Spiked by Love (Bellevue Bullies 6)

“Yes! Where are your glasses?”

I grin. “I’m wearing contacts. Jasmine didn’t like the glasses.”

“But I do. You don’t look nerdy. You look all devil-may-care and shit.”

I chuckle as I reach for my bag. “Devil-may-care?”

“Yeah, like you’re ready to start a gang fight over Rosco who did you wrong.”

“Wait? What?”

“Yeah, especially with all these tattoos you’ve got, and are you on steroids?”

“You’re kidding.”

“Seriously. You’re all jacked and tatted and contacts. Jesus. Do I even know you? Do you still have Dungeons & Dragons in your bag?”

My stomach hurts from laughing. “Yes, my D&D club was sad to see me go. And I told you, we’d play and then go lift weights. I was getting fluffy.”

“I could kill Aiden for telling you that.”

“He was right.” I laugh as I wrap my arm around her neck, and we head toward the exit. “I’m still the same dude, Ally. Promise.”

Her arm comes around my waist, but she doesn’t look convinced. “Did you get everything separated from Jasmine?”

I hesitate because I know she’s about to get mad. “I let her have everything.”

“What?” she asks incredulously. “No way. You bought that bedroom set and dining room furniture.”

I shrug. ?

?I know, but she was being psycho about it all. So, I just packed up my clothes and some other shit. Left everything we bought together. I had to get away from her, Ally. The girl, Dee, has now moved in.”

She gasps, her eyes widening. “No. I swear, I’m going to kick Jasmine’s ass.”

“She isn’t worth it.”

“Did you get the ring back?”

“Duh, sold it on Facebook.”

“Good for you.”

“Now I can use that money to find a place to live since, let’s be honest, I won’t last at the house.”

Ally grins as we get on the trolley to take us to where she parked. “I don’t know. Your mom is pretty stoked you’re coming home. She already texted me twice about when we’re running by Brooks House.”

I lean my head on the window and glance over at her. “She wants me to work with her until I find a job.”

My mom owns a really successful winery and restaurant. My siblings and I grew up on hockey and wine. You’d think I’d want to play hockey like Aiden and my dad, or even run the winery like my mom and Stella. Yet I just want to make jumbotrons do cool shit. I don’t know what it is about those big TVs that revs my engines, but I love them. I first became obsessed when I was four. My dad took me on the ice one time when they were servicing the Assassins’ jumbotron, and I was done for. I wanted to fix the lights and control what went on the screen. It all blew my mind. Since then, they’ve gotten three new ones, but I really want to talk to Elli Adler, the owner and our family friend, about getting a bigger and better one. I have a meeting with her Friday, and I’m praying that means I only have to work for my mom for a week.

Because I really hate the restaurant, and I’m not a wine drinker.

“I thought you were going to try to get Elli to hire you?”

“I am. Dad says I won’t have to try too hard, but they’ve had the same jumbotron team the whole time I’ve been alive. I don’t know if she’ll bring me on.”

She gives me a dry look. “You’re Lucas Brooks’s son. She’ll do anything for you. She loves you.”