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One

The Hot Guy Brigade surrounded me

A lot of people believed that the Hot Guy Brigade was a end, kind of like the story about the ho queen who'd pitched herself out of one of the dor balls on LSD or crack, or she had fallen in the shower and busted her head open or soed every time I heard it, but unlike the supposed dead chick who haunted Gardiner Hall, the Hot Guy Brigade was a real living and breathing thing-several things to be exact

Several hot things

It was rare that they were all together nowadays, which is why they'd becoether, it was a whole lot of eye candy

And it was probably the closest to perfection I'd ever get in my lifetime-that and the miracle makeup called Dermablend, because it almost covered the scar on my face

We were all piled into Avery Morgansten's aparter, she ell on her way to getting a last-nah I didn't know her well, really didn't know anyone except Teresa, I was happy for her Anytime I'd been around her, she was always sweet She could be a little quiet sometimes and seemed to disappear into her own head, but anyone could tell she and her fiancé, Cameron Hamilton, were deeply in love by the way they watched each other

Like the way he atching her now, as if there were no other woether, Caht blue eyes were fixed on her as she laughed at so his sister Teresa said

If I had to rank the Hot Guy Brigade, I'd say that Cam was the president It wasn't just his looks, but also his personality No one felt odd or left out around hiious

Secretly, and I'd totally take it to rave, I envied Avery I barely even knew her, but I coveted what she had-the gorgeous hot guy, as also genuinely a good guy, who still could make you feel comfortable around him That was rare

"Want another drink?"

I dipped my head to the left and then back, toward the voice of Jase Winstead, and ht a little Here was the opposite of Ca, but totally did not ray ones With his swarthy skin, longish brown hair, and alood looks, he'd be the lieutenant of the Hot Guy Brigade He was by far the sexiest out of all of them, and he could be supersweet, like now, but he wasn't as easygoing or char as Cam, which hy Cam held top position

"Nah, I' since I'd gotten there "But thanks"

He s his arainst his chest as she placed her hands on his arms His face softened

Yeah, I was a wee bit envious of Teresa, too

I'd never been in a serious relationship There hadn't been any dates in high school The scar onno h school kids, yeah, they could be unforgiving when it came to very visible flaws And even if someone could look past that, with the way my life had been back then, there hadn't been room or time for a date let alone a relationship

Then there had been Jonathan King He was in uy and we'd hit it off For obvious reasons, I'd been reluctant to go out with him when he asked, but daone out a few ti a totally norht, e'd been alone in my dorm, I'd been stupidly convinced that since he could see past the scar onelse

I'd been wrong

We didn't even kiss and we sure as hell didn't go out again after that, and I hadn't told anyone about hiht I didn't think about him Ever

Well, except for right now, damnit

As I watched the Hot Guy Brigade being all hot, I was totally aware of the fact I was boy crazy due to my lack ofwell, of boys in my life

"Got it!"

My chin jerked up as Ollie rounded the couch, his girlfriend, Brittany, trailing behind hiht pass out as she shook her head

Ollie approached the coffee table and leaned down, holding some kind of box tortoise in his hands My brows rose as the little guy's legs wheeled What the?

"It's not a party until Ollie breaks out the turtle," said Jase, and rin

Cahed as he leaned around Avery "What in the hell are you doing with Raphael?"

"Correction" Ollie placed hith blond hair back behind one ear "This is Michelangelo, and I think it's pretty fked-up you don't even knohich one is yours anymore You've probably sent Raphael into a depression"

"I tried to stop hi her arms The two of them looked like they finaled in the Perfect Blond Couple Award "But you kno he is"

Everyone kneas

Ollie was in grad school now, to becoend as the Hot Guy Brigade Ollie would be second to the lieutenant He got a lot of bonus points for coirlfriend and for being a shaoofball

"As you can see, I have fashioned a new leash" He gestured at what looked like a miniature belt secured around the tortoise's shell

Cam stared up at him "Are you serious?"

"You can walk the Michelangelo across the table, and I had to wonder if Avery and Cam ate off it "It's better than yarn"

Walking a turtle? Thatthat had to be worse than walking a cat I started giggling "It looks like a Barbie belt"

"It's a designer leash," he corrected, his lips twitching "But I did get the idea while ere in Wal-Mart, checking out the toy section"

Teresa frowned "Why were you in the toy section?"

"Yeah," Jase drew the word out "Is there so us?"

Brit's eyes widened

Ollie just shrugged "I like to check out the toys They are so much cooler now than ere kids"

This stateeneration had been sorely cheated when it came to the sophistication and cool factor of today's toys, and I had to think really hard about the kind of toys I'd played with There'd been Barbies-of course, there'd been Barbies, but instead of Big Wheels and board games, I had satiny sashes and sparkly crowns