Chapter 1
MIA
"You should do him." My BFF Dani pointed to a six-four dork in a custom-made suit sucking up to my dad next to the trophy cabinet. "Big hands. Big feet."
I rolled my eyes. "You don't actually believe that crap, do you?"
Dani sniggered. "Considering the amount of first hand research I've done, I think I'm a fairly good judge."
I hated how Dani did that, perpetuating the slut label she'd copped at high school. Dani liked to date. A lot. That didn't equate to sleeping around. But the fact she was blonde, gorgeous and had a great rack meant jealous girls had been happy to spread rumors. What made me madder? Rather than defend herself, she played up to it.
"Why do you still do that when we left high school three years ago?"
She ignored my question and tapped my nose. "Almost forgot. Big nose equals big dick too."
As usual, I didn't push her on an issue she knew bugged the hell out of me. I swatted away her finger. "He's not my type."
"Is anyone your type?” She grabbed two champagne flutes from a passing waiter and handed me one. “You've been here an hour and I haven't seen you scope out a single guy."
No great surprise. I returned home to my dad's place, the legendary Cresswell Tennis Academy in Santa Monica, every spring break, and not once had I found a guy remotely 'scope-worthy’. Egotistical sport junkies weren't my thing.
"That's because I'm so damn happy to see you again." I slid my arm around her waist and hugged tight. "I've missed you, sweetie."
"You're such a sap," she said, returning my semi-hug before easing away to down her champagne. "Let's get drunk and pick up the cutest guys here for a night of raunchy fun."
Another thing that pissed me off about Dani. We hadn't seen each other since last spring break, and our first night together she'd rather hook up with some anonymous guy than hang out with me.
I would've preferred to stay in tonight, watching corny old DVDs and eating ice cream from the tub while we caught up on gossip. Instead, Dani had arrived at my villa an hour ago, demanding I attend this lame party my dad was throwing for the new academy peeps.
I hated my dad's parties at the academy. Wall to wall tennis jocks whose egos matched their oversized racket collection, my dad's boring friends, and the general hangers-on who thought my dad walked on water because he'd won a record number of Grand Slams. Minimal food, maximum alcohol and requisite fake schmoozing. Country club exclusivity with an overload of testosterone.
But I couldn't say no to Dani. She was the only thing I missed about Santa Monica—discounting Dad—and we could hang out at some boring party for a while before doing our catch up over a Cookies'n'Cream tub later.
"That's an oxymoron. Cute guys here and raunchy fun." I glanced around, not seeing a single guy I'd give my phone number to let alone allow to touch me.
Dani’s wide-eyed fake innocence didn’t fool me for a second. "You sure you're not still a virgin?"
I snorted. "You know I lost my virginity to Andy in high school."
I hadn't told her about the only other time I'd had sex, with one of my friends at DU. And that had only been in the last few months. Pitiful, considering I'd been at the University of Denver for the last few years.
"That pencil dick? Time to find yourself a real man."
I stifled a giggle at Dani's accurate assessment of Andy's appendage. "How did you know he was a pencil dick?"
Dani rolled her eyes. "Babe, I could tell you the size, girth and prowess of every dickwad's cock at Dumbass High."
And there she went again, pissing me off. I knew for a fact she didn't sleep around that much back then. Now? I wouldn't know. Sure, Dani was her usual joking self when we Skyped weekly and emailed a few times a month, but the truth was I had no idea what my best friend did with her spare time these days. And by her account, there was a lot of that.
Dani lived off her trust fund. She didn't work. She didn't do charity. And she didn't let me into her life anymore. Not like she used to.
Everything changed when she backed out of college before we were due to start. She never told me why. Gave some lame-ass excuse about not being interested in going it alone when she had her family's money to live off. Which I didn't believe for a second, considering Dani was the most independent person I knew and couldn't wait to join me at DU.
But I hadn't pushed because my BFF had looked seriously fragile at the time, like a Santa Ana wind could blow her over with the faintest gust. The flu, she'd said. I'd been terrified it had been something more serious. So I gave her the space she'd requested to get her shit together and when she finally Skyped me three months later, the old Dani was back. Irreverent. Brash. Irrepressible.