Page 2 of Love Without Control

“No!” I shrieked. “My love life is not up for votes. This is not a bitch-ocracy.”

My best friend, Juliette McNamara, giggled beside me. “Evie’s right. It’s her choice, and she chooses not to run her fingers through the party in the back.”

Madalynn and Holly booed good-naturedly while the other member of our party, Arya Beck, shook her head, straight red hair bouncing in the slight breeze coming off the ocean.

“I think his mustache has herpes,” she declared. “Avoid herp ’stache at all costs, Evie.”

I hooted with laughter, so happy I’d come on this Spring Break trip with my college friends. I’d gone to Texas last fall, not knowing a soul except for Juliette. She and I met as kids when we were assigned to be roommates at a summer camp in Arkansas. As soon as I’d arrived, Juliette had unashamedly thrown her arms around me and declared that we were going to be besties.

And she wasn’t wrong. I freaking adored Juliette McNamara. She was funny, sweet, and a complete dingbat. Juli was an English lit major who could tell you anything you wanted to know about practically any book ever written, but when it came to street smarts, she was severely lacking. Which only made her more endearing. The woman was completely gullible; she’d literally been namedMost Likely to Buy an Ice Bridge at the Equatorin her high school yearbook. I’d seen the proof with my own two eyes.

Stirring the last dregs of my frozen margarita, I sucked down the contents. “I didn’t come here for random hookups. I came here to spend time with all of you.”

“I can do both,” Madalynn announced with a flip of her long raven locks. “I’m talented like that.”

“Thenyouhook up with mullet guy,” Emersyn shot back, and then added with faux sweetness, “and let me know if you want me to go to the clinic with you when you’re done.”

Mady eyed her sister with a glare. “Great, I think the clinic is right beside the salon. Maybe they can wrangle those caterpillars you call eyebrows into submission.”

Emersyn responded with a waggling middle finger in her twin’s face. These two… they loved each other, but they fought like… well, like sisters.

“So what are we doing tonight?” Arya asked, breaking the sibling standoff.

Holly’s face lit up and she brushed a hand over her short, spiky hairdo. “Oooh, there’s this club in town that’s supposed to be hot as hell.”

My shoulders slumped. “I can’t. I promised my brother I wouldn’t leave the resort.”

“Awww, please, Evie? It will be so much fun!”

“I know, and I don’t care if you all go. I just swore to Monty that I would stay on the grounds. He worries about me.”

“How is your younger brother?” Madalynn asked, wiggling her perfectly plucked eyebrows.

“Still madly in love with Kassie,” I told her pointedly.

Her smile turned catlike. “And what about Auburn? Is he in love with anyone?”

Scoffing, I shook my head. “I’d be surprised if my big bro ever fell in love.”

She twisted a finger around one strand of hair. “He needs a good Greek girl.”

“Too bad you’ve never been a good girl a day in your life,” her sister retorted, and we all laughed.

Mady glared at her twin before tossing that piece of hair over her tanned shoulder. “That may be true, but I’m a very,verygood girl at night.”

“Ewww! That’s my brother,” I whined.

I was no stranger to women panting after my brothers. Objectively, they were very good looking with their blue eyes that matched my own and hair that was a few shades darker than mine. Auburn was five years older than me, and Monty was a year younger. I idolized both my brothers, but I was much closer to Mont.

“What are you doing for your birthday this year?” Arya asked me.

“I’ll fly home the weekend before and spend it with my family,” I told her. “Monty and I share a birthday, and I don’t really want him to be alone this year.”

“Because his girlfriend just had a miscarriage?” Emersyn asked, with a sad downturn of her lips.

“Yeah, and then Kassie’s been ghosting him. I love her to pieces, and I know it’s different because she’s the one who was actually carrying the baby, but I’m not sure she realizes how hard Monty is taking this. He was so excited about being a dad.”

Madalynn shook her head. “That’s so sad for him. He seems really sweet. There aren’t many teenagers who are happy they knocked up their girlfriend.”

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