On the day of the barbecue, Max drove Nina to Axel and Avery's lavish modern-style mansion in Calabasas. Tupac and K'naan and Cypress Hill played in his truck. Nina was chilling quietly in the passenger seat, staring out the window at the scenery flying by, looking sweet and sexy in her pale blue sundress.

Max usually didn't pay much attention to women's clothes. They typically fell into one of two categories: Hot or not. But he found himself taking quite a bit of interest in Nina's little blue dress, mostly because of the sweet, sexy girl that was wearing it. The dress was fitted on top and flared out at the skirt. It gave off a vintage-inspired vibe with a touch of naughtiness. There was a knotted tie centered around the deep V of Nina's neckline. The tie held her tits together in a very snug and distracting way. The innocent-looking bow made Max's fingers itch to tug at it, loosen it, and—

Clenching his jaw, Max quickly halted his pervy train of thought. His Upper Brain managed to subdue his Lower Brain for all of two seconds. Then, his eyes drifted back toward Nina's breats. Max swallowed. Hard.

Damn, her boobs looked good enough to—

Max refused to finish the thought. Nina was supposed to be his friend. Only his friend. It wasn't easy, unfortunately, to get his Lower Brain under control. The struggle was quite real. It was actually very hard to be a gentleman. Everything in the lower half of his body was beginning to feel a bit too hard, in fact. To add insult to injury, Nina's dress flaunted a tiny, barely-there cut-out right below her cleavage, allowing her smooth skin to continue playing peekaboo with his eyes. She was wearing makeup today, too, which made her pretty brown eyes even prettier and her rosy lips rosier, and, for once, her hair wasn't piled up into a bun but flowing freely down her back.

Nina looked like a million bucks, and something territorial in Max suddenly wished that he could introduce her to his crew as someone who was more than "just a friend." A stupid, immature part of him wanted to scream "dibs" on Nina to the entire world. He hated the idea of having other jackasses hit on her. Most of his guy friends were notorious smooth-talking, pussy-chasing fuckboys, especially Avon, and he wanted to shield Nina from their bullshit. He wanted to shield himself from their bullshit as well. As they neared the place where everything had kickstarted for him as a YouTuber, Max became unusually quiet and pensive. A ball of trepidation began to form within his chest.

It felt oddly like... shame?

Max didn't know how Nina was going to react to his circle of influencer friends and acquaintances, but he had a sneaking suspicion that she wouldn't approve of them. Max wouldn't blame her for judging them. Frankly, he no longer approved of them, either.

When he first moved into Jake's apartment at seventeen and then later into the Wilder Ones mansion, Max's ego had been pumping with pride and adrenaline. He felt like one of the chosen ones. He felt downright smug about occupying the same space as so many of his online idols. But, as time went by, as everyone started revealing more of their true colors, Max no longer enjoyed being around them.

All of the girls and guys in the house seemed to thrive on drama, and it was clear that they cared more about views and sponsorships and growing their individual fan bases more than anything else. Max had tolerated them for the sake of their shared channel, and they tolerated him for the same reason. Whenever the camera wasn't on, Max was forced to confront the growing depression inside of him. He often went out to bars and clubs to escape his dark thoughts. Distractions became a necessary evil. Distractions like a nice pair of tits and ass. Or some potent substances that made him fly higher than a kite.

With a cloud of trepidation hanging over him, Max pulled up the long, winding driveway toward the Wilder Ones mansion. The main property was an architectural monstrosity made of glass and black steel and stained concrete with horizontal lines and asymmetrical features throughout. Modern to a fault. No warmth. No character. It was sleek, expensive-looking, and soulless. The familiar sight of the house taunted Max like Goliath to his David.

Setting aside his reservations, Max hopped out of his truck with Nina. He glanced around the familiar sights. The front yard was inspired by a Japanese Zen garden. A walkway consisting of large slabs of gray slate was interspersed between freshly-raked snow-white pebbles and three miniature Koi fish ponds. At the end of the walkway, a pair of matte black steel doors beckoned to them. Max and Nina made their way to the front entrance. Max released a short, nervous breath as he rang the doorbell.

Nina glanced at him with a worried expression. " You seemed kinda quiet on the ride over here. Is everything okay?"

Max flashed her an overly bright smile. "Never been better."

She didn't look convinced. "If you say so."

Max didn't have time to respond. The double doors swung open. Axel stood at the doorway, grinning at them like a scruffy, blonde fox. His dark wheat-colored hair was trimmed close at the sides and left long on top. He wore his lengthy bangs in a side-swept part, reminiscent of most SoCal born and bred fuckboys. He had on a pair of trendy Gucci browline glasses, skin-tight acid wash jeans, and a loose, low-cut Nirvana tank that dipped far enough south to showcase the muscled lines across his sculpted chest.

"Max, my man! Welcome, welcome! It's been way too fucking long! I missed you, you son of bitch."

Max stretched his smile wider. He took a step forward to exchange a quick bro hug with Axel. "Good to see you, too, Ax. You're right, it has been way too long."

Axel's blue eyes drifted away from Max. He dragged an appreciative look over Nina and her little blue dress. "And who might this pretty lady be?"

Max took care to position himself in front of Nina, effectively blocking her from his old sponsor's lecherous gaze. "This is Nina. I hope you don't mind that I brought her along."

Max had purposefully left the nature of their relationship vague to keep Axel from making a move on her.

"It's not a problem at all," Axel murmured as he eyed the two of them curiously. "I'm happy you're here, Nina. The more, the merrier, right?"

Max then introduced Nina to Axel, "This mofo's name is Axel. You can call him Ax. Everyone does."

He proceeded to drape his arm around Nina's shoulders to, again, fend off Axel's potential advances.

Sadly, Nina didn't seem to get the memo. She casually moved away from Max's arm and offered her hand to Axel. "Thank you for having us. It's so nice to meet you, Axel, erm... I mean, Ax."

Axel smirked. The awkward exchange between Max and Nina hadn't escaped his notice. Instead of shaking Nina's hand, Axel clasped her fingers and placed a gentlemanly kiss on the back of her hand. "The pleasure is all mine, Nina."

She chuckled and pulled her hand away. "You're a friendly one, aren't you?"

"The friendliest," Axel cooed flirtatiously, "but only around beautiful women like you."

Nina laughed again, but her eyes were hard. "Oh, God. Please stop."

Her request fell on deaf ears. Axel moved his hand to the small of Nina's back and ushered her into the house. "Come on, sweet thing, I'll introduce you to the rest of the gang. I think my brother, Avon, will be very happy to meet you."

Max trailed behind them with a salty expression on his face. Already, Max sensed that he had made a big mistake. He shouldn't have brought Nina into this den of wolves. The guys were going to eat her right up, and the thought made Max feel sick to his stomach.