The Other World_A Reverse Harem Series Read online

  “Go away,” Alexis snaps, tearing me out of my daze. “You’re the last person I want to see right now.”

  “Well, hello to you, too,” I quip as I pull my car up beside her.

  In reality, her comment stings like a bitch. Why, you might be asking. Well, how do I explain this in a way that won’t make me sound like a lovestruck dumbass? Hmmm … Okay, here it goes …

  I, West, am in love with Alexis.

  Yeah, I know I sound like a total lovestruck dumbass.

  Lovestruck dumbasses aside, it’s the truth. Our little friendship love triangle is actually a square; has been since a certain night a couple of years ago when Alexis and I stayed up playing cards and drinking whiskey, and I poured my heart and soul out to her—drunkenly, of course.

  I told her how my parents’ divorce was fucking with my head, and Alexis didn’t laugh at me, which sort of surprised me. Before then, we’d always latched on to the opportunity to make fun of one another. But this time she didn’t. She hugged me and told me everything was going to be okay.

  “I promise it’ll get better,” she assured me, hugging me tightly.

  “How do you know that?” My voice cracked. “Maybe it won’t.”

  “Because you’re you,” she said, pulling me closer. “I’d probably never admit this while sober, but you’re, like, the strongest person I know. Well, besides me. But I’m a freakin’ anomaly.”

  I chuckled, but on the inside, I was wound up tight.

  God, she smelled good. Like whiskey and cotton candy. I wanted to take a bite. The thought startled me, but not enough to stop my cock from getting hard. Seriously, though? Since when did I get turned on by Alexis? We’d been frenemies forever, and I’d never thought of her that way before. Okay, maybe I had a couple of times.

  The girl was gorgeous, even though she didn’t realize it. She didn’t show off her sexiness, like Masie or some of the other girls in our school. And she’s actually pretty smart, which was always a bonus; always seeming more interested in books than hooking up. And fuck, she smelled so fucking good, and she was so damn warm. I found myself wanting to kiss her, and I probably would’ve, too, if Blaine hadn’t woken up from being passed out on the floor and puked all over the carpet.

  Yep, if that won’t kill the mood, I don’t know what will.

  It didn’t really matter, though. That vomit probably saved me from making an ass out of myself.

  After that moment Alexis and I shared, I was a goner, even if I didn’t realize it at the time. And no, I didn’t fall in love with her then. Get your head out of the clouds. It took some time, a year at least of hanging out with her and trying not to ask if she wanted to reenact my favorite porn scenes.

  It wasn’t just about fucking her, though. The truth is, underneath her rough exterior, Alexis is kind, caring, and fun. Sure, she constantly teases me, but only because I give her shit all the time. Honestly, it’s our way of flirting, even if she’ll never admit it. And I love getting her to smile. And she deserves to smile, all the damn time. But after her parents died, those smiles became less and less frequent. If I could, I’d try to make her smile all the time.

  Yep, I’m a fucking whipped pussy.

  Since she’s never given any sign of reciprocating my feelings, I’ve kept how I feel locked away.

  Yeah, I know. I’m pathetic. I can’t help how I feel, just like Alexis can’t help how she feels, just like Blaine can’t help how his dick feels, and Masie can’t help how she needs to be the center of attention twenty-four fucking seven.

  Yeah, feelings suck.

  Even though Alexis tells me to get lost, I park at the curb and push the shifter into park.

  “Now, is that any way to talk to your friend?” I tease, sneaking in a moment to discreetly check her out, unsure what she’d do if she actually caught me, and I don’t really care.

  Her hair is a tangled mess of brown waves that flows down her back; she doesn’t have a drop of makeup on; and her shorts show off her long, lean legs.

  Yep, there goes the mental porn show again.

  “Your very best friend, for that matter,” I add.

  “You’re not my best friend,” she says. “And I doubt you think that.”

  I press my hand to my chest, pretending to be offended. “Wow, that really hurts. All these years, I thought we were like this.” I hold up my crossed fingers. “Now, come to find out, I’ve been living a delusional lie.”

  “A lie you’ve been telling yourself,” she quips. “I had nothing to do with it.”

  “Yeah, right, you’ve totally been sending mixed signals.”

  She narrows her gaze at me, yet a playful glint flickers in her eyes. “I so have not.”

  “You have to.” I fake pout. “Think about all those times we shared secrets, painted each other’s toenails, and braided each other’s hair.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Hate to break it to ya, but you and Blaine have been doing the BFF thing all wrong. That’s not what best friends do.”

  “Well, don’t tell him that.” I wink. “I like getting my hair braided.”

  She eyeballs my chin-length, blond hair and smirks. “I bet you do. And I bet you look really pretty, too.”

  “Aw, you think I’m pretty?”

  “Pretty annoying.”

  “Ouch, you’re aiming straight for my heart today.”

  Her gaze drops to the ground, and I get the feeling she’s trying to hide the hurt flooding her eyes. “Yeah, well, I’m in a shitty mood,” she mumbles, kicking at the dirt with the tip of her boot. “Sorry. I shouldn’t take it out on you.”

  “It’s okay. I understand.” I pause, unsure what the right thing to say is, or if there’s even a right thing to say. “Masie called me about an hour ago.”

  Her gaze snaps up to mine, her eyes so big and gorgeous yet conveying so much pain. It makes me want to punch Blaine and burn all of Masie’s clothes because, to her, that’s about the equivalent of a kick to the balls.

  Alexis eyes me over warily. “What exactly did she tell you?”

  “That you caught her and Blaine kissing in the pool.”

  “Oh.” She grows silent, her expression guarded. “Aren’t you wondering why that’d upset me?”

  I hesitate. “I already know … Have since the beginning of high school.”

  Her expression plummets, and she starts to step back like she’s going to run away.

  “Oh no, you don’t.” I hop out of the car and reach to grab ahold of her, but she spins around and takes off toward the playground.

  I could just let her go, let her hide away until she feels like talking, but that’s not really my style. So, I chase after her, and when I catch up to her, I wrap my arms around her waist and haul her back against me. Her back slams into my chest, and she curses like a sailor. Me, I go completely fucking hard as her ass presses against my cock.

  God, that feels so good … like, really fucking good. I want to strip off her clothes and take a bite. No, what I want is to bury myself inside of her.

  God, this whole love thing is getting completely out of hand.

  “Um, West?” Alexis says with a nervous edge in her tone. “You doing okay back there?”

  I suddenly realize three things:

  She’s gone still in my arms.

  I have her pressed so close she can probably feel my hard-on.

  My lips have wandered to her neck, and I’ve started to suck on her skin. Like, one-step-away-from-I’m-going-to-suck-your-blood kind of suck.

  “Yeah?” I clear my throat a stupid amount of times.

  Normally, I’m not such a babbling pussy. In fact, I can be quite charming when I want to be. But, with Alexis, I know my feelings for her will end with my fucking heart ripped out of my chest.

  See? Again, point proven—feelings suck.

  “Are you sure?” She sounds horrified. Or, well, mostly horrified, with a drop of amusement. “Or, have you recently been bitten by a vampire? If you’re not sure, we can cross-refe
rence your symptoms with the vampire symptoms list. I’m sure there’s something on the internet.”

  Okay, now she just sounds amused.

  “You think you’re funny?” I question. I’m not irritated. If anything, I’m curious.

  She didn’t get mad at me after I just sucked on her neck. What does that mean?

  I shake my head at the stupid voice inside my head. What does that mean? I mock myself. Seriously, West, you sound like Blaine when he’s whining over not getting laid enough.

  My lips part with a comeback, but Alexis interrupts me.

  “Stupid fucking shit, damn, crap, troll babies.” She’s breathing so heavily you’d think the damn girl just ran a marathon.

  “Well, that was attractive,” I joke through a chuckle.

  “I’m not trying to be attractive.” She wiggles out of her arms, spins around, and crouches down in front of me, putting her face right by my dick. “Masie’s over there in the parking lot.”

  I glance to my right and, sure enough, Masie is wandering around in the parking lot, glancing inside cars. Still, that doesn’t explain …

  “Look, I get why you don’t want to see her.” I slip my fingers through her hair, fighting the urge to pull her closer to my dick. “But I’m really confused how acting like you’re going to suck me off is going to keep her from spotting you. If anything, we stand out like a … well, like a guy about to get his dick sucked in the middle of the park in broad daylight. I mean, don’t get me wrong, if we were in my car, I’d totally let you suck away. But I don’t want our first time to be in front of half the damn neighborhood.”

  Sucking in a sharp breath, she trips to her feet. The shocked look on her face has me verging toward laughing my ass off, but the flush spreading across her cheeks and the way she sinks her teeth into her bottom lip distracts me.

  What the hell is she thinking? And why does she look … curious?

  I start to step forward to do … well, I’m not sure, but something that’ll definitely only get more blood pumping toward my dick. But then I get cock-blocked by a blonde-haired, screaming banshee running across the grass straight at us.

  “Alexis!” Masie screeches, waving her hands in the air like we can’t already see or hear her. Everyone within a five-mile radius probably can.

  Alexis gives me a helpless, pleading look. It’s a look that would get me to agree to do anything, even eat a strawberry. And no, I’m not kidding, Strawberries are fucking weird with their seeds and their squishiness. Seriously, they shouldn’t even be a food.

  “I don’t want to talk to her,” Alexis says, her big eyes pleading with me to help her.

  I don’t think. I just act, grabbing her hand.

  “Then let’s get out of here.” I take off toward my car and smile when she easily follows.

  If only she wasn’t following me just to run away.

  Alexis

  I can’t believe I’m running away with West. I can’t believe West is helping me. I can’t believe I want his help. No, what I really can’t believe is that West was getting a little too happy down south while he was holding me. He had to be thinking about someone else, because there’s no way he can see me like that.

  Either way, I feel like I’ve time warped into another dimension where nothing in my life makes sense anymore. Blaine and Masie kissing … West biting my neck …

  My fingers drift to the spot where he nibbled on my neck as warmth spreads throughout my belly.

  It felt good.

  “Where do you want me to take you?” West asks after we hop into his car.

  I blink at him. Huh? What did he just say?

  “Um, what?”

  The corner of his lips tugs up into a lopsided smirk. “I never knew you had such a dirty mind.” He pauses, chewing on his bottom lip. “But, if you really want to, then …” He gives an insinuating look at the back seat while waggling his eyebrows. “I’ve always wanted to do it in my back seat.”

  I roll my eyes, but on the inside, my stomach does a weird kickflip. I tell it to shut the hell up. I’m not the kind of girl who gets excited over a guy’s dirty remark.

  “Yeah, right,” I say. “Like you haven’t screwed someone there already. You’re such a little manwhore.”

  His brow arches upward. “Says who?”

  “Says everyone.”

  “When’s the last time you heard someone say I’m a manwhore?”

  “Um …” Come to think of it, it’s been a while. “I don’t know … Maybe a year or two ago.”

  “Exactly,” he says, his gaze burning into mine. “And you know why I was a man skank before then.”

  True. A couple of years ago, West found out that both his parents were cheating on each other; had been for years. They finally got a divorce after being married for years and everyone thinking they were the perfect couple. Even West had thought so. When they divorced, his view on love changed. At least, that’s what he told me one night after we raided Blaine’s dad’s whiskey cabinet. Blaine had passed out after three shots—the dude’s such a light weight—and West and I stayed up playing cards.

  I hugged him that night and, for the craziest moment, I thought he was going to kiss me. But he didn’t, and I’m pretty sure I misread the entire situation. Wouldn’t be the first time. Thankfully, Blaine woke up and puked all over the floor. Yeah, it was gross, but it stopped me from doing something stupid, like leaning in with my lips puckered like a fish—

  I’m yanked from my thoughts as Masie nears the car, shouting meaningless apologies at the top of her lungs.

  “West, please, pretty please, get me away from the raving lunatic running right at your car,” I say in a desperate plea. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I talk to her, and honestly, I don’t want to deal with it right now.”

  “Oh yeah, right,” he says, like he forgot all about Masie, which would definitely be a first for a guy. He revs up the engine. “Let’s get you out of here.” He shifts gears and presses on the gas, the tires spinning and kicking up a cloud of dirt as we peel out of the parking lot.

  I peer over my shoulder and out the window, a sick, satisfying smile growing on my face at the sight of Masie, surrounded by a cloud of dust, her hair messed up and missing one shoe.

  Okay, now that’s a picture I thought I’d never see.

  “You look way too pleased right now,” West teases as we speed down the road.

  “Sorry.” Not really.

  He chuckles. “You don’t need to be sorry. Masie deserves a face full of dirt.” He sighs, gripping the steering wheel. “She deserves more for what she did to you.”

  I pick at my fingernails, feeling squirmy over how much he seems to understand the situation. I hate feeling squirmy. I like control. Control keeps you from getting hurt. Control stops the pain. Right now, I’m not in control, and that’s probably why my heart aches so badly.

  “How long have you known? I mean, about me … liking …” I blow out a breath, unable to say it.

  “Blaine?” he finishes, and I nod. He lifts a shoulder. “I first thought you did when we were about sixteen.”

  My insides tighten. “How? I mean, what gave me away?”

  He moves one hand off the steering wheel to reach over and graze his finger along the corner of my eye. “It was the way you looked at him.”

  “Oh.” I crinkle my nose, disappointment in myself. “I didn’t realize I was that obvious.”

  “It wasn’t that obvious,” he assures. “At least, not enough for Blaine to catch on.”

  I almost relax. “So, he doesn’t know?”

  He shakes his head, returning his hand to the steering wheel. “He’s never said anything to me.”

  I release a breath of relief. “That’s good.”

  He cocks his brow. “Why?”

  “Why the hell would I want him to know I’m in love with him?”

  His fingers tense on the steering wheel. “So, you are in love with him?”

  “I thought you already said you
knew?”

  “I knew you liked him, and I guessed you might be in love with him, but I wasn’t completely sure.”

  I eye him over. Why does he seem so upset about it?

  He looks away, focusing on the road, seeming tense.

  We drive in silence for an uncomfortable amount of time. I get distracted by the car tailing us. At first, I think it’s just some asshole riding our ass, but every time West makes a turn, so does the car.

  Weird.

  Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but ever since I left Masie’s house, I swear someone’s been following me. Maybe it’s just Masie and Blaine, but what if it’s the asshole who stole my car and left me the note?

  “Are you sure you are, though?” West asks so suddenly I nearly scream.

  My heart races in my chest as I look at him. “Am I sure what?”

  “That you’re in love with him.”

  Great. Is he still on that?

  “What kind of question is that?” I sound offended, and I don’t even know why. He didn’t do anything to me. None of this is his fault.

  “I didn’t mean to piss you off,” he says. “But, sometimes people think they’re in love with someone, but their feelings are more of an infatuation.”

  “You act like you’re speaking from experience.”

  “Nah. It takes me a lot to fall in love with someone.”

  “Have you ever been in love before?” I reach into my pocket to silence my phone as it buzzes for the hundredth time, and my fingers graze the edge of the note left in the driveway.

  His jaw clenches as he stares ahead at the road. “Maybe once or twice.”

  My heart twinges at the hint of pain in his tone. “Aw, West, did someone break your heart?”

  Sure, we’re not BFFs—although, at this point, I might beg him to fill in the position since I currently lost two—but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about him.

  He gives a shrug. “I’m not sure yet.”

  I angle my head to the side in confusion. “That doesn’t really make sense.”

  “Of course it does.” He catches my gaze. “If I haven’t told the person I’m in love with them.”