Ice Cold (An MMA Stepbrother Romance)
Victoria Villeneuve
CHAPTER ONE-ALEXA
The liquid burned going down the back of my throat; I felt tears pop in the corners of my eyes, and I almost choked. Slamming the shot glass down on the tabletop, I bit deeply into the lime hoping to take the bite off the taste of tequila.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” my best friend Stacey exclaimed with a mile-wide grin. “We’re going to loosen you up if it takes all night.”
I’d been packing all afternoon, so had forgotten to eat lunch and dinner. That didn’t bode well for me when it came to Stacey’s grand plan for the evening. “Slow down,” I said. I tried to grab her hand as she motioned for the waitress again with the empty shot glasses clearly indicating the need for another round. “There’s no hurry here.”
“Speak for yourself,” Stacey said. She frowned at me. “This is our last weekend together before you move back home and leave me forever. I feel like I barely saw you all semester. You owe me your undivided attention for a night filled with decadence and bliss.”
I could just imagine what “decadence and bliss” looked like: over six-feet tall, toned and muscular like a Greek sculpture, and totally not into Stacey for anything other than a one-night stand. Essentially, Stacey’s idea of the perfect dream date and my worst nightmare.
“You have my undivided attention.” I hit her lightly on the arm. “It’s not like these things called cellphones don’t exist.” I waved mine under her nose. “You act like I’m moving to Siberia.”
“Might as well be. I mean Connecticut? Sounds uptight and frigid. Yuck. You should stay here with me in Chicago,” Stacey said with a pout. Her expression quickly changed back to a smile as two more shot glasses appeared in front of us.
I shook my head. “Well, I know you’re not looking forward to it, but Mom said she had big news for me when I get back next week. I’m hoping it’s a car. Plus, she said she might be able to connect me with someone about a job. I need one of those now you know.” My babbling was meant to distract her from the waiting shot in front of us. “C’mon, Stacey. Let’s dance or something.”
Stacey waggled her finger at me as she picked up her shot glass. “Not yet. We’re toasting. Here’s to surviving four long years of emotional pain and torture.”
I laughed. Stacey was incorrigible, and she knew it. I picked up my shot with a sigh. “Otherwise known as college. Those four years of emotional pain and torture should turn into respectable careers.”
“Maybe for you, Ms. 4.0 GPA,” Stacey said with a huff. “What are you going to do with yourself now that you can’t use the library or studying as an excuse not to have fun?”
I frowned. “I have fun.”
Stacey put her hand over mine. “Having your nose buried in textbooks, working as a teaching assistant for two professors, and staying up all hours of the night studying does not equal fun. Unless those professors were offering some after-class tutoring that I’m unaware of.”
Rolling my eyes at Stacey’s innuendo, I licked the side of my hand and tossed some salt on it. “Are we doing this or what?” I was feeling a bit indignant even though I knew Stacey wasn’t wrong. I had been one-hundred percent focused on my studies for the majority of my college career, and I had been okay with that. Getting good grades so I could get a good job meant more to me than partying every weekend and going through endless rounds of dating with guys who just wanted to get into my pants. The joke was on me that the dream job that was supposed to make it all worth it hadn’t materialized yet.
There was a part of me that was insanely jealous of Stacey’s ease in the bar ever since we walked in. She’d been stopped several times by people as we made our way to our reserved table, and I was pretty sure she knew every waiter and bartender by name. What that meant was that even though the place was starting to fill up with the Friday night crowd, we were still getting excellent service.
We clinked our glasses together, and I downed the shot. This one burned slightly less than the one before it. Stacey nodded her approval. Two shots in, and I was already starting to feel a little lightheaded. That wasn’t a good omen for the rest of the night, but I was determined to show Stacey that I wasn’t a complete stick in the mud.