The Next morning I arrived at my parents' house around eleven am.

When I pulled up to the two story, white house with a maroon colored door that led into a foyer filled with photos upon photos of our family, I didn't get that normal feeling of joy that most get when they arrived back at the house they grew up in.

All that this house reminded me of now was the battle I was forced to face in high school. The nightmares that wracked my sleep in my old bedroom. The horrific memories that awaited me in the living room. I tried with every bit of strength I had to put those memories behind me when I was here, but sometimes, it was damn near impossible.

Today would be different though. I'd worked hard to get where I was today and I was not going let a silly little house with silly little memories bring me back down to that dark place that I inhabited for far too long.

With one deep, relaxing breath, I popped open my car door and headed inside. I didn't bother knocking since it was my parents' house after all. I drew the front door open and was immediately met with the smell of pot roast wafting through the foyer and into my watering mouth.

My dad could be a professional chef if he really wanted to. If he had the right connections, he would be a world renowned chef by now. For now though, he was the Merrick's family's personal chef, and I loved it.

Suddenly, I heard two sets of pitter patter coming my way on the tiled floor. My parents two little dachshunds ran full forced at me and I dropped to the ground to soak up all of their love.

"Hey guys! I missed you too!" I laughed as one of them licked my ear and the other jumped up onto my chest and pushed me to the ground to have a better vantage to attack my face with kisses.

"I see someone reunited with their furry siblings," my mom's voice rang out through the wide foyer. I pushed myself up off the ground and sprung up to give my mom a hug.

"I think they missed me just a little," I joked as we embraced.

I pulled away and admired my mom for a moment. Her blonde hair was curled to perfection and her hazel eyes were accented by an acceptable amount of dark eye shadow. Her slim frame was fitted in a green dress with small white polka dots that flowed out at the bottom.

Where's dad?" I asked excitedly. She pointed to the kitchen and I turned and skipped over gleefully but a strange sight inhabiting the kitchen stunted my movements before I even reached my dad.

My sister was standing there at the kitchen table. Her slim body was clad in an extremely short baby blue dress that cut low enough so we could clearly see all of the cleavage she didn't have. The baby blue coloring of the dress helped with the innocence that she tried to keep going around my parents though. But she wasn't the strange thing that caught my attention.

Standing next to her was an absolute stranger. A tall man with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, a slim but muscular frame and a smile that could dazzle the pants off any girl; apparently my sister included. The stranger had his hand laying just above my sister ass, centimeters away from being inappropriate.

I couldn't help but compare him to someone else I knew and how this blonde stranger just didn't exactly measure up for me. I'd never really been into blonde men anyways.

Finally, my sister recognized my presence and smiled brightly when she saw me.

"Hey, Alex!" I smiled just as wide and walked over and gave her a big hug. We may have our problems but there was no denying that we loved each other to the ends of the earth.

"Hey, Claire! How's everything going?" She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and gave her mysterious stranger a knowing look. An arrogant grin formed on his face and I abruptly felt the need to slap it off.

"Things are going pretty great. School's brutal this semester but then I met this hunk over here about a month ago and that spiced things up." She winked at him and he smiled at her. He maneuvered his way over to stand right next to Claire and wrapped an arm around her waist. He planted a kiss on her cheek and then nibbled on her ear, making her squirm and squeal delightedly.

"Anyone wanna tell me who this mysterious stranger is groping my sister?" I interrupted as awkwardly as I could. Claire's head snapped towards mine as she gave me a dramatic eye roll.

"Why do you always have to say stuff like that, Alex?" she growled irritably. Before I even had a chance to respond with a witty comeback, the stranger in question spoke up.

"It's really no problem, babe. I think she's got a funny sense of humor." He set his eyes on mine with a look a little too intense for my liking. He stretched his arm out and left his hand in mid-air.

"The names, Travis. Your sister here never mentioned that you even existed until I saw a picture of you in the house." I hesitantly placed my hand in his and shook it. He held on a smidgen longer that acceptable.

"Yeah, well. That's my sister for you. Loving and secretive as always."

I was quickly becoming uncomfortable with this conversation and needed an out. Then, like the little piece of heaven that he was, my dad tapped me on the shoulder. I spun around and was met with a spoon of awaiting mashed potatoes in my face.

"Care to taste?" he asked with a grin. I took my helping of creamy potatoes off the spoon and couldn't help the moan of appreciation that escaped my throat at their delicious taste.

"Dad, you a literally the best." He chuckled and walked back to the kitchen with me in tow.

We spent about 20 minutes putting the final touches on dinner when my dad asked Claire to help him set up the table in the dining room. He left me in charge of finishing the garnishing on the deviled eggs.

"Aye aye, captain!" I saluted my dad as he shook his head with laughter and walked into the dining room with my sister.

A few moments passed as I hummed a random pop song while sprinkling the paprika over the eggs and bounced along to my own beat. Yet, those peaceful moments were soon interrupted by a presence behind me.

"Can I help with anything?" Travis's voice spoke lowly in my ear, sending an unanticipated shiver through my body. My head perked up and without looking at him I shook my head.

"Nah, that's okay. We've only got one can of paprika," I joked and held the one that I was using up. "And I don't think we can both use this one. Things would get a little tight!"

My awkward laughter echoed through the room as I anxiously got back to the eggs. I felt Travis move from behind me to prop himself up against the counter top to my right. He crossed his arms over his chest and his hips were mere inches away from touching mine.

"I don't mind tight," he muttered just low enough for me to hear it. My hand stopped in midair over the eggs, my garnishing taking a back seat to the douche bag to my right

Did he really just say that?

I tried desperately for my sisters' sake to forget about his comment and tried to just laugh it off, hoping that the conversation would end there.

It didn't.

"Does it bother you that your sister never mentioned you to me?" the weasel squeaked again. I took in a deeply annoyed breath and tried to focus on finishing the last few eggs.

"No, not really," I murmured curtly. His eyes were still trained on the side of my face, never leaving; not even for a second.

"Has she done that before? Neglected to tell other guys that she has a sister?" He continued to pry into my sister and I's relationship. My heart was starting to beat faster as my anger and annoyance began to boil to the rupturing point.

"Yeah, it stopped bothering me a long time ago. It's not like she does it on purpose." I finished up the seemingly never ending eggs and picked them up, walking to the fridge, and set the eggs inside.

"I think she does."

My eyebrows shot up and my mouth was left slightly agape. Good thing I still had the refrigerator door open to keep my surprised face hidden from Travis's view.

"Uh," I struggled to find something to say back to him. "That's ridiculous." I finally spat out when my mind, usually filled with witty comebacks, failed me.

"Is it really?"

I eventually gained some of my confidence back and closed the fridge door just enough so that I could see his smug face still leaning causally against the counter top.

"Yeah, it is. She has absolutely no reason to."

I pulled the fridge door back so his dickhead face was hidden from my sight again. This guy was really starting to get on my last nerve. I busied myself in the fridge, moving things around pointlessly to avoid having to face him again.

"I would say that fact that you being gorgeous has something to do with it."

My head reared back and the fridge door fell from my hand and closed. How did I even respond to that?

Travis was obviously happy with my utter loss for words and pushed himself off the counter and started towards me. His eyes were fixed like a hawks on my bewildered ones. At last, my brain kicked it up to full power again and I moved around to the other side of the island swiftly; safely away from the predator on the other side.

"Um...thank you?" It came out more as a question than I intended. "But my sister is way prettier if you ask me."

I fumbled with my words and became more uneasy with his presence by the second. Travis chuckled deeply and shook his head, his eyes alight with mischief.

"I didn't ask you. I'm telling you," He put both of his hands on the island that was separating us and locked his eyes onto mine. "You're stunning. And damn sexy too." He threw in a wink at the end and that was it. My anger boiled over and I slammed my hands down on the island, leaning over it so Travis and I were eye level.

"First, don't ever call me sexy again. I'll slap you so hard you will have a permanent welt on that cheek of yours. Second, what would my sister think if she heard you saying all of these things, huh? I don't think she'd be too happy with you," I spat at him with malice dripping from my words.

Travis was silent for a minute, mulling over my words. Then those lips of his quirked up into the most annoying and devious of smirks I'd ever seen.

"You're feisty. I like it."

My nostrils flared in rage at his lack of care over my threat. Just as I was about to finish this guy off, I heard my phone. I took it as a sign from God that I needed to leave the room before I tore this guy's genitals off. I gave Travis one last glare before stomping off into the room I left my purse in.

Man, talk about a flirt! That guy was verging on the line of verbal sexual harassment. My sister had never had a knack for picking the best guys but this one had to take the cherry on the asshole cake.

I knew there was no point in telling Claire about the fiasco in the kitchen though. Even though I'm her sister, she wouldn't believe a word I said when it came to a guy she was dating. Once they broke up we could trash talk them until we're blue in the face but while she's dating them? Mums the word.

I found my purse sitting on the couch in the game room and just as I reached for my phone, Claire's voice erupted behind me.

"So, what do you think of Travis?" Her question seemed innocent enough, but I knew her well enough to know that this was her way of taunting me. She had a boyfriend. I didn't and she loved it.

"He seems nice," I lied through my teeth. She huffed and came around to sit on the couch next to me.

"Nice? What about his looks? He's fucking hot and even you can't deny it," she gloated.

"He's nice looking yeah, sure. I've never really been into blondes, though. You know this." I sighed and opened up my phone to see I had a message from Rachel:

I'm sorry! I didn't know!!! This is why we have to talk more!

I furrowed my eyebrows at her message. I was pretty sure she sent this to the wrong number. I pushed her message to the back of my mind and tried to focus on Claire.

"You're just jealous," she joked in a completely serious 'I'm gonna say it as a joke but actually totally mean it' sort of way. Oh yeah, I most definitely want a boyfriend who will flirt with and completely creep out my sister! Where can I sign up?

"I am perfectly content by myself right now. I have school and friends to keep me busy." I stood up and turned to Claire, a content smile on my face. "I don't need or want a guy in my life right now."

She barked out a stiff laugh. "I highly doubt that, Alex. Every girl wants a guy to fawn over them; even you." Is she for real? I opened my mouth to retort when the doorbell cut off my words.

My head reared back in confusion.

Are we expecting anybody else?

Both my sister and I shared a puzzled look and walked towards the front door to see who it was.

"Hi, can I help you?" I heard my mom ask. Just a few steps in, I heard the person at the front door speak. The spit that I was swallowing was abruptly choked in my throat and my steps came to a halt.

"Hi, my name is Nathan. I'm looking for Alex."

No, no. I had to be hallucinating, right?

I took the few last shaky steps towards the door. My mom smiled excitedly at me and swung the door open so that the man behind it was in full view.

Standing there in all his glory was Mr. McCoy.

The moment he saw me, his eyes lit up and he walked inside towards me. My feet wouldn't respond to my brains commands to run for the hills. My mouth refused to shut and my eyes wouldn't reduce back down to normal size. No doubt, I looked like a deer in headlights.

Mr. McCoy walked straight up to me and planted his soft lips swiftly on my cheek, leaving a trail of boiling lava in their wake.

"Hey, babe," he spoke sweetly.

What. The. Fuck.

Dun Dun Dun!! Hey guys! So what's ya think??? McCoy is in the building! lol What do you guys think is gonna happen now? What do you think of Travis and Claire??? 

Thank you guys so much for your reads! Pleas vote if you liked it and comment please! We're cranking up the heat it here! ;) Until next time guys!