The Very Naughty List

6. Reid

6

REID

The punch catches me off guard, sending my head snapping to the side, and Hailey lets out a startled yelp.

I grunt, ducking Lucas’s second punch and backing out of the way. I’m not gonna hit him back, especially since he’s got every right to be mad. We all promised him years ago that we’d never fuck with Hailey, and he has no idea that this thing with us and his sister is pretend.

“Hey! Whoa, whoa.” Nick and Sebastian appear between us, and Sebastian holds his hands out. “Hold up, dude. Stop!”

“The fuck I will.” Lucas glares at me over my brother’s shoulder.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Hailey huffs out a breath, grabbing her brother by the arm and pulling him back. “Stop, Lucas. It’s fine, really. It’s?—”

He doesn’t stop glowering. “No, it’s not. He?—”

She yanks on his arm, bringing his head down low enough for her to whisper some quiet, urgent words into his ear. I can’t make out what she’s saying, but I can guess the gist of it, because Lucas’s eyebrows draw together as he listens. Some of the tension drains from his shoulders, and Hailey pulls on his arm again, urging him toward the door.

“Come on,” she says. “We’ll talk about this outside.”

He nods, still looking a bit wary, and the five of us step outside the bar so that no one will hear us talking. We’ve already stirred up quite a bit of attention, not only with our very public fight over Hailey, but now with this scuffle with her brother.

Once we get outside and are around the corner of the building so we won’t be overheard by anyone coming or going, Lucas looks between the four of us.

“What do you mean, it’s fake?” he asks, confirming my suspicion that Hailey told him what’s really going on.

“Dylan Montgomery was being a dick to your sister,” I explain. “I ran into the two of them earlier today, and he was being a complete fuckwad, as usual. Trying to make her feel like shit for still being single.”

“So Reid stepped in to help me by pretending to be dating me,” Hailey pitches in.

I nod and then let her carry on with the explanation as I rub away the soreness in my jaw, working it open and closed a few times. He did manage to get in a decent hit, especially since Lucas’s right hook has always needed a bit of work.

“They’re actually…” She clears her throat. “Uh, they’re actually all pretending to be dating me.”

“What?” Lucas narrows his eyes. “Why?”

“Well, Nick saw some women talking to me at the bar about Dylan leaving me and what a disaster our wedding was, and I guess he felt sorry for me too, because he stepped up and—” She glances over at Nick, and I swear I see a flush creep up her cheeks. “He told them we were dating too.”

“We couldn’t exactly admit that one of them had been lying,” Sebastian points out, spreading his hands. “So we decided to go for the trifecta. We’ll tell everyone in Chestnut Hill that all three of us are dating her separately, doing our best to win her over. With the three of us supposedly fighting over her, people won’t keep hounding her about the wedding, and Dylan won’t have shit to say either.”

“Oh.” Lucas stares at the exterior wall of the bar, his brows pinching together as he works through all of that. Then he shakes his head, glancing over at me. “Shit, I’m sorry, man. I shouldn’t have hauled off and punched you without knowing the full story.”

I lift one shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Fucking Dylan.” Lucas’s hands curl into fists as if he’s itching to land a punch on Hailey’s ex instead. “God, I hate that guy. I can’t believe he’s getting married to Brielle, although I guess they deserve each other.”

Hailey grimaces at her brother’s comment, and I wonder if she knew that already. If she didn’t, I wish she hadn’t found out like this. I’m sure it stings to hear that the ‘friend’ of hers whom Dylan cheated on her with is now the guy’s fiancée. Maybe the slightly nauseated look on her face isn’t because she didn’t know but just because it’s so shitty. I hope that’s the case. I hope she doesn’t have any leftover feelings for that fucker. He isn’t worthy to breathe her air.

Now that Lucas is on board with the lie and not trying to take a swing at me, we all go back inside the bar and dig back into the massive amount of food Nick ordered. It’s nice to have us all sitting around the table together, and we easily all fall back into talking again.

When Hailey gets up from the table, I watch as she walks first to the bathroom and then to the end of the bar. It looks like she’s getting a glass of water or something.

Lucas is telling us about how football practices have been going, and about a kid who’s been giving him a bit of trouble.

“I swear to god, coaching high school football is gonna make me go gray before my time,” he grouses, and we all chuckle. He loves coaching too much to ever quit, and everyone at the table knows it.

He tells us a bit more about the player who’s been struggling, and my brothers and I toss in bits of advice here and there. I have my head turned toward the conversation when Hailey returns to the table, and I stiffen as I feel something cold touch the side of my jaw.

I turn toward her and realize that she’s holding a little pile of ice that she’s wrapped up in a bar napkin.

“Hold still.” She lifts it back up to my face and presses it against the spot where I got punched.

“You don’t need to do that,” I murmur, reaching up to tug her hand away. “I’m a lot tougher than I look.”

She laughs lightly before putting the ice right back on my jaw.

“You already look tough as nails to me. And I know I don’t have to do it, but just like you said earlier, your problems are my problems. So I’m going to anyway. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me,” she adds with a smirk.

I chuckle. “You’re so sassy.”

“You’re so bossy,” she shoots back.

Her smile sparks something inside me as she locks eyes with mine, stubbornly tending to the small injury on my face. Her wrist is so close to the bottom of my nose that I can smell the faint scent of her body wash clinging to her skin. It smells like wildflowers and honeysuckle, and it’s delicious enough that I want to lick it off.

Fuck, what in the hell was that all about?

I snap myself out of my thoughts as soon as I realize that I was just allowing my mind to wander down a dangerous path about my best friend’s little sister.

Shifting a little in my chair, I glance away. I have to let my gaze focus on something else for a second because I feel like I might combust if I keep staring into Hailey’s eyes. Or worse yet, if I let my eyes wander down over the full, enticing curves that I’ve felt pressed against me too many times tonight to ignore.

As my gaze wanders over the crowded room, I catch a glimpse of Dylan and his new fiancée standing on the far side of the bar. Brielle is saying something, and Dylan nods along with whatever it is. But I see his gaze dart in our direction twice when he thinks she’s not looking, and there’s a sour expression on his face. He looks entirely pissed off at the sight of Hailey hanging out at a table with me and my brothers, and I have to assume that the rumor mill has already fed him the story we concocted.

As far as he knows, all three of us are actively fighting over her affections, making her officially the most sought-after woman in Chestnut Hill.

And she’s the woman he let get away.

I hope he fucking regrets losing her. That he regrets giving up a woman as beautiful and intelligent as Hailey. I hope it haunts him until his last damn breath. Hailey has a genuine enthusiasm for life that’s infectious whenever I’m around her, and she’s one of the kindest people I know. Dylan really fucked up his chance with a woman he didn’t deserve anyway. And now he’s sitting over there at the bar with his ‘prize,’ a girl who isn’t half the woman Hailey is, stewing over how his ex looks like she’s enjoying herself with the attention of other men while he’s left with the scraps that he left the table for.

Good . I hope it keeps him up at night.

In fact…

Without hesitation, I reach over and pull Hailey up onto my lap.

She makes a little yelping noise, the sound so sweet and breathless that I have to immediately block it out of my mind—because I can’t afford to let myself think about what other noises I might be able to get her to make.

“Dylan is watching.”

I make sure to say it just loud enough that Lucas and my brothers can hear too, explaining my impulsive action before Lucas can deck me again. Hailey’s body goes still, but motionless or not, I can still feel the soft roundness of her ass pressed against my crotch. I clench my jaw, willing my cock not to react as I glance across the bar again.

If Dylan wasn’t staring over here before, he sure the hell is now. I can see his fuming face out of the corner of my eye, and a grin tugs at my lips. I’m going to make this good.

I slide my hand down Hailey’s back, resting my palm just below the curve of her lower back, almost on her ass. I can feel the way her body responds, tensing and relaxing beneath my touch, and I know that I should probably stop right here. This is enough of a possessive display to get the point across.

But for some reason, I really don’t want to.

So I let that hand slide down just an inch or two lower, catching her chin with the fingertips of my other hand. I turn her head toward mine, and when Hailey reaches up to rest her palm on my chest, right over the tattoo that covers my left pec—I can’t help myself.

I kiss her softly, pressing my lips to hers until I feel her melt against me.

When we separate, I bring my mouth to her ear, keeping my voice low.

“That piece of shit ex of yours should never be able to make you feel inferior,” I tell her. “And if I have anything to say about it, he never will. Never again.”

Hailey’s fingers flex lightly against my chest as she draws in a breath. Even without looking at her face, I can tell she’s smiling, and my chest goes a little tight.