Deciding Love (9 page)

As soon as he saw us he stopped, moving in our direction with angry, purposeful strides. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, kitty?” he barked.

She shrugged, smiling weakly. “Socializing?”

I winced. She was so not good at getting out of trouble.

“This is a
college
party. Not a place for high school girls.”

“Relax, Ky. We’re here with friends from school. It’s not like we’re the only ones.”

“You’re here with guys from your school, Cat. Do you see any other high school girls?” He threw his hands up in the air. “You know what? That doesn’t even matter. There could be a hundred high school girls here, that still doesn’t make it okay for you to be.”

“Kyle, I’m going to be going to parties now, whether you like it or not. You’re not Dad. It’s not like we’re being stupid and getting drunk.”

“Go to parties all you want, but not ones at frat houses!” He stepped closer to her, pointing a finger at her chest. “Do you even know what eighty percent of those guys are thinking in there? Do you know how easy it would be to slip something into your drink and you wake up not knowing what the hell happened?”

“Kyle, neither of us are drinking. We’re not stupid,” I said.

His angry gaze flew to me, making me take a step back.

“And you,” he said, instantly making me regret having said anything. “How do you think Colt would react if he’d come here with me tonight?”

I shrugged, licking my lips against the dryness that had filled my mouth.

“I don’t honestly know,” I admitted.

“Well here’s a clue, he’s got a worse temper than I do, so imagine what that would have been like.”

I was getting really sick of him and his overprotective attitude. Standing up straighter, I said, “I’d like to think, even if he wasn’t happy about it, he’d still have enough respect for me that he wouldn’t embarrass me in front of everyone.”

His head jerked back. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I embarrass you in there?”

“Yes,” Cat mumbled so softly I wasn’t sure he even heard her.

“Does it
embarrass
you to know that someone is looking out for you?”

“There’s looking out for people, and there’s just being over protective. We’re not children. We are allowed to go out and make our own mistakes. How else will we learn?”

Cat watched our exchange in silence, her eyes wide as she bit at her thumb nail.

“You have no idea what it’s like to make some mistakes and have to live with them after. Excuse me if I want to spare my sister some of the harsh realities of life.”

“That’s fine. You want to look out for your sister? Good. Do that. But I’m not your sister, so you can leave me out of your parental lectures. I get enough of that at home. I don’t need it from some guy who is my friend’s brother.” I realized our voices kept getting louder, to the point where I was now practically yelling at him.

He grew quiet suddenly though, his eyes narrowed on me.

“You know what the first thing someone said to me when I got here? How there was this hot girl here with two coloured eyes, and how they couldn’t wait to show her the real college experience.”

I blanched. Well that was awkward, and super creepy.

“That’s the kind of guys you’re hanging out with. You two are out of your league and you don’t even know it.” He stepped back. “But I won’t look out for you anymore, Chloe. You want to be some guys notch, go ahead. See if I give a shit.”

I clenched my fists, heat infusing my cheeks. “I have more intelligence than that, thank you though, for your vote of confidence. If there’s anyone here with notches to worry about, it’s you.”

I distantly heard Cat suck in a breath. Where was all this fight coming from? I was usually the calm, passive aggressive type person. You know, keep it in, and maybe let it out by running or something, until I felt better. Instead, I seemed to just be making him angrier.

Jax appeared at that moment, his eyes looking nervously between Kyle and I. “Listen, Briggs, I’ll watch out for both of them, I promise. They’re safe with me.”

Kyle didn’t look away from me, our eyes locked as we both breathed heavily from our anger.

“This doesn’t concern you,” he said darkly, still not looking at Jax.

“Chloe doesn’t really concern you either, man. You keep acting like she’s yours or something.”

Wrong.

Wrong thing to say.

Could the ground just swallow me up right now?

Kyle finally looked over to him, one eyebrow cocked. “Is she yours?”

Jax stammered nervously. “Well, no, but-”

Kyle turned away from him, looking at Cat. “I want you both in the car,” he said, “Now.”

He walked away, leaving us without a backward glance again. Cat gave me an apologetic look.

“We should probably go,” she said.

“I can drive Chloe if she wants to stay,” Jax offered.

I gave him a smile, shaking my head. “Thanks, but I don’t feel like partying anymore right now. I’ll see you Monday at school.”

He nodded and we both left, ignoring all the people watching us. When we got back inside, I noticed Rannon standing there watching me with an interested look.

“Leaving so soon?” he asked.

“Apparently,” I said, walking by him without waiting to see what else he had to say. I really didn’t want to have to listen to someone else chew me out.

This had been,
officially
, the worst party ever.

Cat fell back on her bed as soon as we made it to her room. She stared up at the ceiling, shaking her head.

“I can’t believe how mortifying that was,” she groaned. “Could my brother be any more embarrassing?”

“No, I don’t think so,” I said, dropping my purse and kicking off my heels. I sat down on the edge of the bed, looking at her. “Not really the best party to start off our senior year, huh?” I said, trying to lighten the situation.

Cat laughed. “So true.” She sighed. “At least we looked hot, even if it was for only a short amount of time.”

I lay back beside her. “It will just make us seem more mysterious,” I said.

“Oooh, I like that,” she giggled. “Way to spin it.”

I chuckled. “I try.”

She turned her head so she faced me. “My brother’s pretty ridiculous.” It wasn’t a question, but I could tell she was looking for my opinion.

“He’s just looking out for you,” I said.

She gave me an
oh please
look. “I think we both know he’s a bit much.”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “You need to start sticking up for yourself, otherwise he’s going to kill your social life.”

She sighed. “I know. You’re right.” She appeared thoughtful for a second before giving me a funny look.

“You know, most people never talk back to Ky, especially when he’s that mad. I can’t believe you stood up to him the way you did.”

I winced. “It was bad, huh? You think he’s going to hate me now.”

“Oh no,” she giggled, “I definitely can’t see that happening.”

“What does that mean?”

She shrugged, a small grin playing on her lips.

We both dropped the subject, getting up to change into our pjs. I slept on a makeshift bed on her floor. Cat looked down at me as we turned the lights off.

“Good night, Chloe,” she whispered.

“Night, Cat.”

“I’m really glad you came tonight, even if my brother ruined it for us.”

“Me too,” I replied, meaning it.

Shortly after, I could hear her breathing even out. I, on the other hand, lay there staring into the darkness around me, my mind still going a mile a minute. I couldn’t help but wonder what Kyle was doing in his room. No one had talked the whole way home, the car filled with an almost tangible tension.

Unlike usual, I’d kept my gaze on Kyle from the backseat, taking in the stiff set of his shoulders, and the way he’d gripped the wheel. His mouth had been set in a permanent grim line, his eyes even harder looking than normal, as if the whole world was pissing him off.

I didn’t want to fight with him. But I also didn’t want him to think he could treat me the way he did Cat. For one, he wasn’t my brother. Another, I could take care of myself. But mostly, I didn’t want him to see me as some sort of sister figure. I wanted him to see me...differently. As a possible love interest? I snorted into the night. That was never going to happen. Especially not after tonight.

Rolling onto my side, I closed my eyes, willing myself to fall asleep so this night would be over. From down the hall I heard a door open, followed by a low, muffled voice. Instantly I knew it was Kyle, recognizing the deep tone. It sounded like he was talking on the phone as he made his way closer.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” I heard him say. He chuckled, the sound causing goose bumps to rise along my arms. I shivered beneath my blankets from the sexy gruffness to it.

“I’m looking forward to seeing you too,” he said. My breath lodged in my now aching throat. “Yup. Okay, bye.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as I heard him descend the stairs. An ugly feeling spread throughout my stomach. He was going out to meet up with some girl? I shouldn’t be peeved, and yet I couldn’t help it. He’d given us crap about boys, but he could go out and do whatever he wanted with girls? How was that fair?

Kyle Briggs, and all his hypocritical ways, could just bugger off for all I cared. I don’t know why I had even considered him attractive. Sure, he was beautiful on the outside. But clearly on the inside he was just a miserable old man. Yes, that’s exactly what he was. A crotchety old man. He wasn’t worth me lying here stewing over him. It was time to forget about him, and this entire night.

With a firm mental nod, I went back to focusing on falling asleep, telling myself that from now on I would not be dreaming of him anymore either. I was done with Kyle, both in real life and in fantasy. I just hoped my brain listened.

10

Kyle

The sun peaked through the blinds, casting an early morning glow about the room. I blinked my eyes open, the stress from the previous night hitting me all over again. If I had thought a good sleep would help, I was sorely wrong.

Just the image of Chloe in her short dress, her eyes bright with anger as she mouthed off to me had my mood plummeting just as it spiked my desire. Again. I’d never wanted to grab someone and kiss them as badly as I had then. Sweet little Chloe Morgan had some fire in her, and it had been directed at me. She amazed me, while at the same time pissed me off.

I still couldn’t believe my sister had been stupid enough to go to a college party. I knew Cat could handle herself, but they had been out of their league last night. I knew the majority of the guys there, and not one of them was good enough for either girl. There was so much bad shit that happened at frat parties. If something had happened to Cat...or Chloe...I couldn’t even think about it.

As I lay in bed, I knew that I needed to stop thinking about Chloe so much.

“Chloe doesn’t really concern you either, man. You keep acting like she’s yours or something.
”

That fucker needed to get a clue. Chloe might not be mine, but she wasn’t going to be his either.

Why not? What’s stopping her?
My mind argued. I ran a hand down my face. Fuck, I was so torn with this girl.

As much as I didn’t want to look at her, think of her, want her - I also didn’t want anyone else to either. That wasn’t fair to her, and I knew I couldn’t keep it up forever. Eventually Chloe would find a guy she liked, and he’d treat her like a queen.

That was how it should be. Not only could I not date her because she was Colt’s sister, and Cat’s friend, but I wouldn’t be able to give her a real relationship. My head was so messed up, I was no good for anyone, especially not someone like Chloe.

Pulling myself up, I decided I would just go back to ignoring her like I had been, and stick with it. How hard could that be? I had plenty of other girls I could occupy my time with, if I needed to. Not that I was going to fill my nights with empty lays.

Just like I had last night. I shook my head at myself, as disgusted with my hook-up with Rachael now as I had been the moment I left her place last night. What the fuck was wrong with me? At least I knew she wasn’t going to be calling me anytime soon looking for something more. Not like someone like Chloe would.

Standing, I pulled on some flannel pants and headed down to the kitchen to get some coffee before I showered and went to the library to finish a paper. Last night was officially over, all the highs and lows of it, and I was going to forget it all, moving forward. Pouring a cup, I leaned against the counter, savoring the rich aroma as my brain slowly started to wake up with the rest of my body.

The house was pretty quiet, surprisingly. Looking at the clock on the stove, it was ten, which meant Mom and Dad were at church already. It also meant Cat was probably still asleep. She was not a morning person, even more so than me.

Movement outside had me turning my head, thinking maybe she had gotten up already. That was unusual. A glimpse of dark hair instead of strawberry blonde instantly corrected me.