By the time I reached the living room, I had a shadow.
“Ai-den, there you are,” a female voice sang.
I turned and faced her—the girl whose name had completely escaped me. If I’d ever known it to begin with.
“Yeah, hey.” You.
I took a long drink.
She had a nice body. A cute enough face too. Shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair and wicked curves, which I had recently wrapped my hands around while fucking her from behind. But I didn’t do back to back hook-ups. It sent the wrong message.
“Becca had to work tonight,” she pouted, poking her bottom lip out for added effect. “But you and I can still have some fun.”
Well, this was awkward. I was going to have to talk to my brother about the guest lists for his get-togethers.
“Maybe later,” I said, not wanting to blow her off and hurt her feelings. “Have you seen Axel around?”
Before she could answer, the loud whooshing sound of a heavy downpour hit the roof.
A crowd of people who’d been on the lawn came rushing into the house, my brother among them. I stepped over to tell him to chill on blasting the music outside because I was going to hang out in the camper tonight.
But the minute I got to the door; I saw her.
Emersyn Tyler, soaked head to toe.
Her eyes widened when they met mine.
“Aiden?”
I ushered her inside. “Damn, girl. You’re soaked.”
She nodded. “I was wrong. That wasn’t my friend. I couldn’t catch up to you but I heard music so I was hoping someone here would let me use their phone charger so I could call Camille.”
I gestured for her to follow me toward the bathroom where I grabbed a towel from the linen closet. I started to dry her off myself but thought better of it and handed it over. “Yeah, uh, my phone charger is actually out in the camper but—”
“Camper?”
“Out back.” Watching her dry off made my mouth water. Her saturated shirt clung to her skin, making the outline of her bra visible. “My parents had a badass Airstream they used to travel around in. They, uh, passed away when I was younger but me and my brother kept it. I hang out in there a lot when things get kind of nuts in here.”
She glanced around at the chaos. “I see.” Before I could speak again, she touched my arm. “I’m sorry about your parents.”
There was so much genuine emotion in her voice, I couldn’t help but look her directly in the eyes.
Everyone said the same things. I’m sorry for your loss. I hate to hear that. But I could tell by her tone and the way she was looking at me, she meant it. She understood. She knew saying it wouldn’t change anything, but she did anyway—while touching me and making eye contact.
I swallowed hard and blinked. “Thanks. It was a long time ago.” Doing a sweep of the crowd, I looked for Axel so I could grab his phone charger for her. He’d vanished once again. “If we can find my brother, we can borrow his charger for a bit without having to swim to the camper.”
We headed to the kitchen where there was still no Axel, but Becca’s friend made a beeline for us.
Shit. Talk about crap timing.
“Aide
n Singleton, are you attempting to ditch me?” Her tone was mock wounded. She smiled at Emersyn, almost flirtatiously. My stomach rolled and I felt a tinge of guilt for what I’d done last night. I should’ve at least gotten her name. She touched my shoulder and I took a step back. “Don’t be a party-pooper. She’s cute enough. We can all have some fun tonight.”
Cute enough? Emersyn? She was fucking beautiful. Perfection personified.
I expected to see complete disgust, shock, or horror on Emersyn’s face. What I actually saw looked more like amusement.