No Bad Days (Fisher Brothers 1)

Welcome to My Life

Nick

I was sitting in the living room of my fraternity house, drinking an ice-cold beer with my brothers, when a quick knock on the door was followed by the knob turning. No one waited to be let into our house; it was always open. A girl with a pair of tanned legs stepped inside, and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

Sheila.

She made a beeline in my direction, her expression serious as she stopped in front of me. “Nick, can I talk to you?”

I wanted to say no. Hell, I even fought the words from coming out of my mouth.

“Nick?” She cocked her hip and stared down at me.

I groaned. “What?”

“I asked if we could talk,” she said, her tone whiny. And I hated whiny girls.

I took another swig of my beer. “So, talk.”

She looked around, clearly taking stock of the ten or so guys all watching us with rapt attention. “Not here. I meant in private.”

Glancing around at my fraternity brothers, I shrugged. “I’m going to tell them everything we talk about anyway. Might as well just talk here.”

She shifted on her feet, clearly uncomfortable.

I was being a complete dick and I knew it, but I hated it when a girl couldn’t take a hint. I’d taken Sheila out three times before realizing she was just like all the rest, and I stopped calling her.

Ladies, when a guy stops calling, stops responding to your texts and avoids you, he’s no longer interested. Do us both a favor and disappear quietly. Creating a scene just makes everyone uncomfortable.

“You don’t have to be such a jerk,” she said with a huff, then spun around and stomped back out the front door.

Colby, one of our newer fraternity brothers, glanced my way. “You aren’t going to chase after her?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s always the same. ‘Why haven’t you called me? I thought we were having fun. Does this mean you’re done with me? I thought we had something special,’” I said, mimicking a female voice, and my brothers all burst out into laughter.

Yeah, I was being an absolute asshole, in case there was any lingering doubt. I’d learned that for the clingers—the girls who wouldn’t take a fucking hint—being a jerk was the only way to deal with them. If I gave them even the tiniest bit of attention, or faked even a tad of compassion, their grip on me retightened and we were back to square one.

Sheila needed to go away, and I was doing my damnedest to shake her off once I realized there was nothing behind her hot body and model-worthy face. She had over a hundred thousand followers on one of the social media sites, which was partially what drew me to her in the first place. I wanted to know exactly how she’d built her following. It didn’t take me long to realize she’d racked up the likes by posting makeup tutorials and half-naked photos of herself.

“It’s not like there isn’t a line of girls willing to replace her anyway, brother.” Darryl put his knuckles in the air from the other side of the room, and I air-knuckled him back.

I sensed pretty easily when a girl was looking for a replacement daddy, and tended to tap out as quickly as I’d entered the ring. And Sheila was one hundred percent looking for someone to take care of her. Yes, she had all those followers on that one site, but she did nothing with them except brag to anyone who’d listen. The idea of being someone’s sugar daddy, filling whatever void they might have, didn’t interest me. I had to admit that having some hot eye candy on my arm was nice for a week or two, but eventually even that got old when it was all there was. I actually liked it when a girl had ambition and goals.

Surprised I’m more than just a pretty face? Yeah, sometimes I am too.

I never shared those thoughts with my fraternity brothers, though. They assumed my policy was fuck ’em and dump ’em, and to be honest, I never cared enough to set them straight. I had to admit, I sort of enjoyed having t

hat reputation on campus.

Only my closest friends knew the truth—that I stopped seeing girls the moment I realized there was absolutely nothing between us and never could be. It wasn’t like I was completely heartless; it only seemed that way from the outside if you didn’t really know me. And most didn’t.

My own father would have a fucking heart attack if he knew I felt this way. He’d always taught me that a girl with ambition was the enemy of a successful man. But if that were true, why couldn’t I see it that way? Why did the idea of a woman who had no drive repulse me? I chalked it up to the fact that I couldn’t comprehend someone actually having no goals.

How could you want nothing for yourself in life?

Shaking my head as if to rid myself of the funk I was slipping into, I slapped the side of the couch before standing up. “All right, I need to shower before the party. DJ should be here in an hour,” I said, nodding as I looked around the room. “Everything else looks great.”

Ninety minutes later, I emerged from my room, all cleaned up and looking hot as shit, if I did say so myself. It wasn’t that it took me that long to get ready. I wasn’t a chick but I did like to make an entrance, so that meant I always joined the party once it had already officially begun.

The bass from the DJ’s sound system thumped with each step I took down the hall. It was still early, but people were already gathered inside. I could hear girls laughing and guys yelling at someone to chug.

The living room had been transformed into what looked like a nightclub. Lights flashed against the walls, and an area was cleared off to provide a dance floor. The couches had been pulled against the walls, and couples were already making out on them. I swear, sometimes all it took was a darkened room for people to lose their inhibitions.

“Hey, Nick.” A sorority girl named Brenda sidled up next to me and reached for my arm. “Heard you were single again. Wanna change that?”

Brenda used to date Thomas, so I bowed out respectfully. “You know my rules, Bren. Can’t,” I said before walking away from her with my hands up.

I didn’t date my fraternity brothers’ exes, a personal rule of mine that I tried to live by. It was hard sometimes, considering how many guys were in the frat, but I seemed to manage.

“I hate your stupid rule.”

When Brenda stuck out her bottom lip in a sexy pout, I couldn’t get away quick enough. She was stupid hot, and a guy only had so much strength to resist. Removing myself from the situation—and her—was my safest option.

When I reached the kitchen, I noted the bar setup and the brothers assigned to man it. Everything looked great. We had a wide range of hard alcohol, mixers, and an ice-cold keg, thanks to my brothers. It took everything in me not to slip behind the bar with them, wanting nothing more than to play bartender like in that old Tom Cruise movie from the eighties.

Someone handed me a red cup filled with beer, and I nodded before turning around and smacking right into another hot little number named Monika, with a k. Who the hell spelled their name like that?

“Hey, Nick, I was looking for you,” she said, practically purring as she grinned up at me.

I slid my arm around her waist. “Oh yeah? What for?”

“I wanted to give you something.” She pressed her scantily clad body against mine, making me wonder exactly what I was going to get.

“What is it?”

“Me.”

Monika smiled before standing on tiptoe to throw her arms around my neck. She pulled my head down and kissed me, her tongue pushing its way into my mouth a little too aggressively, but I decided not to give a shit as I kissed her back.