A Banging New Year | CHAPTER 1: Adrian
899 Words
A Banging New Year CHAPTER 1: Adrian
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Adrian stood by the bar at The Blue Newb watching the sea of well-dressed, young adults grind and sway to the music. He grabbed his sister’s arm as she headed toward the dance floor with a guy.
“Stop it.” Paige slapped his hand. “I’m not doing anything but going to dance.”
He let go of her. She was a lost cause. All his sisters were. He stepped in front of the guy. “I’m her big brother and a Marine. You grind on her and I’ll bust your jaw and feed your nuts to the squirrels.”
“Adrian.” Paige slugged his shoulder. “Go away.” She took her dance partner’s hand, dragging him to the floor but the guy wasn’t nearly as eager as he had been.
“Well played.” Colin leaned against the bar, sipping a beer. “I should’ve thought of that with Anne Marie.” He nodded at his youngest sister who was dancing way to close to some stranger.
“Never go through your sister. They’ll ignore you or do the opposite to spite you, but the guys...They’ll fear you. They know what they want to do and most of them have their own sisters.” He scanned the crowded club for Ellie for the hundredth time. He was starting to lose hope. Fate could be a lying b***h sometimes.
“You’re a smart man.”
“I had to learn at a young age how to maneuver through a household full of women. You’re lucky. You only have two sisters.”
“Two is more than enough.” Colin shivered. “I can’t even imagine having six. You deserve a medal.”
“Yeah, I do.” He laughed.
Colin was a good guy. They’d spent the last hour or so watching over their sisters and their sisters’ friends and helping each other out when one of the friends got too grabby with them. Neither of them had said anything but they seemed to agree that nineteen to twenty-one-year-old females were too young for them.
His gaze stopped on a curvy brunette and then moved along. Her hair was too dark and too straight.
“Not here yet, huh?”
“What are you talking about?” Damn, he’d been caught.
“Whatever woman you’re waiting for.”
“I’m not.”
Colin gave him a look that made it clear he wasn’t buying that lie.
“Fine. No, she’s not here.”
“Stood up. That sucks.”
“It does but that’s not what happened.”
“Right.” Colin laughed. “Keep telling yourself that.”
“It’s more like I’m a surprise. She has no idea I’m going to be here.”
“Is she going to be happy about this surprise?”
“She’ll pretend she’s not, but she will be.” Their Christmas Eve sexcapades had been way too good for her not to want a repeat performance. He sure as f**k did.
Colin snorted. “Lies we tell ourselves, man.”
Adrian’s eyes landed on Ellie. She was at a table in the corner sitting with another woman and a man. The guy was older, with dark hair and a serious demeanor.
The man leaned over and said something to Ellie, and she smiled. Jealousy flared in Adrian’s gut. He was glad she was having a good time, but he didn’t want her to be having too much fun until he joined them. He was her good time guy, no one else.
“Which one?” asked Colin.
“The one in blue.”
Ellie wore a royal blue dress that seemed to sparkle with the lights. It was low cut, displaying the tops of her fabulous t**s but trapping the rest beneath the fabric. He couldn’t wait to set them free and play with them.
Paige strode up to him. “You. Stop being such an ass.”
“What did I do?” He forced his gaze away from Ellie.
“You’re scaring away every guy I like.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“It is not.”
“Want me to call Mom and Dad and ask?” He pulled his phone from his pocket.
“Mom will side with me. We were just going to dance. That’s it.”
“Really?” He pressed the record button and videotaped some of the dancers grinding against each other. He turned the phone toward her and pressed play. “You think Mom will be okay with you dancing like this?”
“You are the worst brother ever.”
“Then I’m doing my job.”
“Arghh.” Paige stormed away to join her friends.
His eyes went back to Ellie. It wasn’t going to be easy to woo her and to watch his sister, but he was a former Marine. He could do it.
“Do you have a shot?” asked Colin.
“A shot at what?”
“With her. This woman you’ve been waiting for.”
“Oh yeah. Better than a shot.”
“You sure? She seems into that other guy.”
“She isn’t.” At least, she’d better not be. “She wants me.”
“Hmm.”
“Her body does. I’m positive about that and I can worry about her mind later.”
“That’s good enough for me. Go. I’ve got the girls.”
“What?” He pulled his eyes away from Ellie.
“One of us should have a good New Year’s Eve.”
“I don’t know.” He was responsible for Paige.
“Seriously, I’ll keep her safe. She’s around my parents’ house so much she’s like my sister.”
“But she’s not.” He looked at the guy closer.
“I’m not into little girls and she and my sister are children in my eyes.”
“Don’t f**k with me on this. I’m not twelve anymore.” Now, he was big enough to kill the fucker if anything happened to Paige, unlike when Colin broke his oldest sister’s heart in high school.
“I won’t. Plus, you’re right over there. You can still watch out for her. I’ll just take over threatening the frat boys while you focus on something else.”
Colin was right. He could flirt with Ellie and watch his sister.
- Writer
