"Stop being paranoid, woman, I'm fine. So, you can relax, I ain't doing shit to mess up your little party. And nobody here has the power to upset me."
"Bullshit!" Reed coughed into his hand.
I ground my teeth as Storm fanned her face with an eye roll and glanced past me. I watched as her expression shifted from mild curiosity to one of surprise. Reed also followed the direction of her gaze, and I knew they were looking at Harper. My entire body stiffened.
"Wow, Harper looksamazing," Storm cooed, dropping her hand to her side. It was the first nice thing I had ever heard her say about another female. Miracles did exist.
"I have to agree with you. Our little sister looks smoking," Reed added with a nod. “Phoenix thinks so, too. Ain’t that so, Brutal?”
"I can speak for myself, dipshit, and she's not our sister," I stated. There was nothing brotherly running through my mind when I looked at Harper in that gold number. Quite the opposite.
Stealing myself for what I was about to see, I turned, my eyes locking with Harper's. She was now in the water with Cash, and they were laughing and touching each other. Reed's hand on my arm stopped me from powering forward. The muscle in my jaw started to tick so hard I was surprised you couldn’t hear it click.
"Don't even think about it, Nix. They're just talking.”
“You talk with your lips, not your hands,” I growled.
Reed exhaled noisily, dropping his hand and nudging me with his shoulder. “You don't want to get into anything. Cash is our friend, remember?"
My muscles flexed against his.
“So, she’s got some male attention, so what? You should be happy she’s enjoying herself for a change," Storm admonished, and I hated that she was right.
As Harper turned back towards Cash, the invisible thread that had connected us snapped, as did my patience.
I cursed under my breath, and both Storm and Reed moved around me, like a human barricade. Yeah, like that would stop me.
Storm placed a finger against my chest and prodded. “No, Nix. You said you wouldn’t cause any trouble. This isn’t the football field, it’s my home.”
She sensed I was about to cause a scene at her pretentious party. As I watched Harper interacting playfully over their shoulders with my spotter from the gym, Irealized that when I’d issued my warning that she was off limits, I hadn't included our friendship group. An oversight that would soon be remedied.
"I mean it, please don't start anything, Phoenix. If you spoil this party, I will never forgive you," Storm huffed, pushing her hat back so she could glare better.
"Yeah, man, now is not the time."
I knew I needed to walk off the urge to march over there and mark my territory. Dragging a hand through my hair, I necked the rest of my beer. "Relax, both of you. I'm not going to do shit to spoil the party, OK? But I need another drink."
I then moved away.
"This should be good," I heard Reed say from behind me.
As I passed by a patioed area with seating, I placed my empty bottle on a table and then jogged up the steps towards the bar.
"Phoenix, you're here! Storm didn’t think you’d come," a high-pitched voice shrieked from the bi-folding doors of the kitchen. That noise was like nails being dragged down a chalkboard.
With a forced smile firmly in place, I turned towards Courtney Swan. I knew she’d be at the party, and even though we were in the friend zone, I had already been hell-bent on ignoring her. I hadn’t wanted to upset Harper, but she was so loud and obvious that I had no choice but to acknowledge her.
She had a huge smile on her face and appeared genuinely pleased to see me.Courtney’s tits also looked huge in the top she was wearing; the old Nix would have suddenly grown a tent the size of a condo in his shorts with those bad boys, but not anymore. All I could think about was Harper’s. Plus, Court and I were friends now, no more dirty little hook-ups.
Her eyes scanned over my face appreciatively and with genuine warmth. If only Harper would look at me like that.
She was standing with Mayor Summers, and I knew I couldn't be rude and ignore both of them.
"Courtney, you look lovely as always," I said, walking over to where they were standing. I kissed her on the cheek, not wanting to look like an ignorant asshole.
As I drew back, I raised my arm in greeting, “Sir,” I added with a nod as Summers took my outstretched hand and shook it.
I'd only ever seen him from a distance and didn't realize he was a similar size to me. Considering he was a pen-pushing suit, I respected the fact that he took care of himself.
