If looks could kill, I would have been dead the day I asked him about Sera, and he made it clear his sister was off-limits to someone like me. I hadn’t spent any time with her then… She was just a beautiful girl whose attitude had caught my eye… but now?
However, my hesitancy over pursuing Sera has nothing to do with her fucking brother.
Alex continues, “You’ll have to find a way to get close. Win them over.”
“Do I look like a teenager going to her father to ask for permission?”
“No,” Alex says coolly, “but if you’re as obsessed with this girl as your actions last night suggest?—”
“I’m not going after her.”
“Can you stay away?”
“Fuck you.”
Alex stares. “Why are you smiling?”
“I’m not.” But I was. I was picturing Sera’s smile when she flipped me off.
“You are.”
“Shut up.”
He folds his hands behind his head. “You have time now with your little sabbatical.”
He’s right. And that’s the problem. With time, I’ll either forget her—unlikely—or make things worse for myself.
“What does she like to do?” he presses. “Find out where she goes and be there.”
“How the hell would I know? I just met her.”
“So, you have research to do.”
“This is insane, right? I just met her. I shouldn’t…”
Alex meets my gaze. “I knew within the first second with Madison.”
I groan and head for the door, stopping when Alex calls after me. “Let me know if you want to come to the club meeting later.”
“What?”
“I’m having drinks with the Bloom brothers in a couple of hours while their wives are all at my house. Surprisingly, they aren’t all idiots.”
I shake my head. “What the hell happened to you?”
8
SERA
It takes me hours to fall asleep after Liev left. My body and emotions are too agitated. Finally, exhaustion and my furry, weighted blanket overwhelm me, and I fall into a restless sleep as the sky lightens outside my windows.
When I finally roll off the sofa, scrubbing dried drool from my cheek, I’m surprised to see it’s already one p.m. Groaning, I straighten my legs, feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck. My body aches everywhere. Another shower helps loosen the tight muscles, but I avoid looking at the bruises now dotting my body.
Fuck.There is no way I’m going to be able to hide this.
Even with the two days of the weekend to heal, Brady is going to freak out, I think morosely, taking in my bruised and scratched face.
My stomach growls, but I can tell from swallowing that my throat will be too painful to eat. Ramen it is. I’m spooning up the last of my noodles when my phone dings.
