A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger Read Free Book Online Page A

floor.
    Then I saw the sexy tanned boy sitting at the bar.
    He wasn’t tall, but he had the dark and the handsome parts down. His hair was a sleek, shiny black, and his eyes were huge emerald spotlights in the dim lighting of the club. Smoldering hot, and well dressed, too. He had on a nice, neat button-up shirt and black jeans.
    Target acquired.
    I approached the bar, tossing back my long hair and giving him my best seductive smile. I eased up right next to him. “Hey,” I said, winking. “What’s up?”
    He grinned. Rows of straight, glittering white teeth. “Do I know you?”
    “Nope, but you want to.” I slid onto the barstool next to his.
    “What’s your name?” he asked.
    “Yours first.”
    “Harrison Carlyle,” he said, sounding a little amused. “
Now
do I get your name?”
    “Whitley Johnson.”
    Harrison’s eyes widened and he sat up a little straighter as he looked me over. My moves must have been working—he was already interested.
Awesome
, I thought. Even if hedidn’t know where I could find a party, I wouldn’t mind fooling around with him. That was one thing I loved about boys—if I wanted a quick, meaningless hookup just for fun, they were never very hard to convince.
    I was wondering how much chitchat we’d have to make before I could get Harrison to take me somewhere private… and then he started talking.
    “Oh my God!” he said excitedly. “Are you—You have to be! You’re totally related to Greg Johnson, aren’t you? The news guy. Are you his daughter? You are, right?”
    “Um… yeah. He’s my dad.”
    “That is
so
cool,” he cried. “I still can’t believe he moved here. No one famous lives in this place. I know he’s not a movie star or anything, but still. He’s on TV, which is a big deal around here. We love him.”
    “Thanks.” Great. I was the one with boobs, but the boy had a thing for my dad. What the hell? Okay. It was time for a subject change.
    “So,” I said, crossing my legs. I was wearing a short white skirt, showing off plenty of skin. Too bad it wasn’t quite tanned yet. “What all is there to do around here?”
    “Absolutely nothing,” he answered, shrugging his broad shoulders. “We live in the lamest town ever. You just kind of get used to it.”
    “Well…” I swiveled in my seat a little, turning so I could press my leg right up against his. My signature move. Worked every time. “We could make it exciting, if you want. I’m a pretty exciting girl.”
    Then he started laughing at me.
    Not the reaction I was going for.
    “Oh, honey.” He reached out suddenly and took my hand in both of his. “You’re cute. You really, really are, but I’m not interested.”
    “Why not?” I asked point-blank. No use wondering about it for weeks or letting my self-image plummet because of this loser. Might as well cut to the chase.
    Harrison sighed and took one of his hands away from mine. “See that guy over there, with the blond?” he asked, pointing.
    My eyes followed in the direction he indicated. Across the room, sitting at a booth by themselves, were Nathan and Bailey. Even from here, I could tell Bailey looked disappointed. Nathan was chatting with her, moving his arms in big, over-the-top gestures. He must have been trying to cheer her up.
    “I see him,” I said, nodding. “That’s my… future stepbrother.” I choked on the last two words.
    “For real?” Harrison asked.
    “Yeah.”
    “That sucks for you. I could just eat him up.”
    I gawked at him. “What?”
    “That’s why I’m not interested,” he explained calmly, like I was an irrational five-year-old. “Your stepbrother over there, he’s more my type… if you know what I mean.”
    And, of course, I knew what he meant.
    It figured. The one boy in this place I was interested inwas not interested in me. After all the shit I’d dealt with over the last two days, getting shot down was just the icing on the cake. But I tried to soothe my ego with the fact that it