Breaking Fences (The Breaking Series) by Juliana Haygert Read Free Book Online Page A

interesting. What else is different there?”
    Garrett took a big swallow of his glass, finishing his drink. “Excuse me,” he said, stepping away from us. I watched him.
    Jonah leaned on the bar counter, where Garrett had been a second ago, blocking his half-brother from my view. “I want to know more,” Jonah said.
    A guy wearing khaki pants, a polo shirt, and flip-flops walked past us. I concentrated on that detail and babbled on, “Okay, you want to know a few things I find odd? Everyone wears flip-flops everywhere.” I gestured to the guy who was now greeting some friends. “I only wear them to go to the beach or the pool or to stay home. You’ll never see me in flip-flops in class or at the mall or grocery shopping, I assure you. Another one is makeup. The girls here wear too much makeup. They are in high school and their faces are thick with makeup. I can’t understand that. I rarely wear makeup.”
    “You’re wearing it now.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Because this is a party. I only wear makeup at parties, or formal dinners and events. Even so, it’s only a little. Other than that, maybe only lip gloss here and there. Nothing more.”
    “What else?”
    “In Brazil, we start partying much earlier. I was fourteen and already going to clubs all night.”
    “Seriously?”
    “Yeah, but see. Here, when kids leave their parents’ place, they are so eager to try it all, they go crazy and sometimes abuse it. Since Brazilians are used to being around it at a much younger age, it isn’t a big deal and we don’t rush to try everything and do crazy things, you know. I mean, there are the crazy ones that always abuse everything, but then, there are crazy ones in any corner of the world.”
    “True.” He gestured to my glass. “What about drinking? You were fourteen and drinking?”
    “Well, I wasn’t supposed to. In Brazil, you can drink when you’re eighteen. When you’re underage in clubs, the bouncer usually puts a plastic bracelet on your wrist, so the bartenders can’t sell you alcohol, but that never stopped older friends from handing you a beer.”
    Now he probably thought I was an alcoholic since my early teenage years. It was hard to explain things like this to people from another country, just as it was hard for them to make me understand American customs.
    Some girls walked by, glancing at me and whispering.
    Not interested in drama, I averted my gaze and gulped my whiskey.
    “Easy there. You don’t want to get drunk fast, do you?”
    It took a lot more than a shot of whiskey to get me drunk. Shaking my head, I raised my arm and called the bartender. “Can I get another one, please?”
    “What is it?” the guy asked.
    “Whiskey and Coke.”
    He smiled. “Nice.” He turned around to prepare my drink, and I looked at Jonah again.
    “I’m really glad you came,” Jonah said, his tone more serious.
    I cocked my head to the side and looked at him. He was handsome, in a boyish kind of way. Blonds weren’t my thing, but come on, Chris Hemsworth was blond, and 98 percent of the female population would go for him, given the chance. Why not let this blond try to charm me? Sure, Garrett was more my speed, but Jonah seemed way more interested in me.
    Unsure about that yet, I nodded to the space around us. “Is it always this slow?”
    “It’s early yet, and Audrey still has all the ATN girls in the living room. Once the lionesses are released, the party picks up.”
    I laughed. “Lionesses?”
    He shook his head. “Yeah, I tease them about it. They want to be like lions, the kings of everything, or queens in their case. I don’t mind most of the time, but I hate it when they come into my house—” He pointed to the floor. “—and start messing with our rules. Speaking of rules, you probably aren’t aware, but it’s rare for a girl outside the Greek system to hang with a sorority. They must like you a lot.”
    I didn’t know that. A warm feeling filled my chest. They liked me. A lot. It