Unstoppable (Forehead Kisses #4) (5 page)

“So? I check out married women all the time.”

“Good for you,” I said sarcastically.

He nudged me in the side. “Lighten up a bit. Be a girl.”

“I am a girl,” I argued.

“That’s debatable.”

This argument was going nowhere. “Let’s go.”

Without another look at Scotty, Ash and I left the ring then headed to the street.

“Let’s head to the bar.”

There was one next door. “You already had two beers.”

“Why not make it three?”

The last thing I wanted to do was go to a bar. “I already went to the fight with you. I’m done for the night.”

He looked at his watch. “It’s nine o’ clock. You’re a night owl anyway.”

“I still have things to do.”

He rolled his eyes. “Just one beer.”

Ugh, I hated my brother right now.

We walked inside then sat down at a table.

“What do you want to drink?” he asked.

I eyed the wall. “A Bud Light—in a bottle.”

“Tap is better.”

“Bottle,” I said firmly. “And let me open it.”

He shook his head. “You’re so fucking weird.” He left the table then headed to the bar.

I stayed in my seat and surveyed the people around me. The heated stares of men burned into my skin but I ignored them. I wasn’t sure what they were looking at. I was a mess. I hadn’t even brushed my hair before we left the house. But I guess men would take anything when the lights were low.

The door opened and I saw Scotty walk inside, his friends and the fighter with his fiancé along side him. I hoped he wouldn’t get brave and try to talk to me again. I averted my gaze so he would have no reason to talk to me.

My brother came back. “Okay. Bud Light in a bottle.” He slid it across the table.

I checked the seal then slid it back to him. “Could you open it, please?”

He glared at me. “You told me to let you open it.”

“I just wanted to check it first.”

“For what?” he demanded.

“Just open it,” I hissed.

He twisted the cap off without any trouble then pushed it back to me. “No wonder why you don’t have any friends—you’re weird.”

“Yeah whatever.” I didn’t bother fighting him.

Ash’s eyes drifted around the room. “There are a lot of cute girls here…”

“You said you wouldn’t ditch me.”

“I know…I’m just saying. See anyone you like?”

“No.” I wasn’t attracted to men anymore. They were all disgusting to me. They only had one thing on their mind, and they would do anything to get it.

“Do you like girls or something?” Ash demanded.

“No,” I snapped. “Geez, just because I’m not a whore like you doesn’t mean I don’t like men.”

“I can’t tell sometimes…”

“Whatever.”

“Maybe you should give this blind date a try. If he’s willing to go out with you, he can’t be that bad.” He smirked at me.

“Shut up, Ash.”

“So defensive…”

“You would be too if you were picked on all the time.”

“Then prove me wrong. Have a good time and hook up with a guy tonight.”

“I don’t hook up.”

“Maybe you should.” He shook his head. “I would rather have a slutty sister that can’t keep her legs closed and parties too much instead of one that sits in the dark and paints Satan.”

“I don’t paint Satan,” I snapped.

“My point is, live a little. You used to be fun. Now you’re…blah.”

“Blah?”

“Yeah.”

I was sick of hearing this from him. “This is who I am. Accept me, or just stop seeing me.”

His eyes filled with sadness. “But this isn’t who you are.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yes, it is. Now drop the subject.”

Ash leaned back in his chair and sighed. It looked like he’d finally given up.

A guy approached our table. “Hey, man.” He pounded his fist against Ash’s. “Awesome fight, huh?”

“Definitely.” He looked at me. “Bran, this is my annoying sister, Livia.”

He took me in quickly, his eyes resting on my chest a little too long for comfort. “Hi, I’m Bran.” He extended his hand to shake mine.

Regretfully, I took it then looked away. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“And she’s single,” Ash offered.

I shot him a glare.

Bran’s face reddened slightly. “Uh, cool. Anyway, we’re playing ball this Saturday. Some of my friends will be there. You want to join?”

He shook his head. “I have too much school work during the day. I reserve my nights for fucking around.”

Bran laughed. “I respect your time management skills.”

He seemed like a sleazeball.

“But take my sister,” he offered. “She loves sports.”

Uh, what?
“I love watching them, not playing them.”

Ash shook his head. “She was the softball captain every year of high school and made it to the championships. Plus, she’s athletic and a good runner. She’ll be a good baseball player.”

“I have plans,” I blurted.

“No, she doesn’t,” Ash said. “Take her. She has no friends.”

I glared at him with hatred.

Bran looked confused. “Well, you’re welcome to join us if you want...”

“I’m good,” I said immediately.

Ash pulled out money from his wallet. “Take her and you get to keep this.”

I was about to slap my brother across the face. “Knock it off!”

He sighed then stuffed the money back into his pocket. “Nevermind. She’s about to have a breakdown.”

“You’re such an ass,” I snapped.

“I’m just trying to give you a nudge out the door.” Ash stood up. “I need another beer.” He headed to the bar. I expected Bran to walk away but he didn’t.

“So…you’re his sister?” he asked.

Obviously
. “Something like that.”

“Cool. I can faintly see the resemblance.”

I hated small talk.

“Can I buy you another drink?”

I hadn’t even drunk half of this one. “No, thanks.”

He sat down in the chair beside me, making me flinch. Then he leaned toward me, making me uncomfortable. “I know you said you aren’t interested in baseball, but maybe we could do something else…”

Why did men only think with their dicks?
“I’m not dating right now.” I couldn’t think of a nicer way of saying it. At least this way they didn’t think it was just them, which it wasn’t. It was all men.

“Well, we don’t have to date…” The meaning was in his words. “I live just a mile away.”

Fucking pig.
“Go away.”

“Whoa…I didn’t mean to offend you. I guess I just misunderstood your meaning.”

I looked for my brother, hoping he would come back soon. “Well, it was nice meeting you.”
Now go away.

“How about we get ice cream tomorrow?”

This guy just wouldn’t give up.
“No, thank you.”

“What if we—”

Scotty appeared then put his hand on Bran’s shoulder. “Leave the pretty girl alone. If she rejected you three times, she’s just going to reject you again.”

Bran looked irritated. “She didn’t reject me.”

“Yes, she did.” He pulled him out of the chair. “Now let’s go. Some blonde keeps asking for you.”

“Ooh. Who?”

“Let’s walk over there and see.” Scotty stepped aside and let Bran leave first.

Then he looked at me, his green eyes shining bright. There was no emotion there. I couldn’t read him at all. Why did he help me? I was a total jerk to him before. “We’ll leave you alone now.” With a sad look, he turned and walked away.

I tried to process what happened. Scotty pursued me but now he saved me from another creep. And he seemed sad, like something was on his mind. I wanted to apologize to him but he was already gone, on the other side of the bar. He sat at the table and watched TV while all his friends flirted with their dates. He was all alone.

Just like me.

CHAPTER SIX

Scotty

I recognized Ash from around campus. We ran into each other at parties or the bar. We were acquaintances more than friends, so I didn’t know him very well. But I knew he scored tail just as much as I did.

When I saw her with him, I assumed the worst. She wouldn’t give me the time of day but she would date the biggest player on campus? When I overheard their conversation, it was pretty clear they were siblings.

Thank god.

Not that I had a chance with her. The venom she gave me was enough to make me loathe myself forever. When Bran was bothering her, I felt compelled to help her. I didn’t want to see those tears fall down her face again. It killed me last time. There was obviously something emotional going on below the surface.

And I’d do anything to know what it was.

After I steered Bran away from her, I left her in peace. Even if she despised me, I’d come to her defense anyway. We’d never had a real conversation before and I didn’t know a single thing about her, not even her name, but I felt protective of her in an innate way. Maybe it was because I took care of Keira for so long. Maybe it was because I was obsessed with her beauty.

Who knows?

When I went to my psychology class, I sat in the back row and didn’t look at her. She didn’t want my attention so I didn’t give it to her. It was clear she had no interest in getting to know me, so why should I torture myself? I needed to hook up with someone new and just forget about her. I’d sleep with enough girls to forget her face.

“We’ll be having a partner assignment for this chapter. Each pair will come up with their own experiment to explain conformity.”

My thoughts were shattered by the professor’s announcement.
Group work?
Why were teachers so obsessed with it? Obviously, it reduced the number of papers to grade by half, but every teacher knew only one partner did the majority of the work. The other slacked off.

Whatever.
I didn’t have any other projects in my other classes so I could push through this. I didn’t know anybody else in the class so I’d have to make a friend.

“I’ll be assigning you,” he announced.

Now this just got a million times worse.
What if I was stuck with a weirdo?

He read off the names, coming to mine toward the end since my last name was toward the end of the alphabet. “Scotty Strately, you’ll be working with Livia James.”

I didn’t have a clue who that was.

He finished assigning the rest of the students while I slumped deeper into my chair. I didn’t want to develop my own experiment to prove the theory of conformity. This was a general education course, not my major.

School sucked.

I looked around the room, wondering who she was. Hopefully, she was hot. She could distract me from the mysterious girl who stole my undivided focus the moment I laid eyes on her.

“Scotty?”

The beautiful sound of the voice caught me off guard. I turned, seeing my muse stare back at me. She wore dark jeans and a white shirt. It was loose around her body, but her curves couldn’t be denied. She didn’t wear any make up but her eyes still shined noticeably.

Why did this girl have this affect on me? She pooped and farted just like everyone else.

I was so surprised she was speaking to me that I was caught off guard. “Uh, hi.”
Why was she talking to me? To tell me off for something else?

“I guess we should get started soon. It sounds like a lot of work.”

What the hell was she talking about?
“Sorry?”

“The project…”

Oh
. “Livia? That’s your name?”

“Yeah.” Her eyes were guarded again. I could tell she was self-conscious by the look I was giving her.

Even her name was hot.
“Sorry. I didn’t realize it was you.”

“That’s okay.” She sat down, leaving a seat between us.

The rest of the class was speaking to their partners in quiet whispers.

It was awkward sitting so close to her. What do I say? I tried not to look at her, wanting to give her as much as space as possible. I didn’t want to repeat our last encounter from the library.

“When did you want to start working on this?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I’m free during the week before nine.”

“Nine?” she asked.

“I have to work.”

“At night?” She seemed surprised.

“I do construction on the highways.” My job wasn’t flashy and I wasn’t proud of it. I really needed to get out of it and into the ring.

“Wow.”

“What?” I blurted.

“That’s a dangerous job.”

I shrugged. “It pays well.”