I roll my eyes and groan. “Knock it off,” I say, walking back into Nic’s arms and collapsing against his hard chest. “Milo’s gay. If anything, he’s been hanging around so he can get a good look at you four. I heard you guys have been considering a reverse harem since I’ve been gone, and Milo here has offered to be the girl in your sandwich.”
All five of them look horrified by the idea while I grin with victory. Yeah, that got them to shut up.
“So, you’re into dudes?” Elijah questions. “You don’t want to get between Ocean’s legs?”
“Look, I’m not going to lie. Ocean is sexy as fuck and if I were going to fuck a chick, she’d be the one I’d be trying to get with, but no. I’m not interested. I don’t go to an all-boys school for the stellar education.”
Nic scoffs a laugh and just like that, I know we’re all cool. Though, maybe I should rephrase. My crew and I are all cool, while Milo looks like he’s sweating bullets. These guys aren’t exactly the clean-cut type of boys he’s used to seeing around Bellevue Springs. My crew are the kind of guys who look like they belong in prison. All four of them are covered head to toe in tattoos and piercings, their gang colors hanging off them proudly, not to mention the guns I felt at each of their backs.
Milo will be alright though. If anything, from what I’ve seen of Bellevue Springs, he’s safer here with these four gang members than the rest of this pretentious town.
I turn in Nic’s arms and grin up at him. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Had to see you,” he says. “I couldn’t stand the thought of you living in that house with that prick. The first night that punk snuck into your room and tried to touch you and then Carrington crept into your room last night. I don’t trust them and if this is as far away as I can get you, then you bet your ass that’s what we’re doing.”
I beam up at him before looking around my small group of friends. “So you all came to help move the old bat out of here?”
“Sure fucking did, kid,” Eli says.
“You know you guys are the best, right?”
Sebastian winks. “You can pay us back in sexual favors.”
Nic reaches around my back and smacks Sebastian up the backside of his head. “Knock it off and get back to work. I want this done so we can spare an hour or two to chill with our girl before we have to get back.”
“Really?” I beam. “Will you guys stay for dinner?”
“As long as it’s your mom’s nachos,” Kai says.
I cringe. “Mom has been working around the clock so I don’t know if she’ll have time to cook but I can put it together. I’ll just have to scavenge through the staff kitchen and see what I can steal.”
“Fuck, yeah,” Eli booms. “I fucking love those nachos. There’s something about the way you and your mom make your nachos that makes it so much better than everyone else’s.”
“I know,” I grin wickedly, catching Eli’s eyes. “We lace it with laxatives and then watch as you guys stuff your faces and fight over the toilet.”
He rolls his eyes, not believing me for a second. “In your dreams, babe. You would never do that to us. Your mom is too nice and you don’t have the balls to follow through.”
My gaze darkens. “Want to make a bet?” I question. “Just ask Milo about all the shit I’ve had the balls to do over the last few days. It’s funny how tough you have to become when you don’t have your crew at your back.”
“Fuck,” Eli murmurs, the laughter gone from his voice as Nic’s hold tightens on my waist. “Is it really that bad?”
“Nah,” I say, trying to reassure them. “I can handle it.”
Milo scoffs from across the room. “Not that bad? There’s already been attempted rape, death threats, and Jude got beat up … but I’m starting to see how that happened now. A teacher has been arrested and the Dean might be losing his job. Add the bullshit you’ve been getting from Colton on top of that, and yeah, things are going just swimmingly.”
I glare at my new friend. “Seriously?”
Nic and the boys look baffled. “Sounds like you’ve been holding out on us,” Kai murmurs, annoyed that they’ve been kept in the dark.
Milo continues. “There’s no point sugar-coating it, girl. Shit is going bad and you’ve only been here a few days. You could use the back up in your corner and they can’t help you if they don’t know what’s been going on.”
Nic nods. “I like this guy.”
I groan. “No. You guys need to stay out of it and keep your asses out of Bellevue Springs unless it’s to visit me. This place could get you guys in trouble. You’ve already got enough shit going on back home.”