Troublemaker (Troublemaker, Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

lips so that we don’t ruin his sneak attack.
    “What’s up motherfucker!” He grabs Cage’s arms, sending his beer flying through the air and onto my father’s newly finished wood floors. Cage looks at me, then Jess, then his idiot friend. The three of them burst into laughter as I stand frozen, not sure if I should cry, scream, or call the police.
    Cage high-fives his friend, who’s about twice the size of him, and turns towards us. “This is my buddy, Ryker. We did some time in Afghanistan together,” he says as he throws his arms around his friend’s shoulder. “Ryker, this is my landlord, Mc…Ken…Zie,” he says, slurring one syllable at a time. I reluctantly reach out to shake his hand. This guy could literally break me in half with his pinky, so I put my anger on hold for a minute.
    “And this,” Cage pauses as he points to Jess, “is my landlord’s ever so lovely friend, Jess.” My heart stings from a wave of jealousy that strikes me.
    Seriously? I hate this feeling more than anything else.
    Jess reaches out her hand to greet Ryker’s. “A pleasure to meet you,” she says. She’s wearing that face that she always wears whenever she’s crushing on some hot guy. I can’t help but feel relief that her focus is not on Cage.
    “The pleasure is all mine,” Ryker says. “Care for a beer?” he asks.
    Jess looks at me for approval. I shake my head at her like she’s completely lost her mind. I look solely at Jess, who looks like she’s already fallen in love with Cage’s war buddy. “Can you give us a second?” I ask, not breaking my eye contact with Jess.
    I pull Jess to th e side for a quick private girl chat. “Jess what the hell? My dad is going to tear me limb from limb.” I look over and see Cage and Ryker watching us, waiting for the verdict.
    “Are you crazy?” Jess shouts, way too loudly I might a dd. “Why didn’t you tell me that the hot guy that almost pounded the shit out of Chase is your new tenant?” I have never in my entire life seen Jess so excited.
    “What ’s the big deal? I guess it just never occurred to me since…”
    “Bull.. shit!” she says, rolling her eyes at me. “Wait a minute,” she zooms in closer to my face, “are you… could it be…” she pauses and takes a super deep breath, and I know what ’s coming next.
    I start shaking my head before she can get the words out. “Does McKenzie Miller actually have feelings for some guy?” she asks, grabbing both of my hands without my consent.
    I shake my head wildly, as if her theory is the most insane idea in the history of the universe. “Jess, no. Knock it off, he’s my tenant. He’s not even remotely my type…” I continue to shake my head, partly to appear as convincing as I can to Jess, and partly to convince myself that I can’t possibly be into this guy.
    “Holy crap, Kenz! You like him! McKenzie Miller is crushing on her hot superhero tenant dude!” Jess starts jumping up and down, embarrassing me to no end.
    “Okay, okay. Will you calm down?” The two guys are now inching their way closer to us.
    “Your dad would kill you if he knew what was going on! And the fact that you’re crushing on your hippie tenant.”
    “That’s not helping matters Jess. I don’t know what to do,” I say. I know things have hit rock bottom when I’m asking Jess for advice in this moment rather than kicking the fifty strangers out of my house.
    “There’s nothing to do Kenz, except have the night of your life,” Jess says.
    “She’s got a point, Kenz,” Cage says after making his way into our little side chat. “What do you have to lose anyways?”
    Besides everything?
    Ryker looks at Jess. “You wanna go for a walk?”
    Jess looks at me. I shoot her a look back like she’s totally lost her mind. “What about Evan?” I ask.
    “Oh, Evan.” She looks Ryker’s body up and down. “I forgot to tell you that we broke up this morning.”
    “Well looky here, talk about your perfect