“Would you stop?” Ava waves her off before pulling in the girl with the long ponytail. This one has a look on her face that says she can take a bite out of you if she wants. “This is my friend Harper—myonlyfriend around here.” She sneers at Lucky, and the three of us laugh.
“Ava, this is Rush and Lawson,” I offer. “We’re on the basketball team.”
Rush swoops in and blocks her body with his. “Wearethe basketball team. And if you ever want to get away from your big brother, just let me know. Believe me, I’ve turned dodging big brothers into an art form.” His hand glides around her waist, low and to the point, before I flick it off and stand shoulder to shoulder with her. Ava grins like a schoolgirl, her eyes set wide and sparkling as she laps up Rush’s offer.
“Don’t listen to him.” A silent rage brews in me at the thought of Rush trying to put his stale moves on Ava. “He’s studying STDs for his upcoming thesis. He’s got a whole collection in his boxers, so I’d steer clear if I were you.”
“Dude, do not reference my boxers.” Rush socks my chest with a mock heart stopper. “Besides, I’ve got my little sister here to look after.” He pulls Lucky in and wraps an arm around her shoulders.
“Get that snake off her.” Lawson tosses Rush’s limb back at him.
“Dude.” Rush laughs while knocking back the toxic filled red Solo cup in his hand. “I keep my snake in my boxers.”
Lucky and Harper share a quick laugh, but Ava blushes ten shades deeper. She looks just as pissed at Rush as she is with me.
“Lawson is my big bro.” Harper wraps her arm around his. “We’ve already mapped out a plan to dominate the mixers. I’ll be his wingman.” She knocks her shoulder into his chest. “Come on. Let’s make the rounds. I’ve got a few sisters I can introduce you to that will gladly turn your boxers inside out.” The two of them get swallowed up in the crowd before anyone can protest.
Lucky leans in. “She’s slightly insane. I, however, am totally put together.” She bites down on her lip and winks over at Rush. Something tells me a few cardinal rules might be broken starting tonight. “Relax.” She flattens her hand against his chest. “I’m totally cool with having a big brother. I’ve got a real one, by the way.” She smirks at the thought of him. “He’s mean as shit, and if you so much as wink at me, he’ll rip your arms off and shove them down your throat. He’ll have more interesting places to put your other limbs.”
“She’s not kidding.” Ava shudders as if she’s witnessed the limb plucking event a time or two.
“Come on.” Lucky grips Rush by his preppy collar and makes him follow her. “I’ve always wanted to dance with my big brother.” Her laughter trails long after they’re both out of sight.
Ava glances my way, her anger set to simmer. “You dance?”
“Nope.” A smile begs to come, but I won’t let it.
“Didn’t think so.” She makes a face at the crowd before twisting her perfect little frame my way. Her shoulder drops, her neck extends as her lips purse just begging for a kiss. Then, just as quick as she fell into her flirtatious state of mind, she straightens, her face bleaching out as if she’s just come to a horrible realization. “Oh, wait—do you have a girlfriend or something?” She leans in with anticipation, and the hint of her perfume lights up my senses. Inhaling Ava’s scent is far more intoxicating than anything that keg can offer up.
“Or something.” My gut wrenches because I’m afraid I just spilled a lie at the feet of my newfound little sister. Darcy bounces through my mind, and I let her bounce right back out.
Ava’s shoulders sag as if the idea actually left her dejected. “That’s great. Can’t wait to meet my big brother’s main squeeze.” She glances around as the crowd presses closer to the exit. “Is she here? What’s her name anyway? I bet I know her.” Her lids hang heavy at the prospect.
“Darcy—and no, she’s not here.” My stomach heats in a vat of acid at the trajectory this conversation just took. I can’t let Ava think I’ve got someone in my life when I don’t. Especially now that I’ve all but volunteered to take her under my wing. I couldn’t protect Steph from the lies her friends told her, but I can be a better brother to Ava and start by not lying to her myself. “Actually, Darcy and I aren’t together anymore.” There. It feels as if a bowling ball just rolled off my chest. “We’re sort of in that nebulous place that happens afterward.”
A large crowd presses through, inadvertently landing Ava against my chest, and my arm swoops over her back in an effort to keep her from tipping over. That fuzzy sweater warms my shirt, but the softness, the heft of her tits pressed to my chest, the heat from her body, it all sets my brain on fire. For one brief moment, the noise dissipates, the crowd melts into a dizzying blur, but Ava keeps her eyes trained on mine, and in that one miraculous moment, I forget about the past, the present, and a future that seems to stretch out before me like a thicket of black clouds.
Ava hikes up on her tiptoes with her hair spilling over my chest. I’d have to lean in if I wanted to kiss her. Ava’s mouth barely crests my neck.
“How about we take the party outside?” she shouts up over the music. Her teeth glow in this dim light as if she took a bite right out of the moon. “Or maybe we should get a drink?” Her eyes light up at the prospect. I know for a fact there’s not a whole lot of carding going on at the house. I’m guessing she’s eighteen, nineteen max.
“Outside sounds good.” I take her by the hand, and her fingers lace easy through mine and it’s a perfect fit. There’s something both fragile and strong about Ava, and I can’t pinpoint quite why I feel that way.
We thread our way through the tangle of limbs. The smell of beer and the slight stench of weed follow us right out the door into the sharp icy night. Hollow Brook is lit up with a spray of white stars against the deep navy sky. That’s the one thing I appreciate the most about this mountainous terrain, the proximity to nature, the abundance of stars at night. I thought about going away for college—anywhere but here, anywhere but the scene of the crime, but I couldn’t do it.
Ava pulls in close, and I can feel her tiny frame shiver as we make our way down the porch.
“You okay in that?” I glance down at her bare thighs, trying to not hone in on the fact I can get an eyeful if I wanted. The skirt is that short. “I can run back in and grab a blanket or a robe.”
“A robe, huh?” She shakes her head, and her hair flares out like the wings of a bird. “Wow, you really are going to make a great big brother. We’re already off to a grand start. You just dragged me out of a raging party.”
“Dragged you?” I’m only partly amused, another very real part of me wonders if I’ll be taken in for assault. “It was your suggestion.”
“Never mind that.” Her eyes light up with a wicked gleam as if she has a secret, and she can hardly contain it for another moment. “You’re still holding my hand.” Her fingers press in, and a charge heats through me. I am still holding her hand. A part of me refuses to let go. I haven’t held a girl’s hand in so long, not since Darcy, but that never felt quite like this. Darcy has long bony fingers, claws for nails, and Ava’s sweet hand dovetails to mine without any real promise of injury. I give a little laugh at the thought as I shake us loose.
“Better?”
“Definitely not better.” She wrinkles her nose, and something about that small gesture warms me. “So score one on the big brother board for removing me from the presence of a hundred drunken frat boys. It’s sort of my first mixer.” Her eyes stray over my shoulder at the rowdy crowd that’s spilling onto the porch. “I take it you don’t really get to know anyone too well in there. It was sort of sold as a meet-and-greet—minus any celebrities.”
