Somewhere in Between (Madison Square #1)

  SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN

  Madison Square, Book One

  By Samatha Harris

  SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN

  Copyright © 2015 by Samatha Harris.

  All rights reserved.

  First Print Edition: November 2015

  Limitless Publishing, LLC

  Kailua, HI 96734

  www.limitlesspublishing.com

  Formatting: Limitless Publishing

  ISBN-13: 978-1-68058-350-2

  ISBN-10: 1-68058-350-6

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To the men in my life.

  Adam, who encourages me,

  John, who challenges me,

  and Dave, who is my everything.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  EPILOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  Drew (Then)

  Six years ago…

  “Good morning.”

  The high pitched whining sound of her voice pierced through my skull like a bullet to the head. Ugh, what the hell is that? I rolled to the side, pulling a pillow over my face in a vain attempt to drown out the noise. My head spun as flashes of memories from last night mounted a full assault on my brain.

  “Good morning!” she said again, slipping her hand up my side. My pounding headache intensified, my hangover amplifying the sound of her voice to a near deafening roar.

  As if the killer headache wasn’t the first clue to my drunken state last night, the blonde in my bed clinched it. I honestly didn’t remember making it home, let alone into bed with…shit! What was her name? Foggy images shuffled through my head as I tried to remember, but I got nothing. Mandy? No, that was the brunette.

  Lifting the pillow, I cracked an eye open to get a better look at my bed buddy, hoping looking at her might trigger something, but my mind still came up empty. She was hot, even with the bed head and mascara smeared across her cheek, but her face was just not registering in my vague memories of last night.

  “Hey.” My voice came out rough and hoarse from sleep. Damn! Did her name start with a T? Or maybe an L? While the rolodex of people at the bar last night went through my head, a smile spread across my face. I was hoping to distract her enough so she wouldn’t catch on to my confusion. If this chick realized I had no idea who she was, this whole situation could quickly go from bad to worse.

  “Last night was…” She sighed, letting the statement trail off as she absently traced patterns on my bare chest. Compliments about my sexual prowess are always appreciated, but at that moment, I was more interested in getting her out of my bed before she caught on to her mystery girl status. Lucky for me, my roommate saved the day by choosing that moment to bang on the door.

  “Dude, get up. We got shit to do!” Sean called.

  Sean has been my roommate since the housing office stuck us together freshman year. He was an acquired taste, to say the least. Dude can be kind of crazy, especially when tequila is involved, but you can’t help but love the jackass. He at least has a knack for bailing me out of awkward situations, such as my current predicament.

  “Sorry, I got to get going,” I said, quickly jumping out of bed and heading for the bathroom.

  One look in the mirror told me it had been yet another crazy night. My sad, rumpled reflection stared back at me from the mirror as I brushed my teeth. My hair was a mess, and the smear of hot pink lipstick that marked my neck told the same old story.

  After washing the sleep from my face and scrubbing the lipstick from my neck, I headed back into my room to find mystery girl already dressed and looking for her shoes. Stacy? No. What was this girl’s name? This was ridiculous, even for me.

  I tugged on a pair of jeans from the floor next to my bed and pulled open the dresser drawer, searching for a shirt. I found a vintage Zeppelin t-shirt and pulled it over my head while humming “Whole Lotta Love.”

  “Got it,” she announced, holding up the pink heel as proof.

  “Great. I’ll walk you out.”

  I turned the lock on my door and headed into the living room with mystery girl in tow.

  Sean was sitting on a stool in the kitchen. His girlfriend, Kerri, was perched on the counter, her lips attached to his face, his hands buried inside her shirt. The two of them were unbelievable, relentless. You couldn’t pry them apart with a crowbar. Now, there is nothing wrong with a little PDA, but waking up every day to the two of them trying to swallow each other’s tongues was not my idea of a good morning.

  “Dude, that’s where I eat,” I said for the hundredth time since we moved in to our new place.

  They broke apart as my guest giggled behind me. I reached for the front door, still not able to remember her name. Smile, say goodbye, and you are in the clear.

  “Call me.” She stood on her tip toes to kiss me goodbye and pressed a small piece of paper into my hand before turning and heading down the stairs to her car.

  Once she was out of sight, I glanced at the little slip of paper. She’d written down her name and phone number.

  She even left a hot pink kiss print next her number. “Tracy! Thank God! That shit was gonna bug me all day.”

  Letting out a deep breath of relief, I pushed the piece of paper into my pocket and headed into the kitchen. I would not be calling her.

  Sean laughed and Kerri smacked his shoulder. I grabbed a box of cereal from the counter and tossed a handful into my mouth, crunching loudly on my breakfast with a smile as Kerri glared in my direction.

  “You’re an ass, Drew!” she said with a disdainful roll of her eyes. “You better not treat Alex like that.” I would have believed her concern if she hadn’t been examining her nails when she said it.

  I raised an eyebrow and tossed another handful of cereal into my mouth. “Who’s Awex?” I asked, trying to speak with a mouth full of corn flakes.

  “My roommate,” Kerri replied, her voice taking on that annoyed tone as she narrowed her eyes to slits. She propped one hand on her bony hip and glared at me. I laughed to myself as Sean sank behind her, trying to stay out of the developing argument.

  Kerri and I never got along. She was shallow and selfish. She had that queen bee mentality and tended to try and crush anyone who had even an ounce of independent thought. Sean is a good guy. He can do so much better, but you can’t talk sense into a man who is getting laid on a regular basis, no matter how much you try.

  We stared each other down until Kerri finally huffed in frustration. I smirked, making a show of putting another handful of cereal into my mouth. She rolled her eyes and reached behin
d her to where the clean dishes were drying, handing me a bowl. I responded by tossing corn flakes into the air and trying to catch them in my mouth, missing almost on purpose. She was not going to tell me how to eat in my own house. Plus, the look of pure rage on her face was pretty damn amusing.

  Kerri dropped the bowl into the sink and hopped down from her perch on my counter.

  “So, what’s this about your roommate?” I asked, leaning back against the counter.

  She turned her hard glare to Sean, who refused to look her in the eye. “You said you were going to talk to him,” she said, her voice growing shriller with every word. Her voice was like taking a chainsaw to a chalkboard.

  Sean shrank in his seat. “Sorry, babe. I forgot.”

  She groaned and stomped into Sean’s room, slamming the door. Sean dropped his head with a dramatic sigh before taking off to beg for forgiveness. Pussy.

  ***

  “So, what’s got Kerri’s panties in a wad this morning?” I asked Sean as we drove to the liquor store. We were throwing a party that night to celebrate moving in to our new dump of an apartment and needed to stock up on the essentials. The place was nothing to celebrate, but, as usual, Queen Kerri will use any excuse to throw a party for her horde of minions.

  He sighed. “She wants to set you up with her roommate.”

  Sean knows I hate to be set up, especially when it’s Kerri who is setting me up. That girl hates me, mostly because I won’t bow to her whims, like Sean. It doesn’t bother me because one, the feeling is mutual and two, pissing her off is just too much fun. Besides, all of Kerri’s friends are just like her—shallow, vapid girls who can’t talk to you without smacking their gum and twirling their hair around their finger.

  “What? Why?” I chuckled.

  “She thinks you two might hit it off.”

  Kerri was up to something. She’d probably cooked up something with her roommate as some sort of joke at my expense. “What’s her angle?”

  “What do you mean?” Sean asked, his eyes intensely focused on the road. He was trying way too hard to sound innocent. Great.

  “You know what I mean. What’s Queen Kerri up to?”

  “Don’t call her that.”

  Sean is my best friend and I know that it grates on him that I hate his girlfriend. I need to try harder to get along with her, but that girl is impossible to like.

  “Dude, why do you put up with that girl? I don’t get it.”

  “You don’t know her like I do, man. She has a sweet side. She wants her roommate to get out more, meet new people, have some fun, which is where you come in.”

  Yeah, sure she did. Kerri never did anything that didn’t benefit her in some way.

  “You mean she wants her to get out more so the two of you can bang on every surface of her dorm room.”

  “Look, I’m not asking you to hang out with her all night. Just talk to her. If you don’t like her, fine.”

  He looked at me, pleading with those big dumb puppy dog eyes. “Fine.”

  I was going to regret this.

  ***

  Later that night, we kicked off the party of all parties. As I leaned against the doorway to the kitchen, I took inventory, checking to see who’d showed up more out of habit than anything. A cute brunette sat on the couch by the window. I was pretty sure I went out with her last year. She’d spent the entire night talking about her hair extensions. Sean had to call with an emergency to bail me out of that one.

  There was a couple making out a little too enthusiastically on the makeshift dance floor while creepy Jason watched from the sidelines. Some of the guys on the football team were dropping ice cubes down their girlfriend’s cleavage, laughing as the girls squealed and frantically pulled at their shirts to get it out.

  This was my party and these were my so-called friends, but outside of Sean, there were really only a handful of people here I actually liked. It seemed to always be the same cliché group everywhere we went. It was a little hypocritical of me to feel such disdain for these people considering I was technically one of them, but while the parties and the easy pickings had been fun for a while, I was bored.

  Scanning the room again, I spotted a redhead standing by herself against the wall. She had on a pair of tight jeans, a loose fitting tank top, and a pair of black chucks. Her fiery red hair fell down long past her shoulders in silky waves, just begging me to run my fingers through it. She had a tight little body, curves in all the right places, and an ass that just wouldn’t quit. She was beautiful and seemed like the kind of girl who knew it, but wasn’t aggressive about it. If it was something different I wanted tonight, Red would do nicely.

  She wasn’t talking to anyone or dancing. She was leaning against the wall as she picked at the chipped blue nail polish on her fingers, which were wrapped around her red solo cup. Occasionally, she would glance up and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, lips tight and eyes unfocused. Everything about her body language said fuck off, which made me wonder what brought her to a party where she so obviously didn’t want to be. Everyone around her was swaying or jumping to the pulsing music, but Red was trying her best, and failing, to go unnoticed.

  Guys all over the room were checking her out, but she either didn’t notice or didn’t care. I bit my lip to stifle the smile spreading across my face while watching some poor bastard try to talk to her. As soon as he approached, she just shook her head and pointed toward the door. She didn’t even have to say anything. The look on her face said it all. Keep walking, buddy!

  Behind her, there was a loud crash. Some asshole jumped through a beer can tower his buddies had made. The crowd cheered as his friends picked the moron up off the floor, but Red just rolled her eyes in their direction and turned her back.

  Now was as good a time as any to make my move. I walked up behind her, leaned in close, and spoke directly in her ear so she could hear me over the music. “You’re not very friendly, are you?”

  “Excuse me?” she sneered. She turned quickly and I held my position so we were practically nose to nose. Her bright green eyes widened for a moment before narrowing to a hateful glare.

  “You don’t seem like you’re having a good time,” I said, propping my hand on the wall behind her head. I was coming on a little strong, but old habits die hard.

  Red crossed her arms across her chest and my attention immediately dipped to her breasts. When our eyes met, her glare intensified. Oops, busted.

  I smiled and straightened, matching her stance. “Why is that?” I asked.

  “Why do you care?” She dropped her arms and leaned against the wall, creating a bit more distance between us.

  Closing the gap, I asked, “Why shouldn’t I care?”

  She cocked her head to the side, appraising me like she was trying to figure out my motives. “Isn’t there someone else you can bother?”

  I kind of liked that she was making me work for it. Girls usually just giggled and pressed up against me, but Red was different. She wasn’t flirting, but from her rapid breathing and the slight rise in the smooth skin of her throat when she swallowed, I could tell she wasn’t completely uninterested.

  “I think I would rather stay and talk to you.” I dipped my head to meet her eyes, hoping to see them soften a bit. The cold stare remained, but the corner of her mouth twitched, like she was trying hard not to smile. Maybe she wasn’t all bite in there after all.

  “What, the sea of short skirts and baby tees isn’t enough for you?” she asked as a sarcastic smirk spread across her face.

  “If I’m being honest, no, it’s not.” Her eyes widened for a moment. I took the opportunity to step closer. “I’ve recently developed a thing for redheads.”

  She smiled up at me, distracting me with her full pink lips. I couldn’t help but wonder how they would taste.

  “If we are being honest,” she said, pressing a hand to my chest, “then I should tell you something.” She bit her lip and pushed herself against me, forcing me to back up a step. It looked
like she was starting to come around, and I congratulated myself on making a small amount of progress.

  “What’s that?” I asked, unable to tear my eyes from her lips.

  “You haven’t got a chance in hell,” she whispered, then poured the contents of her red solo cup over my head, crushing the empty cup and dropping it at my feet. I just stood there, eyes wide in shock, doused in beer, and more than a little turned on. Beer soaked into my shirt and streamed down my face as I watched her disappear into the crowd.

  The beer can morons burst into laughter, bending at the waist and slapping each other on the back. I shot them the finger. Well played, Red. There was something different about this girl, and now, more than ever, I was determined to find out just what that was.

  “Drew!” Sean called from the kitchen. Shit! Kerri’s roommate. It was probably better to let Red cool down before trying again. I did my best to shake the beer from my hair before heading to the kitchen to find Sean.

  “Yeah!” I called, coming around the corner, still wringing the beer out of my shirt. When I looked up, there, standing with Sean and Kerri, was none other than Red. Her eyes widened and she straightened her stance when her eyes met mine. Damn, that girl got hotter every time I saw her.

  As she took in my damp sticky hair and wet t-shirt, her features relaxed. A big grin replaced her trademark scowl.

  “Well, if it isn’t the life of the party.” I straightened to my full height as she narrowed her eyes. Game on, Red! The withering glare she shot me was a little scary, but sexy as hell. I couldn’t help but check her out. I smiled at her wide eyes and suddenly nervous body language.

  “Dude! What the hell happened to you?” Sean asked, gesturing to my wet t-shirt.

  “Why don’t you ask Red?” I nodded my head in her direction.

  Kerri whipped around to Red. “Have you guys met?”