No Bad Days (Fisher Brothers 1)

I swallowed hard. “Let’s dance.” I forced a smile as I grabbed my beer from his hand.

“Do you want me to go talk to her?” His voice was tight with anger as he scanned the room, searching for Carla. “I’ll tell her to never speak to you again. To not even look in your direction.”

I reached for his arm and squeezed. “She’s not worth it, remember?” I exhaled before taking a long drink, loving the way he was protective over me.

“As long as you’re sure you’re all right . . .”

“I’m fine,” I promised as I pulled him back onto the dance floor, holding him close to me as the music moved us.

The rest of the night was uneventful and—dare I say it?—a bit boring. A bunch of guys you’d normally see acting carefree and crazy at a party were suddenly all dressed up and on their somewhat best behavior. To be honest, I’d take the regular old frat party over this stuffy formal stuff any day.

“Had enough?” Nick whispered into my ear before kissing my neck.

“Yes.”

“Good,” he replied before pulling me out of the ballroom without so much as a word to the people who still remained at the party.

A Better Man

Nick

I’d wanted the night of formal to be when Jess and I had sex for the first time. But with all the drama over the radio interview and the scene at school, things got intense, and one thing had led to another. So by the time formal rolled around, we’d already done the deed.

Jess was different; she made me want things between us to be special. I actually cared about her feelings because I knew they were genuine. Maybe it was because of what happened at the frat party that one night, seeing her so vulnerable and scared. It sort of fucked me up for a while, to be honest, although I never admitted that to her, or to anyone other than my older brothers.

Before I knew it, I was falling in love with Jess. I think the spark was ignited the day I first talked to her in class, but now that spark was a blazing inferno that I couldn’t imagine putting out. Something had been building between us, and the timing felt right after our restaurant date that night.

And thank God for that, because looking at the scene in front of me now, I was glad we hadn’t waited. If we’d waited for tonight, our first time wouldn’t have been special or romantic at all. It would have been a shit show, and I would have hated myself for it.

Three of my fraternity brothers were in the hotel room next to ours, drunk out of their minds, and shouting so loud it was like they were in the room with us. And when Jess and I walked through the front door of our suite after formal, one of the guys was screwing his girlfriend up against the wall like Spiderman.

I’d never seen Jess look so horrified as when she hauled ass into our bedroom and slammed the door. I followed quickly behind her as she went into the bathroom to get changed.

She turned to me, her eyes huge. “I can’t believe he’s just having sex with her and didn’t even stop when we walked in,” she said through a horrified sort of half laugh, half gasp.

I had no idea what to say. We were guys. We did whatever girls let us get away with.

I shrugged. “Actually, I was more shocked that she didn’t stop.”

Which was more or less the truth, although I knew those two had a reputation for doing it anywhere and everywhere. Another reason I was thankful to have my own master suite in the fraternity house. No one was fucking in my bathroom during our parties unless it was me.

“Did you have fun tonight?” I stepped up behind her, standing at the bathroom counter, and put my arms around her.

She leaned back against my chest. “Except for the girl who’s lucky she still has a hand, I had a great time. It was different, but I liked it.”

“I’m glad.”

Jess turned around to face me. “Did you have fun? I know you go to these things all the time, but do they ever get old?”

“Not when I’m with you.” I leaned down, my lips grazing hers before I pulled back.

“Don’t feed me lines, Nick.”

I smiled. This girl was always cutting to the chase. “I’m not. Yeah, they get old, but not tonight. You let me wear a hat! No one has ever let me wear a hat before.” I smiled as I grabbed the hat and tossed it off.

“Because you look hot in a hat. It was truly for my benefit.”

When she winked at me, I picked her up, setting her ass on top of the bathroom counter.