Page 7 of Be Your Anything
“You’re not,” I lie.
And it’s the easiest lie I’ll ever tell her. Obviously, my friendship with Wyatt will change somewhat now that he’s dating my sister. Hopefully, some of it changes for the better.
There will definitely be a new line in the sand, though, because no matter what, moving forward, Hannah is where my loyalty lies.
Wyatt won’t just be my friend, a guy I’ve known practically my whole life, or a partner I share a business with. He’ll be the man dating my sister, so there are new expectations, of honesty and earnestness and devotion. There are new things I’ll need to be paying attention to, even if Wyatt doesn’t realize it.
That’s not Hannah’s problem, though. And it isn’t something I want her worrying about when she has so much else on her mind.
“Trust me,” I finally say, reaching over and squeezing her hand in mine. “Wyatt and I are going to be fine.”
She nods, and I wait until her face has relaxed slightly before I sit back in my spot again.
I lift my whisky to my mouth and add, “But if I hear you two having sex, I’ll break his dick off.”
Hannah bursts into laughter, her face flushing red with embarrassment, and she presses her hands to her cheeks.
The whisky burns in my mouth and going down my throat, but I can’t help the smile on my face.
CHAPTER2
LENNON
“Alright, so the big question of the day is…who saw the advert in the newspaper?”
I glance over to Paige, who is pulling a folded-up newspaper leaf out of her purse, a huge smile stretched across her face.
There’s a temporary dip in noise around the table, cutlery settling and conversations pausing as everyone shifts their attention away from their brunch and over to where Paige sits at the head.
Once she’s done unfolding it, she flips the paper around so we can all see what it is.
Wyatt is the first one to laugh, his hand coming up to cover his mouth. He’s followed by a few other chuckles and a “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me” from Lucas, though he has a smile on his face as he reaches across my body to snatch the sheet from Paige’s hands.
“What is it?” I hear Hannah whisper to Wyatt as Lucas’ eyes flit across the ad, taking everything in with a hint of mortified bemusement.
“Looks like the Hermosa Beach party king of old is finally handing over his crown,” Otto says, reading over Lucas’ shoulder. “And he took out a fucking full-page announcement to advertise his final bash.”
“At least the king didn’t name me as the heir,” Lucas says, shaking his head but unable to keep the smile from remaining on his face. He passes the article to Otto, who is practically vibrating in his chair with interest.
Paige scoffs. “Like that matters. Everyone knows who you are, whether he mentions you by name or not.”
Lucas rolls his eyes and tucks back into his eggs Benedict, all but dismissing the conversation.
I hear the newspaper crinkling as it gets handed from person to person around our table of ten, the giggles and chuckles moving in waves as everyone gets a chance to check it out. I continue nibbling on my breakfast bowl, moving the yogurt and oats and blueberries around in a swirl until the paper finally makes its way back to Paige.
Leaning over, I take a look at it, unable to stop the puff of air that comes from my nose as I try to hold in my desire to burst into laughter. I knew about the party, but this…this is something else.
Stretched across the full-page spread is a photo of one of the older homes on The Strand. And sitting on the short wall that divides his house from the path is the owner, wearing a golden crown, with all his dogs posed and looking at the camera.
“The Hermosa Beach party king is handing over the crown,” I read out loud. “Don’t miss the biggest Fourth of July party this beach town has ever seen before the reign officially comes to an end.”
Beneath the large photo and text there’s a list of a few local bands and celebrities who will be making appearances and performing. I smirk, slightly impressed at the level of notoriety he’s been able to get for this event.
“You gotta admit—a full-page ad like that?” I raise my eyebrows and look at Lucas. “That’ll get some attention.”
“Who wants attention?” he grumbles, slumping down in his seat like a child.
Lucas Pearson is quite the contradiction sometimes.
