Free Bad For You: (An Older Brother's Best Friend Romance) by Charity Ferrell Page B

the
shower. I didn’t want to play the hundred questions game.  
    He cocks his head to the side. “You went out
with some friends?”
    I snag a piece of bacon from his plate. “Yes,
incase you didn’t know, I do have friends. Heather Scott had people over last
night so everyone from our class could catch up.”
    Heather’s is where I ran into the guy who’d
been the quarterback of the football team. Quinton King. We had sophomore
Chemistry together, and even made out once during a middle school game of Seven
Seconds in Heaven. He’s attending college in Kentucky, where he got a full ride
scholarship to play football. By the end of the night, we’d exchanged numbers,
and he asked me to hang out before we both headed back to school. I said yes.
    Maybe he’ll move my attention away from
Bracken, although I’m not sure how realistic that is. Bracken has consumed me
for eleven years. It’s hard to let something like that go.
    I prepare myself to hear whatever lecture
Simon is about to give on boys and parties. “That’s cool,” he says, with a
shrug. He looks at our mom. “Bracken is coming over for chili tonight.”
    I almost fall out of my chair at the mention
of his name, and for the fact that Simon isn’t pissed about me going
out.
    Did he trip and his head? My high school days
had been filled with dateless nights and unfair curfews. No proms. No staying
out after midnight. Teenage boys didn’t line up to date the girl whose brother
threatened to kill them.
    “So do you care if I have someone over too?”
I ask my mom, as a good idea bursts into my head.
    Bracken has been playing me like a yo-yo. He’s
giving me a taste of whiplash, and I don’t like it. He wants to be with me. He
doesn’t want to be with me. He wants us to stay away from each other. He leaves
me voicemails begging for me to come over. The man can’t make his mind up, and
he needs a taste of his own medicine.
    “Who?” Simon asks, cutting in. The old Simon
is reemerging.
    “Quinton,” I answer.
    “Sure,” my mom says, the word barely making
it out of her mouth before Simon interrupts her.
    “The kid from the football team?” he asks.
    I nod. He doesn’t look elated at my response.
“Don’t mess with him,” I warn. “He’s a nice guy.”
    He snorts. “There are no nice guys, little
sister.” He taps me on the tip of my nose. “You need to remember that before
you do something stupid.”
    Too late.
    “So you’re not a nice guy?” I question,
throwing his answer in his face.
    “Would I want you to date a guy like me? Hell
no.”
    “Not every guy is like you.”
    He scoffs. “Yes, they are. When you’re thirty
and meet a good guy who drives a Honda, or is in the military, then you can
date him. But these college boys, especially college athletes, are not
interested in anything serious. Trust me. I told you that before you left for
school. I hope you haven’t forgotten it.”
    I roll my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You’re always
right,” I say, sarcastically.
    He’s really going to fly off the handle when
he finds out about me screwing Bracken.

chapter twelve
     
    bracken
     
     
    I ignore three more of Kelly’s phone calls and don’t even
bother opening up the text messages. It’s a jackass move, I’m well aware, but
it would be a bigger jackass move if I fucked around with her, especially if
Nautica found out about it.
    There’s too much chaos on my mind to be
worrying about Kelly sucking my cock, like the fact that I just pulled up to
Simon’s house to have dinner with everyone, including his sexy little sister. I
have to get my head straight and play it cool.
    I let out a rugged breath and rub my neck. I’ve
been over here for dinner hundreds of times, but everything is different now. I
have to go in there, take a seat across from her at the table, and stop myself
from touching her. It’s going to take all of my restraint to hold back the
mental images of her taking my cock while her mom tries to have a