Good Girl Complex: An Avalon Bay Novel

We’re propelled into the air, and for several heart-stopping, stomach-twisting moments, we’re sort of frozen in time. Pinned by the force of the ride as the ground disappears beneath us. A brief, spectacular moment of weightlessness lifts us from our seats and then the tension of the cords releases slightly and we bounce, once, twice, past the highest point. I turn my head and that’s when Mac’s lips find mine.

It’s like an electric shock, a sizzle of heat from her lips straight down to my groin.

She grabs me, finding fistfuls of my hair, kissing me wildly. She tastes like sugar and endless summer nights. I’m hungry for both as my tongue slicks over hers and we soar so high it feels like we might never come down.

Her gasp heats my lips.

I drive the kiss deeper, swallowing her soft moan.

The basket bounces again, slowly descending on our return to earth. We part only to suck in a startled breath, and I have to remember where we are to stop myself from tearing her clothes off. I’m hard and hungry.

“We shouldn’t have done that.” Mac adjusts the straps of her tank top and wipes the smeared lipstick from her lips.

“I’m not sorry,” I tell her. Because I’m not. I’ve wanted to do that for weeks. And it’s all on the table now. We set fire to the pretense, and there’s nowhere to go but forward.

She’s silent when we leave the ride. Maybe I came on too strong. Scared her away.

When I realize she’s leading us toward the exit, I swallow a sigh.

Yeah.

She’s definitely running scared.

“I’ll take you home, if you want,” I offer, following her toward where we parked the truck.

“I want to say goodnight to Daisy first.”

I don’t bother to correct her this time. Guess she won that battle.

“I’ll catch a cab from your place,” she adds.

The entire ride to my house, I’m convinced I’m never going to see her again and I’ve screwed this whole plan. My head is reeling, trying to think of something to say, some way to mitigate the fallout. All I come up with is a dozen ways I want to screw her brains out. Which isn’t helping.

“He grounds me.”

Her quiet statement has me glancing over in surprise. “What?”

“Preston. There are many reasons I’m with him, but that’s a big one. He keeps me grounded.” From the corner of my eye, I see she’s wringing her hands. “Reminds me to be more restrained.”

“Why do you need to be?” My voice is gruff.

“For one, because my dad is in the public eye.”

“So? Your father made that choice. You don’t have to turn yourself into a plastic person because of his life decisions.” I frown at her. “And you don’t have to put up with a boyfriend who keeps you on a leash.”

Her eyes flash. “I’m not on a leash.”

“What do you think ‘restrained’ means?” I say sarcastically.

“I said he reminds me to restrain myself. He’s not the one doing the restraining. Whatever. You don’t get it.” Lips flattening, she fixes her gaze out the passenger window.

“You’re right, I don’t get it. I just spent the past couple hours watching you seek out every wild ride at that festival. You get off on the thrill. You get off on life. There’s fire in you, Mac.”

“Fire,” she echoes dubiously.

“Hell yes. Fire. And you choose to be with someone who puts out the fire? Screw that. You need a man to stoke it.”

“And, what, that man is you?” A sharp edge to her question.

“Didn’t say that. Just saying your current pick is seriously lacking.”

The house is dark when we pull up. Evan said he was getting together with our friends, but maybe they hit up the festival after all. Another silence falls over us as Mac and I walk inside.

I flick the light switch. “Look,” I start. “I don’t regret the kiss—we both wanted it, and you know that. But if this friendship thing is gonna be weird for you now…”

I glance back to see her pressed against the door, looking insanely edible. She doesn’t speak, just tugs the front of my shirt to draw me to her. Before I can blink, she rises on her toes to kiss me.

“Fuck,” I gasp against her greedy mouth.

In response, she lifts her leg around my hip and bites my lip.

My brain stutters for a second before I wake up and go with it. I grab her thigh, pressing myself between her legs as I kiss her deeper. Her fingers find their way under my shirt.

“God, all these muscles. I can’t even.” Her palms travel to my chest, stroking, then around to my back, nails gently scratching down my spine.

Her eager touch sends all the blood in my body rushing to my groin. I’m gone. Hard. Panting. I want her so badly I can hardly breathe.

A detailed fantasy of bending her over my bed plays behind my clenched eyelids. I’m about to pick her up and throw her over my shoulder when I hear the sliding glass door shut loudly in the kitchen.

Our mouths break apart.

“Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.” Heidi stands in the kitchen doorway, watching us with a sarcastic smile. “Didn’t know you were back.”

I’m still breathing hard, trying to find my voice.

She walks to the fridge for two handfuls of beers. “Please, as you were. Don’t let me interrupt.”

Heidi winks at me before leaving the way she came.

Great.

“I should go.” Immediately Mac is disentangling herself from me, putting distance between us. The dog hasn’t come running, which means Evan has her down at the beach, with Heidi and the rest of the gang.

“That’s my friend Heidi,” I hurry to explain, not wanting Mac to leave. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know anyone was here.”

“It’s all good. I have to go.”

“Stay. They’re probably all down at the beach. I’ll get Daisy for you.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m going to call a cab.”

“I’ll drive you,” I counter.

She’s out the door, slinking away before I can stop her.

Damn it. “At least let me wait with you.”

She acquiesces to that much, but the moment’s passed. Once again there’s a massive crater between us as we wait in silence, and I get nothing more than a wave goodnight as she’s pulling away.

I drag a hand through my hair and trudge into the house. Fucking hell. One step forward, two steps back.

Story of my life.

In the kitchen, I grab a beer for myself, twist off the cap, and take a long swig before stepping out onto the deck. Where Heidi is standing. Her arms are free of bottles, so she must have delivered them to the beach and come back to wait for me.

“Hey,” I say roughly.

“Hey.” She leans against the railing, one hand playing with the frayed ends of her denim skirt. “So. You’ve got the clone on the hook.”

“I guess.” I swallow a hasty sip of beer. Truth be told, the plan, the bet, the rules … they were the last thing on my mind back there. My entire world had been reduced to Mackenzie and how good she felt pressed up against me.

“You guess? The chick was looking at you with stars in her eyes. She’s into you.”

Rather than comment, I pivot by saying, “Speaking of people being into other people—Jay West was asking about you.”

She narrows her eyes. “When?”

“A few days ago. Said he hung out with you at a bar or something.”

“Oh, yeah. We ran into him and Kellan at Joe’s.”

I flick up one eyebrow. “He’s gonna ask you out.”

She doesn’t say anything. Just watches me warily.

“Will you turn him down?”

“Should I?”

A sigh lodges itself in my throat. I know she wants me to stake my claim, throw myself at her feet, and beg her not to go out with anyone but me. But I’m not going to do that. I told her I didn’t want a relationship when we first hooked up. I hoped it would only be a one-night thing, each of us scratching an itch, and then we’d go back to being friends. But I was naïve. One night led to a few more, and now our friendship is more strained than ever.

“Do whatever you want, Heidi,” I finally say.

“Got it. Thanks for the advice, Coop.” Sarcasm drips from every word. Then, with a frustrated shake of her head, she stomps down the steps.

I release the breath trapped in my lungs. Chug the rest of my beer. The taste of Mackenzie still lingers on my tongue. Sugar and sex, an addictive combo. I step inside to grab another bottle, hoping the alcohol might help erase the flavor of the woman I’m aching to kiss again.

I join everyone on the beach. I’m relieved—and then ashamed of my relief—when I spot Heidi about ten yards away at the water’s edge, texting on her phone. Maybe reaching out to Jay? But I doubt it. She’s never been attracted to the nice ones. Just the jerks like me.

Around the fire, Steph and Alana are ragging Evan about some girl he hooked up with yesterday, after getting into a fight with her boyfriend. First I’m hearing of either, but Evan’s not particularly forthcoming when it comes to his transgressions. From what I gather, he threw down with some Garnet clones who refused to pay up after he schooled them at the pool hall.

“She came in tonight all moon-eyed, asking where she could track you down,” Alana is telling him.

He pales. “You didn’t give her my number, did you?”

Alana lets him sweat for a few seconds before she and Steph break out in grins. “’Course not. That would go against the friend code.”

“Speaking of the friend code, does it say anything about subjecting your friends to a front-row seat to your slobbery make-out session?” Steph pipes up, gesturing to the culprit in question.

At the far edge of the fire pit, our friend Tate is sprawled on one of our old lounge chairs with a curvy dark-haired chick draped over him like a blanket. He’s got a hand thrust in her hair and his tongue in her mouth, while she rubs herself against him like a cat in heat. They’re oblivious to our presence.

“Shameless,” Evan shouts at the couple with feigned outrage. Then he grins, because my brother’s an exhibitionist himself.

Tate gives his girl’s bottom a playful smack and they stumble to their feet, cheeks flushed and lips swollen. “Coop,” he drawls. “Mind if we head inside and watch some TV?”

I roll my eyes. “Sure. But there’s no TV in my room, so I’d better not find you in there.” I love my friends, but I don’t need them banging on my bed. I just changed the sheets this morning too.

After Tate and the brunette disappear, Alana and Steph bend their heads close and start whispering to each other.

“Share with the group,” Evan mocks, wagging a finger at the girls.

With a look of evil glee, Steph jerks her thumb toward Alana and says, “This bad girl slept with Tate last weekend.”

I lift a brow. “Yeah?”

An unimpressed Evan shrugs. “You finally took a ride on the Tatemobile, huh? Surprised it took you so long.”

My brother makes a good point. From the moment Tate’s family moved to the Bay when we were in junior high, all the local girls went crazy for him. One cocky smile from Tate and they’re hooked.

Alana’s expression reveals not an ounce of shame or regret as she offers her own shrug. “Sort of wish I had done it sooner. Man gives good dick. Great kisser too.”

“He’s not bad,” Evan agrees, and I can’t help myself—I burst out laughing.

“Shit,” I wheeze. “I always forget about that night you guys made out.”

He rolls his eyes. “It was just a kiss.”

“Dude, it lasted like three full minutes.” My mind is now flooded with the vivid images of Evan and Tate sucking each other’s faces off at one of Alana’s house parties when we were sixteen. The girls cheering them on, the guys catcalling. That was a weird night.

“In Ev’s defense, making out with Tate was the only way they were gonna see me and Genevieve take our tops off—” Alana stops abruptly.

Well, hell. She actually did it. Uttered Genevieve’s name, the Voldemort of our group. I have to assume the girls are still in touch. Steph, Alana, Heidi, and Gen were the fierce foursome.

Evan and I have a habit of reading each other’s minds, but whereas I possess at least some self-restraint, he doesn’t know the meaning of it. So he says, “You guys still talk to her?”

Alana hesitates.

Steph opens her mouth, only to be interrupted by Heidi’s reappearance.

“What’s going on?” she asks, carefully glancing around the group. Then she nods. “Oh. Cooper told you.”

Genevieve is all but forgotten as everyone’s gazes swivel to me. “Told us what?” Steph demands.

I shrug. So, naturally, Heidi doesn’t waste a second filling them in on finding me and Mackenzie wrapped up at the front door.

“Gotta admit, Coop, I didn’t think you’d get this far,” Alana says, lifting a beer in salute. “I’m impressed.”

“I’ve changed my mind, by the way.” Heidi eyes me through the flames. “I’m totally on board with this plan. I cannot wait to see the look on that girl’s face when she realizes what you’ve done.”

“How are you gonna do it?” Steph asks excitedly.

This is the most fun these girls have had since they went ham on some clone’s car after he ran off with Alana’s bikini top while she was sunbathing on the beach.

“Yeah, we have to talk endgame,” Evan says. “It’d be a shame to waste an opportunity.”

“Yes,” Heidi agrees. “You have to get her and Kincaid in the same place, let him see you two together, and then dump her in public. Make it dramatic.” Heidi is in a mood tonight. I know I’m to blame for it, but I’m not sure how to fix things between us. “Maybe we can throw a party.”

Steph splashes beer on the fire in her eagerness. “Nah, too tame. Has to be on their turf. It’s no fun unless Kincaid is humiliated in front of his own kind.”

“I know where we can get a couple buckets of pig’s blood,” Alana says, which gets the rest of them doubled over laughing.

I laugh with them, playing along. Because a few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have given a damn what happened to the random clone girlfriend of a rich punk who crossed me.

But now I’ve gotten to know Mac and … I genuinely like her. She doesn’t deserve their scorn just because she’s connected to a jackass like Kincaid. And after that kiss, I know there’s something real between us, even if she’s afraid of it. I can’t tell these guys I’m having second thoughts, though. They’d tear my ass a new one.

Now that they’ve gotten a whiff of blood in the water, they won’t be satisfied until they’ve tasted flesh.