Prologue
Simon
18 Years Old
Irolledmyeyeswhen I heard Barron's phone go off.
"Is that your girlfriendagain?" My tone was mocking, but I couldn't pull back my scorn.
I had only been in New Haven for less than a week, and I already had to put up with Barron's sappy texts and calls to his girlfriend. Talk about co-dependent.
My cousin gave me an apologetic smile but still quickly thumbed back a response to his girlfriend, Eden.
We were laying out on sun loungers in Barron's backyard, basking in the day's heat. There was little to do in New Haven, but I wanted to hang with Barron before I left Helensville for college.
"This is the longest we've been apart," Barron explained as he threw his phone on the patio table between us. "I miss her."
Jesus, he said that without shame, too. I shook my head in disbelief at how pussy whipped Barron was. My cousin was a good-looking guy - seventeen and on the verge of going off to college once senior year wrapped. Surely he wasn't planning on staying with Eden after high school? I couldn't imagine being stuck with one girl for this long.
At only a year older, I had already fucked more than a handful of girls. Most in high school, and a couple of college girls. Barron didn't know what he was missing. I needed to save him from himself.
"Is Edenthe one?"I asked.
Without hesitation, Barron nodded. "Yeah, man. She's the one."
Fuck, this was going to be harder than I thought if my cousin already sounded so confident.
"But how do you know?"
"That she's the one?" He shrugged. "I just do."
"Hmm." I reached over to take a swig of my spiked coke. I had hidden some bourbon in my bag and had covertly splashed a few drops in my drink. My aunt was decidedly uncool when it came to underage drinking.
"But how do you know for sure?"
Barron frowned at my words. "Like I said, I just do." His hard tone left no room for arguments, but I couldn't resist pressing on.
"Listen," I sat up on my elbow and turned to Barron. "I like Eden; she's a dope chick. And I think it's cute that you have a little childhood girlfriend."
I lifted my sunglasses to the top of my head so that Barron could read the sincerity in my gaze. "But you're seventeen years old. Your frontal lobe is not even fully formed until you're twenty-five."
At my cousin's confused look, I pointed at his phone. "It's true; look it up. Your decision-making and emotions haven't matured yet. Who's to say you'll still feel the same about Eden one, two years from now?"
Barron was quiet as he considered my words before shaking his head in disagreement. "There's no point in thinking like that. This is how I feelnow.And I love Eden. We love each other."
"Okay, but what if Eden's feelings change? What if you both go off to college, and she meets some older frat guy who's exciting and different?"
Barron's face darkened with unconstrained fury. "Over my dead body," he ground out.
I bit back a groan of frustration. God, I hoped I was never this pathetic over a girl. Just imagining his precious Eden with another guy made Barron look like he wanted to punch something. I decided to pull on that thread a bit.
I sat up fully, swinging my legs over the side of the lounger. "All I'm saying is you gotta have some new experiences before making rash decisions about your future."
I paused for a response, but my cousin was silent, his face still red with annoyance. I took that as my cue to keep going.
"Look, I ran into some girls your age when I went into town for snacks. Maria and Lesley, something." My dick twitched as I thought of the former girl. She was the perfect summer fling, right up my alley - flirtatious, beautiful, and loose.
"Lissa," Barron corrected flatly before taking a large gulp of his drink. "They're usually attached at the hip."
