Hope - Book 1 of the Bad Boy Vibes series

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Six months later

The rain pattered hard on the awning outside her window. It was another cold, wet day in the Melbourne north-west suburbs. But the noisy drops fell unheeded by the two women within.

"What do you think of this one?"

Anna Simmons held the straps of a scanty, scarcely there, itty bitty bit of a dress up for her friend's inspection.

"I like the black," offered Yasmin Yusuf, on a positive note, but then proceeded to expound all the negativity with a few well-chosen words, "But where's the dress?"

Anna eyed her best and only friend with her usual narrow-eyed grin. But Yasmin only shrugged her thin shoulders in return. Shaking her head, Anna bit back an otherwise scathing reply. Yasmin's view was only to be expected. Shrouded as she was in her favourite—yards of loose-flowing endless black—she, naturally, saw a clear objection to the only difference in their attire—the lack of actual fabric in her choice.

"Matt would love it," Anna felt compelled to point out. For it was true, her boyfriend, Matt, liked her in as little clothing as was possible. And even if she, herself, felt more than a little awkward wearing such attire, she aimed to please Matt.

Matt was her sole source of happiness. And after an eight-year drought of the emotion, she was more than happy to embrace it at any opportunity given. And Matt gave her plenty to be pleased about. He was by far the most handsome man at the vocational college she attended. At nineteen, to her eighteen years of age, they shared much in common. But mostly it was his blond, artfully dishevelled locks and big blue eyes that drew her in. Of course, his stocky brawn was appreciated for its sinewy appeal. In contrast, her chest stacked-pack-on-the-rack, and that was not all she was carrying. With bumps on her front to match that of her behind, Anna wore flab as Yasmin wore clothes—loose hanging and all a-floating.

Her spare handles aside, it was her lack of book smarts that actually got to her. But it was really the combination of the two that set peers to mock and humiliate her. Prone to bullying, Anna was mostly over being affected by it, but now that she had a boyfriend, the old insecurities kept bounding up anew. But, thus far, Matt Preston had been all that she'd ever hoped a boyfriend could be. Compassionate and caring, but, most importantly, her saviour. No longer did she have to walk the halls of school being made the butt of jokes or just laughed at by bullies. On the arms of Matt, all it took was a cute frown to crumple his forehead, and the bullies simply dematerialised.

So if Matt Preston wanted to see her in dresses that showed her off, then by God she would wear them.

Gumption aside, Anna looked doubtfully at the tiny black dress she had ordered online. It certainly hadn't looked as small on the web. But then that was the reliability of online shopping for you.

"I could try it on," Anna suggested hopefully. Perhaps it only looked small.

"Not if I have to look at you in it." Yasmin had no compunction in refuting that idea. "Uh-uh! If you want my opinion, just return it."

Anna frowned at her, stubbornly unwilling to admit she may have it right. It was not something she'd want to see herself. Her bountiful chest would do its best to flop out of its top for sure. But then, Anna had not wanted Yasmin's opinion to begin with. She was not the one who invited her over. And more importantly, it was not her that Yasmin Yusuf made a point to pop by daily to see.

No. Yasmin's reasons for visiting at all laid with her unfounded, inexplicable infatuation with Anna's murderous stepbrother, Brian. It didn't seem to matter to her that Brian was unemployed or verbally abusive or that, for a twenty-five-year-old, he insisted on living off her mother.