kept an arm wrapped around his side just to put them in their place.

  “Nah. She worked her guilt magic on me just like she did you to get the invites to the party. You know how she is.”

  “That I do, Lex. That I do. But she didn’t really have to guilt me into making sure you guys got into the party. You know that I wasn’t letting you go to your first official college party without being there.” Jackson took a sip from his beer, glanced at the girls around us, and carried on the conversation like they weren’t there. “Where did my sis run off to?”

  “Oh, she’s around here somewhere. She can’t get into too much trouble since everyone knows she’s your sister, right?”

  “Ha! You know better than that. Aubrey doesn’t need to find trouble—it finds her. Lucky for me, I planned ahead and asked a few of the guys to keep an eye on her tonight. Figured I would need reinfor
cements to make sure we make it through the night without my having to beat the shit out of anyone.”

  I couldn’t deny that there was a real possibility that Jackson might get into a fight tonight, even if it wasn’t because he was pulling Aubrey out of a situation she couldn’t handle. He had a very short fuse and was quick to jump down someone’s throat if he thought they’d fucked up. Over the years, Aubrey had certainly offered up several guys who got the shit kicked out of them by Jackson when they wouldn’t leave her alone after she’d dumped them. It wasn’t that she got into trouble often. It was just that her ex-boyfriends never seemed willing to let go.

  “Aubrey doesn’t have any ex-boyfriends that go to school here yet, so she shouldn’t get into too much trouble,” I reminded Jackson.

  “But I am sure she is working on meeting her next ex, right?”

  “Well, there was a guy that she was flirting with over there. He seemed nice enough. He had an under-twenty-one stamp, too, so I would guess he’s a freshman or sophomore.” I pointed over to Aubrey so he could see where she was at across the room.

  “Good. I don’t recognize him, and if he had a hand stamp then he isn’t one of my frat brothers. I’d hate to have to kick a brother’s ass later if things go south.” Jackson finished off his beer. “Want another one?” he asked as he tapped his empty cup against mine.

  I nodded, so we headed over to the keg to grab another drink. As we walked away, I could hear one of the girls whining Jackson’s name. He just shook his head at her as he held on to my hand so he wouldn’t lose me in the crowd.

  “So Aubrey isn’t the only one working on their next ex around here?” I asked Jackson.

  “It wasn’t like that with her. You know how girls can be. Sometimes they think things are more serious than they really are.”

  Aubrey wasn’t the only one in her family who’d left a trail of broken hearts in their wake. The big difference between the two was that Aubrey jumped into relationships and then bailed when she got bored. Jackson never let it get that serious. There were always girls around—he just never called them his girlfriends. It had always surprised me how he treated the girls he’d slept with when he would kill a guy if he treated Aubrey or me the same way, but Jackson always told me that the girls he was with had known the score and had nobody to blame but themselves if they thought he’d been willing to give them something more.

  When we made it over to the keg to grab another beer, my attention was drawn to the kitchen door. Just outside, an argument was taking place between a screaming girl and a super hot guy who stood staring at her with his arms crossed in front of his chest. The girl was gorgeous and dressed to the hilt. Her platinum blond hair was perfectly straight and her makeup expertly applied while her outfit had clearly set her back big bucks. Too bad for her that the attitude didn’t appear to match the wrapping.

  Holy crap. I could only see the guy she was yelling at from the side, but what I could see made me want more. There was something about him that pulled me like a magnet. He was a couple inches over six feet with dark brown hair that was spiked up a bit. His jeans clung to his tight ass and tapered down his long, muscular legs. He wore a bright blue polo shirt that stretched across his back each time he moved. He definitely worked out, but he was lean instead of bulky. Even with the girl yelling at him, he seemed so relaxed, like he didn’t have a care in the world.

  Jackson turned to hand me my cup and noticed where my attention was focused. “Shit! Who told Sasha about the party? Hold on a second while I make sure Drake doesn’t need any help getting her to leave. Then we can check on Aubrey and head upstairs to my room to hang out. That way you can relax without pissing my sis off by heading back to the dorm this soon.”

  “Okay, sounds like a plan to me,” I responded. It had been a long day between classes and my charter flight. I could use some extra rest. Besides, I didn’t need to ogle one of Jackson’s frat brothers who already had his hands full with women issues. That was just asking for trouble, even if he was smoking hot.

  The girl stopped her tirade when she saw Jackson walking up. He could be very intimidating when he wanted to be. Jackson looked between the two of them, Drake shaking his head no and the girl taking a couple steps back. Dark, smoldering eyes met mine as Jackson talked to Drake. His gaze was so intense as he did a quick scan down my body, his eyes turning even darker as they lingered on my legs, which only served to piss off the blonde he had been arguing with moments before even more. She stomped off in a huff, leaving Drake and Jackson standing at the door.

  They talked for a few more minutes while I waited. I couldn’t hear what was being said as they spoke in hushed tones. Drake turned so he was facing me while they talked. He kept glancing my way as though he was having a hard time concentrating on his conversation with Jackson. He had a strong face with high cheekbones and full lips that made me think of kissing. Every once in a while, a dimple peeped out on the left side of his face, making him even more adorable.

  He looked back at me again and smiled a sexy grin with one side of his mouth tilted up. Jackson shook his head, and Drake’s body language changed completely. He wasn’t the relaxed frat brother chatting with a friend anymore, but a man who looked like he was ready to strike out in anger. His fists clenched at his sides, and the cords of his neck stood out. Jackson reached out to him, but Drake took a step back and glared at me.

  When Jackson came back over, he didn’t offer to introduce us. I figured that meant he didn’t trust Drake around me. With the death stare Drake was aiming my way, I didn’t want him near me anyway. Then again, Jackson didn’t really trust anyone around me since he seemed to think I wasn’t capable of handling guys after the debacle with my ex-boyfriend in high school. As grateful as I was for him stepping in and ending the problem with Brad, I really wished he would get over the idea that I wasn’t ready to date again. Sometimes it seemed like he felt so bad about introducing me to Brad that he would never be ready to see me with someone in my life again.

  “Ready to hang out? Or do you want to join Aubrey?” Jackson asked.

  “Ha, ha! Like that’s even a question you need to ask me. You know I’d rather escape upstairs to hang out and get away from the madness of the party for a while without having Aubrey jump all over me for never going out. But don’t you need to stay down here longer since it’s your fraternity party?”

  “Nope, the party’s covered. My bros have everything under control. They knew I would bail early tonight,” Jackson replied.

  “And how many girls are going to want to kill me when they realize you left the party early because of me?” I asked, only half joking. I hadn’t been on campus that much over the last two years other than to be at class or in the library, but the time I had spent hanging out with Jackson and Aubrey had shown me that most girls who were into Jackson liked hating me for my relationship with him. Nobody seemed to understand that we were like brother and sister, sometimes even more so than he and Aubrey appeared to be.

  “If anyone has a problem with you, come to me. Nobody here has any say in what I do with my time—certainly not any of the chicks,” Jackson said as we walked up the stairs after waving to Aubrey from across the room. “The only thing you need to worry about tonight is what movie you want to watch with me. I grabbed a few of your favorite action flicks. You can pick one and show me why you and your dad watch these so often.”

  3

  “Ugh, my head,” I heard Aubrey moan from under the covers. Jackson and I had hauled her home around three o’clock in the morning. “Why did you let me drink so much last night? I don’t think I am going to be able to make it out of our room all day today.”

  “Let you? When have I ever let you do anything? You were on a roll last night. There was no stopping you and Mr. Hot Pants from chugging away. Not sure he’s going to be the best boyfriend material for you if he’s trying to get you drunk all the time.”

  “Why do you think every guy I hang out with has to be boyfriend material? Can�
��t I just have a little fun every once in a while without getting too serious?” Aubrey snapped back at me.

  “Well—” I started to reply before she quickly interrupted me.

  “Okay, I know, I know. Odds are he’ll end up being my next boyfriend. I get it. I date a lot. Nothing wrong with that. This is the age where we are supposed to date around, experiment a little. Besides, one of us has to do the boyfriend thing. When are you going to stop using my brother as a shield from every opportunity for you to meet guys? Don’t think I didn’t notice that you two escaped the party for hours last night to hang out.”

  Ouch. I thought I had gotten that one past her with all the drinking last night. “Hey, you wanted me to go to a party with you. I went. Just because I spent part of the night hanging out with Jackson doesn’t mean I didn’t have a good time. I did. The party was a little too much for me.”

  “You can totally make it up to me if you make the famous Hewett Hangover cure for me. I could really use some help this morning.”

  “I’ve got you covered. Let me run out to grab a few things from the store, and I will wake you back up as soon as it’s ready. Get some more rest. I wouldn’t want you to ruin a perfectly good day with a hangover,” I said as I walked towards the door, snagging my keys off the dresser on my way.

  “Love you, Lex,” I heard Aubrey mumble tiredly.

  I found a parking spot for my beloved car, a cherry red Mini Cooper with a white racing stripe. My dad surprised me with it on my sixteenth birthday. The car seemed like an odd match for my personality since it was so girly, but nobody knew the inside story. We used to do movie night at least once a week, usually action movies since my dad couldn’t stomach chick flicks. One of our favorites was The Italian Job, and I loved the part where they modified the Mini Coopers for a robbery. We must have watched that movie a dozen times together, and I always giggled at the thought of those tiny cars hauling gold bars away at top speeds. Now, whenever I drive my car, I am reminded of movie nights with him.