Page 1 of Sweet Chaos
Scarlett
“Thou shalt not covet thy sister’s secret boyfriend.” – Scarlett Woods, 11
Ten Years Ago
Aloud crash followed by a string of muttered curses drew my attention to the open window. Scrambling off my bed, I crept soundlessly across my plush white rug and stared down at the boy sprawled across my bedroom floor. He wasn’t really a boy. Not a man yet either. A guy, I guess. My gaze flitted to the window, trying to figure out how he’d gotten in. Trees bordered the property at the side of our house, but he would have had to take a flying leap from one of the branches to get into my window. A thrill shot through me at his daring stunt. If he’d missed, he would have fallen two stories.
Crazy boy. My lips tugged into a smile I couldn’t hide.
I knew he was here for Sienna, not for me. He cleaned our pool, and his name was Dylan St. Clair. He was Sienna’s best friend Remy’s twin brother and had a bad reputation. Although I didn’t know exactly why or what he’d done to earn it. I’d overheard my mom talking about him with her friend, Amanda Hart while they were poolside, sipping chilled chardonnay and eating low-cal crackers that tasted like cardboard and birdseed. Ollie and I were cannonballing into the pool, but I’d paused to listen when I sensed they were talking abouthim.
“He’s not the kind of boy you want hanging around your daughter. He looks like trouble. If he gets anywhere near Sienna, I would put a stop to it immediately.”
“Simon would never allow it.” My mom sighed loudly. “We miss having Tristan around. I’m still hoping they’ll get back together.”
“They were perfect for each other.”
The boy on my floor got to his feet and my gaze drifted upward, over the black T-shirt molded to his lean muscles—I knew there were muscles under his T-shirt because I’d seen him shirtless, sweating in the hot SoCal sunshine, his body slick with sweat as he pulled Sienna into a kiss that had scorched my eyeballs and made me feel… I wasn’t sure what to call how it made me feel.
My eyes raised to his. He blinked a few times, trying to bring me into focus. I was close enough to smell his sweat and his soap and the scent of sweet smoke that wasn’t from cigarettes. A black and purple bruise mottled the skin stretched over his right cheekbone and there was a gash above his eye that split his eyebrow in two.
I looked down at the cuts and bruises on his knuckles then back up at his face. He was watching me with a mixture of amusement and something else I couldn’t identify. His tongue swept across his cut lip and he narrowed his eyes, running a hand through his dark as midnight hair. Like him, his hair was a beautiful mess. It went every which way like he’d been running his fingers through it over and over.
I cleared my throat, wanting to break the silence. “Wrong window, Romeo.”
One corner of his mouth tilted up. Not really a smile. A half-smile, half-smirk kind of thing. “Hey Starlet,” he said in that low, husky voice of his.
“It’s Scarlett.” Secretly, I preferred his nickname for me. It made me feel special.
He smirked. “I know. Did I scare you?” he asked, his voice softer, his eyes searching mine for signs of fear.
I raised my eyebrows, ignoring the butterflies swarming my belly and the warmth that spread through my whole body. “Do I look scared?”
The corner of his mouth tilted higher. “No. But you should. A strange guy just crashed into your bedroom.”
His eyes roamed my room, taking in the décor. I had no say in it. My room was painted pale pink, stenciled ivy trailing up the walls, my canopy bed cocooned in pale pink gauze, all in keeping with the fairytale princess vibe Mom was going for. Or, rather, the interior designer she’d hired to transform my bedroom and every room in this house into some kind of fantasy world. His eyes settled on my face again.
“You gonna make me go back out the way I came?”
I grinned, liking the sound of that. “I should, really. Just for fun.”
He chuckled. “You’re gonna be a real ballbuster when you get older, aren’t you?”
“If that means I won’t take crap from anyone, then yes. Sign me up for the Ballbuster Academy. I’ll be head of the class.” I gave him a two-fingered mock salute.
He was laughing now. He was laughing so hard it split his lip again. He swiped the back of his hand over his mouth, catching the blood.
I sighed and handed him a box of tissues from my bedside table. They had pink flowers on them. He waved them off.
“I’m good.”
“If you say so.” I set the box back on my bedside table and crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for his next move.
He jerked his chin at me. “Why are you still awake?”
“Why are you crashing into our house at midnight?”
“Why didn’t you scream? You should have.”
