The Best Mistake - Cookie O'Gorman Page 0,4

the hall, I closed myself in my room, sat heavily on the bed, elbows on knees. I should be downstairs looking out for my team. I shook my head. Those guys needed a babysitter 24/7. And being Captain meant the responsibility was all mine.

Yippee.

Not that I wasn’t used to it. Being the oldest of six, I’d always been looked to as the responsible one. The sensible one. The one who’d bring my brothers back from the brink whenever they got out of control—which they seemed to be doing a lot more recently.

Instead of relaxing on weekends, I got to break up fights if it was Dex. The fourth oldest in our O’Brien clan was always getting into trouble. People saw his face, the scar, and thought he was a badass. Girls wanted to fix him. Guys wanted to fight him. What’s worse? The guy seemed to like it.

Then I had the twins to worry about—well, one twin. Baylor was a hot mess. He loved to party; he loved to drink; he loved girls. All were present here tonight, and for Baylor, it was the trifecta of doom. I didn’t even want to think about what was going on downstairs.

Thank God for Chase, I thought.

At least I didn’t have to worry about him getting piss-your-pants drunk or ending up with a broken nose. Unlike his twin, Chase made me nervous for an entirely different reason. The guy was a junior in college, and where Baylor had added way too many notches to his bedpost, Chase had exactly zero. Nada. No dates, no girlfriends, nothing. Wasn’t that girls didn’t find him attractive, but the guy turned them away, didn’t give one a second look. Chase’d told me he believed in “soulmates,” and he’d know her when he found her.

But he was downstairs reading for crying out loud.

At a frat party.

Giving my head another shake, I looked down at the vodka bottle in my hand. The thing was nearly empty thanks to Baylor. I could still hear the words he’d said before I finally managed to confiscate it from him. In my head, the scene played back in perfect HD.

“Whoa, never seen her before.”

I grunted, too busy staring at the girl in the red dress.

“Nice choice, brother.” I could hear the grin in Baylor’s voice, but didn’t respond.

Who was she? I wondered. My gaze traveled over her, doing a slow up and down, even though I knew I shouldn’t. Long, silky-looking hair, sweet hourglass figure, and eyes that captured mine, made my chest tight.

Made other parts of my anatomy tight, too.

I frowned.

A girl like that didn’t belong here around these jerks. Yeah, a lot of the guys were my teammates. None of them bad guys per se. Okay, maybe one or two were Neanderthal material. But all of them liked to party and most used their jock status to hook up. And yeah, I’d seen her eyes linger on two of my brothers—which annoyed the hell out of me—before she’d looked my way. But this was no place for someone so, so…innocent.

“Hey Arch, whenever you’re done imagining her naked, feel free to use my room.”

The words had me whipping around to Baylor so fast I might’ve pulled something.

The idiot shrugged despite my glare. “Just trying to be helpful.”

“Yeah. Thanks,” I said. “You do know it’s my room, too, right?”

“Well, I use it more,” Baylor said, “so de facto, it’s mine.”

“Don’t use big words when you’re drunk, brother.”

“Whatever. Just use the room. That’s what bros are for, right?” He raised the bottle of vodka to his lips. “I got your back, especially when it comes to getting laid.”

“Alright, that’s it.” I ignored the squeak he made as I snatched the bottle out of his hand. “I’m cutting you off.”

“But…wha…you—”

I gave him the hard stare. “You’ve had more than enough. Wouldn’t want you to piss your pants in front of your fangirls.”

“That was one time,” Baylor huffed, “and it wasn’t even a lot of pee.”

The two girls hanging onto him giggled like lunatics but clutched him closer.

He winked. “I’ll be with you ladies in a second.”

Good God, I had to get out of here.

Baylor grabbed my arm before I could leave, leaned in and said, “Look around, man. Everyone’s having a good time except you. And here you stand, looking like someone pissed in your lemonade. Why can’t you just relax?”

Because you’re too relaxed, I thought. Because if I let down my guard for just one freaking second, one of my brothers could end up