“Do you have a boyfriend?” She looks at me with a quizzical expression as if wondering why I asked.
“I just wondered since you’re on your phone a lot.” Now she looks alarmed. Maybe I stepped over the line. “Sorry, it’s not my business.” I smile at her. “I’m just used to oversharing with Kiara. And I tend to talk a lot.”
She pulls her mouth and looks down at the floor.
“It’s my brother. He thinks I’m still a little girl.”
“Oh, believe you me, I can relate to that,” I sneer. “If there’s one person on this earth who knows about domineering overbearing brothers it would be me.”
“Hey, Frank,” I greet the huge gorilla at the entrance. He gives me a warm smile while holding open the door.
“Welcome, Miss Mel.” He then nods politely at Lucinda, who lightly tips her head back as if she’s used to authority. Maybe her family is stinking rich with loads of employees. Another thing I don’t know about her.
“You only have one brother?” I ask while walking up the stairs.
“Yeah. It’s only three of us. Mom died long ago.” A flash of hate clouds her eyes. Seems we have more in common than just egotistical siblings.
“Mel, what are you doing here?” Talking of which, one of mine just appeared. But before I can answer, I’m swept off my feet and swinging through the air into a warm hug.
“Doofus.”
“Ah, I love you too.”
At least it seems as if he’s done sulking. He puts me down and kisses my cheek – like magic, my heart turns to mooch. Damn, they know just how to soften me up the stupid bastards.
“And who’s this lovely lady?” Enrique pulls out his charms, holding out his hand to Lucinda. She blushes beet-red, pupils dilated making her chocolate eyes appear much darker, almost eerie. My gut contracts.
“This is Lucinda. We study together.”
“Pleasure,” my brother says as she shakes his hand. I know Enrique won’t try anything with Lucinda, as she’s not his type. He’s into slutty models, not nerdy students – but being Enrique, he’s always the polite charmer. Well, almost always.
“You are not here for the company, so I guess you need some food? It’s the only reason my sister ever comes to my club.”
“I’m not old enough to drink anywhere else.”
He pushes a strand of light gold hair behind his ear. His hairstyle changes continuously depending on what’s needed for his modeling slash acting job – right now it’s in a simple Joe Black style that makes him look like Brad Pitt’s younger hotter brother.
But it’s his unique eyes that make him sizzle. He has Heterochromia and one eye is bright blue, while the other one is more of a blue hazel. Combine this with thick eyebrows and long lashes and you have the inexplicability of a storybook stare.
“I thought university students work their asses off!” Jackson’s voice springs up from behind me, also seemingly in a good mood – else he wouldn’t have concocted such a long sentence with so many words.
He looks like he just stepped off the cover of a GQ magazine, instead of just being released from the hospital.
Unlike his twin, he doesn’t flirt with Lucinda. Hell, he barely looks at her.
“Even nerds need to eat!” I scold him as he pulls me into a hug. I introduce Lucinda to him and he nods. That’s as much as she’s going to get from badboy Jackson.
Being identical twins, there is not much difference between them, except their eyes – Jackson’s are both blue. But there is a huge difference in personality.
Lucinda’s mouth opens and closes again, like a fish out of water. Yeah, unfortunately, my brothers have that effect on women. It’s damn irritating.
“Hey, guys, are we still having that IEM? Otherwise, I need to go get some sleep. I’m fucked up tired.” Ilkay shouts from the bar. Then he notices me and those gray eyes turn soft.
“Hi, Sis.”
“Dude, you’re always tired. I think you’re doing this whole university study thing wrong.” The boys love to tease each other. And since Ilkay is the only brother pursuing a higher education, his university life gets hammered constantly. I think it’s secretly their way of telling him to take things slow.
“What’s an IEM?” The boys have these codes they use, and they never let me and Kiara in on the secret – not even Axel. But then again, that man is as closed off as a snapping turtle in its shell. And at times, just as grumpy. Oh, wait … maybe that’s Jackson.
“An important emergency meeting you’re not invited to,” Logan grabs me from behind and lifts my feet from the ground. He’s taller than the other brothers – slightly broader too – his hair a darker shade of blond and his eyes the same steel color as Ilkay’s.
“Why?” I pout.
“Well, because you have tits and not a penis,” Jackson barks a short laugh while eyeing me with those devil eyes.
However, my brothers are not the only ones who have the ability to rile someone up. I’ve learned that the last thing any male sibling wants to know about is his sister’s feminine body parts. Oh, they love to see it on every other female, just not one they’re related to.
I grab the underside of my breasts and push them up.
“And they’re pretty nice tits, thank you very much!” It has the immediate effect of pissing them off. They look like they just drank sour breast milk from a menstrual cup – their expressions are just classic.
“Fuck,” one swears. And I feel like doing a little victory dance.
“I agree!” A voice whispers very softly in my ear and all my hair stands on end. Damion!
Fudge-buckets!
I quickly turn – hands still popping up my breasts – and they scrape against his arm. And now I’m the fish out of the fudging water.
Dammit.
I haven’t seen him since his party – on purpose.
I’ve avoided him. But I could not avoid thinking about him, or avoid wondering what he wanted to say but didn’t, nor could I smother that secret little hope that he might like me.
And to make matters worse, the one lucky paparazzi dude splattered photos of us all over the internet … intimate photos … like where he’s lying on top of me wiping my cheek, another one of me in his arms, his eyes closed, chin on my head … some very heartfelt ones of us on the dance floor … you get the gist.
Now the whole fudging world, and some, is speculating about our relationship and guessing how serious it is. And even more unnerving – how long it will last.