The Fight In Us: A Brother's Best Friend College Romance (The Four Book 4) by Becca Steele (read me a book txt) 📗

was in the mood to get wasted and find a hot girl to bury myself inside. I still hadn’t made any headway on the Martin Smith issue, I’d had a full-on week of studying, and my part-time job in the Alstone College IT department had just brought added pressure that I didn’t need. At least I was only doing four hours a week on that, but it was still four hours that I couldn’t really spare at the moment. My headaches had been flaring up too. In short, I wasn’t the most fun person to be around at this point in time.

“Mate, you okay?” Cassius studied me with a look of concern as I stood leaning against the kitchen counter. This wasn’t good. I wasn’t about to bring down the mood of the party.

“I need a drink.”

“Beer?”

“Something stronger. Much stronger.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “Leave it with me.”

“Want to go upstairs?”

I blinked as Cindy? Candy? trailed her lips across my ear, pressing her body into mine suggestively.

“Not now, Cindy,” I slurred. What I needed was for the room to stop spinning.

“It’s Amy, you wanker.” She shoved at my chest, pushing away from me, and I groaned as the room spun again. Placing my hand on the wall for balance, I staggered in the direction of the hallway. No destination in mind, but my body seemed to think it was a good idea. Somehow, I ended up in a corner of the lounge area, which was weirdly quiet. Dimly, I remembered people heading outside since it was a warm evening.

I sank into one of the chairs and rested my heavy head in the palms of my hands, willing my head to stop spinning.

“What’s wrong?” The soft voice had me dropping my hands, and my gaze trailed up long legs covered in black thigh-high socks and over a pair of black leather shorts topped with a studded silver belt. I didn’t get any further before my hands shot out and gripped the girl around the backs of her thighs, pulling her into my lap. I vaguely registered her surprised squeal as my fingers touched her smooth skin, and then I raised my blurry gaze to meet her face.

Oh. Fuck.

I buried my face in her soft pink hair as my arms went around her body, hugging her to me. Maybe if I didn’t look at her, I could pretend this wasn’t real.

“Your hair smells like candy floss,” I mumbled, inhaling deeply.

“What the fuck? Are you sniffing my hair?”

“Are you really here?”

This time a laugh escaped her, and she reached between us to grip my chin, forcibly tugging my head upwards.

I leaned back against the armchair headrest with a sigh and closed my eyes but kept my arms around her. The next moment, I felt a sharp pinch on my arm. “Ow! What was that for?”

“You asked if I was really here.”

I opened my eyes and groaned at the amusement in Lena’s gaze. Had I ever noticed how blue her eyes were before?

“Why are we sitting like this?” She waved a hand between us.

“You’re the one sitting on me.”

“Like I had any choice.” I didn’t see her making any effort to move, though. “Just how much did you drink?”

“Dunno. Ask Cass.”

She muttered something about her “irresponsible brother” and something about a shiv, but I was lost, my eyes falling closed again as the room continued to spin.

The next thing I was aware of was someone shaking my shoulder. Opening my eyes again, I saw Lena holding out a large glass with some kind of icy-looking brownish liquid and a straw poking out of the top. “Drink this.” She handed the glass to me, and I took a tentative taste.

Iced coffee. Strong. Suddenly, I was really thirsty. “Thanks.”

She gave me a brief smile, then disappeared.

The coffee worked its magic. Half an hour later, I was definitely still drunk, but I wasn’t seeing double. I guessed I’d been out of it for longer than I thought, because the house was noticeably emptier than it had been, and the music was playing at a volume that meant I didn’t have to shout to be heard. Making my way into the kitchen, I poured myself a pint of water, then knocked it back, noticing Cassius heading towards me, for once without a girl all over him.

“Lost your touch, Cass? Not getting any tonight?”

He raised a brow at me. “I could say the same about you.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, well.” My voice turned serious without me meaning it to. “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

He gave me that same look of concern he’d given me at the beginning of the night, so I added, “Fuck it. Let’s find…Laura, was it? And her friend?”

“Yeah.” A grin spread across his face, and he tapped his bottle against my empty pint glass. “Last I saw, they were outside.”

A flash of pink hair appeared in my peripheral vision, and I paused. “You go on out. I just wanna check something.”

“Alright.” He sauntered out of the sliding doors onto the deck, and I heard his “Hi, ladies” and a high-pitched squeal. I doubted he’d even notice if I was there or not.

Instead of following him out, I trailed behind the girl with the pink hair like the stalker that I was, all the way through the house and out of the front door.

What the fuck I was doing, I didn’t know.

Call it temporary insanity. Something was pulling me towards her, and I didn’t know why. All I knew was, I needed to be near her.

She paused next to the driver’s-side door of her car, turning around to face me. Her expression was impossible to read. “You can stop following me now.”

“Where are you going, Lena?” I came to a stop right in front of her, our bodies almost touching.

“H-home.” Her voice came out all breathy.

“Why?” I planted one hand against the door of her car, next to her shoulder, and the other…fuck, I guess I was still drunk because it