Everett Holden had sworn to live the rest of his life a single man, but his plans are disrupted when he finds himself sharing an apartment with his best friend's ex - the one woman he detests with every fiber of his being yet simultaneously desires...
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AS SOON AS I leave my last class of the day, I'm in a miserable ass mood. Not only because I have a family dinner that I seriously don't want to attend, but also due to fucking Sam and his constant need to get Emery into trouble. The entirety of the class, he begged and pleaded with her to attend her other friend's boyfriend's stupid fucking party, and a part of me wanted to tell him to shut the fuck up and take no for an answer, but Emery isn't mine to protect no matter how much I may want her to be.
My fingers grip the leather steering wheel as I near my parent's house, letting out a frustrated sigh and turning up some screamo music to drown out my thoughts. It doesn't work.
Emery agreed to go to the party she had no business being at. She's a grown woman, I know that, but the boys at those parties aren't up to any good. They'll do anything to get a piece of ass for the night, and all it would take is one pill to slip into her drink when she isn't looking. And if I brought this to her attention, it'd just result in another screaming match. She'd say I'm ridiculous and that things like that don't happen at parties, and I'd tell her she's ridiculous for thinking that it couldn't happen.
Around and around, we'd fight until one of us would give up, stomp upstairs to our room, and slam the door—a common occurrence since she's been staying with me. My family still doesn't know, and they aren't going to. The minute Izzy hears Emery moved in, she'll make my life a living hell like she did in high school. My sister sniffed out my crush on her before I even knew I had a crush on her. And she never let me forget it.
The driveway to my parent's house is insanely long. Hedges upon hedges pass by me as I climb the hill to the enormous fucking mansion of theirs. It's not that I hate coming here because I don't, but being around family makes me...feel things I'm not used to. Ever since my father started to make up for all the time he lost during my childhood, I've pushed back as much as I could to keep all of my family at arm's length. I'm content being alone. I always have been. I want to keep it that way.
Shutting the door to my car behind me, I walk up the stone pathway and open the front door without knocking. An aroma of tomato sauce and garlic floods through my nostrils, and then I spot Mason with my sister straddling his waist, making out against the staircase's banister.
I almost throw up, but I keep it together and scoff as I slip my shoes off. "It's nice to know your constant desire to fuck my sister hasn't vanished yet," I say with distaste.
Izzy pulls away from Mason to come up for air, wriggling out of his grasp until her feet are firmly planted on the floor again. "It's nice to see you too, Everett. How's college?"
I shrug. "It's fine. Probably not as fun as your life, though." Izzy graduated from Santa Monica College with a degree in fashion design. She graduated with the same degree Emery is pursuing, and after Izzy was finished with school, she started up her clothing line with a loan from my father, and her business is flourishing. Her store is downtown on Rodeo Drive, and fashion week is showcasing her designs this year. I'm proud of her as much as it would kill me to say it verbally. Extremely proud.
