Prologue

prologue

TWO MOTHER FUCKERS AND AN ANIMAL

My hands sweat and unshed tears burn the back of my eyes as I slam the door to my car and storm up my driveway.

My rage doubles as I throw the front door open to find both of my older brothers eating in our kitchen like nothing is wrong. They don’t even live here anymore. The door slams behind me and I dump my bag on the floor, stepping over the makeup and clothes that spill out of it.

I am a woman on a mission. A mission to become an only child.

The clicking of my heels against the hardwood floors echoes as both my brothers watch me from their seats. Zac’s mouth hangs open in disbelief, but there are already lines of disapproval marring Tate’s face. The irony.

I stop in front of the island where they both sit, meeting their eyes and holding their gaze for a moment each. The embarrassment, hurt, and disappointment that quickly turned into rage and frustration builds in the air around us.

“Motherfuckers.” The words taste odd leaving my lips, but they also feel right. “Both of you are stupid, overbearing, out of line motherfuckers!” My voice raises with every word, each one emboldening me to release my anger on the true culprits.

The tears I’ve been working so hard to hold back all night threaten to spill down my cheeks, but I swallow them down. The last thing this disastrous night needs is to end with black streaks smearing down my face.

Tate’s eyes narrow as I curse, but Zac has the decency to at least flinch and give me a sheepish look.

“Even if you’re upset, you don’t get to speak like that to us,” Tate scolds, his blue eyes, so similar to mine, flaming with his reproach.

I scoff and I must be losing my mind because I don’t stop there. I start laughing at his sheer audacity, eyeing him up and down while I let go of the last strand of sanity I was holding onto. “You can suck my fucking dick, Tatum Moore.” My face heats but his reaction is worth it.

His eyes blaze, fury and shock warring in them. Zac’s mouth continues to hang open as he stares at me dumbfounded. I’m going to pay for that little line later, but I feel too vindicated to care. If I hadn’t already clearly lost it, I would at the sound of a rich chuckle floating over me. In fact, as close to insanity as I felt two seconds ago, that damn laugh races down my spine and pushes me right off the ledge.

Alexander Channing. The bane of my goddamn existence.

My eyes swing to Tate’s best friend. “You,” I practically growl, the hair I spent hours curling and styling to perfection flies around my shoulders as I spin to point at him. Everything else about this night is messed up, who cares if I also mess up my hair now? “Don’t you even start with me.”

He raises his hands innocently, that stupid, smug smirk I despise turning up his lips. “Hey, don’t bring me into this. I didn’t even know you had a date.” He shrugs, his eyes flickering with something I can’t decipher. That’s half the problem with him. I can never tell what he’s really thinking.

He didn’t take part in ruining Homecoming for me. How kind of him. I roll my eyes. “And that makes up for all the other dates you crashed this summer?”

He gives me his best innocent face, his lower lip even sticking out a bit as he widens his eyes. “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“Oh no, no,” I interrupt him, bordering on hysterical. Zac backs up and tries to sneak out of the room. “No!” I snap, swinging my gaze to him. “All three of you need to shut up and listen. For once you are going to listen to me.” I pause a moment, waiting to make sure all eyes are on me. “I’m eighteen years old and this is my senior year. You fuckers are done getting in the way of that.” I make eye contact with Zac first. “No finding out who’s planning to ask me out and threatening them before they get the chance to.”

I focus on Tate, who is still looking like he’s ready to jump into a lecture about my language. “No more tracking my every move and conveniently popping up every time a male is within six feet of me.”

Finally my eyes land on Xander. He looks far too amused for the state of my emotions right now. His head is tilted down, but he’s watching me through his lashes, clearly trying to stifle his laughter. Ineffectively.

I lift my chin as I stare him down, not letting his smirk or the dimple in his cheek I detest so much deter me. “You shouldn’t even be here,” I argue heatedly, realizing summer is over. A look passes between him and Tate as his smirk turns from amused to taunting. There’s a story there, but years of experience tells me they won’t be sharing. “But while you’re here,” I continue, staying on track despite my piqued curiosity. “No more crashing my dates. No more showing up in unexpected places and glaring at my friends. And definitely no more putting your arm around me and whispering in my ear until my date storms off.”

Tate raises a brow as he stares at his best friend. Xander just shrugs, forever unaffected. “That only happened one time and you know you were glad I saved you.”

I roll my eyes. He isn’t wrong. That particular situation only happened once, but damn, it’s the one that pissed me off the most. Maybe especially because Xander showing up was the highlight of the day and I hate the way I can replay every second of it. It’s ingrained in my memory for so many reasons I’ll never admit. The way I fit perfectly against his hard body and how his heat burned into me, making me feel both hot and comforted. How his breath fanned over my neck and my skin erupted in goosebumps. And the way his lips brushed against my ear as he whispered “Checkmate,” when my date pushed his chair back so fast it toppled over. David never did talk to me again, even when I tried to apologize and explain.

There’s nothing going on between me and Xander. Never has been, never will.

But in that moment? I guess I can't blame David for his reaction. Xander’s acting was so good it even had me questioning things I had never questioned before. That is until he went right back to treating me as the child he so clearly sees me as.

“You know that isn’t the only way you’ve ruined one of my dates. Hell you showed up and scared the shit out of Becca’s boyfriend when we were just waiting for her together after the movies.”

Tate and Zac both lean in. They clearly hadn’t heard either of these stories yet and are lapping up my embarrassment. They’re overprotective, sure, but they can’t lie to me anymore. Of course it isn’t okay for other people to taunt and tease me. But these three? Oh, they’ve practically made an Olympic sport out of it.

Xander keeps up his air of indifference with a slight cock of his head but his smirk falls as a hard look takes over his face. “He shouldn’t have been checking out your ass then. I didn’t even do anything to him,” he says casually–which is an utter lie–“just simply cut off the view.”

I roll my eyes so hard I fear they might actually fall out of my head. “Cam adores Becca. He doesn’t give a fuck about my ass. And you growled at him!” I exclaim. “Like a fucking animal, you got in his face and growled at him.”

Zac starts laughing and my attention turns back towards my brothers to find Tate studying Xander with a serious expression. Xander’s frown slips back into a playful smile as he nudges me, any of the intensity from just moments ago gone now. “Come on, M&M. It was funny.”

Tate joins in laughing with Zac and Xander and I just shake my head. I rear back with the whiplash of both of their moods.

“I can’t handle you guys,” I murmur before I turn and walk away. I can only hope at least some of my desperation has bled through their stubborn ass ways and they’ll ease up. Even just a little.

I just want a semi-normal senior year.

Is that really so much to ask for?