Chapter 4

Andras

I am still where she left me, looking around her room, at the pictures that she was clearly embarrassed for me to see. I could tell just how uncomfortable it made her, having me in here. I witnessed the underwear debacle.

I can read every emotion on her face; she is such an open book. I heard when her heart rate accelerated. I felt her body temperature rising and smelled the anxiety rising in her. I am honestly really happy that she was embarrassed to have me in here. It gave me the impression that she didn't have boys in her room often, which I took a perverse pleasure in.

I turn, hearing her voice downstairs. Then I hear footsteps on the staircase, recognizing hers right away. I smell the faint scent of vanilla and jasmine that is her perfume coming closer. I smile, thinking that she is coming back to me until I realize that she is not alone. I hear heavier footsteps and a racing heart. I smell cologne and arousal in the air. I fist my hands at my sides and my teeth clench so tightly that my jaw hurts.

“Is this a better time?”

I feel anger rising within me at the huskily voiced words, suggestively whispered. Oh, it's a great time, buddy. I have been spoiling for a fight all damn day.

Bronwen

“Right now?”

“Yeah, now.” Noah dips his head, kissing my lips. His hands are on my hips, caressing me through my jeans.

“But Alec-” I protest.

“Is distracted by your new little friend.” His hands lift at the hem of my shirt. “Besides, isn't the thrill of getting caught all the more exciting?” Maybe if it was anyone else, but not by my brother. 

His mouth on mine stops me from replying. Not that he would like my answer. No, I don't find it sexy. I find it nerve-wracking. I push at his hands as they tug at the waistband of my pants. “Come on, Bron, don't be prudish.” He murmurs against my lips.

He moves backwards towards my bedroom door, pulling me behind him. When we are in the room, he pushes me against the wall. “No excuse this time.” His hands slide under my shirt to the bare skin of my sides, moving up towards my ample chest. I open my eyes, meeting Andras's eyes over Noah's shoulder. I immediately pull back.

"What?” Noah demands, clearly annoyed by my withdrawal.

“I don't think she relishes having an audience.” Andras remarks from behind him.

Noah spins around to find the man behind the voice. “Who the fuck are you?”

Andras just looks at Noah, not speaking. “What are you doing in Bronwen's room?” Noah demands when Andras doesn't speak.

“I invited him,” I tell Noah, fixing my shirt and moving to stand in front of Andras. “He is a friend of mine.” Typically I wouldn't refer to him like that, I would be too embarrassed, but Noah's attitude is pissing me off.

“Come here.” Noah grabs my hand and pulls me from the room. He doesn't stop until we are down at the end of the hall, away from the stairs and my room.

“So what, now you just have random ass guys in your room, but you reject me?” Noah says, looking at me accusingly.

“There is so much wrong with that sentence, I don't even know where to begin! First of all, I did not reject you. I stopped you because we were not alone in my room. Second, he is not a random-ass guy. But that doesn't matter, anyway, because I am allowed to have whoever I want in my room.”

“I don't like it,” Noah grumbles.

“Hmm. Do you act like this with your girlfriend? Remember your perfect little show pony of a girlfriend? She is the one you need to worry about.” I remark. "Not me."

“What does that mean? Look, I know you are jealous of her-” Noah begins, but I stop him mid-sentence, fury coursing through me until I literally see red.

“Jealous? Of her?” I laugh, despite the rage that I feel at the accusation. “News flash Noah. Your girlfriend may be pretty, but she is a fucking bitch with the personality of a wet mop and she lacks the sense that God gave a mongoose. Combined with the fact that she is hands down the biggest whore in school.. yeah. Not fucking jealous of her. Like even a little bit. If you are implying that I'm jealous because she has you?” I look at him and then gesture around. “It's not like you aren't willing to share the wealth, so to speak. She clearly isn't the only one to have you either.” With that, I walk to my room, leaving him behind me before I get physically violent with him. 

I close my door behind me with a slam, moving over to fall backwards on my bed. I stare at the ceiling and let out a huff of frustration. I can NOT believe that he accused me of being jealous of Maci Fucking Reed. That asshole. I use to be jealous that she was with him and I wasn't, but I got over that a long, long time ago. He goes through girls so quickly, that if I got jealous of each one, I would constantly stay miserable.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

I sit up quickly, looking at Andras. “You're still here.”

“I can't pry Morana away from your brother.” He tells me with a shrug.

“Yeah, they seemed to have hit it off,” I say, not exactly sure how I feel about that.

My brother is great, but he has shitty luck with women. Tiff, his ex-girlfriend of two years left him for an older guy she met at college. She didn't even break up with him first. She just posted pictures of them making out on her F******k, captioning it 'night out with my babe' with a thousand stupid emojis. Alec was crushed. I mean, his girlfriend was a bitch to begin with, but she was friends with Noah's then-girlfriend Brooke, so it made it easier on them, I guess.

Morana seems really cool, so if she likes my brother and he likes her, I say go for it. As long as she makes him happy and doesn't screw him over, then I'm fine with it. There are worse things than my brother and my friend getting together.

Andras rolls his eyes and grunts.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing.” He says, turning away to look out the window. I didn't realize how late it was getting. The sun has almost set. A glance at the clock tells me that it is a few minutes until six.

“Wow, I can not believe it has gotten so late. I am getting pretty hungry. I will have to start thinking about dinner soon.” I remark inanely. I don't know what to say to him. I would usually embrace the awkward silence, but with him standing in my room, I really feel the need to make conversation. I am also overly conscious of the fact that I closed the door. It feels intimate being alone with him in my room with the door closed and me in bed.

“You don't have to be so nervous,” Andras tells me as if he were hearing my thoughts.

“What makes you say that?” I ask him, then correct myself. “I mean, why do you assume I am nervous?” I rephrase the question.

“Because your heart is beating a mile a minute, I can see your pulse throbbing from across the room. You keep looking at the door with an odd expression on your face and you are babbling as if the silence might actually hurt you.” Andras tells me, moving over to stand by the foot of my bed.

I sit up fully. “I mean- I am not-”

“You are.” He sits down by my feet. “We have already established that I make you nervous.”

“We have already established how you seem to work hard to make me nervous. Why?” I ask him. Why does he go out of his way to make me or anyone else nervous? Does he get some type of thrill by having people fear him?

“You have got me in your bed and you want to dive into my psyche? You want to explore around in my mind and see what makes me tick? The pain that drives me, the torment that plagues me? Really?” Andras says sarcastically, clearly mocking me. 

“Actually, I don't want to speak to you at all.” Asshole. He doesn't have to be such a dick about things. He is the one that started the conversation by calling out the fact that I'm uncomfortable around him. Wonder why? Whenever I'm around him he's rude, so is it really any big surprise that I am wary around him?

I get off the bed but before I can walk past him, he pulls me into his lap, his arms a prison around me. “Good. Talking is the last thing on my mind, as well.” He smirks.

“You are infuriating, you know.” I roll my eyes. “Of course, you know. It must take some serious concentration and skill to be this arrogant and obnoxious.”

“You are cute, you know that?” He asks me randomly, throwing me off guard. 

I'm not sure where that came from.. “Ha! Oooo-kay..” I scoff.

Andras looks at me strangely. “You have zero self-confidence.” He remarks. This habit he is of analyzing me like I'm a computer system and then commenting on it is really starting to get on my nerves.

“Look, Spock, quit running some freaking analysis on me. I don't need you listing off my faults, quirks, and every emotion.” I tell him. I realize I am still in his lap and I shove at his arms. “And let go of me.”

“Why?” He asks me, not making any move to do as I said.

“Why what?” Why do I want him to quit with the weird thing he does? Because it's weird. God, he and his sister are so fucking strange. But at least she's likable. I'm not really sure about him. So far, it would be a no on his likeability but the jury is still out.

“Why do you want me to let you go?” Andras asks me, staring into my eyes. I feel almost hypnotized by the bright blue of his iris. I no longer feel uncomfortable around him. In fact, I am fighting the urge to curl into his body and never let go of him.

I am no longer sure that I want him to. “I- I- um..” I turn my head away from his gaze. “Because I asked you to.”

Andras immediately moves his arms away. As perverse as it sounds, now that he is allowing me to get up, I don't want to move. I remain where I am, just looking at him. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome.” He says softly. His lips turn up at the corners and I feel this odd compulsion to kiss him. It is strange, but it is like I feel this pull that I am always having to resist. I am sure though that he would not appreciate it if I just kissed him.

“So, tell me about your friend,” Andras says suddenly, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Who?” I ask, confused.

His hands come to rest on my hips. “Captain Intense over there with the touching problem.”

“Noah?” I ask. “He is my brother's best friend. You haven't met my brother yet. He's downstairs.”

“I am aware of that.” He tells me. Duh, of course, he knew that. He mentioned it to me a few minutes ago when I came into the room.

“Right. Sorry.” I say.

He rolls his eyes at the apology but says nothing. “Is he your boyfriend or something?”

I almost laugh at the thought. Noah would be horrified if he heard it. It took me until a few months ago to figure something out. I share my theory with Andras. “God, no. You see, Noah likes me. He is comfortable with me, considering I have seen him through everything. I have seen him when he was sick, I have seen him cry, and all the other things men don't like for people to see them do. He is attracted to me, but he feels like it is against his will or something. He thinks that he's too good for me. He doesn't mind fooling around with me, as you saw for yourself, but he would never actually date me. I'm too chubby, too nerdy, and too weird. I am a loser at school and I am the least popular person in the whole town. So, while he doesn't mind groping me in the hallway, he would never be seen in public with me, because he feels that he has some image or reputation to protect.” I roll my eyes. "He has what he thinks a perfect girlfriend should be, that he drags around with him and shows off."

“He sounds like a fucking dick,” Andras remarks. “For the record, you are not chubby or nerdy. You are gorgeous. But if he treats you like this- like shit.. why do you let him touch you? Why be treated like this? Especially by the likes of someone like him?”