Broken Hill Havoc (Broken Hill High Series 5)

A grin rips across his face but a moment later, it falters, making me think something’s up. I catch his eyes and give him a pointed look. I mean, this guy is one of my best friends and if something is going on his in life, I want to know about it. Hopefully, I’ll be able to fix it too. “Jess,” I say, reaching out and resting my hand on top of his. “What’s going on? It’s Saturday. Why are you here and not with Kaylah?”

He looks back down at the coffee table and I realize I wasn’t imagining it. Something is truly bothering him. He looks pained almost as though his heart is breaking and I swear to God, if Kaylah has hurt him, I’m going to rain down all sorts of hell on that girl. Friendship be damned.

Jess shrugs as he flips the slap band over between his fingers. “She-”

The front door is barged open and both our eyes snap across to it, knowing that with Brooke already down in her room, whoever coming through the door is certainly not someone who’s welcome. Except if it’s Nate, of course. Though he tends to use the window just to be a smartass.

Lukas stumbles into my home with the arrogance of an asshole. “Oh hey,” he grins with his eyes roaming over Jesse before coming to a stop of me. “What’s going on?”

Jess narrows his eyes on the guy as he doesn’t wait for a response, just walks through my house, into the kitchen and helps himself to the lasagna I made last night. The very lasagna I was going to reheat for my dinner. “Um…,” I grunt, getting to my feet and walking into the kitchen. “What do you think you’re doing?”

His eyes roam up and down my body before winking at me as though we have some dirty little secret. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

Jesse gets up off the couch and comes to stand directly behind me. I feel his wide chest on my back and realize he’s there as back up, ready and willing to step in if this shit goes south. I mean, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I can’t stand the guy. Something Brooke still can’t seem to see, which honestly has made living together the last few days a bit difficult. “What I mean is; what the hell do you think you’re doing barging into my house and eating my food?”

“I’m here to see my girlfriend,” he tells me as though he has every right in the world to be here. “And it’s Brooke’s house too.”

“Watch it,” Jesse growls from behind me.

I take a step forward but be careful not to get too close to the scumbag. “No,” I correct him. “This is my house. Brooke just lives here, so next time watch wh-”

“Really?” Brooke’s unimpressed voice questions from the hallway. “I just live here?”

Shiiiiiit.

I sigh as I turn towards Brooke. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No, of course not,” she scoffs as her eyes flick between me and Lukas. “Look, as far as I’m concerned, I do live here which means I should be entitled to have people over. I invited him so he has every right to be here.”

With that, she turns and storms straight back up the hallway.

I look back at Lukas with a scowl and he grins. He winks and follows Brooke up the hallway, taking my fucking lasagna with him.

“He’s an asshole, Brooke,” I call up the hallway.

“And so are you,” she yells back at me.

“Fuck, I hate that guy,” I fume, heading back to the couch and crashing down into it in a fit of rage.

“Yeah,” Jesse says. “He’s a fucking douchebag. Just say the word and I’ll get rid of him.”

I think it over for a second before dismissing the thought. “Nah, that will just cause more problems with Brooke. She already hates me as it is. I don’t want to make it worse.”

“Don’t worry,” he says, flopping down into the couch beside me and handing me the slap band. “She’ll see it eventually and when she does, she’ll come back to you.”

“I know,” I groan, cracking the slap band so it stays in a straight line before slapping it against the palm of my hand and letting it rebound into a tight circle. “I just hate the way it is right now.”

“Yeah. You know what you need?” he questions. “You need to go to the gym and beat the shit out of a punching bag. It always works for me.”

I roll my eyes. If I was going to work my frustrations out, then I’d be more inclined to find Nate and have angry, hot sex, rather than work up a sweat and hurt my knuckles. “What I need is for you to distract me. What’s going on with Kaylah?”