Chapter Four

Dylan

Roman pulls up outside Happy's, and Vada and I get into his car, both of us sliding into the back seat.

"To the party, my good man," I say, and Vada giggles.

He turns back to look over his shoulder. "Did you get my girlfriend drunk?"

I shake my head. "No, she had one drink."

"Alcohol just hits me differently," Vada says, and we both laugh again. Roman just smiles and turns back to the front, pulling out onto the road.

Vada and I sing very badly—which Roman points out the entire trip—until he turns into the carpark at Grumpy's.

Everyone's cars look like they are already here, and I sigh. Only a couple are my actual friends—the rest are people I have met through my brother or Vada. I jump out of the back seat and lean in, grabbing Vada's arm and pulling her out of the car. Roman stops Vada and hands her the purple noise-cancelling headphones he bought her. She presses up onto her tippytoes and plants a kiss on his lips.

"It might get loud in there," he says when she pulls back from the kiss.

It might sound stupid, but I want that. I want a person, someone who is there for me when I need them. But who am I kidding? I highly doubt there is anyone who can put up with me when my own mother couldn't. I know Minnie moving in with Isabelle wasn't because of me, and he probably would have stayed if I had asked him to, but being someone's first choice would also be nice. Winnie is amazing, but she isn't my mum; she will always put Minnie first.

Vada and Roman link hands and I follow beside them. As we push through the doors, everyone yells, "Happy birthday!"

My brother stands in the centre of the room holding a cake, one just for me. I smile and cross the room.

"Do you like it?" he asks. "I made it myself, kinda."

I snort. "What's it supposed to be?"

"A poop emoji," he replies.

I can see it now that he has said something.

"I love it."

No one has ever taken the time to make me a cake before, even one as terrible looking as this. I was lucky if Mum was even home on my birthday—half the time she either forgot or left me a Post-it note on the fridge.

"Really?!" He beams, and I nod.

Looking around the room, I'm overwhelmed by the amount of people here. Arden and the whole gang from that building are here. His girlfriend, Ella, waves at me and I wave back. Mady is here with her harem of guys, some which I haven't met yet—apparently one owns this bar. Winnie is having a conversation with her pot dealer, and I have no idea why he is here, but hopefully it means we're having his homemade brownies later.

I smile when I see Brad. He came—I can't believe it! And holy hotness, the man can pull off the whole lumberjack look. The jeans and flannel shirt do things to me, and I know I should stop fantasising about him, considering he is old, but he makes it really hard.

I tell Minnie to go find Isabelle, and that I'm going to get a drink, but instead I creep up behind Brad and slap his ass. He jerks and looks over his shoulder.

"Dylan," he says, turning to face me and holding out his hand. I look down at it and back to his face—he must have shaved his beard off. "I have heard a lot about you."

I narrow my eyes at him. Is he pulling the piss right now? Laughter bellows from behind us, and I turn my head to follow the noise. My eyes widen, and I look back to the man I thought was Brad, then back to Brad.

"What the what?!" I say. Both men stand next to each other, and I laugh. "Did you clone yourself to make this the best birthday ever?"

Chad snorts and holds his hand out again. "I'm Chad."

I put it all together, but twins? He just mentioned brothers.

"Are you okay?" Brad asks, and I nod slowly as I shake Chad's hand.

"I need a second to process this, and I do not know where to start. Chad and Brad could be a great place, or the fact that there are two of you who look like that. Seriously, this needs to go on my sex list."

Poor Chad looks mortified when Mady steps up beside us and wraps her arm around his waist. "You finally get to meet Chad."

I nod. It's all I can seem to do as my brain swirls, and it's making me dizzy.

"Um, I'm sorry for slapping your boyfriend's ass," I finally blurt out. "I thought he was Brad, and that probably sounds almost as bad. I need a strong drink. Come get a drink with me, Brad." I grab his arm and pull him towards the bar. "Why didn't you tell me you had a twin?"

"Because we are not friends, Dylan. I don't tell random women my life story."

I gasp and hold my chest like I'm offended, and he shakes his head at me. "How am I just a random woman? You probably know me better than most of the people in this room. I feel betrayed!"

"What can I get you to drink?" the bartender asks while looking Brad up and down. I step closer to him—even if she is nearer to his age than I am, I almost feel territorial.

"Something strong," I reply, but she still eye fucks Brad.

"Two Jacks," Brad says, and the woman nods.

"Have you two fucked?" I ask Brad, and he shakes his head.

"Why would you ask me that?"

I laugh. "Because she is looking at you like she knows what your cock feels like inside her."

Brad's mouth hangs open, and he snaps it shut as the woman twists the tops off our drinks and places them down on the bar.

"Add them to my brother's tab," Brad says, not even looking at her. "You should go and mingle with your friends."

"I think that's a good idea. My lady garden seems to like you, and since you're about to be my boss, that's a bad idea. Maybe Logan is here, and I can fall into his bed."

I take my drink and go to step away when Brad grabs my biceps and pulls me back a little. "You are not going to give Logan your fucking virginity."

Speaking of the devil, he steps up on stage and taps the mic. I snort when I see that he is dressed in a Marilyn Monroe costume—the white dress, a wig, and heels.

Happy birthday starts playing, and he starts to sing in a sultry voice. Yep, throwing myself at him will be a good idea because I'm over waiting for the right guy to come along. Maybe I'm just destined to be a cat mum.

The thought of that has bile rising in my throat—I fucking hate cats.

If I'm honest, I'm not all that fond of animals in general. I can barely keep myself alive.

I wander towards the stage and smile up at Logan. I feel a presence beside me, and I know it's Brad. How corny is it that his presence just calms me?

"Are you going to be my virginity bodyguard?" I whisper.

Brad chokes on a sip of his drink, and I reach up and pat his back.

"If I have to," he mumbles.

Logan blows me a kiss when the song finishes, and Brad fucking snatches the kiss and shoves it in his pocket.

"Did you just steal my kiss?"

He shrugs his shoulders and I reach over and try to shove my hand in his pocket. "Give it back."

He laughs, holding my wrist, but it's no use—my hand wiggles its way into his jeans. My eyes go wide. Is that...? A few squeezes later, it moves, and I rip my hand back.

"I just touched your dick."

Brad nods and scratches his nose, trying not to laugh.

I punch his arm. "Go over there and sit down. All the old people seem to be at the same table."

Brad looks to where I'm pointing. Chad, Mady, and the rest of her guys are all sitting together, along with the red-haired guy I met briefly at the BBQ at Arden's when he jumped into the pool to save his ugly dog.

Brad nods and moves across the room, taking a seat next to Chad. The excitement of Brad being a twin, along with those fantasies, died fairly quickly when I realised his brother belonged to Mady, my best friend's idol. Mady owns a clothing line, and her Ella range of slogan shirts is amazing.

"Time for presents," someone shouts.

Presents?! I didn't expect anyone to buy me anything, but everyone pulls out gifts, and Logan is the first to hand me a white T-shirt.

"For the wet T-shirt contest later," he whispers, and I laugh.

"Me next," Mady says and hands me a gift box with her logo on it.

I pull out a shirt and read the text: I match energy, how we gonna act today? And there's a second one that says: It's a throat punch kinda day.

"I love them," I tell her and pull her into a hug.

"Now me," her friend Ella says, pushing Mady to the side with her hip. I smile because every time I see Ella, she has on unicorn slippers, and tonight's no different. She also wears a slogan shirt that says: My face is up here, stop staring at my feet with an arrow pointing up.

I open Ella's gift, and instead of slippers, it's a custom pair of black Converse with unicorns on them.

"These are amazing."

Everyone gives me gifts, including an "18 th " necklace from Minnie, a plant from Winnie, and Jarred hands me a Tupperware container while whispering for me to eat them in private.

"What did you get her?" Logan asks Brad as Brad comes to stand next to me, handing me a fresh drink.

"He gave me a job," I declare, and Minnie whips his head to Brad. He looks like he is about to go "crazy big brother" on his ass.

"Correction, I didn't, but you can have an interview for a job."

I throw myself at Brad and wrap my arms around his neck, planting a kiss on his cheek. "You won't regret this."

"I already do," he whispers with his hands on my waist. Someone clears their throat.

"Let's get this party going," Logan says as I step back from Brad and a round of shots is brought to the table. "Okay, Dylan, Team LoLo holds the title for most shots in thirty seconds. Let's see if DyLo, LoAn—okay, we can work on our name later. Let's see if we can break the record."

I nod, not even bothering to ask what the current record is. Logan shouts go, and I pick up the first shot and throw it back. By the third, my gut burns, but I manage another two before I tap out.

"Too bad," Logan says, "I guess LoLo still holds the record."

I laugh. The other half to this LoLo character is Lochlan, one of Mady's boyfriends. I'm not exactly sure how many boyfriends she has, but I know it's a few. Who would want that many cocks? If they outnumber holes, it's just too many.

"Here, drink this," Brad says, handing me a glass of ice-cold water. "It will help with your hangover tomorrow since you now have a job interview to prepare for."

"Thanks," I say with no snarky comeback, which is new for me.

I'm just excited I have an interview, and I'm one step closer to not having to rely on my brother for money because let's face it, university might not work out. While I love living with Winnie, I want to be able to afford to live by myself, or with roommates, like a normal university student.