Tempting Sydney (10 page)

I heard Brynn moving around in the other room. “I should go check on her,” I said, shifting to get out of bed.

“She’s fine. She’s already eaten.”

I gaped at him. “Seriously? Sheesh. She bounces back like she’s a professional drunk.”

His lips lifted in a small smile. “I gave her some food, so I’m sure that helped.”

“She had enough alcohol to take down a large mammal. She should still be barfing in the bathroom, or at least in bed. Yogurt or no yogurt.”

“She got french fries.”

My mouth fell open. I was totally offended. He clearly liked—no,
loved
—her way more than me. “She got fries? And I got fruit? You hate me. Admit it.”

His smile widened a bit more. “Her problems were caused by too much liquor. The greasy french fries helped sop up the alcohol left in her system. You had other problems, and I doubt grease would have made you feel better at all.”

I scrunched up my nose, knowing he was right. I was shocked he’d put so much thought into it, actually. And when had he had time to go out and get us breakfast? I was impressed at his nursing abilities. “You saved us from total jerks, watched over us all night to make sure we were okay, and brought us breakfast? I kind of hate to admit this, but you’re amazing.”

He grinned. “So I’ve heard. And in more ways than one.”

I smiled back. “Your ego is as healthy as ever.” I paused. “Seriously, though. Thank you for being there last night, and for staying with us, and nursing us both. You didn’t have to do that, and I really appreciate it. I know Brynn does, too.”

He lifted a shoulder in half-shrug like everything he’d done was totally normal. “If you’re feeling okay, I should go. I need to get to work.”

I looked at the clock and was horrified to see that it was almost noon. “Holy crap! I didn’t know it was so late.”

“I let you sleep it off.”

“Thanks,” I said, lowering my lashes as I picked absently at a piece of thread on my quilt.

He stood, grabbing his jacket from the floor. His jeans hung off his hips, and great goddesses, he had a perfect ass. Like two grapefruits. I just wanted to bite it. Holy crap! Where had that come from? I couldn’t bite Jax’s ass! I couldn’t bite Jax at all. That would be totally inappropriate. He was my mechanic, and after last night, I was pretty sure he was my friend. Friends don’t bite the asses of friends, even if they have the potential to be more than that.

He slipped his arms through his jacket sleeves. “Let me know if you need anything.”

I shook my head. “You’ve done more than enough, Jax. I’ll never be able to repay you.”

His eyes lit with mischief. “I can think of some ways.”

Heat rose in my cheeks. I could think of some, too. They involved biting.

His smile fell a little as he opened the door to my room. “Seriously, though, you don’t have anything to repay me for. I did what any decent guy would have done. Choose one of them next time you and Brynn go out, will ya?”

I nodded, thinking that even though I had no business wanting him, the decent guy I’d like to choose was walking out the door.

Brynn and I had both recovered from our previous weekend adventures. The thought of what could have happened if Jax hadn’t shown up was terrifying. At least once a day, I gave a silent thank you that he’d been there. I also spent far too much time analyzing why he’d shown up at the club. Part of me, a really big part, hoped it truly was because he had legitimate feelings for me. It seemed like a crazy thing to hope for since he could have any girl he wanted, but I couldn’t help myself. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, I could feel myself falling for him, and I wanted him to want me, too.

Brynn had bounced back from the incident much faster than me…maybe because she’d just been her usual drunk self instead of being drugged. She’d been horrified when I told her what had happened to me, and vowed to kick Karl and Derrick straight in the nuts as hard as she could if she ever saw them again. She’d sat on the bed next to me, crying as she told me she never wanted me to be in that position again. I told her I didn’t want either of us to be in that position again, so something needed to change. She agreed she’d vet the men she spent time with better. I wasn’t sure that would solve the problem, but at least it was a start. She seemed pretty shaken up by everything that had happened. For the past week, she hadn’t been as social as usual, and had spent a lot of time with me watching
House Hunters
and sexy superhero movies. I wondered how long her priority change would last.

Brynn had a wild streak, brought on by her past. I understood why approval from men was so important to her. I wasn’t sure what would eventually knock her out of her need for constant attention from the opposite sex, but I hoped it would happen soon. Nothing broke Brynn. She was who she was, and she didn’t apologize for it. She took things in stride, and seemed to think she was above disaster. So far in life, she had been, but that wouldn’t last forever. If she continued like this, at some point, there’d be a time when I wasn’t there to save her, and the thought made me sick to my stomach. I’d keep doing what I could to make sure she was okay, though, and from now on, I’d bring my own water—bottled, with a lid.

I was sitting at our distressed wood dining table with my homework. “Distressed” was a nice way of saying “used.” We’d picked it up on the side of a street when we were college freshmen, where it was sitting with a big cardboard FREE sign on it. Brynn only agreed to the procurement after several sanitizing sessions. Free is free, though, and nothing is more appealing to college students, even obsessively clean ones. I told my mom we’d bought it at an antique store, or she probably wouldn’t have let us keep it during her redecoration of our house.

I popped some Reese’s Pieces in my mouth as I studied, and jumped at least a foot when I heard Brynn’s voice. She came out of nowhere. Like a freaking ghost.

“Put your books away,” Brynn said, sweeping into the living room and slamming my tort reform book shut. “We’re going out.”

“Where are we going?” I asked, flipping the book back open, trying to find my lost page.

Brynn stomped her foot and grabbed the book, holding it behind her. “Away from all things school-related for at least two hours. It’s a Friday night! You’ve been doing homework for days—which, unfortunately, isn’t unusual for you. I demand you get out of the house and enjoy yourself, even if I have to force you to do it.” She pointed down the hall. “Get a sweater, coat and gloves. We’re going to the haunted mine.”

I’d grabbed the card advertising the haunted mine while I was at Red’s, and shown it to Brynn a few weeks earlier. Really, in the midst of school and daydreaming about better-in-bed-than-a-werewolf Jax, I’d forgotten the mine completely.

“We’re going alone?” That seemed unwise. Scary situations were always better in a group. That way when you peed your pants, you had a lot of cover—or people who were as equally wet as you.

“Don’t be silly,” she said, throwing my gloves at me as I pulled an emerald toned sweater over my head. “The whole point of haunted houses is to have a big, strong arm to grab onto and keep you safe from the crazy people scaring you. You’ve got nice arms, but I seriously question your ability to fight off demons and clowns. So, I found us dates.”

I stared at her, surprised she was ready for dating again already after last week’s disaster. “Are you sure, Brynn? After what happened last week, I’m a little leery about going out with strangers.”

She looked down, playing with the zipper on her coat. “I know. I am, too. But, there’s nothing I hate more than fear. I won’t let my life be controlled by it.”

I considered her words, and knew she was right. If we let one situation dictate the rest of our lives, we’d be sitting home until we were ninety, experts on home decorating style trends, but not on life. “Okay,” I relented. “Who are the guys?”

“Some boys I met last year. I know them pretty well, so we’ll be safe.”

That didn’t make me excited. I’d been hanging out with a
man
. I wasn’t even sure how old he actually was, but he definitely wasn’t still going home on the weekends to have his mom wash his laundry. He was a manly man who got shit done. Boys weren’t the least bit interesting to me anymore. “Can’t we just go with some other girls or something? I’m not really up for a blind date.”

Her lashes shot up to her brows in disbelief. “A group of girls? To a
haunted
mine? Are you out of your freaking mind? We need someone to hold onto who won’t be running for the exit!”

I sighed. She was probably right. I still wasn’t enthused. Part of me wanted to call Jax and invite him to come be my date. But that seemed a little forward when all we’d really done was flirt, and I wasn’t sure where we stood. It was silly, and so not in sync with my feminist attitudes about everything else in the world, but if we ever went on an actual date, I wanted Jax to be the one to ask first. I wanted to
know
that he wanted me. I blamed that particular attitude on the plethora of romance novels I loved, and I was totally fine with it.

Brynn, thinking I was still listening to her and not daydreaming about Jax, had continued talking, “Plus, the guy I’m going with is highly
gifted
.” I shook my head, remembering she was there, and tried to focus on what she’d said. It didn’t make any more sense the second and third time I replayed it in my mind.

“Gifted?” I asked, stuffing my wallet and phone into my coat pockets.

She shook her head like I was completely dense. “You know…hung.”

I stopped to stare at her, totally stunned. I shook myself out of the shock. “Where in the world do you get this information? Are you subscribing to some newsletter I’m not aware of?”

She lifted her index finger to her cheek and looked contemplative. “A newsletter would actually be really helpful.”

“Seriously, Brynn. How do you find this stuff out?”

“It’s out there,” she said, waving her hand in the air, “in the wind.”

I rolled my eyes, grabbing my keys from the table next to the door. I decided I needed to spend more time listening to the wind. Maybe it would have some intel on Jax.

Thirty minutes later, we were at the entrance to an old silver mine high above the city. Every October, they opened it up as a haunted house attraction. Tonight—according to the huge black banner hanging over the entrance—all ticket sales went toward a fundraiser benefiting a foundation that raised awareness to stop reckless driving.

I love Halloween, ghosts, and scary stories, but I’m not a big fan of haunted houses. They’re all shock factor and fake scares. Give me a real haunted house with an actual ghost any day. But I reminded myself that I was trying to broaden my horizons and get out of my comfort zone. Plus, it was for a good cause.

We started walking toward the entrance, but detoured away as Brynn pulled me in the direction of two guys. She’d told me on the way up the mountain that we were meeting them there. I’d gone along with it because I figured she was probably right—I did need to get out of the house. But I could care less about the date, or the boy she’d set me up with. Brynn, who had far more experience in the man department than me, swooped in next to a tall, blonde surfer type, and grabbed his bicep with gusto. “Damn, Chet! What do you bench, five-hundred pounds?”

That was one of the more ridiculous things I’d ever heard come out of Brynn’s mouth—and I’d heard some whoppers. “If so, you should check him for fangs,” I said, “because five-hundred pounds is vampire territory.”

“I wouldn’t mind a vampire.” She looked up at Chet, batting her eyes. “Wanna bite me?”

I rolled my eyes and turned to the guy standing next to them. He was wearing a coat, but his shoulders were wide and he seemed sturdy enough to climb if I needed to get away from an evil clown. His light brown eyes were soft. I smiled, trying to be a good sport about the date. “Hey, I’m Sydney.”

He smiled back, his cheeks dimpling in an endearing way. I wasn’t going to marry the guy, but if I had to go through a scary haunted house, he wasn’t a bad person to partner up with. He was attractive, I’d give him that. Brynn had done a good job. “Drew. Nice to meet you. And I’m not a vampire.”

I frowned inwardly, and tried to keep the expression off my face. Huh.
Drew
. I hadn’t had great experiences with Drews in the past. I had a theory that any guy named Drew was destined to be a raging, egotistical asshole. I hoped this one proved me wrong. I smiled and said, “Good to know. I’m glad I won’t have to worry about being turned tonight.”

Chet and Drew had already bought our tickets, which was nice of them. Brynn and Chet stopped groping each other long enough to direct us inside the mine entrance. Drew and I followed them into the elevator that took us three hundred feet down into the ground.

The first obstacle we came to was a watery pit covered by a few 2x4s we had to navigate across in the dark. It was like walking a plank, only each plank was about as wide as my shoes, and precariously placed. The smoke rising from the water made it difficult to see anything, let alone the boards. I could already tell this haunted attraction would not be my favorite experience, and I longed for the case study on tort law that I was working on at home, instead.