“I served my time. Thought I’d head back early and see what you two losers are doing.”
“Rude!” I chimed in.
Adrian was a smart ass. He never meant anything by it. It was just his personality.
Changing the subject, he asked, “How’s unpacking going?”
“It’d go faster if Paige stopped riding my ass.”
“Well, I can give her something else to ride.”
This time it was me who threw a pillow at Adrian.
He snickered, blocking it from hitting him. “What?” He held his hands up in surrender. “I was just trying to be helpful.”
“You, helpful?” Cage scoffed, unfazed by his brother’s antics.
Adrian was flirty with everyone. He couldn’t help himself.
“I promised Mom I’d be nice to you. This is me being nice.” He nodded to me. “What are you riding his dick about?”
“Ewww,” I spewed. “Gross.”
“Hey!” Cade chimed in. “Easy on the flirting, okay?”
“Hardly. Paige is like our little sister.”
Talk about a shot to the heart. Nothing like hearing your teenage crush think of you as blood.
“Except she has tits and an ass now.”
“She’s had those for a while,” Cade confirmed. “Where have you been?”
“Oh my God,” I intervened. “Ummm… Hello! I’m right here! Stop talking about me like I’m not in the room. And tell me, did come here to help you unpack Cade, or to have you guys pick on me?”
“To unpack,” Cade stated smiling at me.
“The picking on you is just a bonus.” Adrian tossed a different pillow in my direction. “You’re so easy to fuck with. Remember when I used to make you cry?”
“That only happened like five times.”
“I’d say more like twenty, but we can go with your delusional number.”
“Adrian, you turned my Barbie into a hoe.”
“She wanted that threesome with Ken and G.I. Joe.”
“I didn’t even know what a threesome was until you.”
“Oh, I’m fully aware. I was grounded for a month for it.”
“What about the time you peed in your water gun and then shot me with it?”
He laughed, throwing his head back.
He has such a great laugh.
“I was just marking my territory.”
“She’s not your territory, Adrian. She’s mine.”
Adrian didn’t miss a beat, walking over to me. He wrapped his arm around my neck, tugging me into the side of his shirtless chest.
“As I said, she’s our little sister. I was just looking out for her, Cade.”
Someone knocking on their door averted our attention to the sound.
“I’ll get it,” Cade offered, leaving to answer.
Shit… Can Adrian feel my heart beating faster?
As if reading my mind, he whispered in my ear, “Good to know I still affect you, Paige.”
I thought I was imagining what he murmured for a second, but then he let me go, winking at me.
“Adrian.” Cade walked back into his bedroom with a pretty blonde girl behind him. “You have company.”
Adrian glanced over at her, narrowing his eyes for a second. “Michelle, right?”
“It’s actually Ashley,” she corrected. Not caring one bit he called her by the wrong name. “But I can be Michelle if you want.”
I rolled my eyes while Cade ordered, “You can get out of my room now.”
Adrian smirked. “With pleasure.” He threw his arm around the blonde and left, whispering something in her ear as he shut the door behind them.
“New bimbo?” I questioned, trying my hardest to not feel jealous.
“There’s always a new one.”
I chuckled, despite the jealousy I felt in the core of my body.
For the rest of the afternoon, I helped Cade unpack, playing off my real feelings like I could hear his latest conquest giggling loudly through the walls. Maintaining my focus on unpacking instead, I kept finding all these sentimental things I’d forgotten over the years of our friendship.
“Awe!” I exclaimed, holding up tickets. “I forgot about this concert. I had to beg you to come with me.”
“More like dragged me.”
“You loved watching Christina Aguilera.”
“Yeah, she shook her ass the entire time.”
“You’re such a guy. I didn’t know you kept these.”
“Paige.” He shut his nightstand drawer. “Are you going to keep this sentimental shit up the entire time?”
I scoffed. “I’m just wondering what I’m in for. This doesn’t feel nostalgic to you? Just look at this picture. How cute are you with your Peter Pan costume?.”
“You didn’t leave me much choice, Paige. You threatened if I didn’t wear it you wouldn’t share your cupcakes with me anymore.”
“But look how great of a Tinkerbell I made?”
“I still can’t believe Adrian agreed to be Captain Hook.”
“It didn’t stop him from stealing all our Reese’s peanut butter Cups.”
“Yeah, he’s an asshole.”
“Aren’t you sad we’re not neighbors anymore?”
“Your dorm is ten minutes away.”
“I know.” I pouted. “It’s so far!”
“Paige, quit your whining. You’re being such a girl.”
“I am a girl. Can’t you just pretend to be sad?”
“Paige.” He laughed. “Why are you acting like you’re not going to be crashing here most of the time? You chose to live alone. Did you forget you’re afraid of the dark?”