The Crush Ward Penelope (best novels to read for beginners .txt) 📖

no idea how much her leg presses had riled me up inside.

I moved the subject along before I got hard thinking about it. “Okay, so that’s how we’re gonna handle it? You bring your dude over, and I’ll bring girls over. We’ll pretend like nothing ever happened between us…move on from all the awkwardness?”

“I think so.” She bit her lip, not seeming sure.

I nodded, still feeling jealous. “Right.”

“Promise me something.”

“What?”

“Promise me you won’t avoid me from now on. I’ll do the same.”

I sighed, but I vowed to act like a damn adult moving forward.

I can do this. “That sounds like a plan.”

• • •

My promise not to avoid Farrah was put to the test the following week when Nathan informed me that his sister would be bringing her new boyfriend over for a poolside barbecue. I didn’t know why he used that term. Farrah had said things weren’t serious. Had something changed? Why the hell was I so damn invested in knowing?

Nathan and I were hanging out in the kitchen, preparing the food, when he started grilling me for information before Farrah arrived.

He sprinkled some spices over a tray of chicken wings. “You said you met this guy briefly, right?”

“Yeah.”

He wiped the excess seasoning off his hands. “What’s he like?”

I rolled some ground meat into a ball and patted it down hard—well, more like punched it. “He seemed nice. Respectful. I think she can do better looks-wise, but that’s me being shallow. I don’t have any reason not to trust him. I ran a background check on him. Nothing sinister came up. Lives over on Hyacinth—with his parents, which is fucking lame.”

Nathan rubbed the chicken. “He might be a loser.”

“Possibly,” I agreed.

“Thanks for looking into him. I’ll try to not give him too much shit, I guess, unless I have reason to.”

“I’m sure Farrah will appreciate that.”

Nathan washed his hands and took a beer out of the fridge. “If this dude is a decent guy, I don’t have anything to worry about, even if he does live with his parents. My concern with Farrah has always been that she’s going to end up messing around with the wrong type of person. She’s very fragile, even though she tries not to show it. After all the shit we’ve been through, she needs someone dependable. She couldn’t handle being cheated on. That guy she dated in high school broke her heart—didn’t cheat on her, but he dumped her before going away to school. Farrah needs to find someone who just wants to be with one person, someone who’ll treat her right and be there for her when she needs him.”

Exactly. The antithesis of me. “I agree. That’s the type of person she needs.”

Which is why even if she and I both weren’t so damn scared of hurting Nathan, I still wouldn’t be the right person for her. My track record sucked.

When the front door opened, I kept to myself in the kitchen, pounding the back of my hand into the meat mindlessly when I should’ve been forming it into burgers. Farrah and her little friend were talking out in the living room. I wasn’t sure where Nathan had gone, maybe to change into his swim shorts. I really wished he’d get the hell back out here, though. He was supposed to be my buffer.

Footsteps approached the kitchen, and the next thing I knew, Farrah appeared, wearing a sundress so thin her nipples peeked through. Now that this guy was standing in front of me, I could see he was pretty short. That made me perversely happy.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Farrah asked.

“Good,” I said, moving to the sink to wash my hands. When I’d finished, I sucked it up and extended my hand to him. “How ya doing, man?”

“Good. Nice to see you again. Did you ever find any dirt on me?” he asked.

“No. You’re clean as a whistle. Which is the only reason you’re here.”

“Good to know. I respect you looking out for her.”

I stared him straight in the face. “I always will.”

Farrah smiled at me, and our eyes locked. Then Nathan came in, and my focus shifted over to him.

“Nathan, this is Colton,” Farrah said, her voice a little shaky. “Colton, this is my brother, Nathan.”

Colton extended his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Nathan took it. “Same.”

Farrah looked between them. “Nathan has assured me that he’s going to be on his best behavior today.”

“So long as no one gives me a reason to act otherwise,” Nathan cracked.

Forcing myself to extend an olive branch, I said, “Can I get you a beer, Colton?”

“That’d be great.”

“Miller or Heineken?”

“I’ll take a Miller. Thanks.”

As I walked over to the fridge, Farrah said, “What? No beer for me?”

I would’ve rathered Farrah not drink today. Her inhibitions would loosen, and then she might do something with this guy she wouldn’t otherwise. I knew how that went firsthand. Nevertheless, I once again sucked it up. “You want a Miller, right?” I knew that was her favorite.

“Yes. And I was only teasing, Jace. I can get it myself.”

The way she batted her eyelashes made me want to lift her up and take her the hell out of here. I had serious issues. I knew she’d rather be with me right now instead of this tool. And I got off on that in a strange way.

Forcing my eyes off of her, I walked over to the fridge to grab the beers.

After handing the bottles to Farrah and her friend, I popped mine open and took a long swig.

Farrah ventured out to the pool area with Colton, and I stayed in the kitchen, though my eyes were glued to her through the sliding glass door. When she slipped her dress over her head, my heartbeat accelerated. It took everything in me not to run out there and cover her up with a towel. I’d always known she had a beautiful body, but for some reason it looked ten times more perfect to me right now—probably because my jealousy was amplifying