Page 60 of Austin

“I know. I see you. I can’t come down right now,” she spits out.

I look up to see her standing in the window.

“You know, I’ve never been stood up before. This is a first for me.”

She runs a hand over her forehead as she looks down at me. “I’m not standing you up. I just can’t come down right now. Go sit in your car and stay there until I’m ready. And keep your headlights off.”

She hangs up, and I feel like I need to pick my jaw up off the floor. No girl has ever been so blunt with me before. But you know what? I also don’t take orders so easily, so Miss Jalynn has met her match. If she doesn’t want to come down, it’s because she doesn’t want me to come up. And I’m about to find out why.

Not even bothering to go back to my car, I head up to the door and hit every other button on the intercom until someone lets me in. Thankfully, the tenant in 4A doesn’t seem to care who they let into the building. That also reminds me to talk to Jalynn about getting a new apartment with better neighbors, pronto.

I take the elevator up to her apartment and knock on the door.

When it flies open, I step back, taking in her skintight black dress that falls just above the knee. The dress is modest enough to take her out to meet my father, but it leaves all kinds of things up to the imagination. Like how her full breasts will look while heaving out the top of her dress or what those spaghetti straps will look like when draped down her arms as I slowly pull the whole thing off her.

I open my arms to her with a welcoming smile on my face that dies as soon as Beckett steps out behind her.

“Who the fuck are you?” he growls.

Jalynn is giving me the What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin? glare that I’ve come to know and love. The crease on her head is extra deep tonight.

Considering Beckett doesn’t seem to recognize me as my alter ego, I go for honesty when answering his question, “I’m Austin Sexton, Jalynn’s date tonight.”

He crosses his arm and stands tall, sizing me up, which is a game he will lose quickly. “Sexton? As in her boss?”

“That’s right. You got a problem with that?”

He laughs in the base of his throat. “Aren’t there laws against that shit?”

If I were an eye roller, this would definitely be the time to let one loose. “If you held down a decent job, you’d know the answer to that.”

His fist rises in the air in response, but I don’t flinch.

“Beckett!” Jalynn leaps forward and grabs his arm midair. “Control yourself!”

His mouth is practically foaming with fury as his nostrils flare. From the reddening of his cheeks and the way he’s vibrating with anger, you’d think he just hit me already.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he lets his little thing of a sister hold him back.

As angry as Beckett might be in this moment, it’s not his true nature. It’s learned from the hands of his father. Beckett’s mad all right, but he’s no fighter. He’s just been bred to think he’s one. I can see the difference in his eyes. They don’t match the fury of his fist.

“Listen to your sister, man. She knows what’s good for you.”

Beckett grinds his teeth as his steely gaze narrows in on me. “You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere, pretty boy?”

I roll my head from side to side with a shrug. “I am pretty famous.”

The line makes Jalynn look at me with admonishment. I raise my hands and make air quotes in her direction. She doesn’t think that’s funny either.

Beckett is still staring at me with a sideways tilt.

“Sexton Media. San Francisco Standard, Los Angeles Post, Chicago Times …” I tick off the subsidiaries that the company owns. “Newsworthy-dot-com. Avenue Intel Sharing. Ring a bell?” I ask Beckett.

“So, you’re a rich pretty boy,” he seethes as he searches my face, trying to put his memory to work on recalling where he knows me.

“What’s the problem?” I invade his space and show him I’m not intimidated in the least.