him toward the kitchen, I maneuvered between the wall-to-wall crowd.
Some tall, muscular guy crashed into me, spilling his drink.
Goddamn it. I stared at the beer dripping down the front of my sweater, daring the night to get any worse.
“What a waste of good beer,” the guy mumbled.
I gave him a scathing look. Based on his Southern Arizona University sweatshirt and short blond crew cut, he didn’t run with Reed’s crowd.
Getting his first look at me, the guy’s hazel eyes widened, and a dazed look crossed his face. “Um, I’m… I’m so sorry for spilling my drink.” He tried to mop up the wet spot on my chest.
“Get your hands off me.” I pushed him away.
“Sorry. Uh. Let me make it up to you. Can I get you a drink?”
“No, thanks.”
Seemingly oblivious to my annoyance, he stuck his hand out. “Name’s Noah, but everyone calls me Scooter.”
“Great. You can scooter out of my way.”
He laughed too loud at my lame joke and dropped his hand. “A beautiful woman with a sense of humor. That’s a rare thing. Do you live around here?”
I craned my neck to look around his bulging bicep. “You could say that.”
“Do you go to SAU?”
Reed appeared next to me and said, “She’s out of your league, man.” Then tugged me into the kitchen.
“That was a little cold-blooded.” Reed was usually nice to a fault. He’d even offered a glass of water to the guy who repossessed our car last month.
“I didn’t like the way he was looking at you.”
I snorted. “Better not come to the club then.” The men there made the drunk college boy look like a gentleman.
Reed’s eyes darkened. “I hate that you have to work there.”
I opened my mouth to remind him we needed the money but was distracted by the state of the kitchen. The avocado-colored laminate counters were covered in red cups, wadded up chip bags, and bongs. Spying the keg sitting over by the fridge, my skin grew hot and tight. “Reed—”
“Before you say anything, I promise everyone will be out of here by two. Ronnie’s going to take the keg with him, and I’ll clean the entire house.”
A couple of the guys playing beer pong on Gran’s old oak dining table waved at Reed. “Awesome party, man. When is the stripper getting here? Ronnie said there would be a stripper.”
I stared hard at the peeling white cabinets, pressing my lips together. I couldn’t handle this right now. Every part of my life was in crisis. Neither job I had was paying enough to cover our bills. My boss was pimping me out to a drug lord who’d probably end up killing me. My sister was in jail. My house was a disaster and filled to the brim with drunk assholes.
“I have something for you.” Reed reached into his jean pocket and pulled out a wad of twenty-dollar bills.
I looked at the cash he pressed into my hand in confusion. “Where did you get this?”
“I sold the bass.”
“But you loved that bass.” Reed’s mom had given it to him for his fourteenth birthday. Just days before the car accident that had taken her life and nearly taken Reed’s.
“I need to help you out with the rent, and the time I’ve been practicing with the band could be better spent looking for a job. I’ve got more interviews lined up next week. One of those will work out. I know it.”
This was too much. Yes, we needed the money. But not at the cost of his dreams. I pushed the bills back at him. “Reed Jarin Marshall, you buy that bass back.”
“The big sister act doesn’t work with me.” He smiled and touched my cheek. His gaze shimmered with an emotion that startled me.
He wasn’t blood, but after the accident when Gran took him in, I’d treated him like family. I’d even temporarily made him my ward when Gran died to keep him out of the system. That had only reinforced our familial relationship in my mind. But the way he was looking at me was far from brotherly. My skin tingled under the warmth of his fingers.
Needing some distance, I took a step back. Shoving the cash in my purse, I said, “Fine, I’ll keep this for now, but as soon as we have enough money, I’m buying you an even better bass.”
“Okay,” he said, with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Here, have a drink.” He snagged a red cup off the table, filled it with beer, and