Broken Hill High (Broken Hill High 1)

“I know,” he says, moving forward again. “What do you say?”

“I-”

A warm hand wraps around my bare waist sending shivers all over my body as a wall of muscle moves in behind me. My back stiffens again, but this time it’s for a whole different reason. “Is there a problem?” Nate asks from my back with his chest vibrating against my burning skin, but the tone in his voice is anything but friendly.

His hand on my waist skims across my skin and his fingers slip into the waistband of my shorts before spreading them out and claiming as much of my skin as possible.

Jackson looks down and takes in Nate’s arm around my waist. “Yeah,” he tells Nate as he indicates to me with his eyes darkening. “We were just leaving.”

His comments have Nate’s hold tightening around me. “You mean you were just leaving. She stays,” he tells Jackson.

Jackson scoffs at Nate before he looks back at me, expecting me to leave with him and from his arrogance and confidence, I assume he’s at the top of his school, probably on the football team too. “Come on, babe,” Jackson says, reaching out for me.

In the blink of an eye, Nate steps forward and I somehow end up tucked safely behind him, with his arm reaching back, still holding onto me. I place my hand on his strong back and peer around him. “You were leaving,” Nate reminds him in a tone that I’ve never been so unlucky to be on the receiving end of.

Jackson’s eyes flick to mine before going back to Nate’s when he raises his hands and backs away. “There’s easier pussy around here anyway.”

With that, Jackson is gone and Nate is spinning around to face me with a glare. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he questions, still with his hand on my waist, though, at least his fingers are no longer dipping into my shorts.

“What do you mean?” I argue. “All I did was smile at the guy.”

“Do you have any idea who that was?”

I shrug my shoulder. “Should I?”

“That’s Jackson Millington,” he snaps as though that name must mean something to me. He snatches his hand away from my waist. “He’s public enemy number one. He would have taken you out of here, fucked you even when you said no and left you bloodied and broken in a gutter somewhere.”

Well… shit. “I wasn’t going to leave with him,” I tell him.

“You think you could have stopped him?” he questions as he lets out a frustrated huff before taking a few calming breaths. “You gave him ‘the look’,” he tells me.

“’The look’?” I scoff. “What the fuck is ‘the look’?”

“Oh, come on,” he says. “Don’t act like you don’t know ‘the look’.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Please enlighten me, oh wise one.”

Jesse walks by us with the girl still in his arms, trying to give us a wide birth as to not have to deal with our bickering again, but unfortunately for him, it’s never that easy. Nate launches out and grips him around the front of his shirt before pulling him in front of me. “Explain to her what ‘the look’ is.”

“Oh,” Jesse laughs. “That’s an easy one. It’s how you chicks let us know you’re down.”

“What?” I grunt.

“Yeah,” he says with a smirk. “You’ve got a killer look. It’s all in your eyes. It’s enough to make any red-blooded man har-” Nate gives him a hard shove, pushing him away and cutting off the crude thing he was about to say before he looks down at me expectantly.

“You’re an idiot,” I tell him.

“A thank you would be nice,” he says in a smug tone.

“You don’t deserve a thank you. What if I wanted to go with him?”

His jaw clenches and his dark eyes narrow. “Now who’s being an idiot.”

“You’re impossible,” I tell him, wanting nothing more than to stomp my foot and cross my arms, so instead of embarrassing myself, I just huff and storm away, which I realize, after the fact, that I’ve still managed to embarrass myself.

With my party spirit broken, I say goodnight to Courtney and Bec before heading for the stairs. “Where do you think you’re going?” Jesse calls out behind me. “The party is only just getting started.”

I shake my head. “I’m out,” I tell him.

He shrugs his shoulders. “Suit yourself,” he says before giving all his attention to the keg that he and Tyson are trying to bust open.

I head up the stairs and get just outside of my room when I hear moans and Maxen’s name being called out by my best friend. I let out a sigh, realizing that they’re in my bed.

I walk further up the hallway until I can’t hear them anymore and lean against the wall before sliding all the way down to the ground. I guess this is where I’ll be staying tonight.