Best Friend's Brother

Best
Friend’s Brother

BOOK
1

By
Alycia Taylor

Copyright
2015.
All rights reserved.

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CHAPTER
ONE

ALEXA

You know those moments in life when you think: I’m
always going to remember where I was and what I was doing when this happened?
Today was going to be that day for me. It started out normally. The alarm on my
phone was screaming at me at seven a.m. and I spent at least a full minute
banging on it before I found the button to silence it. I would have done
better, had I opened my eyes, but I knew that the room would be filled with
light. I could feel it already pressing down against my eyelids. I’d forgotten to
close the blinds last night. Not a big deal at night, really. My dorm room is
on the third floor and it doesn’t face anything but some old basketball courts
that no one uses any longer. But in the morning, it’s a different story. I hate
mornings and until about ten a.m., I curse the appearance of the sun. While I
laid there and tried to think of a logical excuse for not getting out of bed,
my alarm started screeching again.

I slapped it and opened my eyes. I squinted in the
bright sun as I sat up and decided then and there that closing the blind would
have to be part of my nightly routine no matter how I was feeling. I opened the
nightstand drawer next to the bed and pulled out a black kami and matching
panties. It wasn’t like anyone was going to see them, but I always worried that
I’d be involved in some kind of accident and when they took my body to the
hospital the first thing the nurses and doctors would say was: Her underwear
doesn’t match. Stupid, I know…but it makes me feel better.

I stood under the warm spray of the shower for too
long. I hadn’t been feeling very well and the steam helped open everything up
so I could breathe. By the time I got out of the shower, I had to hurry and my
long, red hair was going to have to go into a ponytail or a braid because there
was no way I had time to dry and straighten it. I decided on a braid and then I
put on a tiny bit of foundation and some mascara so my light red eyelashes
weren’t completely invisible. I slipped on my jeans and then my pink Fox
t-shirt last. My shoes and book bag were by the door and as I slipped them on I
grabbed a cereal bar off the desk. I wasn’t going to have time for breakfast
and I didn’t want my stomach growling in the auditorium where it would echo
across the room. Finally ready to go, I dashed out the door.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped out into
the hallway was that it was too quiet. This dorm houses over a hundred and
fifty college-aged women. It was never quiet. I would have asked someone what
was going on, but there didn’t even seem to be anyone around. Hopefully I
didn’t sleep through the zombie apocalypse. I was sleeping pretty hard last
night. I felt like crap and on top of that I have a test today that I studied
for until the wee hours of the morning. I better pass because I gave up two
things that I love for it…sleep and a night out with my best friend.

I finally saw signs of life when I hit the ground
floor. No zombies, but a lot of gloomy looking people. I saw a girl I know
named Maddie and said, “Hey! What’s going on? Why does everyone look like their
dog just died?”

Maddie said, “I’m not sure what happened exactly but
there was a report on the news this morning that a girl was killed in a car
accident. They didn’t have any details yet, but they found a student ID in the
car and they think she may have been a student here.”

“They didn’t give her name?” I don’t know why, but a
sudden surge of panic forced itself into my chest.

“No they wouldn’t say yet. The news said the name of
the victim was withheld until they notified the family. It’s just so sad.
Someone our age…just gone like that.”

“Yeah, that is sad.” I looked at my phone. It was
ten minutes until I needed to be on the other side of campus. “I have to get to
class. I have a big
Soc
test today. Let me know if
you hear any more.”

“I will,” Maddie said.

I jogged more than walked to my class. Dr. Freitas,
my sociology professor didn’t tolerate tardiness. I wouldn’t be surprised if he
didn’t let me take the test if I got there five minutes late. I made it with
two minutes to spare and found my usual spot. Dropping my bag down next to me,
I dug out my pencil and my scan
tron
. I was really
glad I made it on time when I saw Dr. Freitas go over and lock the door at
eight o’clock on the dot. He went over the rules for the midterm and the he
passed it out. My phone was in my lap, but the ringer was off and he couldn’t
see it under the little desk in front of me. If he saw it…he would make me
leave. He was old school like that.

The test was two pages long and as I went from one
question to the next, I realized that I’d over-stressed about it. I probably
could have gone out with Emma last night and still passed it. She was going out
to hang out with a friend of ours at her house who was having some people over.
It sounded like fun…but on top of needing to study, I hadn’t felt well so I’d
flaked on her. I was on the last page of the test when I felt my phone vibrate
in my lap. I glanced down in Dr. Freitas’ direction. He was walking back and
forth, watching. I left it alone and finished the test before I picked up it
and my bag. He told us we were excused when we finished and I didn’t want to
have to go back up and disturb everyone while I got my bag. I took the test up
front and handed it and the scan
tron
to him.

“Did you put your name on it?” he asked, without
looking up.

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. The door will open from the inside. Make sure
and close it on your way out.”

“Okay, thanks.” He was finished with me. He still
hadn’t looked up. I let myself out and pulled the door closed behind me before
finally looking at my phone. It was a text from Sabrina, another friend of
mine. The text simply said,
“Did you hear
about Emma?”

I text back as I walked down the hall towards the
outer door. “Did I hear what about Emma?”

I had just hit the outer door and walked out into
the fresh air when she text back,
“Call
me.”

My mind suddenly went back to what Maddie said about
the car wreck…then the cryptic text…Did you hear about Emma? My stomach all at
once felt like someone had tied my insides into knots and I got a chill that
ran down my spine and across both of my arms. I didn’t want to call her back. I
didn’t want to know what had happened to my best friend. I stood there, staring
at the phone for several minutes before finally getting enough air into my
lungs to convince myself that I was just being silly. I pressed the call button
and Sabrina picked up right away.

“Alexa, I wish that I wasn’t the one who had to tell
you this…”

“Then don’t,” I said. “Don’t tell me!”

“You do know.”

“I heard there was an accident last night. I heard
the girl was dead. I know Emma was out last night and I was supposed to be with
her but I flaked at the last second. Please tell me I’m wrong, Sabrina. Please
tell me that girl wasn’t Emma.”

“I’m sorry, Alexa,” the other girl said. I could
hear the strangled tone of her voice and I knew she’d been crying.

“She’s….Oh shit! She’s…dead?”

“Yes, I’m so sorry.” I hung up. It wasn’t Sabrina’s
fault and I wasn’t usually one to shoot the messenger but I couldn’t listen to
it for one more second. There was no way that Emma was dead. She was young and
beautiful and funny and smart…I pulled up her number and pressed call. It went
straight to voicemail. That didn’t mean anything, I told myself. She turns her phone
off sometimes when she’s in class. I’m just being paranoid…stupid…Sabrina was a
big gossip! She didn’t know what she was talking about and when I found Emma I
was going straight over there and punching Sabrina in the face for upsetting me
like this. I started walking to the dorm. I felt like I was in a fog…or a bad
dream. The world was happening around me, but it didn’t seem real. As I crossed
the campus courtyard I realized that people were staring at me. Why are they
staring at me? I reached up and touched my face. It was saturated with tears
that I hadn’t even realized I was crying. Why am I crying? This isn’t real!
Emma is not dead!

I passed the people who were staring at me and even
a few who were trying to talk to me. I ignored them all. I just wanted to be
alone, so I could process this and figure out why people would even consider
the possibility that Emma was dead. That was ridiculous…wasn’t it? I made it to
my room and locked myself inside. I sat down on the bed and looked at my phone.
The last text I had from Emma was after I’d text her, telling her I really
didn’t feel well, and I needed to study and wouldn’t be able to go out. She had
text me back and said, “Okay, but all work and no play
makes
Alexa a dull girl. Love
ya
!”

I hadn’t even text back that I loved her too. Why?
It would have taken
me two seconds…or less
. Oh God!
What if she was dead? What if I had that one last chance to be with her, or to
tell her I loved her too and I had let it pass? The tears were running down the
side of my neck now. I had to find some tissue…or just lie down on the bed and
let them soak into the pillow…which was what I did. I lay there for a while,
crying and shaking, rolled into a fetal position and I imagined what her family
must
be
going through. Shit! Her family! I grabbed the
phone and called my dad.

He picked it up on the first ring and said, “Alexa
honey, I was just going to call you…” Dad’s voice was husky,
like
he was trying not to cry.

“It’s true?”

“Yeah baby. I’m so sorry.”

I let myself sob out loud then and my dad just sat
quietly and let me. When I could speak again I said, “Do her parents know?”

“Yeah, I’m headed over there now,” he said.

“Oh God, Daddy!
Oh God!”

“I know baby. Do you want me to come and get you?”

“I need to be home.”

“I know honey. I have to go see Emma’s parents and
see if there is anything I can do. Then I’ll be there, okay?”

I’m not sure if what I said sounded like okay to him
or not. To my ears it was just another strangled cry. I dropped back down onto
the bed and sobbed.
My poor Emma.
I couldn’t
understand why. She was so young…It’s just not fair!

CHAPTER
TWO

IAN

I got to the gym at seven and started my routine.
The owner of the gym was an old prize fighter and he and I got along really
well. He also set up a lot of the MMA competitions I entered, and he knows how
important my routine is to me. People leave me alone here, and that’s how I
liked it. I did my work-out on my own three days a week without a trainer. The
other two days I worked with my trainer and we worked on my foot work or my
ground game or boxing or he set up a sparring session for me.

I started learning how to fight when I was sixteen.
I had a friend whose father was a UFC fighter for a while, before he got too
strung out on drugs to remember his moves. He went through rehab and one or two
in jail before finally cleaning up his act and deciding to help other guys
become fighters. He’d converted his garage into a gym and he knew everyone on
the circuit so he could not only produce fighters, he could get them into
competitions too. His son and I were the same age and he trained us, just for
fun. He didn’t want his son in that world, and that was probably a good thing,
because my friend Ronnie was more of a lover than a fighter. Me on the other
hand…I loved it and Ronnie’s dad, Dean told me I had a lot of potential. He
wouldn’t let me fight until I was eighteen, but by that time, I was more than
ready. He started entering me into every MMA competition in the seven county
radius
around our small town. Three years later, he was
managing me and we were starting to aim higher.