Good Girl Complex(Avalon Bay #1)(45)

I can’t help but snicker. Drunk Melissa is still snooty, but she’s also cattier, which I’m loving.

“Butt? Nine out of ten,” Kate decides. “It’s a great butt.”

“I bet I could bounce a quarter off that thing,” Alisha agrees.

Yes, we’re objectifying these boys. Intoxicated girls have neither shame nor scruples.

“Seven overall,” Sutton says.

“Three,” Melissa corrects, jutting her chin. “I can’t get past the red/orange combo. I just can’t.”

“Um, guys?” hisses Alisha, who leans forward eagerly. “Six o’clock, far end of the bar—I just found a ten across the board.”

We all turn toward the bar. I nearly choke on my tongue.

Alisha’s perfect ten is Cooper Hartley.

Kate whistles softly. “Oh yeah. I like.”

“I love,” Alisha corrects, her face taking on a dreamy glow.

I don’t blame her. Cooper looks damn good tonight. He’s wearing that threadbare T-shirt I like, the one with the Billabong logo that stretches across his broad shoulders and emphasizes his defined chest. Add to that the messy dark hair, the two full-sleeve tattoos, the cargo pants hugging an ass even tauter than the surfer’s, and you’ve got one fine specimen of a man.

As if sensing the female attention, Cooper’s head jerks sharply. A second later, he’s looking at our table. Heat floods my cheeks when my gaze locks with his. Shit. Am I blushing? I hope I’m not blushing.

His eyes narrow at the sight of me. Lips flatten for a second before twisting in a slight smirk.

Beside me, Alisha gasps. “He’s staring at you,” she accuses me. “Do you know him?”

“I … uh …” My mind races in an attempt to come up with a suitable reason why a hot townie might be making prolonged eye contact with me.

“Mackenzie?” Melissa’s shrewd gaze burns a hole in the side of my face. “Do you know that guy?”

My throat is completely dry. I wrestle my eyes off Cooper and reach for my drink. Taking a sip provides me with a few extra seconds to panic-think of an excuse. Melissa isn’t only nosy—she’s smart. If I admit to knowing Cooper, even in a just-friends capacity, it’ll absolutely trigger her gossip setting. She’ll ask more questions, and if even one of my answers doesn’t ring true for her, she might tell Benji, who’ll in turn tell Preston, who literally just forgave me for kissing another guy.

So, no. There’s no way I can fess up to knowing Cooper in any capacity.

“Evan,” I blurt out.

Melissa frowns. “What?”

I set down my plastic daiquiri cup. Relief and satisfaction course through me at my stroke of genius. “That’s Evan Hartley. My roommate hooked up with him at the beginning of the semester.”

She relaxes slightly, her manicured fingers toying with the diamond in her ear. “Really? Little Bonnie tapped that?”

“Oh yeah.” I muster up a laugh and hope nobody hears the tension in it. “She totally abandoned me for a moonlight beach hookup with the guy.”

Perfect. Now if Melissa tries to fact-check me, Bonnie can easily corroborate. As long as Cooper stays across the room and doesn’t—

Walk over to us.

Son of a bitch, he’s walking over here.

My heart beats faster than the canned dance music pouring from the speakers. What is he doing? I told him I couldn’t see him anymore. I made it clear, damn it. He can’t just come up to my table like nothing happened and—

“Evan!” I exclaim in a too-loud voice with a too-bright smile. Cooper’s gait stutters for a second. Then his long legs resume their easy stride until he’s standing in front of me. He shoves his hands in his pockets, donning a lazy pose as he drawls, “Mackenzie.”

“Evan, hey. How’s it going?” I ask, all friendly and laidback as if we hadn’t made out, as if I’d never felt the prominent ridge of his erection pulsing against my belly. “I haven’t seen you since that night you stole my roommate away and seduced her.”

Kate snickers.

I remain focused on Cooper, hoping my eyes are conveying everything I can’t say out loud. Play along. Please. I can’t have these girls gossiping about us and risk it getting back to Pres. Please play along.

The fact that I’m not acknowledging his true identity sparks guilt in me, but it doesn’t compare to how awful I felt about cheating on Preston. Kissing Cooper had been a mistake. But I came clean to my boyfriend, my conscience is clear, and now I just want to move on. Which won’t be possible if Melissa decides there’s gossip potential here. So I silently implore Cooper, who isn’t giving me an inch.

His smirk deepens, dark eyes glittering with something I can’t decipher.

By the time he finally speaks, I’m a bundle of nerves and sweating through my tank top.

“I didn’t hear Bonnie complaining that night,” he says with a wink.

I almost faint with relief. Hopefully no one notices my hand shaking as I reach for my drink. “Well, she’s not the one who had to Uber back to campus all alone at two in the morning.” I take a hasty sip before making the introductions. “Alisha, Sutton, Kate, Melissa. Guys, this is Evan.”

It’s funny, I never realized how different Cooper and his twin are until this very moment, when Cooper transforms into Evan. His normally intense, brooding eyes gleam mischievously. His tongue gives his bottom lip a teasing swipe before he flashes a cocky grin at my friends.