Page 1 of Starting Over with You
PROLOGUE
Dean
Twenty years ago…
“But, Dean! We need you!”
I swear all of them yell the same thing because they know I can’t say no.
Or better yet, I can’t say no to a certain person.
Now, I’m an hour from home, picking up my drunk sister and her two best friends from some field frat party. Why in God’s name did they think it was a good idea to bring Kenni out here? She doesn’t even turn eighteen until Sunday. She shouldn’t be anywhere near this kind of stuff. She should be getting ready to leave for college. Not getting blackout drunk with her two boneheaded best friends.
And I shouldn’t be picking them up. I should be letting them sleep in the field. Serves them right…but now that Iknow Kenni is here, there is no way I can leave her. While I’ve known Kenni and Missy my whole life, I don’t have the need to protect Missy.
No. That need is only for Kenni.
Thankful for my size, I make my way through the many bodies that are dancing and copping feels of each other. The scents of sweat, stale beer, awful vodka, and really bad skunk weed assault me as I move through the people. The night is bright with stars and the moon is full, but I can’t make out faces. Not when I’m looking solely for the three girls who drive me up a damn wall. Since I’m the younger brother, shouldn’t my sister be the one to take care of me? I don’t know why, but I’ve been the one catering to her. Each time I say it’s the last time, I know I’m only fooling myself.
I almost feel like Sadie knows I’ve got a thing for Kenni Colburn and that as long as she’s with them, I’ll do whatever they want.
I’m a fool, for sure.
It takes me longer than it should to find them, mostly because they didn’t tell me the right spot. No surprise there. They’re all drunk out of their minds and probably think they’re in Disney World instead of a ratty-ass field party.
When I find them, though, the sight before me has me wishing I were anywhere but here.
Sadie and Missy are wearing bright-orange bikini tops with short jean shorts and matching UT boots. On top of someone’s jacked-up truck, they are shaking their asses to the bass of “Dance” by Big Sean. Guys are throwing dollars at my sister and her friend—and shit, is that a twenty stuck to Sadie’s ass?
Fuck me.
I am seeing entirely too much of my sister and her best friend, so I look away, on the prowl for the third part of Shenanigans Inc. I started calling the trio that after a week of pure mayhem caused by only the three of them. They’ve run with the name, making shirts and living up to the title.
Just my plan…not.
I scan my eyes over the crowd, looking for Kenni, but I hear her before I see her.
“You can kick rocks, motherfucker.”
I look up to the sky for patience, but when I glance over at where she is, my mouth goes dry. Kenni Colburn is a fucking looker. She is stunning with her dark black hair up in a high pony, while her bright blue eyes shine even in the dark. Her big bubble butt is hanging out the back of her jean shorts, and her full breasts are barely contained in a bit of Wisconsin burgundy-colored fabric. Unlike our sisters, she’s going to the University of Wisconsin, and she’s dressed to impress. I’m surprised she isn’t covering her belly; she can be a bit self-conscious about it, which is beyond me since I have spent many a night wishing I could nuzzle it, but maybe she isn’t thinking of it now.
Because her finger is in some guy’s chest, her face red with rage and tears in her eyes.
Fucking great.
Before I can reach her, she swings her arm that is holding her white cowgirl boots that have a big T on them for Tennessee—no matter where she’s going to college, she’s a Tennessee girl through and through—connecting with his face before he falls to the ground. Dust flies up from where he lands since I found them not in the field where they told me they’d be, but in the baseball field parking lot that’s more by the main road and farther than I’d like from my truck. It’d take nothing for the cops to show up and break up this party, but just like the girls, everyone is drunk and thinking they’re invincible.
These girls are going to be the death of me.
I’m closing the distance between us as the guy jumps to his feet, calling her names his momma would be ashamed of. He goes to grab her, but I’m there, looking down at him with my shoulders back and ready to fight. “Back the fuck up.”
The guy laughs. His orange polo is all wrinkled, covered with dirt and beer as he sways toward me. “Move, dude. That bitch is mine.”
“Watch your mouth before I make it bleed.”
A couple of guys ooh and laugh around us as polo guy bristles. He looks me up and down. Surely he doesn’t think he can take me. I’m over 6’4”, I’m pushing two hundred pounds, and mythighs are the size of his head. Just in case, though, I dig my Ariat boots into the dirt for leverage and send up a prayer to my granddad, who bought me these boots, not to let them let me down.
“That’s right. He’ll make you bleed with no problem at all.” Kenni leans over my shoulder, waving her arm in the air at him. I give her a side-eye to tell her to shut up, but she’s pissed. “Teach you to keep your opinions of a woman’s body to yourself!”
