Get Undressed With Me (Kickoff #2)

Prologue

PROLOGUE

brITTANY

I t turned out breaking and entering was actually pretty easy. Brittany didn’t even have to pick any locks since she already had a key to Robbie’s apartment. He had given it to her after six months of dating because he was, quote, “tired of walking downstairs to let her in.”

So romantic.

And since Robbie insisted on posting absolutely everything he was doing on social media, even though she had warned him several times not to tell strangers when he was going to be out of town, she knew for a fact he was spending the weekend in Vegas with his latest girlfriend.

Which meant he wasn’t home to stop her.

Brittany tugged on her skirt. She was dressed in her “too sexy for you” outfit–a low-cut tank top paired with her favorite bra and with her favorite black leather jacket, finished with a short skirt so tight that underwear wasn’t an option. Robbie hated this skirt, so Brittany felt right wearing it tonight.

She let herself into the complex with the code Robbie had given her, sipping on the largest fountain soda known to man that she had purchased from the convenience store down the street. The mixture of sugar and caffeine rushed through her, exhilarating her.

Brittany had plans tonight. And those plans involved revenge.

She approached the door to Robbie’s apartment, noting that the windows were dark, confirming that the idiot was indeed out of town. Brittany approached as casually as she could, keeping an eye out for neighbors to avoid. Luckily, it was late enough in LA that either people were in bed or they were still out at the club, leaving the coast clear. At the door, she slid the key into the lock and let herself inside.

The familiar scent of Robbie hit her immediately, flooding her with anger and the slightest twinge of grief, which she would never admit if anyone asked her. Doing her best to breathe through her mouth, Brittany scanned the room. It was almost exactly how she had left it that night when he had told her their relationship wasn’t working. That he wanted to move on. At the time, Brittany had accepted his decision, had even agreed. Robbie was outgoing and charming and good for a laugh, making every situation feel new and exciting—wonderful at the outset but exhausting in the long run. After almost a year of dating, Brittany knew they were pulling apart, outgrowing each other. She had been grateful he had felt the same way, that they could part as friends and not have any drama.

But after some recent revelations, Brittany was ready to break shit.

Ignoring the black and chrome-themed decor that she hated, Brittany headed straight to Robbie’s extra bedroom, the one he used for streaming. His gear was all there, perfectly organized and arranged in a way that made the rest of his place look like a college dorm. The equipment was top of the line, everything from computer processing to microphone to control deck, some of the best money could buy.

Brittany should know. She bought it for him.

There was a bed on the other side of the bookshelf Robbie used as a room divider, the bed his brother Gus would use when he would visit, which was often. But Gus was safely in his home over in Kimball, and Brittany didn’t want to think about him. Gus was level-headed, logical, reasonable. If he knew what Brittany was up to, he’d probably pull out a PowerPoint presentation to prove how insane she was acting, and she frankly wasn’t in the mood to be talked out of her anger. When Brittany was angry, she refused to stop until everyone understood exactly how she felt.

She sank into Robbie’s chair, the one she had bought him for his birthday, the one designed specifically for gamers with adjustable everything because he had complained about back pain. It was comfortable. Maybe not worth the amount she had paid, but she could see the appeal of it. Hitting the button to start the equipment, she sat back and listened to the familiar sounds of the fans blowing, watching the LEDs light up and blink cheerfully at her as she took a long sip of her soda.

Robbie was a gaming streamer, and Brittany had to admit he was pretty good at it. He had only begun in the last few months but had already amassed a solid following. He wasn’t particularly good at the games he chose to play, but his charm and humor got him far with his audience. He had worked diligently for hundreds of hours to build his characters and levels in the various games he played, and because of the needs of his job, he required a lot of data storage for the saved games. Over the time they had been dating, Robbie had gone from amateur streamer to one of the better-known names, landing a sponsorship and launching a line of merchandise to his fans.

Once the computer booted up, Brittany typed in Robbie’s password—K1ngR0bbie, the same password he used for everything—another thing she had warned him about doing. His desktop loaded, and she went straight to his game files, the ones he had spent hours and hours cultivating and grinding for.

One by one, Brittany deleted them.

Once she was certain the digital trash had been emptied, she took one more sip of her overly large, super sugary soda, letting the caffeine and other mystery chemicals flood her system. Then, taking off the lid of the drink, Brittany poured the entire thing all over his rig. Into the tower. The monitor. On the keyboard. She double checked that all the equipment was still on, not wanting to risk him being able to clean it. There were damn good IT people out there, and Brittany didn’t want them ruining her revenge by doing their jobs.

There was something satisfying about watching the set up slowly glitch out. The screen pixelated beyond recognition. Noises were coming from the tower that it really shouldn’t have been able to make, and Brittany absorbed them like a symphony.

And then she pulled out her new favorite lipstick, the aptly named “Dirty Talk.” A dark red that advertised it was made to leave marks on whoever you kissed. Brittany thought it was nicely ironic, considering how much Robbie hated any talking during sex and got uncomfortable if she ever deviated from their usual routine.

She applied the red liberally, making sure to layer it. Robbie had always complained when Brittany wore red lipstick, said it made her look “cheap.” And he hadn’t been amused when Brittany laughed in his face and told him the lipstick was anything but cheap. That red flag should really have been enough to send her running. And honestly, Brittany didn’t know why it didn’t, other than he had said it in his usual joking manner and she hadn’t realized at the time he was being serious. Now, knowing what she knows, she would kick herself if she could.

Once she was satisfied with her lipstick application, Brittany took out the gift card Robbie had gotten her for her birthday, the one to the local seafood restaurant famous for its fresh crab, the one that sponsored Robbie. The one she knew for a fact he got for free. And the one she would never, ever use because of her deathly allergy to shellfish.

Very carefully, Brittany kissed the center of the gift card. She admired the perfect shape of her lip print, congratulating herself again on the purchase, and then placed it on the keyboard, right in the center so Robbie wouldn’t miss it.

“Brittany?”

She spun to find Gus staring at her, his eyes hard as he scanned the room and the destruction she had caused in the last few minutes.

Fuck.

Gus wasn’t supposed to be here. He didn’t even live in LA, but Brittany knew he would often visit Robbie. She just didn’t think this would be one of those weekends. Robbie hadn’t posted about it, and Gus didn’t have social media, but Brittany still felt like she should have known. They were friends, after all. Or, at least, they had been.

His eyes traveled to the rig, where the electronics were losing the war against the soda. The whirring noise from the tower must have drowned out Gus coming into the apartment. The plan had been to get in and get out, no witnesses, and now she had to deal with Robbie’s brother, the one person who could probably fix all of this before Robbie got back just by sheer force of will.

His eyes met hers, much colder than she was used to. Gus spent his time being the quiet but amiable companion. He had joined her and Robbie on many nights out, and Brittany had never minded having him along. Sometimes, he was the only one who could keep Robbie from causing a scene or pissing someone off, and Brittany was often relieved he was there. Now, however, she wished he had just stayed home.

“Killer, what the fuck are you doing?”

She frowned at the nickname. They had done a day of paintball for Robbie’s birthday last year, a tradition the Lozano family had done since they were kids. Robbie had bragged about his skills for a straight week before the match, which meant when Brittany had smoked him over and over again, he had left the facility as pissed off as a child denied candy, and Gus had bestowed her with a new nickname. The fight her and Robbie had that night had been epic, and she hated being reminded of it.

She focused on the present day, shutting him down.

“Don’t worry about it, Gus.”

“You’re trespassing. Destroying his property. What the hell are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking your brother is a bag of douches, and I’m tired of it.”

Gus pinched the bridge of his nose, something she had only seen him do when he was dealing with Robbie’s bullshit. There was some slight satisfaction in seeing his demeanor crack when she was the one causing it.

“I thought you guys had a friendly break.”

Brittany snorted. “Yeah, well, turns out that wasn’t the case.”

“Do I want to know?”

“Do you ever?”

They glared at each other, and Brittany felt the thrill of victory that she had managed to rile him up. Gus was always so calm, so cool, so collected in the face of almost any situation. He worked for a security company, offering personal security to people rich enough to afford it. He was used to dealing with assholes, and with having to take charge in stressful situations. And apparently, Brittany now qualified as a stressful situation.

She might get a T-shirt made. Her followers would love it.

“You need to go. Robbie’s coming home tomorrow. He won’t be happy to find you here.”

“I wasn’t planning on staying.”

Just then, a spark sizzled from the computer’s tower, flying up into the air before dissipating into nothing. Gus strode toward the wall, brushing past her.

“Hey, don’t—”

Ignoring her, he pulled the cord out of the wall, dropping it on the ground. When he turned back, she couldn’t help but notice how tall he was, how straight his shoulders were, how solid he seemed. It was unfair that men got to be big and strong, especially when they were being jerks.

“You’ve made your point, Brittany. He broke up with you and moved on, and you’re pissed about it. Not sure why you needed to destroy his stuff, but it’s past time for you to leave.”

Brittany burned at the implications.

“Is that the story he told you? That I’m pissed he moved on?”

“That, and something about how you only dated him for clout. And honestly, I’m not really seeing any evidence here to refute that.”

Brittany flattened her mouth into a line. In all the time they had been hanging out, she had known she and Gus weren’t close. When they had first met, she had set out to get to know him, wanting to be friends. But even from that first meeting, he had always seemed to keep her at a distance. Gus was Robbie’s older brother, older than Brittany’s twenty-seven by about four years, although if you knew the brothers, the age difference felt like more. Robbie was impulsive and outgoing and loud, whereas Gus was quiet, steady, solid. Something about him thinking she was jealous of Robbie dating a new woman was rubbing her the wrong way, but she refused to show Gus that. So instead, she flipped her hair, a practiced move that had gotten her a number of free drinks at bars and gave him her best smile.

“That’s me. Just your run-of-the-mill bitter ex-girlfriend.”

His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Okay, killer, time to go.”

Gus took her arm in a grip that was firm but not bruising and pulled her out of the room toward the door. Brittany made a weak attempt to get away, tripping to keep up with his longer stride.

“Hey, hands off. Us bitter women don’t like men grabbing us.”

He dropped her arm, opened the front door, and gestured for her to leave.

“Have a good night. Don’t come back.”

She sniffed, not happy about his attitude, but he wasn’t calling the cops. Brittany was smart enough to take the wins when they came.

When she stepped out of the apartment, his hand gripped her arm again, stopping her.

“Leave the key.”

They stood like that for a moment, staring at each other, and for some reason, Brittany could feel herself breathing hard, like she had just gone for a run. Her arm where he held it was warm, sparks zapping from the contact. It must be rage. She hated being touched by people she hadn’t given express permission to, and though she had never minded a casual touch from Gus in the past, their relationship was so different now. That must be why she was reacting so strongly.

Keeping her eyes locked to his, she reached into her bra cup and extracted the key. To Gus’s credit, he kept his eyes on hers, never dropping them to where her low-cut top was currently advertising the goods. He simply took the key from her and let her arm go.

“It didn’t have to be this way, Britt.”

“It sure as fuck didn’t. Ask your brother why it is.”

She was stomping toward the exit before he shut the door.

Outside the building, she spent the walk to her car fuming at Gus’s attitude, his dismissal of her. Although she should’ve anticipated it. Gus and Robbie were tight, with Gus very protective over his younger brother. If Robbie told him Brittany was a crazy, bitter ex, there was no reason for Gus to think otherwise. Even if he knew Brittany. Even if they had once been friends. Or at least friendly.

It’s fine. Brittany was used to not being top priority. There was no reason to think Gus would view her differently.

She forced her thoughts to Robbie and how he would react when he heard about what she did. He would definitely freak out. As controlled and rational as Gus was, Robbie was the opposite, a live wire of reaction and emotion that could get exhausting to those around him. He was going to lose it, which Brittany looked forward to. She had been the one to buy everything for him, and it was all insured under her name. And as far as she was concerned, Robbie deserved it, especially after hearing what he told Gus about their breakup.

Clout. As if it raised her profile even one follower that she had dated some lame streamer with the emotional maturity of a zucchini. Brittany was a fashion influencer who spent her days helping her followers put together outfits from underwear to outerwear, find deals, and dress their very best. None of them gave a shit about Robbie the gamer.

Robbie hadn’t been anyone when Brittany had started dating him. Just a cute guy who liked to have fun and slept on a futon in a studio apartment. But he had gained popularity over the last year, propelling him into the ‘professional streamer’ category. And Brittany had been the proud and supportive girlfriend every step of the way.

And then Robbie started pulling away. Said he felt like she was crowding him. He was suddenly busier and busier, often too busy to meet up with her. Robbie had started dating shortly after they broke up, which stung but wasn’t unexpected. After all, Brittany knew he was a man who liked to be taken care of, and it was only a matter of time before he found someone willing to do so. And Brittany was resolved to be the bigger person.

But then Devery had texted her…

Brittany tried to shake it off, not willing to go back into her rage when there was no outlet for it. Gus was at Robbie’s, and he had caught her. Gus was hard to read, but Brittany had thought they had a good rapport. She thought he knew her well enough to know she didn’t go off like this without a good reason. But here he was, just another one of the Lozano boys who only pretended to give a shit about her.

Well, fuck Gus. And fuck Robbie. Brittany was entering her villain era, and she was done with mediocre men playing a role in her life.