Chapter 3
Asher (18)
I leaned my head against the front passenger seat as the shots I took back home coursed through my system. Theo and Rafael were sitting in the back seat while Cody drove, and things were… well, tense would be an understatement. Theo had run into Rafael at a liquor store and invited him to tag along with us. Needless to say, Cody was incensed.
I turned to my left and watched Cody’s jaw clench as he gripped the steering wheel. He kept looking in the rearview mirror, and I turned back to see if someone was trailing us, or something.
I hope it’s not the cops.
Rafael’s gaze was forward, and that’s when I realized Cody and he were basically having a stare-off.
Jesus, those two are dramatic.
Theo, in typical form, hadn’t shut up since we left the house. His voice bellowed in the car as he mused over how he was going to woo Cynthia Rowland, so I leaned in and whispered to Cody, “You good, man? I’m sorry Rafael is here. I swear I had no idea.”
If Theo had asked, I would have told him not to bring Rafael. I’d gotten a little bit of the backstory on what a colossal shitshow Rafael was at their parents’ wedding, so I knew how bad things were between them.
Cody didn’t take his eyes off the road as he said, “I’m cool. Everything’s cool.”
Everything is definitelynotcool.
Oh well, it wasn’t my business, and I didn’t feel like worrying about it. So, I decided to distract myself by making fun of Theo, who was still talking about how he was gonna get Cynthia to slobber all over his beef stick.His words…not mine.
“You’re not fucking anyone tonight, Big Boy. You’re already too drunk, and your dick’s gonna be like one of those inflatable tube men outside of a car dealership.”
The whole car cracked up.Good.We needed to ease the tension between the stepbrothers.
“Fuck. You. Red. My dick’s gonna be so hard it’ll poke a hole in Rowan’s Jacuzzi,” Theo spat out.
“The only reason you’re so jazzed about the Jacuzzi is because the water is hot and nobody will notice when you piss yourself again,” I replied.
“I DIDN’T PISS MYSELF THAT NIGHT! How many times do I need to tell you someone spilled on me, you carrot top fucker!”
“Carrot top? That’s the best you’ve got? You look like Vin Diesel’s inbred cousin,” I retorted.
“That’s it!”
Theo grabbed me by the shoulders and started pulling me into the backseat, but I gave him a titty twister and he released me.
“Fuck! That hurt!” Theo rubbed his nipple, and the whole car was cackling.
“You might be bigger than me, but I’m scrappy,” I said through my laughter.
“Just you wait, Red. I’m gonna get you when you least expect it.”
Cody and Rafael both made mocking “ooh” sounds.
“Oh yeah? What’ll you do to me, Big Boy?” I asked.
“Oh, no, I’m not giving you any clues. You’ll know when it fucking happens, though. Just watch your back tonight.”
I turned around, half-worried that I had actually pissed him off for a second, but Theo was giving me a devilish smirk that had my heart aflutter.
Did I mention that I was madly in love with Theo? Yeah, I got over Cody real quick when a six-foot-six Italian stallion with a buzzed head and muscles that rivaled an amateur bodybuilder’s decided to be my shadow during our rookie year. He’d only gotten bigger and hotter over the years, and it was getting harder and harder to keep my feelings in check.
But I have to.
I’d finally found friends I could enjoy myself with, and I wasn’t going to compromise that. Ruining my friendship with Theo was a thought I couldn’t bear. I loved Theo. He put on this big macho exterior, but I knew he was just a big sweetheart, and nobody made me laugh like that big himbo did.
