“Good night, Beanie.” Jace released my shoulders and he took a step away so I could get into the car.
“G’night.” I slurred dreamily, wishing I could stay. “Wait, Beanie?”
“It’s just a nickname.” Jace laughed. “For a sexy girl who is as skinny as a string bean.”
“It’s not sexy, it’s a nickname for a dog.” I hated it. My face must have shown as much.
Jace belly laughed and took a step back toward the house. “You don’t like it?”
Without answering, I got into my car, started it, and rolled down the window before I waved and drove off.
“Later!” I heard him call out as I drove away, wondering what the hell just happened.
All the way home I replayed the scene in my mind over and over again and couldn’t figure out what Jace’s story was. Or, if there was a story. Did I only imagine that he was going to kiss me? He said that girl Cassie wasn’t his girlfriend, but she was waiting for him. And WTF on the nickname? Beanie?
My thoughts were all over the place, and I couldn’t get a wink of sleep. After I tossed and turned for most of the night, the sun eventually rose, and light filled my room. Exhausted, I pulled the black-out shades down and crawled back into bed, determined to find out whether my crush was even somewhat reciprocated. By the time sleep finally came, I’d decided that if there was a next time with Jace, I was taking matters into my own hands.
After all, why let a dude—even a snack like Jace—control my destiny? I was the one who planned on bagging a rock star this summer. Sure, Zoey beat me to the punch and had her guy. Now, it was time to get mine. Jace Devereaux wasn’t going to know what hit him.
Chapter 5
JACE
After Alex drove off, I mentally berated myself. What was I thinking? She was so fucking stunning, but what was I doing flirting with her? Eighteen. She was a baby. I was on Ty’s case 24/7 about Zoey, and yet, just now I was about one second away from following him over the jail-bait edge. Jesus, if Connor hadn’t walked into the practice room when he did, I would have kissed the hell out of her.
With the crisis averted, I was determined to put Alex in the friend zone—no, the little sister zone. Giving her a dumb nickname would remind me of how it needed to be with her. Alex’s horrified look when I called her “Beanie” meant that I hit the mark.
Shaking off the near-disastrous turn of events, I rejoined the guys at the firepit along with my sister, Jennifer, her high school best friend, and my former friend-with-benefits, Cassie, and Cassie’s sister, Jessica. Grabbing a cold beer, I deliberately took a seat in between Jen and Zane away from Cassie, who pouted when I didn’t sit in the open seat next to her.
Aesthetically, Cass was a beautiful girl with long, glossy red hair, full lips, wide, china-blue eyes, and a tight, toned body. The problem was, she relied upon her looks to get what she wanted, and her personality seemed to get more superficial with each passing year. Everything was always a show for Cassie. Even tonight when we were casually lounging around a firepit, she was dressed for a club in a low-cut, black tank dress and high-heel, black, cut-out booties.
We’d been hooking up on and off for years. For me, non-exclusively, and I’m pretty sure it was that way for her too. Not that she didn’t try to persuade me to take things to the next level. It just wasn’t what I wanted. Over the years I’d broken off contact with her hundreds of times. It never worked for long. Cassie pursued me relentlessly. She scared me sometimes with her persistence.
She made no secret of how much she loved being with a guy in a successful band. I mean, LTZ wasn’t there yet, but she’d taken it back up a notch as our social media following increased. Luckily, after hearing so many of Carter’s cautionary tales, I had always been religious about using condoms. My gut told me that if I wasn’t careful with Cassie, she’d find herself “accidentally” pregnant.
This didn’t mean I wasn’t a weak man. Fuck. Cassie oozed sex appeal and knew how to get me going. I was a twenty-something dude, ruled by my cock. She was an absolute animal in the sack. I gave in. Often. Who could blame me?
Well, Jen could. She thought her little brother was a misogynist pig by continuing to hit it with Cassie. When the tour dates had firmed up a couple of months ago, she sat me down and gave me a stern lecture about how I needed to treat the women in my life. Which, according to her, was the way that I would want my own sisters to be treated. It hit home; it was time for me to grow up.
A couple of weeks later when Cassie offered to blow me in the men’s room at the Mission show, I’d turned her down and held firm—pardon the pun—when she suggested half-a-dozen alternate locations. She had been furious but finally left me alone. I knew that it wouldn’t be the end. It never was. I guess it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Cassie and her sister had found their way into another band function via my sister.
As I stared into the fire, watching the orange and yellow flames dance, Jen
