I hate that Brooke still isn’t talking to me. It’s been just over two weeks. We’ve never gone this long without talking before. Well, there was that one time in freshman year, but that doesn’t count. This is real. We’re adults now, not children fighting over clothes and parties.
Nate’s thumb runs over the top of my knuckles, drawing my attention. “What’s going on?” he questions. “You’re lost inside that head of yours.”
“Yeah,” I sigh. “Sorry, I was just thinking about Brooke.”
“She’ll come around,” he promises. “It doesn’t take long for dickheads like that to fuck up a good thing.”
“You mean like Maxen did?”
“Exactly,” he says. “He’ll do or say something wrong and when she sees it, she’ll come back to you. She’ll probably be embarrassed and hurting because she didn’t believe you, but she’ll need you more than anything.”
“I know,” I say, falling into his side as he wraps his arm around me.
“Just give me a little warning when it happens because I don’t want to be there when she’s a sobbing mess.”
“You have to be,” I laugh. “I’ll need someone to go out and buy trashy magazines, chocolate, and ice cream.”
“I’m your boyfriend, not your errand boy. If you wanted a bitch then you should have dated Jesse instead.”
“Hey,” I laugh, swatting his arm. “Leave Jesse alone. Only I’m allowed to make fun of him.”
“No way,” he grins. “He’s my brother.”
“Yeah, well, he’s my… I don’t actually know what to call him, but whatever it is, he’s mine.”
Nate rolls his eyes and leads me towards his Camaro and just when I think he’s about to open the door for me, he grabs me by the waist and slams me up against the door, blocking me in with his large body. “Skip your afternoon class,” he tells me.
I shake my head as a smile begins to spread across my face. “Can’t,” I tell him. “I have a test. One that I should be studying for right now instead of going out to lunch with the sexiest man in Broken Hill.”
“Really?” he questions, pressing his body more firmly up against mine and touching me in all the right places. “Just the sexiest?”
“Mmmm,” I groan as his lips touch down on my neck. “Sexiest. Roughest. Baddest… Biggest.”
“That’s more like it.”
I smile against his lips as they touch down on mine, giving me exactly what I need. I close my eyes and melt into him, fearing he’s got exactly what it takes to convince me to go home and spend the day between the sheets than return later for my test. Nate just has it, whatever it is, he’s got it in spades and I absolutely love it.
Nate pulls down and grins at me as he reaches for my door handle, but someone walking on the sidewalk behind us has my attention snapping back. My body tenses as Josh Henderson walks up the path with his head buried in his phone and a cap pulled down low, covering his eyes.
Nate notices my tense body first before looking up with his brows pulled down in concern. My eyes flick away from Josh, hoping Nate doesn’t feel the need to follow my gaze, but I should have known better. When Nate feels something is wrong, he’s going to pick at it until he gets his answers, and right now, he’s looking for whatever has me so wound up.
His eyes land on Josh a second later and I watch as the familiarity hits, the same way it had with me those few weeks ago. With that same cap pulled down low on his face, it takes Nate a second to work it out, and when he does, the fury radiates out of him.
His eyes flick back to mine in alarm before it dawns on him. I already knew. That alarm quickly morphs into rage as we silently stand here staring at one another, hoping Josh doesn’t take a moment to look up from his phone.
Nate reaches around me and opens the door of his Camaro before raising a brow at me, telling me to hurry the fuck up and get my ass in the car. I do just that, preferring to have it out with Nate than Josh and get my ass down into the car, pulling the door closed behind me and making sure to hit the lock.
Nate hurries around and drops into the driver’s seat before slamming the key into the ignition and giving it a swift flick of his wrist. The Camaro comes to life and I cringe at the deafening sound as I keep my eyes locked on Josh.
His head snaps up at the sound and in an instant is taking in the matte black Camaro parked on the side of the street. I mean, there’s no denying whose car this is. His eyes widen as a few different emotions flick through his eyes. Surprise. Fear. Hatred. Revenge.