Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy

“And you moved in on him?” I demand, turning to Alana. “Ren’s our friend—isn’t that against girl code?”

“I didn’t move in on him.” Alana huffs at the suggestion. “We’re not hooking up, no matter what this one thinks—” She glares at Steph. “For some ludicrous reason, he’s decided he has a thing for me.” She flips her copper-colored hair over one shoulder, looking annoyed. “I’m trying to shut it down, okay?”

Taking pity on her, I swiftly change the subject. “Catch me up on Cooper and the new girl,” I tell Heidi. It wasn’t so long ago Heidi was doing the “will they, won’t they” dance with Coop. In their case, however, the friends with benefits arrangement blew up in her face. “What’s her deal?”

“Mackenzie,” she replies, without the hint of irritation that had at one point tinged her occasional texts to complain about Cooper and his new rich girlfriend. “Garnet dropout. Basically walked out on her parents and let them cut her off.”

“It was a whole thing,” Steph agrees. “Oh, and she bought the old boardwalk hotel. The Beacon. She’s been restoring it to reopen soon.”

Damn. She is loaded. Must be nice. Me, I’d settle for having any kind of direction about what I’m doing with my life. Filling out spreadsheets and chasing down my brothers for invoices isn’t exactly my lifelong dream. And as much as I appreciate everything my dad’s built to support us, the family business feels more like a trap than an opportunity. It isn’t me. Though hell if I know what is.

“She’s actually kind of cool,” Heidi says, albeit grudgingly. “I wasn’t a fan at first. But they’re good together, and Coop’s usually in a better mood since she’s been around, so that’s something.”

Could’ve fooled me. Whatever this girl’s effect on him, it isn’t foolproof.

“What’s that look?” Alana asks.

“He sort of accosted me when I was leaving work.”

“He what?” Heidi’s evident alarm snaps her upright.

It sounds stupid to say out loud. Cooper’s got a reputation for being a bit of a hellion, but he’s easily the tamer of the Hartley twins. Scolding me in a parking lot still feels wildly out of character for him. Then again, where his brother’s concerned, he’s always had a short fuse. Evan has that effect on people.

“Yeah, I don’t know,” I tell them. “He all but threatened me to stay away from Evan. Said he doesn’t consider me a friend anymore after the way I hurt his brother.”

“Harsh,” Steph says with sympathy.

“I guess he has a point about that part.” I pretend to be unbothered, shrugging. “But he also blamed me for Evan being out of control, which isn’t exactly fair. Evan’s a grown man. He’s responsible for his own actions.”

Alana looks away like she’s got something to say.

I narrow my eyes. “What is it?”

“No, nothing.” She shakes her head, but there’s clearly more she’s reluctant to elaborate on. When the three of us press her with silence, she finally relents. “It’s just, I mean Evan went and got the shit kicked out of him to make you jealous. Seems like the kind of thing Cooper would notice and disapprove of.”

“So you’re taking his side, then? It’s all my fault?”

“No. All I’m saying is, the way Cooper thinks, he’s going to look at that and you showing up as a bad omen of things to come. Let’s be honest, he’s always been terrible at keeping Evan in line. He probably thinks if he can scare you off, it’ll make everything easier.”

“That’s a crappy thing to do,” Steph says.

“Hey, I’m just guessing.” Alana finishes her drink and drops her glass on the table. “Another round?”

Everyone nods, and she and Steph leave for a pit stop at the restroom before putting in an order for round two.

After draining the last of her drink, Heidi eyes me warily and makes an uneasy entreaty. “So, listen. This is awkward, but, um, you know Jay and I are sort of dating.”

My eyes widen. “Jay as in my brother Jay?”

“Yeah.”

“Um. No. I did not.”

“Yeah, well, it’s new-ish. Honestly, he’d been chasing me for a date since the fall, but I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. He finally broke me down a couple months ago. I wanted to make sure you’re cool with it. I don’t want things to be weird with us.”

What’s weird is seeing Heidi squirm. Hardly anything penetrates her don’t-mess-with-me exterior or puts her on the defensive. She’d spook a bull shark. So it’s cute, I guess, that she wants to ask my permission to date my older brother.

“You want my blessing, is that it?” I tease, sucking air from the bottom of my glass of mostly ice melt while I make her wait. “Yeah, it’s fine. This town is so small it was only a matter of time before one of you ended up with a West brother. I’m just surprised it’s Jay.”

Jay’s the sweetest of my brothers. Well, after Craig, anyway, but Craig doesn’t count because he literally just graduated high school. Jay is twenty-four and doesn’t have a mean bone in his softie body. He’s almost the complete opposite of Heidi, who’s all sharp edges.