Bearilicious - Collection (23 page)

Chapter 2

“This whole thing is a huge mistake.”

Emily had been to parties in the past, real silly things that involved high school kids drinking beer and getting hammered on a Friday night.

When she was in college, she went to one party that had a lot to do with drinking until she was stupid. But those weren’t the only kinds of parties she’d been to.

She’d been to real cool dance parties, or even a couple of dinner parties, and the fanciest she ever got was wearing a simple black dress and her mother’s pearls.

She highly doubted that a black dress and her mother’s jewelry would be enough to help her blend in
this
place.

To her pleasant surprise, Spencer had appeared at her bedroom door with an outfit in hand, and while Emily had battled with the urge to squeal when she realized the dress was
gorgeous,
she couldn’t shake off the
wrong
feeling at accepting her step-brother’s suggestion for the party.

Maybe she was just being overly cautious, but the guy kept staring at her like… ugh it was weird.

Eventually, Emily just took the thing and began to get ready. The outfit was lovely, but it was rather snug around her figure.

She didn’t consider herself excessively modest, but she couldn’t help but want to throw on a jacket over her since the dress did nothing but enhance the appearance of her boobs a bit too much.

Her entire life, Emily had been picked on for the size of her breasts—being called a slut just because of her appearance was hard to take at any age—and so she didn’t like to draw as much attention to them.

It didn’t help either that all the guys who had been interested in her had been trying to get her in bed because she ‘looked easy.’ It was such bullshit.

So, to fight back, Emily became real good at shouting at her aggressors with foul language and ‘unlady-like’ behavior that had saddened her mother to ridiculous points. She could tell Spencer was probably one of those guys who only stuck around to a chick because of her breast size or something—dick.

Sighing, Emily could feel what small desire to befriend her step-brother disappeared when she got a good look in the mirror. She looked rather beautiful, she didn’t doubt it, but the dress revealed far too much for her liking.

Straightening her shoulder, Emily figured that if this was what she was wearing maybe there would be other women at this party that did.

God was she wrong.

Because, as it turned out, Emily was the only girl at the damn thing.

Spencer had done quite a show to introduce her, making sure to draw everyone’s attention to her. And without a doubt, the second all those preppy-looking Armani clad men turned to look at her, their eyes all honed in directly over Emily’s chest.

Of course, within moments, Emily was surrounded by a bunch of rich dudebros that insisted for her to get a drink with them and to just ‘relax’.

Her mouth felt sore with the amount of time she had to repeat herself in her polite declines and wanting nothing more than to find an excuse to leave early.

“You look like you want to melt into the background,” Emily heard about an hour into the party and everyone got distracted by some entertainment offered into another part of the ridiculous villa.

She was in a villa. Damn rich people.

When she glanced over her shoulder, her arms firmly planted over her chest to hide her breasts from view, Emily was surprised when she met gazes with Mr. Gump—her step-brother’s associate.

For a moment she wasn’t entirely sure how to answer, but she noticed immediately how he kept his gaze on her face rather than her chest. That was progress, she supposed.

“Why?” Emily replied, too tired to grin and bear another polite greeting. This whole event had been exhausting.

“You know of a good rock I can crawl under?”

“I doubt you’d want to go there if I told you there was.”

Oh good, he spoke sarcasm. It’s about time. Smiling crookedly, Emily shrugged.

“I would if it was a regular rock and not made of…I don’t know, diamond or something.”

She heard him let out a soft snort of amusement.

“Well, the villa does overlook a very rich forest. I’m sure you could find a nice regular rock for you to hide under.”

“I appreciate it,” she said honestly.

“But I would much rather go home at this point.”

“Yeah,” when she glanced up he looked bored.

“I don’t blame you.”

Feeling like she could finally speak to someone without wanting to run and hide, Emily awkwardly extended her hand for him to shake.

“Emily Abernathy.”

He accepted her grip and gave her hand a quick squeeze. His skin was so warm.

“Forrest Gump.” Emily let out a small laugh at that, amused at his wit.

To her surprise, he didn’t seem as amused. Her laughter quickly died.

"...Your name," Emily trailed off, dubious. "Is Forrest...Gump?"

He stiffened, dark eyes flattening before grounding out, "Yes."

"Like the mov--"

"Yes, like the movie!" He cut her off, exasperated.

“I was born several years before the movie came out. So no, it’s not like my parents named me after a movie character.”

“Wasn’t it a book first?”

“Ugh, whatever.”

Emily couldn’t help giggling, hiding her mouth behind her palm.

“I’m so sorry, that legitimately sucks.”

Forrest Gump rolled his eyes and gave her a small smile, “I do have a middle name though.”

“What’s that?”

He gave her a half shrug, “Jeremy.”

Emily let out a small sigh and shook her head, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Forrest Jeremy Gump.”

“Please don’t do that.”

A few hours later, Emily couldn’t help but laugh in the company of her newest friend, and there was no doubt in her mind that he was incredibly handsome.

Jeremy—he insisted she addressed him as such—was from a small family that inherited a very vast business that had helped them reach insane prosperity when his father got involved.

He had been used to living in a small house until he turned seven, when his family had been able to move into a very large estate north of her (new) home. To her relief, he had led her toward one of the balconies of the villa, allowing the two of them to lean over the stone rail that exposed a vast forest line ahead.

“Some of us just luck out.” Jeremy said, taking a sip from a beer bottle. Emily swirled wine in a glass, unable to share his sentiment.

“I wouldn’t call it luck.”

“What would you call it?”

Emily took a sip of her drink, hating how good it tasted.

“A test of wills.”

Jeremy let out a laugh, “I never thought I would ever hear of a woman who hates the idea of becoming rich overnight.”

“I don’t hate it,” Emily defended, playfully bumping her shoulder against his.

“I just don’t like the idea of not earning it.”

Jeremy’s eyebrows rose, taken aback.

“You like hard work?”

“I like deserving everything I live with. I like honesty.”

Then blue eyes met black and she shrugged.

“There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“No,” he said, before lifting his beer bottle to her wine glass.

“No, there isn’t.”

The sound of crystal clinking with glass was pretty in her ears and Emily couldn’t help but find herself growing warm beneath this guy’s stare.

“Emilia!” Whatever moment had begun between her and this new guy shattered when Emily heard Spencer call out.

Turning around, Emily bit down on her cheek when she saw him standing on the entrance, grinning widely and holding two slim champagne glasses in his hands.

“Come, have a drink with me!”

“Uh, thanks?” She replied, not wanting to be in Spencer’s presence for too long.

“I’m already drinking though…”

Nope. He didn’t get the hint.

He approached her, his white suit shimmering in the soft light of the dying sunlight. Spencer glanced between her and Jeremy, his eyebrows rising before he set the two drinks down. He took another step towards Emily and she nearly ducked away from him instinctively.

Without much warning, he reached for her wine glass and plucked it out of her grip easily. Emily began to protest but was silenced when Spencer brought the glass up to his nose and he took a deep whiff.

Pulling it away with an exaggerated grimace, Spencer shook his head, brown curls swaying around his eyes.

“Are you kidding me? You’re drinking this? No way, nooo way. No family of mine—be they recent or otherwise—needs to suffer drinking
this
garbage.”

Spencer pulled his hand out over the ledge before turning the glass over.

The drink splashed into the sheer drop below and Emily watched it fall with a disappointed look. She had liked that wine.

Before Emily could register anything else, Spencer was grabbing the champagne glasses in his hands. He threw an arm around her shoulders before spinning her away, nearly making her trip over her heels.

Emily was nearly overwhelmed with the smell of Spencer’s cologne. It was soft and masculine, making Emily’s nose tingle.

“Hey Forrest, don’t mind us, I’m just going to give my new baby sister a tour of the place!”

“Yeah man, go for it.” Jeremy called back, and Emily had to fight to look over her shoulder to watch him as Spencer ushered her out.

She didn’t get a chance to even say goodbye as she was being dragged out. One of the slim champagne glasses was pressed into one of Emily’s hands before she could say a word.

“What do you think?” Spencer was saying animatedly, pressing her flush against him as they walked.

“Pretty grand huh?”

“Uh, yeah,” Emily agreed, keeping her gaze anywhere else.

“I have to say, I’m kind of ticked off,” Spencer admitted as he urged her into a strange hallway in the villa. Emily blinked in surprise.

“Most of us are born into money, but no. Not you. Lisa happened to meet my father and next thing you know, you’re living the big life. I bet that’s exciting.”

Emily frowned, but Spencer was throwing her a smile that was meant to disarm.

“Anyway, I have to say, even if I doubt you deserve any of this, I can’t help it. You are a really pretty girl, Em—you don’t mind if I call you Em, do you?—anyway, I am glad that it did end up that way. See, I would’ve been more than ticked if I found out you were ugly. But you’re not. Which is great.”

“Are you drunk?” Emily managed, frown more apparent on her face. Spencer let out a small chuckle.

“Yeah, I guess I am a bit drunk. Sorry, I tend to be really brutally honest when I get drunk. Anyway! I want to make sure there are no hard feelings between us, Em.”

Emily would have shrugged if she wasn’t so close to Spencer’s chest. Their footsteps continued to disappear down unfamiliar hallways and she couldn’t help beginning to feel nervous.

“Why would there be hard feelings?” She asked quietly.

“That’s the spirit!” Spencer said with a laugh, “No hard feelings! Come, we’re almost there.”

“Where are we going?”

Spencer gave her another smile, and this one made her feel more worried than the last one.

“It’s a favorite spot of mine. But before we get there, I want you to join me for this special drink. See, the color?”

He raised his glass, showing her the soft pink shade of the bubbling champagne.

“I save this specific champagne for special occasions and I want to invite you to the first of many drinks!”

“Oh…” Emily said, and they finally stopped in front of a long set of double doors.

“Alright!” Spencer said, grinning as he let her go.

Emily took several steps back but was forced to near him when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close.

“Here’s how it works,” he said before lifting his champagne laden hand up to her.

Emily thought he wanted to toast, so she brought her glass up as well. Spencer rolled his eyes before linking his arm through hers so to drink their champagne while locked together.

“I tell you what I like about you, and you do the same for me, and then we just drink! I’ll go first. Ahem… Emilia, you have a fantastic rack—haha, just kidding. You’re spunky and I like that. Kay, your turn.”

Emily’s head spun, uncertain how to take in Spencer’s overbearing attitude.
Just drink and leave him.

Sighing, Emily nodded.

“Spencer, you smell really… nice? I like that… I guess.”

Spencer nodded, “That’ll work. Bottoms up!” then he tugged her close as he placed his lips on the edge of his glass and downed the whole thing. Emily watched him with some reproach but shrugged and pressed her drink to her lips.