The shithead had impeccable timing, and I choked on my drink. He tipped back his glass and drained what was left before getting up while I used the hem of my shirt to sop up the root beer from my chin. He licked his lips and let out a hum of approval before turning away.
“If I made a list, would you hit the liquor store for me? I’ll give you whatever money you need.” Colin flipped on the kitchen light and started pulling bottles out of the cabinet over the stove. “I’m disappointed by the boring stash you guys have in here.”
“Yeah, well some of us are actually old enough to go to the bar when we want to get shitfaced,” I pointed out. The reminder of his age was as much for me as it was for him. I couldnotuse Chase’s younger brother as a way to forget my misguided crush.
“True, but it’s cheaper to drink at home,” he countered. “And it limits the number of drunk, belligerent assholes you have to contend with.”
“And how in the hell would you know the difference?” God, I sounded like a total loser. It wasn’t like any of the rest of us had waited until our twenty-first birthdays before tasting alcohol. And obviously, Colin wasn’t a stranger to mixing drinks.
“Come on, are you telling me you never snuck into a bar before you were legal?” he scoffed. He said it so casually, as if it was a regular occurrence in his life. And maybe it was. It was probably easier to sneak in when you were built like him and lived in a small town with several other towns nearby. I’d never had that luxury. For as long as I could remember, it was drilled into my head that I had to keep out of trouble unless I wanted to work dead-end jobs my entire life. I knew I wanted something better than where I came from, so I toed the line, much to the chagrin of my high school buddies.
I watched as he pulled everything out of the cabinet. He checked each label before moving the bottle to the left or the right. Finally, curiosity got the best of me. I joined him in the kitchen, hoisting myself onto the counter. He ran the tip of his tongue over the seam of his lips as he slowly ran his gaze over my body.
“Shot glasses?” he asked as he filled a pint glass with ice.
“I’m pretty sure this is considered contributing to the delinquency of a minor,” I protested.
The corner of Colin’s mouth lifted into a devilish smirk. I swallowed hard at the mischievous gleam in his eye. “Please, you stick with me long enough and I’m pretty sure I could teach you a thing or two. Didn’t my brother tell you I’m the troublemaker of the family?”
I nearly made a snarky comment about how that wasn’t saying much since Chase struck me as an almost angelic child, but something in the bitterness laced in Colin’s words stopped me. I knew all too well what it was like being compared to siblings, and if I hated that shit, I wasn’t about to do it to someone else.
The new plan for the night? Let the new kid get me drunk if that’s what he needed to feel a connection to someone. He’d kept mostly to himself since moving in, and I knew neither of the siblings were happy about being forced to share a living space.
“Point taken.” I twisted around to grab a couple of mismatched shot glasses out of the cupboard. I watched as Colin poured a bit of this and a splash of that into the pint glass, covered it with another glass, and gave it a shake. A butter knife wasn’t the proper tool to use to strain the liquid, but he made it work. I’d have to see if I could track down a decent set of equipment for him.
No. I wasnotgoing to start buying gifts for Colin just so I could sit here and watch him come up with tasty concoctions. That was just—
“Salud!” Colin’s toast snapped me out of my thoughts. He handed me a shot that looked an unappealing shade of brown. I’d watched him add orange juice to the glass, so there was no reason it should be that color. “I know it looks strange. It’s one of the best shots you’ll ever have.”
“I’m not so sure about that.” Even with my aversion to doing shots, I couldn’t imagine this would be something I’d willingly ingest more than once.
He held the glass between two fingers. My breath caught in my throat as I imagined him holding my chin as he tipped the shot into my mouth. My dick was officially taking over all thought and leading me down a dangerous path.
“Trust me, Daniel.”
Fuck. Three simple words with such a raspy tone, and I had to choke back a whimper. Every second I spent in Colin’s presence made me regret not going out with Zach tonight. It would have killed me, but we could have picked up right where we left off in the spring. We were good-looking guys who’d never had a problem finding a woman willing to be the center of attention between us. And if any of them had ever realized how divided my focus had been, they’d never said anything.
I wasn’t nearly drunk enough for a quarter of the shit going through my head. I snatched the shot out of Colin’s fingers. “To new friends and bad decisions.”
Colin smirked, never breaking eye contact as we tipped back our shots. I had to give him credit; despite the hideous color, it was so damn tasty. I licked my lips, trying to place why the flavor was familiar. I looked up when Colin groaned. “You keep making those little noises and I’m going to do something completely inappropriate.”
The temperature and the tension climbed as Colin took a step closer. His fingers brushed against mine as he took the shot glass out of my hands. I was mesmerized as he ran his finger around the inside of my glass and sucked the remnants of my shot into his mouth.
“Fuuuuuck,” I groaned. His gaze lowered to my crotch. “You need to walk away, Colin.”
He stepped between my legs, jutting his chin. “Or what? I know you see me as Chase’s kid brother, but if you’re brave enough, I can give you everything you need.”
Not want.Need.
And holy fuck did I need…
5
Colin
I wason the express train to Hell and I knew it. Just because my brother had stumbled into his happily ever-after when he moved in with Jayden didn’t mean it was a smart move. In fact, it was possibly one of the dumbest things I’d done in my life and that was really saying something. And yet, I couldn’t deny Daniel. He was trying to pretend he wasn’t as affected as I was, but he was lying to himself.
He wanted this.
