“What the hell are you doing?” Dewayne’s hard tone surprised me. What was I doing?
“I, he, she . . . I don’t know.”
I didn’t look back at Dewayne. I couldn’t explain that asinine answer. Instead, I turned to the bartender. “Make that a double, and keep ’em coming.”
Amanda
Jason was everything Preston wasn’t. He was polite. He liked talking to me. He made me feel attractive. He didn’t say hurtful, mean things. He wasn’t scanning the crowd looking for a female to haul off and screw. He was with me. Completely. It was nice. I liked feeling wanted.
So why did I keep looking back at Preston? He was drinking heavily already, and Marcus and Low hadn’t even arrived yet.
“You want something to drink?” Jason asked from beside me. I tore my gaze off Preston and turned it back to my date.
“Not really. Unless you do,” I replied. I really didn’t want to go anywhere near the bar in front of us. Far away from Preston was best.
“Did Trisha do all this? She did a fantastic job. This place looks magical. Very romantic,” Sadie said in awe as she and Jax came up beside us. He’d been stopped at the door, and the request for autographs had begun. I needed to find Trisha and have her put a stop to that. A lot of the people here were accustomed to Jax coming around, but this would be new for some guests and I knew it got to Sadie.
“Yeah, she worked on it all day. She directed and we followed,” I replied.
Sadie grabbed my arm and tugged me close to her. “Preston is looking this way. He doesn’t appear to be happy. We need to move,” she whispered.
I agreed. “Come on, let’s go down to the beach and see what Trisha decided to do under the tent she has out there. I know they are playing music and that’s where the dance floor is.”
“Oh, wait. Marcus and Low are here,” Sadie said, pointing back toward the door we’d come out of. They were inside talking to guests. We needed to go speak to them before we escaped to the beach.
“Let’s go say hello first,” I replied, looking up at Jason to see if he was okay with this.
“Yeah, let’s get the big brother thing over with. That way I can be less nervous.” The amused tone in his voice didn’t take away the serious expression in his eyes. He was nervous. Marcus was pretty good about letting me date as long as he approved. He didn’t breathe down guys’ necks or embarrass me.
“He will be nice. Come on.”
“I don’t know that I’d believe her. Your last name is Stone,” Jax drawled.
“Oh, stop it. You know he has moved on from that. Look at him. He’s infatuated with Willow,” Sadie replied.
Once upon a time Marcus had been crazy about Sadie. That was how I knew her. But Jax Stone had been the only guy ever to win Sadie’s heart. Marcus never even stood a chance. When Willow had come into his life, I’d been so happy for him. She was just as gorgeous on the inside as she was on the outside. They’d had a major hurdle to get over thanks to our father and Willow’s sister, but they’d loved each other enough. More than enough. I wanted that one day too.
“I’ll just be happy when he’s married. Maybe with a kid or two,” Jax replied. The crooked smile on his face assured everyone he was kidding. Well, maybe a little bit of that was true. Jax was incredibly possessive of Sadie. He didn’t like any guy getting too close. Marcus had gotten too close once.
Sadie laughed and kissed his cheek. Thanks to the stiletto heels she was wearing, she didn’t have to stand on her tippy toes. “I’m moving away with you tomorrow. What more do you want?”
Jax raised an eyebrow at her question. “You really want me to answer that with an audience?”
Sadie blushed and ducked her head, causing Jax to chuckle.
“Let’s go see Marcus. These two are only going to get more disgustingly sweet the longer we stand here,” Jason said, leading me past Sadie and his brother.
Marcus and Low were standing under the white lights that Trisha and I had strung together earlier and wrapped around several of the paper lanterns in the center of the main room. The smile on Marcus’s face made me tear up. I loved seeing him this happy. I loved that he’d found Low. If anyone deserved a happily ever after, it was my bighearted older brother.
“You’re sure he isn’t going to take a swing at me?” Jason asked with his mouth very close to my ear.
I nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. Come on.”
As if he could hear the whispering, Marcus lifted his eyes to meet mine. The smile on his face froze as he shifted his gaze from me to Jason, but only for a moment. The sincerely happy expression returned as he made eye contact with Jason. Apparently, he approved.
“Wasn’t expecting you to show up with a date,” Marcus said as we stopped in front of him and Low.
“It was a last-minute thing. Jason saved me from coming here alone,” I explained.
“Or your sister agreed to go out with me, and I took the opportunity and ran with it,” Jason replied.
Marcus smirked and nodded. “I just might like you.”
Low held her hand out to Jason. “I’m Willow, and it is very nice to meet you. If you are lucky enough to get Amanda on a date, then you must be a great guy.”
Jason shook Low’s hand, then glanced over at me with a smile. “I’ve been working on getting up the nerve to ask for a while now. Tonight was my lucky break.”
Really? He’d been interested in me for a while? Wow. I hadn’t expected that. He was Jason Stone. He was splashed all over the news, and gossip magazines loved him.
“Well, we are glad you’re here,” Willow assured him.
“What’s he doing?” Marcus asked, taking a step forward, his attention directed outside.
“Shit,” Rock growled, running by us and toward the doors leading out to the pool. Marcus took off after him. What in the world was going on?
Then I saw Dewayne standing between Preston, who was leaned up against the bar with an amused grin on his face, and some guy who was yelling at Preston and pointing at him over Dewayne’s shoulder.
I started to follow Marcus. Something was wrong. Was Preston starting a fight? Why was he doing this? And why the heck did I care so much?
“Wait, don’t go out there, Amanda,” Low called out as I started after my brother. I wanted to run outside and ignore her, but I was leaving Jason behind too. Sadie’s big eyes met mine, as she and Jax had stopped just behind Jason and me to give their congratulations to Marcus and Low. I needed to give all of them a reason why I needed to be outside. I needed to see if Preston was okay.
“I’ll be back. They may need me.” It was the best I could come up with before running after Marcus.
Chapter Four
Preston
This was not the kind of shit I needed right now. I’d been focused on drinking Amanda Hardy out of my system tonight. That’s all I wanted to focus on. That and her legs. Damn, her legs.
Then something like this happens. Not what I was in the mood for.
“Tell him you didn’t touch his mom, Preston,” Dewayne demanded from in front of me. He was acting like my f**king bodyguard. I could take the guy. I didn’t need someone to protect me.
“Tell. Him,” Dewayne repeated.
I couldn’t do that. Me and the guy threatening to beat my ass both knew I couldn’t deny it. He’d caught me with his mom last week. I could remember his face. Couldn’t remember his mom’s face but did remember the fury in his eyes. I’d seen it one too many times.
“What’s going on?” Rock asked as he and Marcus ran out and also stood between me and the guy. I didn’t have the heart to tell the guy his dear mom had paid me very well for that Sunday afternoon roll around her sheets. I wasn’t into older women. I used them. That was it. They had cash, and I fulfilled their fantasies. The dude wouldn’t be able to handle the truth, though.
“Trying to stop a fight,” Dewayne explained as both Rock and Marcus stood beside him, blocking me even more from the angry son of one of my clients. This was just another reason I needed to start demanding that I not handle business in clients’ houses. This shit happens.
“What did he do?” Marcus asked, glancing back at me.
I shrugged and took another shot of tequila.
“Guy says Preston slept with his mom, and he’s out for blood,” Dewayne explained.
“Shit,” Rock mumbled, and shot a warning glare back my way.
“Go ahead, Preston. Explain that ain’t the case,” Dewayne demanded again.
I was getting tired of that. I hadn’t spoken up yet. Had they not figured out that there was truth to this? Did they want me to lie to the guy and piss him off more? This guy and I had made eye contact that day as I’d pulled my jeans back on and headed out his mother’s bedroom door while she made excuses to her son. I hadn’t stayed around to deal with the drama. I just got the hell out.
“You got the wrong guy,” a voice interrupted. “He’s mine. He wouldn’t be sleeping with someone’s mom when he has me to come home to. So back off. I don’t want to hear any more of this.”
What the f**king hell?
Amanda walked around the wall of guys standing guard in front of me and crooked her finger my way. “Come on, baby. Let’s go. This guy’s confused you with someone else, and you’ve had too much to drink.”
Had I passed out? Maybe I’d had more shots than I intended.
“Manda, what the hell—?”
“Back off, Marcus. I got this,” she snapped, cutting off her brother’s angry question.
“Come on, Preston. Now.”
I didn’t question her. I set down my shot glass and stood up, then walked over to her. What was she doing? She slipped her hand around my waist and steered me away from the angry son and my friends.
“Follow me,” she said, and led me through the crowd and toward the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. Probably not the best idea. I didn’t need to have Amanda Hardy anywhere near a bed. Especially as drunk as I was at the moment. But then again, maybe this was all a drunken dream. Which meant I could strip her hot little body of this clingy, sexy-ass dress and kiss all the places my dreams haunt me with at night.
Amanda opened a door and pushed me inside a pink-and-white bedroom with ruffles on the bed and a white teddy bear resting against the pillows. Hell, yeah. This was hot. Amanda naked on that bed. Fuck, I was hard.
“Sit down.” She shoved me toward the bed and then backed away from me. Not the best dream I’d ever had.
She put her hands on her hips and glared at me from across the room. Sexy. As. Hell.
“What are you doing? This is Marcus’s engagement party. You can’t go picking fights. What is wrong with you? Is everything a joke to you? Life’s just one big party for you, isn’t it? Well, wake up! You have friends down there who love you. They stand up for you even when they know you probably did screw that poor guy’s mom.” She stopped and shook her head in disgust. “God, please tell me she wasn’t married.” Then she put up her hand to stop anything I might say in reply. “No. Don’t tell me anything. I don’t want to know. Just stay in here. Sleep it off. Don’t ruin this night for Marcus and Low. They deserve to be happy. Marcus loves you, Preston. Don’t do something stupid to hurt him.”
She dropped her hands to her side and let out a sigh. She was disappointed in me. This was a good thing. Maybe she was even disgusted with me. That would be even better. I needed her to stop flirting. I needed her to stop making me want things I couldn’t have. Because, dammit, I wanted her. So very bad.
“I’ve got a date that I’ve run out on to save the testosterone party down there from throwing down one big ugly fight. All because you can’t keep your pants up around a female.” She dropped her eyes as she said the last part, and her cheeks flamed red. Did the idea of me having sex embarrass her?
She turned and walked back to the door. Her perfect round ass swayed under the thin material of the dress, mocking me with what I couldn’t ever have. What I’d never be good enough for.
“He better be good to you,” I said just loud enough for her to hear me if she was really listening. She stopped. She’d heard me.
Slowly she turned back around and stared at me with a confused expression. “What does that mean?” she asked, studying my face like it had all the answers she needed.
“It means that I don’t give a shit who his brother is. If he hurts you, I’ll hurt him.”
Amanda let out a short, hard laugh and shook her head. “Really? Really, Preston? You care if Jason hurts me? Because I find it very hard to believe that you care about my feelings at all.” Then she spun around and walked away, slamming the door behind her.
Amanda
I would not cry. And I would stop this stupid shaking. There was a very hot, attractive, somewhat famous guy downstairs waiting on me. He didn’t make me feel cheap and unwanted. Taking a deep breath, I straightened my shoulders and smoothed the wrinkles out of my dress, then walked back down the stairs. Scanning the crowd, I found Jason immediately. He was with Sadie and Jax. They were all probably talking about me. I’m sure Sadie was explaining my performance with Preston.
Speaking to guests as I made my way through the crowd, I kept a permanent smile plastered on my face. No one would know that what I’d just done had been for anyone else but Marcus. I’d never let them see I had any feelings for Preston. My pride would keep me safe.
“I’m so sorry. I was worried that if I didn’t step in and help, we’d have a fight on our hands, and I don’t want anything to ruin tonight for Marcus and Willow,” I explained once I got to Jason, before anyone could say anything.