The Bad Boy's Forever (TBBG Series #3) NOW PUBLISHED

Chapter One: My Goal For The Year; To Not End Up In A Body Bag

The Bad Boy's Forever

Chapter One: My Goal For The Year; To Not End Up in A Body Bag 

"Where do you see yourself in five years?"

It's a question we've all heard and it's a question we all hate, or maybe you would hate if you're anything like me. I guess there are people out there who have their entire life planned and they nearly trip all over themselves when asked to elaborate upon their five year plan. It boggles my mind, honestly how you can be so sure of life, of where it'll lead you in five years from today. I'm not trying to set up a deep philosophical debate here but for a girl who's not quite sure what she'll have for dinner that evening, to be expected to know where life will lead that far ahead is enough to give me a full blown panic attack.

Because at eighteen, when I was graduating high school I would never have guessed that at twenty-two, I would spend Halloween in sweatpants and moving heavy boxes up four flights of stairs to my new apartment.

My apartment.

Where I live, by myself.

"What do you even have in this one?" My brother asks, sweat beading on his forehead. The fact that he's facing this level of exertion carrying up one of my three big boxes of shoes, despite being a gym fanatic is testament to my level of shoe crazy. It's a compulsion I developed during my junior year of college and it's gotten increasingly out of control over the past two years.

"Just be careful with my babies Trav, stop moaning. Remember you told me to not hire a moving company."

I huff and I puff as we move up the last staircase. It's just my luck that the elevators are out of order today but hey, at least I got my cardio in for the day.

"That's because you're new to the city and I'd rather not have my baby sister bludgeoned to death before her first day at a new job."

I roll my eyes. It doesn't matter how old I get, Travis's protective instincts will never go away or even decrease in intensity. I think he's trying to makeup for all the years he wasn't there and although I don't want him to live the rest of his life with that kind of guilt hanging over his head, it's still nice to know that my older brother's always got my back.

Even if he can't handle one measly box of shoes.

"You're such a ray of sunshine Travis. Is that really the kind of welcome you want to give her?" His girlfriend and one of my best friends, Beth Romano add dryly as walks ahead of the two of us. She's been such a trooper today, helping out as much as she can, even if meant taking a day off work. She's got a paid internship at a popular recording label, her absolute dream job but I know that they're working her to the ground. The fact that she still managed to commute to the city, despite the Halloween craziness really does warm my heart.

"I'm not scared," I chime in, "with the amount of security checks you, dad and my boyfriend have run on this place, all of the Guantanamo Bay residents could bust out and I'd still by safe in my little lead box. The men in my life haven't really adjusted well to the fact that I'll be living on my own for the very first time in a new city. But when I'd gotten the confirmation about my new job, I didn't really think twice about it. If I would have to live on my own, I would. Besides, my choice of roommates is pretty limited. Beth and Travis have lived together for the past five years and continue to do so, my other best friend Megan lives with her boyfriend as well as she goes to medical school in Maryland. I'd briefly considered asking the last of my closest friends, Cami but since she'd gotten accepted into a psychiatry program, her own boyfriend Lan had swooped in and gotten them an apartment together. He'd already been in the city, working at an investment firm and the moment he got the go ahead about his girlfriend being in the city for the next four years at least? Yeah I stood no chance.