Wrong Side of Town

Dylan sighed and shook his head. “It’s just…you scare off all my tutors. Can’t you try to be nice for once?”

“Nice?” The word sounded strange on my tongue, so I said it one more time just to get a better grasp of it. “Nice.”

No one had ever wanted me to be nice before. Ryder had always taught me to be tough and to never act like a pussy. Growing up, he’d always had this saying: Never run away from a fight; even if you know you’re going to lose, fight like you’re a winner.

That’s what I kept telling myself every time I started showing signs of what Ryder called “weakness”. To him, a weakness was when you let someone in, when someone got too close. The only people we should share everything with were the brothers of our gang.

Any other displays of friendship, attachment, caring, kindness, or love were all signs of weakness, and Ryder didn’t stand for weakness.

“Yes, nice.” Dylan’s voice cut into my thoughts, and when I glanced back at him, he had a look of determination blazing in his eyes. “If you’re nice to people, they’ll be nice back. So, pleeease, be nice to the tutor. I want her to like me.”

The kid was worried for no reason. If the tutor didn’t like him, I’d make her like him.

There was the squeal of tires on asphalt, and a car turned into the parking lot of the library. It was a beat up old station wagon, pretty ready to fall apart. As the car screeched to a halt across the lot, my eyes darted over it critically.

There was no hope for that smoking crap pile of metal. Even I wouldn’t be able to do much to help it. That car needed to be put down, that’s how much pain the engine sounded like it was in. Poor thing.

The passenger side door opened and a girl got out. She shut the door and leaned in through the open window to speak to the driver.

As she spoke, I studied the honey brown hair that fell in long waves down her back. That color wasn’t out of a bottle—it was pretty obvious it was natural—and her hair was fucking hot. It was the kind of hair you wanted to grab onto when you were screwing a girl.

Her clothes were kinda plain, though. She was wearing an ankle-length skirt and a baggy sweater over the top. Who the fuck dressed like that?

Then, as the car finally drove away with a screech, she turned around, and it felt like my head had split in two. All of a sudden, it hit me who dressed like that. There was only one other girl I knew who dressed like that.

No fucking way. It couldn’t be her. It couldn’t be the girl I was trying to forget about. Life couldn’t be that screwed up that she would walk back into mine so soon after I’d decided I would never approach her in Penthill ever again.

“She’s pretty!” There was excitement in Dylan’s voice as he straightened up beside me.

She was more than pretty; she was fucking beautiful, old woman clothes and all.

Estella’s eyes widened as they focused on me, and that rose bud mouth that I wanted to kiss so badly, opened in surprise. She stopped a few feet away from Dylan and me, staring between the two of us like someone had slapped her across the face.

The feeling was mutual.

“Are you the tutor?” Dylan sprang forward, extending his hand towards her. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

“Um…uh-I.” Estella looked winded as she took his hand in hers—she continued staring at me with those whiskey eyes that intoxicated me.

Shit. I was completely screwed.

Dylan didn’t seem to notice her hesitance. “I’m Dylan Madden. I spoke to you on the phone this morning. I needed a Math tutor, so my brother put an ad…”

Estella’s eyes glazed over at those words. I could see her brain working as she tried to process the fact that we were Maddens. I waited for her to turn around and run, but it surprised me when she smiled down at Dylan and returned his handshake.

“Dylan, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Estella Markson.”

From where I was standing, I could see Dylan’s ears turn red as he dropped her hand. “Estella? That’s such a nice name. Are you going to tutor me, Estella? Please say you will! I’m having trouble with fractions and I want to do really well in school.” I knew he was giving her that smile—the Madden smile. The smile that women found irresistible.

“I think I can help you with fractions and anything else you need help with.” Estella’s smile only grew, until her entire face was glowing and radiating warmth that I’d never experienced before. Just from that look on her face, you could tell she was kind and genuine. I wanted to soak in that smile of hers and bask in the glow radiating from her face.

Something stirred in the pit of my stomach, like tiny shivers were somehow working their way inside me. Fuck that. I didn’t want to feel whatever the fuck I was feeling. This wasn’t going to happen. I had to put an end to it.

I strode forward and placed both hands on Dylan’s shoulders. “This isn’t going to work out. We have to go now, Dil.”

Dylan twisted out of my grasp and backed away from me until he was almost pressed up against Estella. “Why? I like her.”

Groaning, I pushed a hand through my hair in frustration. It wasn’t going to be easy arguing with Dylan once he was determined about something. “You’ve known her for about a minute. You’ll get over it.”

I reached out for him but he shrunk away against Estella who wrapped a protective arm around him and frowned at me like I was the enemy. Shit. If only she knew I was doing this to keep her out of my world. She didn’t need to have any part in it.

She gave me a level look. “I have no problem with being Dylan’s tutor.”

My jaw clenched. I wasn’t used to people not agreeing with me. But that was what had drawn me to Estella; the fact that she stood up to me even when she’d been intimidated by me. “That’s not going to happen. Deal with it.”

This time, I grabbed Dylan by the arm and began dragging him back towards the truck. He let out a cry of protest, which I ignored, and didn’t stop until I’d opened up the passenger side door.

“Vincent, wait!”

I’d just been about to throw Dylan into the passenger seat when Estella’s voice made me stop. Dylan, who up then had been crying and yelling, also stopped to crane his neck around my body so he could catch a glimpse of Estella.

My body was extremely tense when I turned around to meet her, and found her standing directly behind me. The proximity to her made me want to shrink away, but that would make me the queen of pussies everywhere, so I held my ground like a Madden would.

“What?’ I barked out, liking the way her mouth turned down at my cold tone.

Good. I didn’t want her to like me. I wanted her to stay the hell away.

Her eyes darted past me, before returning to me and sizing me up. “Can we talk in private?”

No. Fuck no. I didn’t want to get any closer to her than was necessary.

For some reason, I was nodding. My Goddamn head was nodding. Why the hell was I nodding?

We walked a few feet away from the car, out of earshot of Dylan, and I started speaking before she could open her mouth.

“I don’t want you to tutor my brother, do you get it?”

Estella folded her arms across her chest, and I could tell I was in for a battle. “No, I don’t really get it. Did I leave such a bad impression on you last night that you won’t even consider me for the position?” There was a smirk forming on the edge of her lips that I wanted to take into my mouth and devour.

The point she was trying to make came across loud and clear. She was a good girl; I was the one who’d left a bad impression on her, yet I refused to hire her. She couldn’t understand why and I couldn’t explain it to her. My gut instinct was telling me to stay away and my instincts were never wrong.

“You’re obviously not right for the job.” That was the only thing I could think of in response.