“Look, I’m young, I’m a damn fine looking dude, and I have money I can play with.” He leaned forward and shook his head. “I think I should be able to do whatever the hell I want just as long as I show up.”
“You keep complaining about the same thing, man. She said you have to pretend to date someone?” At Alec’s nod, Jack continued. “Then put on your big boy panties and suck it up. What you have to worry about is who the hell would want to pretend to date you? Sure, these chicks will hook up with you just to say they hooked up with Alec Sinclair, but actual dating isn’t something you’re good at.”
Alec furrowed his brow. He knew Jack wasn’t trying to be a dick, but he couldn’t help but feel slightly offended. “Whoa, dude. I’m right here.”
“Have you been on a date?” Jack asked, arching a brow. He dropped his leg from the chair only to replace it with the other one. “And I don’t mean, you call a girl up and meet up at a club where you can subsequently hook up.”
“Subsequently? Really? You’ve been hanging out with my sister way too much.”
“I’m not kidding.”
“Look, Seraphina stressed the fake part of the whole ordeal,” he said before bringing the bottle to his mouth once again. “It’s not like we have to date officially. Hell, we don’t even have to actually date-date. We can just say we’re dating. I just need to find someone who will lie to everyone and say we’re dating when, you know, we’re not.”
“Can’t you just, I don’t know, pay someone?” Jack asked. He looked down at the tip of his shoe and wrinkled his brow, leaning over to check up on it. “Keep things simple, make her sign some kind of contract?”
“I don’t know, man.” Alec made a face. “Seraphina said she could look into things but as owner of the team, it borders on prostitution, you know?”
“No, I don’t know. How does paying someone to pretend to be your girlfriend – okay, I see it now.” Jack began to move his thumb against the toe of his shoe as though he was trying to wipe something off. “Even then, that’s a stretch, but I guess even the implication could make her look bad and it’s not like she needs any more scandals.”
“At least Thorpe is retired so technically they can be together without much of an issue,” Alec pointed out before shaking his head. “What the fuck are we even talking about?”
“I’m not sure but I have the sudden desire to get a manicure and drink some kind of fancy-ass coffee.”
“You wouldn’t be able to handle the shots of adrenaline,” Lily said, coming into the room, throwing Jack a good-natured smile. “You get your kicks on the ice. Save the espresso shots for the big boys, hmm?” She winked playfully.
Alec glanced away, though his lips curled into a small smile. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was happy for both his sister and Jack. Sure, the fact that they started dating recently hadn’t been easy for him. It was his sister and his best friend. They shared a fucking bedroom, and Alec wasn’t stupid. He didn’t like to think about it, if he was being honest.
After a while, though, Alec couldn’t help but see the way Lily looked at Jack and he couldn’t help that Jack did everything in his power to always touch Lily. Not in a gross, pervy way. More like he wanted her to know that he was there for her, like he would go to the edge of the earth just to make sure it was okay, and he wouldn’t care.
Which meant it wasn’t as bad as he thought. They were both genuinely happy. And even if Jack was maybe more of a whipped guard dog than some kind of attack dog like he had been before, he was still Jack. Lily hadn’t tried to change him in the slightest.
“Where’d you get off to?” Alec asked. He downed the rest of his beer and stood up too fast. He nearly stumbled forward but managed to catch himself by stepping out and shook his head. “Goddammit, one beer. What the fuck happened to me? I could hold my own under normal circumstances.”
“You and normal?” a familiar voice asked as she stepped into the apartment. “I didn’t think you could use that word in the same sentence as you.”
“What the fuck is this?” Alec asked, looking at Noah.
Jesus Christ, she looked much better than he remembered from high school; long wavy hair, big green eyes. He didn’t remember those curves the way they fit in those skinny jeans. Though she wore a hoodie, he could only imagine what she might be hiding underneath there.
Even though she annoyed the shit out of him.
Alec wouldn’t say they were enemies, but if the world ended tomorrow and she was the last woman on earth, he would think really hard before he had to fuck her, and he would resent the fact that he would have to at all.
Noah fucking Stone.
What the fuck was she doing here?
“Guys,” Lily said slowly. Though she was referring to both her boyfriend and her brother, Lily’s eyes stayed firmly on Alec. It was obvious to him that she had more issues with him than she did with Jack, but that was because she was probably biased. “You remember Noah Stone?”
“Unfortunately,” Alec muttered.
Noah gave him a wink – which he did not appreciate.
“Well, she’s going to be staying with us for a while.”
4
Noah
The last thing Noah wanted was to be anywhere
