Chapter 1

Peyton

"Oh my god, I'm so glad this week is finally over!" I dropped down in the seat across from my best friend with a loud grunt, leaning my elbows on the table between us, as I looked around the dimly lit bar. "Sorry I'm late, but it doesn't look like I've missed much."

"Nah, no one interesting in here," Lisa said with a roll of her brown eyes, flicking a wrist to indicate the half-empty bar dismissively. Her chocolate hair was slicked up in a long ponytail today. "Might have to find a new joint."

"Aw, but I just got here!" I sat up and glanced around for a server. If she wanted to run us off, I'd be damned if I didn't get a drink in me first.

"Not my fault you're late."

"Not my fault, either!"

"Ooh," Lisa smirked, her dark eyes sparkling with humor as she leaned forward. "Tell me."

I looked back at her and scrunched my nose. "Huh? Tell you what?"

"Oh, don't even try that shit with me. What's the latest in the roommate from hell saga that made you," she glanced down at her watch, "exactly twenty-two minutes late for Friday night drinks?"

I let out an exhausted sigh and pushed back a mass of red curls from my face in frustration, because it wasn't just my roommate from hell saga that had worn me out this week. "I need a drink or three, first," I declared, and flagged down a passing server. "What are you drinking?"

Lisa held up her glass and smiled. "Whiskey. Neat."

My eyes widen. "I guess I'm not the only one who had a tough week."

"No shit," she said, and knocked back the rest of her drink just as the server arrived. "Another neat whiskey for me and a Jack and Coke for her," she said, before she turned her gaze back to me. "Alright now spill, what happened with Chloe this time?"

"You mean Chloe who was raised in a fucking barn?" I slumped back in my seat again. "Chloe who cuts her toenails at the kitchen table? Chloe who left a used pad open on top of the trash can in the bathroom today?"

Lisa's lips curled in disgust. "Um, all of the above?"

"Yep. And you know what she said about the pad? ‘Why are you trippin' when we both have periods?' Like, are you fucking seriously asking me why I don't want to see your dirty period pads?" I shuddered just thinking about it. "Like I'm the one who's crazy for wanting her to act like she's a human and not some farm animal? And then she refused to clean it up, saying that it was on the trash can which is where it should be, and she'd throw it away tomorrow . I had to clean her shit and physically wash the trash can lid because that's just nasty, and I didn't want it festering there until morning. She's so fucking gross. Thanks," I huffed when the server returned with our drinks, and practically ripped mine away from her so I could take a desperate sip, I sure needed it.

"I think it's time you find a new place."

"Ya think? Look at me, I'm so pale from stress I'm translucent!"

"Pff, don't start complaining about that," she says with a good-natured eyeroll. "With your big blue eyes and gorgeous red curls, guys always think you're super innocent or some shit and flock. If anything, it'll get you more free drinks tonight."

"I'd rather pay for my own drinks and have my roommate clean up her own period mess, thanks," I mutter."

"Hence, move out?"

"Finals are done and we graduate in a week, so I'll finally have the time and energy to find a place of my own."

"In seven days, we'll be college graduates. Official members of the real world." Lisa lifted her glass in the air. "A toast to us for working our asses off for the past four years and finally reaching our goals!"

"Cheers to that shit!" I tapped my glass to hers with a smile and took another long, fortifying sip. The caramel taste of the Jack was familiar and soothing, and slowly I felt my body start to relax. To calm down after the busiest week of my life. "I'm so happy you got a job in Vegas, by the way. I would've died if you left me here all alone."

I'd been alone for most of my life. Even when I lived with my dysfunctional parents—an abusive dad and a terrified, codependent mother—I was still on my own. Once my dad finally beat the shit out of my mom so bad she needed to be hospitalized, I ended up in foster care until they tracked down my Aunt Myra in Chicago.

Until Aunt Myra, I was used to being alone. But because of Aunt Myra, I also learned that I didn't have to be. Having someone close you could trust was one of life's greatest gifts, and I was glad to have my bestie nearby.

"Yeah, well, the city has grown on me over the past three years," Lisa said with a shrug.

"You mean it's not a dusty hellhole full of degenerates and losers?" When she transferred from junior college, Lisa hated the desert.

She smirked. "Oh, it is definitely still all of that, but I think maybe that's my speed. I like being surrounded by riffraff, as long as I'm not caught up in it."

"Then social media marketing for a casino is the perfect job for you." When she told me she'd gotten a job before her diploma was officially in hand, all I'd felt was relief and then pride. "So tell me, is your boss hot or what?"

"You are absolutely ridiculous, you know that, right?"

I flashed a toothy smile. "It's all part of my charm. And you're stalling."

"He's good looking in an older guy sort of way. Salt-and-pepper hair, what I suspect is a decent amount of muscle under his suits, and he's old enough to be your uncle. So basically, you'd soak your panties over him."

My eyes widened at her description. "Mmm, sounds swoony. Is he single?"

Lisa pointed at me as she laughed and shook her head. "No. Well, I don't know actually, but you are not allowed to fuck my boss, Peyton. In fact, you're not allowed to meet him. Ever. Got it?"

"Girl code," I promised. Those two words were our shorthand promise to each other. "He's all yours!"

"I'm not fucking him, either!"

"Well there's no one in here for us, so maybe after this drink we can hit up Leather and Chrome. I hear there's always hotties to be claimed there."

"Oh yeah?" She arched a brow and lifted the last of her drink to her lips. "I've never been there."

"The women at the speech therapy center where I work, said you can find bikers, businessman, musicians, and any other type that gets your motor running." I wiggled my eyebrows and she laughed.

"They all get my motor running," she said. "Sounds like a big ol' man candy store. Let's go."

But as we finished the last of our drinks, the server from before appeared with two more glasses for us, making us both frown.

"We didn't order another round of drinks," I tell her.

"I know," she shrugged nonchalantly and placed them in front of us anyway. "They're from some guy."

Lisa sighed because, hot as she was, she was used to this song and dance. "Did you see the bartender make these drinks?" she asked. We'd both learned that lesson after a few secret drinks arrived that made us dizzy and sick.

"No, but we have a policy of not leaving drinks unattended on the bar. He always hands them directly to me after he makes them."

"Good enough for me," Lisa decided, and took a sip as the server left us.

"Liquid courage before you go man shopping?" I ask.

"You mean before we go man shopping, don't you?"

"Maybe." I hadn't dated in the months since I broke up with a really nice guy because there was just no spark between us.

"Oh, come on, it's time to get back on the horse. You weren't even sad to break up with Nolan, so I know you're not still hung up on him."

"I'm not, but I'm sick of meeting guys who don't make me want to lose control. It's not worth the effort. Everyone is just so same-same."

"Excuse me, ladies?" A man with pale blond hair and the lightest blue eyes I'd ever seen stopped at the table, his gaze fixed on me. He fidgeted with his tie, a bright purple number with little green aliens. A tie. At a bar.

How… cute and nerdy. I smiled politely. "Yes?"

His fingers dropped, and he spoke in a rush that made me feel his lines were rehearsed. "My name is Zachary and I just wanted to let you know that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and I would really love to get to know you better."

"Um, thank you. That's really sweet." I slid a ‘help me' gaze to my bestie.

"No, thank you for taking my breath away with your beauty."

Oh great.

"What do you say," he continued, apparently not noticing how plastic my smile was, or that I was no longer making eye contact. "I'd love to take you out to dinner and maybe a show?"

A show? What was I, his eighty-year-old grandmother? "That's…sweet," I repeated. "But, um…"

Lisa snickered, and she didn't even try to hide her amusement at my expense. She never did.

"Sorry, pal." She finally stood and circled the table to sit on my lap. "She's taken," she said, and planted her lips on mine as she ran her fingers through my hair.

Lisa pulled back and laid an expectant look on the man because there were two reactions when we did this. The guy would offer to take us both out in hopes of scoring a threesome. Or they would be bummed out.

This guy? He got angry. I blinked in surprise as those pale eyes suddenly burned up with an energy that sent goosebumps popping up all over my body. His eyes darted between us, his mouth thinning and his brows lowering threateningly, before he spun on his heels without a word and stomped off back to his table.

"Sheesh," Lisa groaned playfully. "It's exhausting having such a stunner of a best friend. Maybe I should shoot my shot." She wiggled her eyebrows, one arm slung over my shoulder as she remained sitting on my lap.

"Maybe that's what's missing in my life. Pussy."

She snorted another laugh, flicking bright red curls over my shoulder as she reached across the table and snagged her whiskey. "Yeah, right. Remember that French chick from junior year?"

My face flamed hot, and I immediately grabbed for my own drink. "Hey, I thought I'd be able to eat out a woman, okay? It's not my fault I freaked in the moment."

Lisa tossed her head back and burst into a laugh so loud and contagious, it earned us stares from the other bar patrons. She calmed down enough to raise her glass. "To all the memories and the bonding, the experiences that brought us to this milestone in our lives. Sisters forever."

"Sisters forever," I agreed. "And to the next chapter."

Lisa nodded. "Let it be filled with good sex, hot guys, and steady paychecks."

"Hell yeah, I'll drink to that!"

This was a moment I wasn't sure I would ever see. People with my background didn't often get out or rise above the trauma, and I was damn proud of that fact that I had.

Too bad Aunt Myra died before she could see me.