No Bad Days

  No Bad Days

  J. Sterling

  Contents

  License Notes

  About the Book

  Dedication

  Welcome to My Life

  Confident and Hot

  She Wants Me

  Intrigued

  Flirting Master

  Holy Hotness

  Frat-Boy Scene

  Falling or Something Like It

  Connected

  Gossip and Girls

  We’re Doing This

  Epic Embarrassment

  Hopeless

  Apology Accepted

  Formal

  A Better Man

  Mail Call

  Weak

  The End

  Leaving Home

  Broken Silence

  Waiting

  Continually Screwed

  Getting over Him

  Breaking Hearts

  Day from Hell

  Drinking It All Away

  Get the Girl

  Life is Unexpected

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Other Books by J. Sterling

  About the Author

  No Bad Days

  Copyright © 2017 J. Sterling

  All Rights Reserved

  * * *

  Editing and Formatting:

  Pam Berehulke

  Bulletproof Editing

  * * *

  Cover Design:

  Michelle Preast

  Indie Book Covers

  * * *

  Cover Model:

  Josh McCann

  * * *

  Cover Photography:

  Travis Lane Photography

  License Notes

  * * *

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Please do not participate or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  * * *

  ISBN-10: 1-945042-05-2

  ISBN-13: 978-1-945042-05-8

  * * *

  Please visit the author’s website

  www.j-sterling.com

  to find out where additional versions may be purchased.

  About the Book

  Nick Fisher is State’s most eligible bachelor—confident, creative, and driven—and is completely aware that every girl he knows is trying to land him. But Nick is more than the marketing genius everyone sees on the outside. In fact, his life is far more complicated than anyone suspects . . . even his own brothers.

  Jess Michaelson knows she shouldn’t want Nick like all the other girls do, but she’s crazy about him anyway. How could anyone resist those charms? When he focuses his attention on her, she has no idea what she’s truly in for.

  Sometimes love is hard.

  But it’s worth the fight.

  Dedication

  This story is for all of us who have lived through broken hearts, broken promises, and broken dreams, as well as for the ones who fight to put us back together. Sometimes the ones who break us are the same ones who help us heal.

  Welcome to My Life

  Nick

  I was sitting in the living room of my fraternity house, drinking an ice-cold beer with my brothers, when a quick knock on the door was followed by the knob turning. No one waited to be let into our house; it was always open. A girl with a pair of tanned legs stepped inside, and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

  Sheila.

  She made a beeline in my direction, her expression serious as she stopped in front of me. “Nick, can I talk to you?”

  I wanted to say no. Hell, I even fought the words from coming out of my mouth.

  “Nick?” She cocked her hip and stared down at me.

  I groaned. “What?”

  “I asked if we could talk,” she said, her tone whiny. And I hated whiny girls.

  I took another swig of my beer. “So, talk.”

  She looked around, clearly taking stock of the ten or so guys all watching us with rapt attention. “Not here. I meant in private.”

  Glancing around at my fraternity brothers, I shrugged. “I’m going to tell them everything we talk about anyway. Might as well just talk here.”

  She shifted on her feet, clearly uncomfortable.

  I was being a complete dick and I knew it, but I hated it when a girl couldn’t take a hint. I’d taken Sheila out three times before realizing she was just like all the rest, and I stopped calling her.

  Ladies, when a guy stops calling, stops responding to your texts and avoids you, he’s no longer interested. Do us both a favor and disappear quietly. Creating a scene just makes everyone uncomfortable.

  “You don’t have to be such a jerk,” she said with a huff, then spun around and stomped back out the front door.

  Colby, one of our newer fraternity brothers, glanced my way. “You aren’t going to chase after her?”

  I rolled my eyes. “It’s always the same. ‘Why haven’t you called me? I thought we were having fun. Does this mean you’re done with me? I thought we had something special,’” I said, mimicking a female voice, and my brothers all burst out into laughter.

  Yeah, I was being an absolute asshole, in case there was any lingering doubt. I’d learned that for the clingers—the girls who wouldn’t take a fucking hint—being a jerk was the only way to deal with them. If I gave them even the tiniest bit of attention, or faked even a tad of compassion, their grip on me retightened and we were back to square one.

  Sheila needed to go away, and I was doing my damnedest to shake her off once I realized there was nothing behind her hot body and model-worthy face. She had over a hundred thousand followers on one of the social media sites, which was partially what drew me to her in the first place. I wanted to know exactly how she’d built her following. It didn’t take me long to realize she’d racked up the likes by posting makeup tutorials and half-naked photos of herself.

  “It’s not like there isn’t a line of girls willing to replace her anyway, brother.” Darryl put his knuckles in the air from the other side of the room, and I air-knuckled him back.

  I sensed pretty easily when a girl was looking for a replacement daddy, and tended to tap out as quickly as I’d entered the ring. And Sheila was one hundred percent looking for someone to take care of her. Yes, she had all those followers on that one site, but she did nothing with them except brag to anyone who’d listen. The idea of being someone’s sugar daddy, filling whatever void they might have, didn’t interest me. I had to admit that having some hot eye candy on my arm was nice for a week or two, but eventually even that got old when it was all there was. I actually liked it when a girl had ambition and goals.

  Surprised I’m more than just a pretty face? Yeah, sometimes I am too.

  I never shared those thoughts with my fraternity brothers, though. They assumed my policy was fuck ’em and dump ’em, and to be honest, I never cared enough to set them straight. I had to admit, I sort of enjoyed having t
hat reputation on campus.

  Only my closest friends knew the truth—that I stopped seeing girls the moment I realized there was absolutely nothing between us and never could be. It wasn’t like I was completely heartless; it only seemed that way from the outside if you didn’t really know me. And most didn’t.

  My own father would have a fucking heart attack if he knew I felt this way. He’d always taught me that a girl with ambition was the enemy of a successful man. But if that were true, why couldn’t I see it that way? Why did the idea of a woman who had no drive repulse me? I chalked it up to the fact that I couldn’t comprehend someone actually having no goals.

  How could you want nothing for yourself in life?

  Shaking my head as if to rid myself of the funk I was slipping into, I slapped the side of the couch before standing up. “All right, I need to shower before the party. DJ should be here in an hour,” I said, nodding as I looked around the room. “Everything else looks great.”

  Ninety minutes later, I emerged from my room, all cleaned up and looking hot as shit, if I did say so myself. It wasn’t that it took me that long to get ready. I wasn’t a chick but I did like to make an entrance, so that meant I always joined the party once it had already officially begun.

  The bass from the DJ’s sound system thumped with each step I took down the hall. It was still early, but people were already gathered inside. I could hear girls laughing and guys yelling at someone to chug.

  The living room had been transformed into what looked like a nightclub. Lights flashed against the walls, and an area was cleared off to provide a dance floor. The couches had been pulled against the walls, and couples were already making out on them. I swear, sometimes all it took was a darkened room for people to lose their inhibitions.

  “Hey, Nick.” A sorority girl named Brenda sidled up next to me and reached for my arm. “Heard you were single again. Wanna change that?”

  Brenda used to date Thomas, so I bowed out respectfully. “You know my rules, Bren. Can’t,” I said before walking away from her with my hands up.

  I didn’t date my fraternity brothers’ exes, a personal rule of mine that I tried to live by. It was hard sometimes, considering how many guys were in the frat, but I seemed to manage.

  “I hate your stupid rule.”

  When Brenda stuck out her bottom lip in a sexy pout, I couldn’t get away quick enough. She was stupid hot, and a guy only had so much strength to resist. Removing myself from the situation—and her—was my safest option.

  When I reached the kitchen, I noted the bar setup and the brothers assigned to man it. Everything looked great. We had a wide range of hard alcohol, mixers, and an ice-cold keg, thanks to my brothers. It took everything in me not to slip behind the bar with them, wanting nothing more than to play bartender like in that old Tom Cruise movie from the eighties.

  Someone handed me a red cup filled with beer, and I nodded before turning around and smacking right into another hot little number named Monika, with a k. Who the hell spelled their name like that?

  “Hey, Nick, I was looking for you,” she said, practically purring as she grinned up at me.

  I slid my arm around her waist. “Oh yeah? What for?”

  “I wanted to give you something.” She pressed her scantily clad body against mine, making me wonder exactly what I was going to get.

  “What is it?”

  “Me.”

  Monika smiled before standing on tiptoe to throw her arms around my neck. She pulled my head down and kissed me, her tongue pushing its way into my mouth a little too aggressively, but I decided not to give a shit as I kissed her back.

  Pulling away a moment later, I forced a smile before downing my beer and tapping the empty cup on the counter, signaling for a refill. When it returned, I gulped down half before feeling up to kissing serpent-tongue again.

  Apparently, I must not have hated kissing her that much, because I spent the rest of the night doing it.

  Confident and Hot

  Jess

  Walking across the sunlit college campus, I smiled to myself when I noticed Nick Fisher and his entourage heading in my direction. Never alone, he was flanked by at least a couple of other guys at all times.

  Running my fingers through my shoulder-length blond hair, I made sure it was smooth, wanting to look good for him whether he noticed or not.

  Even the blinding sun was no match for Nick’s charms. Nick outshone her on every level, and I glanced up toward the gleaming fireball and realized that she knew it too. I didn’t blame her for hiding behind that cloud as he passed beneath her.

  If there were clouds that I could hide behind, I might have done the same. But then I wouldn’t get the chance to ogle his delicious body and possibly be noticed by him.

  Nick Fisher was a senior at State, the president of his fraternity chapter, and had played on the football team until he quit last year. He’d claimed he had no intention of going pro, and didn’t want to take someone’s spot who did.

  His frat was known to throw the best parties on campus, and that was solely due to his talents. If there was something Nick wanted to accomplish, he did, and you felt lucky when you got to be a part of the process. He was a marketing major, ridiculously skilled in all things social media, and seemed to know everyone in the entire freaking world.

  Plus, the rumor was that his real brothers owned three of the hottest bars in Hollywood, so the drinks at his parties were always off the charts. I had no idea if that was true or not. There was a blurry line between fact and fiction when it came to all things Nick Fisher.

  Staring down at my pink toenails revealed by my strappy sandals as I stepped across the concrete, I allowed my gaze to lift in his direction as he neared, his dark hair cut short and tucked under a backward baseball hat. With a quick glance at the other two guys, I realized that they were Nick’s fraternity brothers, who I recognized from the party at their house last Friday night. Both of them were taller than Nick, who stood about six feet tall, but neither was built better.

  Don’t get me wrong, Nick didn’t look like a total musclebound meathead. I couldn’t stand guys who were nothing but hard muscle upon even harder muscle; I could never understand why anyone would think that was attractive. Who wanted to lean against something that felt like concrete? Not me.

  Nick was built like an athlete—firm, defined, and blissfully chiseled without overdoing it. He looked good. And he knew it. His self-confidence was part of what made him so irresistible. When a guy could pull off being that self-aware of his effect on others—without coming off as a self-absorbed jerk—there was nothing hotter, in my opinion. And I wasn’t the only girl who agreed with that assessment. Nick Fisher was wanted by at least half the females who went to State, or at least it seemed that way.

  No, it was definitely that way.

  Common sense warned me that I shouldn’t want a guy like Nick the way every other girl did, but the rest of me refused to agree. I shouldn’t like him, but I did. I shouldn’t be interested in him at all, but I was. I was a fool for his charms, and I didn’t even care. That was the thing about Nick . . . you knew you should stay away from him, but you didn’t want to. If he wanted to give me his attention, I’d gladly accept it.

  Not that he’d ever said more than two words to me before, but I’d seen him plenty of times since I started going to school here. Nick was bigger than life, magnetic in every single thing he did. Even something as simple as walking.

  By the time his group was about ten feet away from me, all their eyes were locked onto some part of my body or face. His two buddies checked out my boobs and the sliver of my stomach exposed by my crop top, but not Nick. His blue eyes stayed firmly focused on mine. He cocked a lopsided grin at me as we passed each other, and I hoped to God I smiled back. I could barely feel my own feet at that point, let alone my mouth.

  I wanted to turn my head and enjoy the view as he walked away, but I forced myself to continue looking straight ahead. I might have been part of th
e Nick Fisher fan club, but that didn’t mean I had to embarrass myself because of it.

  Hurrying toward the white building in the distance, I refocused my attention on getting to the right classroom. The first day of the spring semester meant that I had left extra early this morning to avoid the potential awkwardness of walking in late. Truth be told, I was notoriously great at getting lost. I was directionally challenged, to say the least.

  Scanning my schedule one last time, I matched the number for where my Speech Communications class was being held with the tall three-story building in front of me. I breathed out a sigh of relief before glancing at my cell phone, and realized that I was twenty minutes early. Shrugging to myself, I located the correct door and walked into the empty classroom, then chose a seat in the last row.

  I had this thing about sitting in the last row in large rooms. It was completely stupid, but I hated the idea of people staring at the back of my head, even when I knew they weren’t. The simple thought of them being behind me, looking at me, watching me, or seeing me when I couldn’t see them, it all sort of freaked me out. It made no sense, and I wasn’t sure where the illogical fear stemmed from, but I’d been this way for as long as I could remember. Just thinking about someone sitting directly behind me almost made me break out into a sweat.

  Slowly, the classroom started to fill up with other students. I recognized a couple of girls from my classes last semester, but didn’t know them by name.

  The door eventually flew open with a crash, and the sound of male laughter met my ears. I turned my head in time to see Nick and his two friends from earlier walk in. His head swiveled to the left and back to the right, taking stock of the classroom before his gaze locked onto mine.