Sons of Mayhem 2 Chaser (Sons of Mayhem Novels, #2) by Nikki Pink Page B

to pay more attention to your surroundings. You need to be more observant . You’ll never make CSI !”
    I laughed, though I was a little offended. Back then, I wanted to be a crime scene investigator. I had my whole life ahead of me then, it was certainly a possibility. Was , a possibility. That changed though, he saw to that.
    “Come on. Let’s take him something to drink.”
    She really seemed keen on getting to know my neighbor. I felt a little embarrassed though, since I hadn’t spoken to him in months. It would look so obvious if we showed up offering drinks. Wouldn’t it? “Why don’t we go to the mall or something?”
    Katie came and stood over me. “Nuh-uh. No way. The mall’s boring . The guy next door though?” Her look turned lascivious, and she slowly licked her plump limps as she leaned over me.
    “Eww, you’re gross.”
    She grabbed my hand and gave it a yank. “Come on .”
    And that was that. We were going to see Dewey, the ex-dork-turned-studmuffin next door.
    We walked around the side of his house to his back yard. He didn’t see us at first, and we stood watching him from behind as he lifted his weights over his head, exercising his shoulders, letting out gasps and quiet grunts as he pushed himself. He was only wearing basketball shorts and bright white sneakers, his upper body bare and glistening and golden in the afternoon sun, his young muscles visibly contracting and straining under his tight, lightly tanned skin.
    Katie leaned over, her breath warm in ear “I could just eat him up, ” she said for the eight hundredth time since she’d spotted him. She seemed to have an obsession with eating him it seemed.
    I couldn’t help but giggle, and gave her a dig in her side with my fingers. This caused her to giggle too, and a moment later he was turning around to find two teenage girls, t-shirts tied up to expose bare midriffs, laughing and clutching cans of soda.
    Katie composed herself. “Hey hon, we thought you looked thirsty.”
    Hon? It was one of the weird and endearing things about Katie that she seemed to start to speak like an old woman when she tried to flirt.
    “We brought you a soda,” I said as I proffered a can of cola shyly. How the tables had turned since our first meeting a little over a year ago, when he was the awkward one, and I was the confident ‘older’ one. Now he was a good head taller than me, and as he stepped towards me I saw the muscles of his abs ripple. I bit my lower lip as his hands closed over the can, his warm fingers touching mine as he did so.
    “Thanks, Karen.” His voice was warm and rich, so different to the squeak he used to put out. I didn’t realize it then, but Katie was annoyed that he’d only thanked me, not her. His simple thank you was the first chink in our friendship.
    He wiped a hand over his brow and a couple of droplets of sweat fell to the brown grass below. His eyes bore into mine and he gave me a grin — the first time I noticed that infectious smile — as the can popped and hissed as he cracked it open. I couldn’t turn away, couldn’t if I’d wanted to, and I didn’t want to. It was game over for me.
    “I appreciate it,” he said as he lifted the can in thanks before raising it to his lips and tilting his head back, our eyes finally breaking contact as he closed them against the bright sky. As he gulped the drink down greedily I felt a jab in my side and turned my head to see my friend raising her eyebrows and staring at me open mouthed. She didn’t need to speak, back then I could read her face like a text message, and it was broadcasting He is so into you!
    He lowered the can with a smile. “That was great, I needed that.”
    I was grinning too, and I continued to grin when he asked if I wanted to go and see a movie with him the next day. Of course, idiot that I am, I accepted, and that’s when it began.
    ***
    I hadn’t finished telling them everything. Hell, I’d barely started telling them everything when I