Chapter 29

The next few days flew by, mainly consisting of me trying to motivate myself to work off all of the Christmas dinner and dessert until we hit New Year’s Eve. Then, I could crank up the intensity to prepare for summer.

Hannah was over at my house. It was a tradition we did on New Year’s Eve.

We’d get ready together at my house then meet my parents, her parents, the Carters, and Wes’s parents downstairs to have dinner. Then, we’d all head out into the city to celebrate. Minus the parents, of course.

We were doing our makeup and it was half-past six at night. People were coming over any minute. Dinner was at seven so we had to hurry, do our hair and makeup.

We had our dresses on because they were tight, and it would most likely ruin our makeup if we slipped them on before doing our hair and makeup.

I know, we’re such girls. But we wanted to look decent tonight.

I was wearing an electric blue skin-hugging dress with thin straps to keep it up. It came to about mid-thigh.

It was a mini dress but because I was petite, it was a little lower, which I didn’t mind because I’m not all about showing a lot of my skin.

Hearing a knock on my door, “Open up, bitches, it’s your favorite sexy nurse,” Andy called out, making us laugh. Hannah swung the door open to greet her. She had taken the train up from Jersey where she’s from and decided to come out for tonight.

She’s staying with me until we fly back for college. We all hugged each other with excitement. I had begged her to come out with us to get Kyle off my case for the night.

I planned on getting drunk to forget this year. I made a pact with Hannah that I would kiss her at midnight and nobody else, well, unless we got better options.

An hour later, we were all ready. Except Andy, who came ready and selected songs for us to listen to while we were getting ready. Plumping up our hair, we were ready to make our entrance downstairs.

The kitchen is a hotbed of testosterone, and I know Kyle will be thrilled to see Andy. We slip into our heels and sashay our way into the kitchen.

The wolf whistles that follow us are met with a triple dose of attitude as we greet the parents clustered around the counter.

Hannah snaps a quick selfie of us before we head over to the table. Kyle is conspicuously absent, and I know Andy is on the lookout for him.

“Andy?” There he is, standing by the sliding glass doors, a crate of bottled beer in his hands. He quickly sets it down and sweeps her into his arms.

“Surprise!” she exclaims, her voice muffled against his chest.

“Best fucking surprise ever!” His grin is wide and infectious. He plants a kiss on the side of her head before they pull apart slightly.

“Yo! Where’s Alex? I’m starving!” James complains. I turn to face him, an eyebrow arched in surprise. Do I really look that different?

“But while I wait, I might as well introduce myself to this lovely lady,” he says, extending a hand towards me. I swat it away.

“Ooh, feisty. I like feisty,” he smirks, edging closer.

“Really, James? I can’t look that different, can I?”

“Holy shit! Alex? Wow! You look... hot! I didn’t recognize you at all! Damn!” He toys with the ends of my hair. James, in case you’ve forgotten, is Hannah’s older brother.

Or rather, Hannah’s hot older brother. He’s always been like this with me, so his behavior tonight is no surprise. I roll my eyes as the room fills with chatter, and he inches even closer.

“Heard you’re single again. Is that true?” I nod and make a beeline for the food-laden table. My workout today has left me ravenous.

I. Need. Food. Now.

“Well, I know who I’m kissing at midnight then.”

“Aww, James, that’s sweet, but no. I’m kissing someone else at midnight.”

“What! Who?” James, Wes, Kyle, and Knox all demand in unison.

I roll my eyes as Hannah raises her hand and saunters over to me. “Yours truly,” she grins, draping an arm over my shoulder.

I rest my head on her shoulder and smile at the boys.

“If it wasn’t my sister, I’d be turned on. Maybe you should kiss another girl. Or me.”

“Hell no!” Kyle, Wes, and Knox all shout, shooting James a glare.

Dinner is served quickly, leaving us plenty of time to call taxis and head to the club. We have our own private area cordoned off, as usual.

We bid the parents goodbye, and Ace’s parting advice to us girls—to walk all over the boys—has us laughing as we pile into the taxi. We share with Kyle, Knox, and Wes.

Hannah sits up front with Andy and Kyle, while I’m sandwiched between Knox and Wes. They keep shooting glances at me and each other.

“What? Why do you both keep looking at me?”

“We’re not,” they both lie.

“Stop! Both of you! It’s weird and annoying.”

Hannah spins around in her seat to talk to me. “I can’t wait to get in there and get plastered! I need to find a hot guy and make out with him ASAP!”

I nod in agreement, and Andy lets out a whoop of encouragement.

We arrive at the club, pay the cab fare, and hop out, adjusting our outfits as we head for the entrance. The catcalls that follow us only serve to annoy Knox and Wes, while Kyle is lost in his own world with Andy.

Hannah and I link hands and approach the bouncers, who immediately let us in. We’re escorted upstairs to the rooftop bar, where we have our own private area.

“You look sexy,” Wes whispers in my ear, hoping no one else hears. I flash him a sultry smile, wink over my shoulder, and continue walking with Hannah.

You’re going to have to do better than that, Wes. As we make our way to our area, we pass other VIP sections. We draw plenty of attention and whistles from the guys, which earns them glares from our boys.

Once we reach our area, we find my brothers, Hannah’s brothers, Wes’s brothers, and Knox’s brothers all there, along with their partners, if they have one.

Let’s get this party started.

“Shots!” I yell, spinning towards the bar. The bartender counts us all and lines up the shots.

Our balcony overlooks the entire club, bathed in pink and purple strobe lights, and offers a stunning view of New York City.

“There are so many hot guys here tonight. We’ve got to sneak off before our brothers start following us,” Hannah says. I nod in agreement.

“Give them a few more drinks, and we can make a break for it!” We giggle, then turn back to our shots, clinking glasses in a toast.

We throw back the shots and take the burn like champs.

“Carter!” We all turn to see some of the Giants players. I think that’s them—I recognize Caleb and Marcus from last time.

They join us in our section. Damn, I don’t remember Caleb being that hot.

“Alex! Hey, how’s it going?” Caleb greets me with a beaming smile as I approach.

I give him and Marcus a peck on the cheek. “Hey, Caleb! Marcus! I’m good. I didn’t know you guys were coming tonight. Oh, this is my best friend, Hannah. And you remember Andy, right?” I gesture towards Andy, who’s with Kyle. No surprise there.

“Yeah, we were coming here anyway, but Carter told us you all were coming, so we thought we’d join forces!... Hey, Hannah, nice to meet you. I’m not surprised a beautiful girl has beautiful friends.” Caleb and Marcus both kiss Hannah on the cheek, making her blush.

Caleb’s smile returns when he catches me rolling my eyes. “What? It’s true! Carter is one lucky guy.”

“Ugh! We’re not dating, that’s just something people are making up in the tabloids.”

“Really? So you’re single?” I nod, taking a sip of my drink that Andy had fetched for me after the shots.

“So I can kiss you at midnight and he won’t kill me?” He smirks at Hannah and me, while I choke on my drink in shock at his audacity.

“Well, I’m kissing her at midnight so no, and I don’t know if he’d kill you or not? My brothers might either?” I smirk back, pointing at Hannah.

“Well, we could always not tell them and go somewhere more private. Marcus can kiss Hannah at midnight, I want one from you,” he whispered in my ear, causing me to laugh.

I turned to Hannah who was flirting with Marcus beside the balcony. She looks at me and I ask her.

“You want to kiss him at midnight and I’ll kiss Caleb?” She looks over at Marcus who is smirking at her, and then back to me with a grin and a nod.

“Alright, then buddy you got yourself a deal. But only one kiss! And don’t get handsy with me either, I give a mean knee to the balls. Ask Travis.”

“Perfect! You’re a feisty little thing, aren’t you... Yeah, I heard, he’s an ass though, always has been. But damn, you looked good that night, Alex! Don’t worry, I’m not like him, I’ll be the perfect gentleman,” he winked at me.

We kept talking for a while until we decided to take a seat at a table near us. We were flirting a lot, but he kept his hands to himself. We were laughing at each other’s jokes and he was easy to talk to.

“So tell me more about yourself, Alex.”

“Well, I’m in UCLA at the moment studying Mechanical Engineering. I have two master’s degrees under my belt, one in software engineering and coding and the other in mathematics.

I’m thinking of doing a degree in physics too but I’m not sure.”

“What the fuck? Are you serious! How old are you?”

“Yeah, and I’m twenty-three.”

“Wow, you must be really smart!”

“Meh, it helps when you have an eidetic memory. But I skipped two grades so I was in the same year as my brother and Knox.

I could’ve skipped more but my mom wouldn’t let me. Got a scholarship to college, blah blah blah.”

“Wow! Just when I thought you couldn’t get any sexier.”

I look down at my drink and swirl it around. That’s when Knox comes over to join our little chat.

“You guys want drinks?” We both nod with Caleb not looking at Knox.

“I’ll have a sex on the beach please.”

“Will you now?” Caleb smirks at me. “I’ll have a whiskey on the rocks,” he tells Knox over his shoulder.

We continue to talk for a little until Knox comes back with drinks and Marcus with Hannah follows behind him. We all thank him for the liquid courage.

“So what are we talking about?” Knox asks after sitting himself down at the table.

“Well I was just getting to know beautiful Alex here, you never told me she was a genius, Carter?”

“Yeah, the smartest person I know actually, but ease up there on the compliments, we don’t need her head blowing up bigger than it already is,” he smirked over at me.

“You’re the one to talk, Carter. Zip it.”

That’s when we hear a loud scream of “The party’s here!” We all snap our heads around to see the one girl that put me through hell in high school. Tori Sweeney.

Why her? Why? She went out with Knox, they were the on and off couple of our school and both were a living nightmare for me.

“You are kidding me. Who the FUCK invited her here!” I groaned as I sat back in the seat. I look over at Hannah who was wide-eyed looking over at Tori and the other two dipshits that are always with her.

Yeah, she was your typical mean girl in high school, let me just say she gave Regina George a run for her money.

Andy came over to me and mouthed ~who’s she?~ I looked over to Knox who was staring at me like a deer in headlights.

“Fuck! Is it too late for me to run?” he asked everyone and we all nodded as she stomped her way over to our table with the puppets behind her.

I patted the seat next to me and gave Andy a pleading look, she got the memo and dragged Kyle with her.

“Who’s she?” Caleb asked and I replied with “Knox’s psycho ex.”

“She was not my ex, we never dated! Ever! Baby doll you know this! We hooked up like twice?”

“Twice? Carter you—”

“Knoxie baby! It’s been so long! How the hell have you been?” She flirts as she tries to sit on his lap but fails as he keeps his arms sitting on the table.

This causes me to snort and look back at Caleb who was staring at her trying not to laugh. We all were in fact. She snapped her head around to face me.

“What the fuck are you laughing at, wannabe?”

“Wannabe? Who the hell are you calling a wannabe, bitch?” Andy voices her anger towards Tori and I’m so glad I called her over for backup, I wasn’t in the mood to fight Tori.

“Keep your bitch on a leash, Kyle!”

“You motherf—” Andy got up out of the seat to try to grab her but Kyle restrained her, pulling her back down onto his lap.

“Jesus, once a bitch, always a bitch. You haven’t changed one bit, Tori, have you? And you went out with that? Hah!” I found the courage to speak up, surprising even myself.

~What am I doing?~ I thought, feeling like I was walking into the lion’s den. ~I’m poking the lion, actually.~

“We never went out, Alex!” Knox seethed, his gaze never leaving mine.

“Well, well, well, Alex, look who decided to put a dress on. But to be honest, you look like you belong in either a strip club or a drag show. I just can’t decide which one?”

“That’s enough, Tori! Don’t talk to her like that! Do you hear me? Never talk to her like that ever again or so help me God!” Knox’s voice boomed as he stood up beside her, towering over her.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually dating that creature, Knox. You just downgraded if you are. Although after me, you can’t get an upgrade anyway so...”

“Awww, Tori, you didn’t even get the chance to install your damn software, so he couldn’t upgrade or downgrade. You never dated, remember?

“You only fucked each other, so you were only classed as a mediocre virus at best... not a long-lasting one though... Clearly.” I laced every single word that came out of my mouth with attitude.

The table fell silent as I swirled my drink around, looking back at her with a bored expression. Andy started to laugh, causing the table to erupt and Knox to smirk down at me.

I tried to keep a deadpan expression on my face, but I was failing miserably at it. I licked my lips and bit my bottom lip to stop me from laughing. ~Damn! Where did this Alex come from?~

“You fucking freak!” she squealed and walked away. It was better for her. Andy would’ve been in her face in no time if she had any sort of comeback.

“Damn, baby doll, you’re feisty tonight!” Knox grinned over the rim of his drink, his gaze never leaving mine.

I felt Caleb lean into me, lightly brushing my shoulder, whispering, “Midnight better hurry the fuck up! Because that was hot!”

I leaned back and smiled over at him while he reached for his drink. I looked back at Knox who had a very intense stare. I couldn’t help but feel butterflies in my stomach and the throbbing between my legs.

~I don’t know if it’s his stare or Caleb’s words that have me like this? Either way, I’m turned on right now.~ The alcohol wasn’t helping either. I was so horny and ballsy when I drank.

We all chatted around the table for a while, laughing and joking. Until it was ruined when a blonde girl came over and started to flirt with Knox, caressing his upper arm.

Trying to listen to Caleb talk across the way to Marcus, I couldn’t stop staring at him. He made eye contact with me then I looked back up to see her. He pulled her down and she sat on his lap.

~Stop looking, Alex.~

He was whispering in her ear, making her laugh while caressing her bare arm. She was dressed in a tight red dress that left little to the imagination. Her breasts were on display, struggling to stay inside her dress.

Her ass was nearly on show and I was pretty sure she wasn’t wearing any underwear. ~How classy.~ He looked back to me and took a drink while she whispered in his ear.

I gave him a look with a raised eyebrow, asking, ~Really?~ I saw the smirk forming on his face through the glass and rolled my eyes, focusing back on the conversation at the table.

~That’s what he’s into? Really?~

Wes came over to join us with a girl by his side too. The same one Knox had on his lap. Both watching me. ~Boys...~