No Regrets (5 page)

 

My fingers typed the response almost on their own as I mentally sifted through my closet in search of the perfect outfit.

 

C
AMI
: B
ETTER CHANGE MY CLOTHES
!! ;-)

 

It took me ten minutes to change and fix my makeup. Then I was practically skipping as I headed for the door.

When I pulled it open, Chris was standing there. He looked like a sad puppy dog, and I couldn't blame him. He'd been in a foul mood after our shopping trip and had said something to upset Annie. It was weird and I couldn't even begin to guess what the whole thing was about. It was probably his time of the month or something.

“Is she here?” he asked, trying to look over my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes and stepped out, shutting the door behind me. “Nope. She's at Ryan's. You come to say you're sorry?”

“You know I did.”

“Good, because you're a moron, Chris. That girl obviously likes you and she doesn't need you trying to tell her what to do or who to be. Let her figure that out on her own!”

“I'm sorry! Geez!”

Chris glared at me and I glared right back at him. We had some kind of glaring contest for about thirty seconds before I rolled my eyes. Of course I won. I'd perfected my glare over the years. Chris was just an amateur.

I took off, waving for him to follow me. “Come on. Walk me to Ryan's.”

Chris was still hanging his head in shame when we got down to the lobby. Mitch and Amber were there, talking or flirting or having a skank convention. Who really knew what those two were doing together. A guilty expression came over Mitch's face when he saw me. Like I'd caught him cheating or something. Please. Amber could have him and his sloppy kisses.

“Where you guys off to?” Mitch asked.

Chris shoved his hands in his pockets. “Headed to Ryan and Liam's.”

Just hearing Liam's name made my heart pound harder. Amber perked up too, but I wasn't sure if it was because of Ryan or Liam. Maybe it was both. She pretty much just threw her net of sluttiness out there and took whatever she managed to snag.

“Sounds like fun,” she purred.

I rolled my eyes and headed for the door. I didn't really care if they came or not, but I wasn't waiting around for them to make up their minds.

The sidewalks were crowded when I stepped out into the hot South Carolina sun. It was mid-August and tourist season was winding down, but it wasn't completely over just yet. Soon the days would get cooler; then there wouldn't be nearly as many families clogging the streets on the weekends.

The others came out behind me and we headed down Calhoun Street, turning just before we got to Marion Square Park so we could head over to George Street, where Ryan and Liam's apartment was. The park was filled with groups of college students, lounging and milling around, hanging out before the first day of classes. In my humble opinion it was way too hot to be outside unless you were at the beach. My skin was moist from the humidity after less than five minutes in the sun! So much for that fresh change of clothes.

When we got to the building, I pressed the intercom button and waited for Ryan to let us in. Amber smoothed her hands down her chest and I rolled my eyes. Oh, good Lord. Mitch couldn't take his eyes off her tits. He
would
be into all that fake shit.

After a few seconds, Ryan's voice came over the intercom. “Who's there?”

Chris pushed the button and leaned in close. “Open the door, you ass.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ryan said; then the door clicked.

My heart went into overdrive the second Chris opened the door. All I could think about was Liam. The last time I'd been to the apartment, we had definitely left things open-ended. I wasn't sure how serious he was about the whole thing, though. I was Ryan's little sister, after all, and I was pretty sure there was some kind of bro code when it came to stuff like that.

Amber charged up the stairs, all thoughts of Mitch gone now that she had her sights on someone else. My gut told me it was Ryan, which was going to leave her disappointed. She was not his type. What about Liam, though? I didn't know what his type was yet. All I knew about Liam was that I'd spent so much time building him up in my head since the day I met him, I seriously doubted he would be able to live up to the hype.

Mitch frowned and watched Amber bounce up the stairs. I was so excited to see Liam I was practically bouncing too, but I didn't want to blow it by acting like a flirty teenager. Even if that's exactly what I was.

“You lonely now?” I asked Mitch, batting my eyes playfully. It was over the top, but I had the sneaking suspicion he wouldn't do subtle at that moment. Not the way his eyes were glued to Amber's ass.

Mitch's face lit up. “Do I look lonely?”

“Kind of. But there's no reason to be when there's a much more attractive alternative right in front of you.”

He laughed and Chris shot me a warning look. I ignored him. He wasn't my brother—or my cousin—even though he forgot that most of the time. I swear, he was almost as overprotective as Ryan!

By the time we made it to the apartment, Mitch and I were flirting like crazy. It didn't stop my heart from thumping when I saw Liam.
Of course
, his eyes were glued to Amber's ample cleavage. Even though I had no real claim on the sexy Brit, it still made me want to scratch Amber's eyes out.

“What'd I say last night, asshat?” Ryan yelled.

I almost jumped out of my skin, and it took me a second to realize Ryan was talking to Mitch. He was standing dangerously close to me.

“You can't keep her from dating, man.” Mitch grinned and headed for the kitchen.

Dating? Since when did Mitch date? According to the stories I'd heard about him, never. Plus, I wasn't interested in dating anyone right now, and what I
was
interested in doing had nothing to do with Mitch.

“Yeah, but I can keep her from getting screwed over by assholes,” Ryan muttered. He turned to Annie, who was sitting next to him on the couch, holding a beer. “You and Cami need to be careful. Guys like that are only after one thing. At least Liam's honest about it.”

I filed the information away for later and headed to the kitchen in search of my own beer. Mitch turned to face me, but his eyes never quite made it to my actual
face
. Ryan walked into the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks. He narrowed his eyes on Mitch in a way that made me feel like I was watching some documentary about predators on Animal Planet.

“Watch yourself,” Ryan said. He jerked the fridge open and grabbed two beers.

I was just reaching forward to get one for myself when Mitch said, “You know how ridiculous you sound, right?”

Ryan slammed the fridge, barely missing my fingers, and spun around to face Mitch. “She's my sister and—”

“Your cousin,” I corrected. I wasn't in the mood for the big brother bit. Especially not after he'd almost smashed my fingers to pieces in the refrigerator door.

Ryan inhaled slowly, but he didn't take his eyes off Mitch. “I'm not kidding around.”

“I'm so scared.” Mitch rolled his eyes like he was six years old.

“Cut it out,” I snapped. “Ryan, you're blocking the fridge and I'm dying of thirst over here.”

Ryan stomped out, but before I could go for a beer Mitch had the door open. He held the bottle out to me with a lopsided grin. “You wanted this.”

“You trying to get me drunk?” Of course I knew he was, but it didn't stop me from taking the beer. It's not like he was going to get anywhere just because he got me drunk. Please.

“Me? Never!” Mitch didn't even try to keep the grin off his face.

I rolled my eyes, then headed back out to the living room. Not going to happen.

Annie was on the couch, smashed in between Ryan and Chris. Seeing her brought the list to mind and I had the sudden urge to do something crazy. Especially with Liam sitting right in front of me, looking all hot and sounding all British. His imitation sex hair was just as messy as the last time I'd seen him, and when he smiled in my direction, I got a glimpse of those perfectly imperfect teeth. His eyes glinted with trouble. I would gladly get into trouble with him. Lots and lots of trouble.

I could hardly take my eyes off Liam as I sat on the coffee table right in front of Annie. “So which one are we doing tonight?”

Annie's face turned red and every guy in the room looked back and forth between the two of us. Liam was watching me carefully, and when our eyes met, he grinned. I knew exactly how that sounded, and the reaction I got out of him was perfect.

“What?” Ryan said between clenched teeth.

I made a big show of rolling my eyes, then waved my hand at him dismissively. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“Well, now you have to spill,” Liam said, and I turned my entire body until I was facing him. His eyes held mine, and when his lips twitched, I wanted to get on my knees and thank God not only for making such a perfect human specimen, but also for sending him my way. “Because everyone in this room has very vivid pictures in their heads.”

“They better not,” Ryan muttered.

Liam's expression darkened and he almost looked ashamed. Dammit! Why did Ryan have to be such a buzzkill all the time? Liam turned away and when I rolled my eyes, the irritation was real.

Everyone was waiting for a response, so I turned to Annie to see how she felt about it. Her cheeks were still flushed, but I didn't think it was from embarrassment. She seemed a little buzzed, which would account for her shrugging like it was no big deal.

I took that as an A-okay.

“Annie and I have a few
things
we want to do before our freshman year is over, that's all,” I said elusively, darting a look Liam's way. “Things we've never done before.”

“Sounds fun,” Chris said. “Like what?”

“Well, some of them are personal.” I kept my eyes on Liam and arched an eyebrow. He leaned forward. Was it my imagination, or did he look a little excited by that? “And some are small things—like Annie getting her ears pierced today.”

“You didn't have your ears pierced?” Amber was behind the couch, and she leaned over so her tits were right in Ryan's face. She could smother a man with those things. “I have so many holes in my body, I've lost count.”

Was she serious? She left herself wide open for that one. “And they're all very well used,” I said, just loud enough for her to hear.

Amber straightened up so fast her boobs bounced. I was shocked they didn't knock her over. “Bitch, say that again.”

My hands clenched into fists and my face got about ten degrees hotter, but before I could do anything, Ryan was on his feet in front of me. “Hey! That's enough, Amber.”

“I'm out of here.” Amber's face puckered up so much she looked like one of those really wrinkly little dogs.

A satisfied smile curled up my lips, but it disappeared when Liam got to his feet and flashed Amber an adorable grin. “Going to a pub?”

“Yeah.” Amber's irritation was gone in the blink of an eye. She leaned closer to Liam. Probably so he could see down her shirt even better.

Liam motioned toward the door. “Allow me to escort you. Wouldn't want you to get lost.”

Every ounce of anger inside me melted away like the polar icecaps. Damn Amber and her ridiculous boobs. And damn Liam for thinking something so ridiculous was hot!

He opened the door and swept his arm dramatically toward the hall. Amber's hips swayed as she walked past him, and his eyes stroked every curve of her body. I wanted to scream. Seriously? That was the kind of trash he was interested in? I couldn't believe it. Talk about not living up to my expectations!

Liam turned and wiggled his eyebrows at Ryan. “I'll punish her for you, mate.”

The door shut and Ryan grinned. He shook his head like he couldn't believe that had just happened. “Son of a bitch.”

I tilted my beer up to my lips and gulped the rest down. So much for making any progress with Liam tonight.

“Back to this stuff you want to do,” Ryan said. “What kind of stuff?”

I worked on keeping my tone even as I waved my bottle through the air. “Oh you know. Things like get a guy's number at a bar, get a tattoo, go skinny-dipping.”

Ryan shook his head like he thought I was the dumbest person in the world, but Chris sat up straighter. His eyes went over Annie. Geez, could you be any more obvious, you perv?

“We can take care of that skinny-dipping thing right now,” Mitch said. “You got a shower, right, Ryan?”

Ryan looked like he was on the verge of hitting Mitch. “That isn't skinny-dipping.”

Mitch gave me a wink and I forced out a smile. “There's water and your clothes are off. Close enough.”

Ryan's face morphed into an angry shade of red, but Annie's phone rang before he could say anything. She jumped up and pulled out her phone, but I wasn't paying attention. This stupid thing with Amber was a setback for sure, but I wasn't done going after Liam. Not by a long shot.

T
he first week of school was divided between classes and playing makeover with Annie, which kept my mind busy. I was having a good time, even though Annie wouldn't let me go all-out, which was infuriating. She had assets with a capital A, and she refused to use them! I didn't get it. I used my
ass
ets every chance I got. My boobs too.

Wednesday morning I was jogging down the street on my way to the stupid speech class the college required me to take—as if
I
don't know how to talk—when I ran into Liam. Literally ran into him. I turned a corner and my face smacked into his chest. It felt like someone had hit me with a brick wall, and as I careened backward, I wondered briefly if they had moved the building. That was the only possible explanation for the solid structure I'd slammed into.

Arms went around me, stopping me from falling on my ass. Which was good, because it was one of my most prized possessions and I hated the idea of hurting it. I looked up and the sun was shining down around him; it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to such blinding light. When they finally did, I was greeted with a gorgeous grin. Swoon!

“You all right?” he asked.

Liam's arms were still around me, and it hit me that the brick wall I'd run into was him. His ripped, perfectly sculpted, worthy of an
Abercrombie & Fitch
ad body. Which was pressed up against me at that moment. I steadied my hands on his chest, and when he righted me, those very same muscles flexed under my palms.

Probably for the first time in my entire existence, I was tongue-tied. So I nodded. Like a bobblehead or a moron. Probably both!

Liam chuckled, but he didn't let me go. “You seem a bit dazed.”

“Umm . . .” Yup. That was the only noise I managed to get out. I sounded like the village idiot. I tried to turn on the charm and find the flirty girl who usually possessed my body, but she seemed lost. Maybe I had killed her when I ran into Liam. What if she never came back?

“Running late?” Liam's blue eyes narrowed on me like he thought I might have a concussion or something. It was a very good possibility.

“Yes.” Finally! A real word. I tried again, “Slept through my alarm, which is totally normal for me. I mean, how do they expect college students to get up this early anyway? They know we're out late partying, right? As far as I'm concerned, there should be no classes before noon. That would give us all time to sleep and recover from the night before, and we'd be more attentive in class. I bet GPAs would go sky high too.”

I felt like patting myself on the back. It was a brilliant idea if I'd ever heard one.

Liam relaxed and flashed me a huge smile. “Out late with Mitch?”

“Mitch?” I was horrified when I felt my face scrunch up. I knew that look. I'd seen myself in the mirror when I made that look, and it was
not
pretty. Desperately, I tried to smooth out my features, but my body wouldn't cooperate. Not with my brain still trying to process Liam's comment.

“Yeah. I thought you two . . .” He shrugged, then shook his head. “Don't worry about it, I won't tell Ryan.”

I had no idea what he was talking about, but I knew I was sweating. And I was still making that hideous face. “You don't have to keep anything from Ryan about Mitch. I mean, there's nothing with Mitch. I just like to flirt, that's all. It gets me a few drinks when I go out. Saves me money. The way I hear he likes to screw over girls, I feel like I'm doing a service to women everywhere.”

Now Liam looked confused. “I saw you chat him up when you got to the flat the other day. Thought something was going on, that's all.”

Oh! The lightbulb in my head went off, and the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, along with a bunch of other clichés I had never really understood until that moment.

“Oh no, nothing like that. I'm a flirt. You should know that.” I smiled and that horrendous expression was finally off my face. “I think you and I spent a fair amount of time flirting with each other the day we met.”

Liam grinned an adorable grin that would probably make most girls blush and stutter, but not me. Oh no. All it did was make me even more determined. Liam would be mine. I now had a list of twenty things I wanted to accomplish before I turned twenty and all of them had to do with Liam.

“Very true,” he said.

“What about you?” I asked. “Did you have fun with Amber the other day?”

Liam rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. “We went to a pub and got pissed, had a few laughs. But that's about it.”

I couldn't figure out what that meant. Had they slept together? I'd been at Ryan's pretty late and Liam never came home, so they could have gone to her place. It was hard to say.

“She make you go home alone?” I said, trying to sound teasing instead of like I was fishing for information.

“She was up for it. But Amber's always up for it, isn't she?” Liam grinned and leaned closer. “Want to hear the truth?”

I nodded. Hell yes, I did.

“She's a bit of a nutter. Especially when she's pissed.” He shrugged. “She's fun, but not exactly my type.”

It seemed like a total line, so I said, “That's not what it looked like to me. Your eyes were sewn to her ass.”

“Didn't say her arse wasn't my type.” He flashed me a crooked smile.

I threw my head back and laughed, I couldn't help it. Liam got points for honesty. “An ass man, huh?”

“Among other things.”

Liam's eyes went over me and goose bumps popped up on every inch of my bare skin. Which was a lot. I mean, it was way too hot in Charleston to cover up. The sundress I wore had little straps and a nice V that dipped between my breasts. I'd been blessed with solid C cups and a tiny waist, a nice hourglass figure men really seemed to appreciate; and at that moment Liam was appreciating the hell out of it. I could practically feel his eyes caressing my curves.

Liam cleared his throat and glanced at his watch. “Should probably let you get to class.”

Class? Oh shit! I'd totally forgotten that I was on my way to class.

“Oh, yeah. I guess I need to get going,” I said hesitantly. I was already late and I hated the idea of walking away from Liam. “I mean, that's where I was going. But it's just speech, I can miss it, right?”

Liam grinned as if he thought it was the best idea he'd ever heard. “You're already a brilliant talker.”

“That's what I said!” I giggled. “It's actually one of my favorite things to do, if you hadn't noticed.”

“Oh, I noticed.” He flashed me those perfectly crooked teeth. “It's adorable the way you babble whenever you're excited.”

My eyebrows shot up. Adorable? There were a lot of things about me guys found cute, but the talking wasn't usually one. They usually tried to shut me up by kissing me, which wasn't always a bad thing. I did really like to hear myself talk, though. I just had so many important and interesting and intelligent things to say! Only I hadn't really met a guy who appreciated that about me yet.

And Liam did . . .

That was unexpected.

“Why do you look confused?” he asked.

I shrugged and brushed the damp hair off the back of my neck. I'd started to sweat thanks to the wonderfully humid morning air. “I think most guys like a girl who wants to listen to them talk about themselves, that's all.”

“Not me.” Liam looked at his watch again and frowned. “I have to head out.”

“You have class?”

He nodded, and when he looked up his blue eyes held mine. Before I could say anything else, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “What's your mobile number?”

I blinked and a billion and one reactions went through my head. Like screaming with joy and throwing out a flirty response and doing a victory dance. I couldn't believe he was asking for my number already. I mean, I knew I was adorable and spunky and fun, but I hadn't dared to describe myself as irresistible quite yet.

I took his phone without responding, then pulled up his text messages and entered my number. My fingers flew across the screen as I typed, and by the time I hit
SEND
I was grinning from ear to ear. My own phone dinged in my back pocket. Now I had Liam's number too.

Liam had a goofy smile on his face when he took the phone back. “ ‘Nice running into you.' ” He looked up and chuckled. “Cute.”

“I like being original.” I headed for the building that housed my speech class, throwing over my shoulder as I went, “Thanks for saving my ass!”

 

It was five 'til three when I turned onto King Street. Beads of sweat had already formed along my hairline thanks to the humidity, but I picked up the pace anyway. I was running late—as usual. Typically, I didn't care, but Dr. Houseman always gave me a disapproving look when I was late. Like he thought I was too busy participating in an orgy or something equally depraved to bother making it to his office on time.

I broke into a full sprint when the office came into view, practically shoving a woman out of the way who was too busy texting to notice I was in a rush. She stumbled toward the street and her head snapped up as I ran by.

“Watch it!” she snapped. The glare she shot me was hotter than the damn sun.

“Sorry!” I yelled, even though I wasn't. I was a southerner, after all. Even if I thought she was a total moron who deserved to be shoved for standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk texting, I had an obligation to be polite.

My mama raised me right.

I shoved the glass door open and stumbled inside. The icy air swept over me, cooling me down but leaving my skin sticky. My shirt clung to my back and my armpits were moist, and don't even get me started on how disgustingly damp my bra was. Then there were the unmentionable areas . . . Yeah, sometimes living in the south sucked.

The waiting room was empty and music that reminded me of my grandma played through the overhead speakers, just quiet enough that I couldn't quite catch the words. Jeannie, Dr. Houseman's receptionist, looked up from the dog-eared paperback she was reading. Her whole face turned down when she frowned. Just like every other week, I couldn't stop from thinking how much she would benefit from a facelift. Or at least a few rounds of Botox.

“You're late,” she snapped.

I glanced at the clock mounted on the wall above her head. The big hand was a quarter of an inch past the twelve.

“Sorry. I had class.”

It was a total lie. I'd been back in my room doing some online shopping and the time had gotten away from me. I really needed to learn how to set an alarm. This was getting ridiculous.

Jeannie's black, penciled-on eyebrows shot up and she pressed her lips into a tight line. She didn't believe me. Probably because I was late almost every week, and I always had an excuse. When I lived at home it was easy. The traffic was bad, I got stuck behind a buggy tour going through downtown. I couldn't find a space in the parking garage. There were a lot of them.

“Dr. Houseman is waiting for you.”

She went back to her paperback and I tried to get a good look at it as I went by her desk. Just like I thought, it was one of those trashy romance novels. I'm pretty sure Fabio was on the cover of this one, which made it really hard to hold in my giggle. She loved her mommy porn more than anyone I'd ever met.

Dr. Houseman was sitting in his leather chair when I walked into his office. His head was back and his eyes were closed. He had his iPad in his lap and his hands were folded neatly over it.

He didn't even look up when he said, “How's the first week of school going, Cami?”

I gnawed on my bottom lip as I lowered myself onto the leather couch in front of him. I'd expected him to tell me I was late—as if I didn't know—so it took me a few seconds to recover. Plus, his office was pretty much the only place on Earth where I had a difficult time forcing myself to talk.

“Um . . . It's good. I'm having fun.”

Dr. Houseman opened his eyes, but he didn't seem particularly angry with me. More concerned, really. “You're holding up okay?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged and shifted on the couch. The leather was cool against my skin and my bare legs felt like they were covered in a layer of glue that was slowly drying, trapping me against the couch. “Are you afraid I'm going to have a nervous breakdown or something?”

Dr. Houseman shook his head and turned his iPad on. When the screen lit it up, the image of his grandkids reflected in his glasses. Three little girls, all redheads. The office was covered in their pictures.

When he looked up, their smiling faces still reflected off his lenses. “Have you been writing in your journal?”

“Every day.”

“Did you bring it with you?”

“Do you want to read it?” I stuck my hand in my bag like I was ready to pull it out. He would say no, but I always went through the motions. Even when I forgot to bring it with me I asked him.

“No. That's between you and Julie.”

As if she would ever read it.

Sometimes I felt like this whole thing was a waste of time. But it made Mama happy. She'd caught me talking to Julie a couple months after the accident and it had really freaked her out. That's when I started coming to see Dr. Houseman. I tried to tell my parents I wasn't crazy. It's not like I thought Julie was talking to me or even that she could hear me. I just missed her and it helped me somehow. But I couldn't really blame Mama for being scared, not after everything she'd gone through with Ryan's mom.