Fuck. I’m going to be hearing about this later.
Kaylah climbs in his passenger's side and gives me a tight smile and a discrete little wave before Jesse pulls away from the curb and shoots down the street. Next up, Elle and Jackson, quickly followed by Puck and Court.
I mean, any other night this would have been incredible. I’m usually down for a night in with all my friends, and it’s even better that it was here. I could have drunk as much as I wanted and not had to worry about getting myself home. It would have been a perfect night if only I didn’t have such an awful day.
Where is Nate? I could really use him about now.
As the cars disappear from the street, I close the door and make my way back inside with a sigh to see Brooke huffing around the kitchen, cleaning up the empty beer bottles and potato chip packets. She dumps them in the trash before turning back to me. “You couldn’t just let us have one fun night?” she accuses.
“By all means,” I say, waving my hand towards the door. “Go with them.”
Her eyes narrow on me. “You’re a real bitch, you know that?”
“Yeah,” I grunt, grabbing my bag from the table and pulling out my books to get stuck into my studying. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
She huffs again, grabs her phone off the couch, and storms down the hallway before slamming her door.
Fuck.
This night is not going how I had planned. Not even close.
I grab myself a drink of water and wash down a few painkillers before finding something to eat and taking a seat at the table. I open my books, wishing I could be climbing in bed rather than getting ready to spend the night at this damn table.
The painkillers start to dull the ache in my head and I find myself finally able to concentrate on the work in front of me.
Thank God. How could this night have gone from bad to worse? I’ve literally just pushed away the only people I have at the moment, and most likely hurt Jesse’s feelings in the process. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Jesse is a marshmallow. He’s soft and gooey on the inside and I don’t doubt I’m going to have to worm my way back in after what I just did.
Brooke, on the other hand, is hard as a rock. She’ll bounce back in no time and as soon as all this Lukas bullshit has passed, we’ll go straight back to normal. That’s the good thing about having a best friend like Brooke. We get each other, except for right now, of course.
My phone rings on the table and I look down to find mom calling. I let out a relieved sigh as taking this call would serve as a great excuse to stop studying for a while. I answer the call and push up from the table before making my way over to the couch.
Mom drones on about the new club she’s joined and from the sound of it, it’s just as pretentious as the one she belongs to here. I ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ at all the right times as I relax down into the couch and close my eyes.
I tell her about my shitty day and she reminds me to keep my chin up before calling me out for acting like a bitch.
The door opens and my heart starts to race as I sit up. Nate’s due to be home any time now and I don’t doubt it’s him walking through the door. I can just see it now, he’d walk forward, lean over the couch and kiss me before walking over to the fridge and helping himself to a drink.
I peer over the top of the couch as I hear his footsteps by the door before it closes behind him. My heart falls flat. It’s not Nate. It’s Lukas.
Fuck me. Could this day get any worse? I mean, did Brooke invite him here just to piss me off? The timing seems a little too convenient.
I groan and fall back down onto the couch, ignoring him as he walks by. I expect to hear him walking across the back of the couch before turning down the hallway, but when the sound stops right behind the couch, I end the call with mom.
I look up to find Lukas leaning over the back of the couch, looking down at me with a hungry smirk as he takes in my body. The only good thing about this is seeing the black eye and cut lip which someone so thankfully gave him. “Is there something you need?” I grunt, calling on my inner bitch once again.
His smirk becomes amused. He doesn’t reply, just simply watches me, making me uncomfortable.
I groan and go to get up off the couch when Lukas presses a hand down on my shoulder, keeping me in place. “Don’t go,” he says, dropping his hand and walking around the front of the couch.
I watch him as he takes a seat beside me and throws his arm over the back of the couch while propping his feet up on my coffee table. “What do you want?” I question, desperately wanting to keep my distance.
“Relax,” he laughs. “I’m trying to apologize.”
“Really?” I laugh. “Could have fooled me.”
“Come on,” he says. “You’re so uptight.”
“I have a perfectly good reason for that,” I remind him. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind fucking off, I have stuff to do.”
“Look,” he says. “I’m going to be hanging around for a while. Don’t you think things would be easier if we put that shit to bed.”
“Interesting choice of words.”
His lips raise into a proud grin. “Come on, Tora. It was just a joke.”
I stand up and look down at the turd relaxing on my couch with my eyes narrowed to slits. “It wasn’t a joke and you know it. You came into my home with the intention of trying to get me into bed. Two for the price of one, remember? You don’t care about Brooke. She’s easy ass and I see right through you.”
Lukas pushes up from the couch and steps into me, towering over me with a sick grin. I want nothing more than to shrink away, but I’ve been in this position a million times before with Nate growing up and backing down simply isn’t an option. I will not appear weak. Not in front of this pig.
Lukas raises his hand to my cheek and curls his big fingers around the back of my neck, making me want to hurl with the touch. “You think you’ve got me all worked out,” he says, showing his true colors.
“Scumbag,” I spit. “You are not welcome in my home. I want you out.”
Lukas barks out a laugh and a moment later, his lips are crushing down on mine. I squirm, trying to break his hold, but his hand around the back of my neck is holding me still as he forces his tongue inside my mouth.
I bring my hands up to his chest and go to give him a hard shove away when I hear a familiar gasp coming from the hallway. “I fucking knew it,” Brooke cries.
I rear back and this time Lukas lets me go before bringing up his arm and wiping it across his face in disgust as he glares down at me. “I’m with Brooke,” he demands. “Stay the fuck away from me, you little home wrecker.”
My eyes widen in disbelief. “You’re fucking insane,” I tell him. “Get the fuck out of my house.”
“How could you?” comes a broken voice from the hallway. I turn to Brooke, knowing she’s about to be heartbroken over what she just saw, but her glare isn’t on Lukas, it’s on me. “You’re supposed to be my best friend.”
“Are you serious?” I gasp, wide-eyed. “You can’t possibly believe this shit?”
“I know what I saw,” she demands, shaking her head. “Why can’t you just let me have this? Are you that fucking jealous of me? Or is it that you just don’t want me to find happiness? Either way, you’re an awful friend. Actually,” she says. “I don’t even think I can consider you that.”
My heart shatters at her words and I watch as she walks away. Lukas chuckles at her back and goes to follow her, but a second later, she returns with her bag in hand and heads straight for the front door.
Lukas follows her out the door and all I can do is watch.
I mean, what the fuck just happened?
Chapter 13
“You better fucking hope that what Brooke is accusing you of is bullshit,” Nate demands as he barges his way through the front door, making sure to give it a good slam behind him.
I sit on the couch with my knees pulled up into my chest and my face buried in my knees. I�
��ve hardly been able to breathe since Brooke stormed out of here. I still can’t believe what the hell is going on right now.
It’s only been about ten minutes since she left and I was hoping that I’d be able to get myself under control before he came home, but as I raise my eyes to his, all the emotions of my shitty day catch up with me.
Tears spring from my eyes and I break in a way that I’ve never broken before.
Nate’s face falls. “Shit.”
It’s clear that when he walked through that door, he was expecting me to be fired up just the way he is as I rarely let this bullshit actually get to me, but right now, I’ve hit breaking point and I can’t manage to see past the next few hours.
Nate turns off the light and walks around the front of the couch. He reaches down and scoops me up into his strong arms before laying down with me on top of him. His arms curl around me, holding me tight as I cry into his chest, letting my tears soak into his shirt.
Nate runs his fingers over my hair and down my back, giving me that closeness I’ve been desperately needing from him all day. “What happened?” he murmurs, pressing his lips to my forehead. “What did he do?”
“What makes you think he did something?” I mumble into his chest.
“Babe,” he says softly. “You never react like this. Something definitely happened, and besides, I got a pretty angry message from Brooke.”
“Really?” I groan. “What did she say?”
He shuffles around beneath me and pulls out his phone before bringing up the message. Nate holds it up for me to see and I read over it with a cringe.
Brooke – Keep your skank ass GF away from Lukas.
I groan again and drop my head back to his chest as he reaches out and puts his phone on the coffee table. “She hates me,” I tell him, hating how those words feel coming out of my mouth.
“She doesn’t hate you,” Nate soothes. “She’s confused and wants to believe that what she has with that loser is real. She said so herself. She wants what we have and she’s going to give it her all until she makes that happen.”
“But she’s wrong,” I cry. “He’s no good for her.”
“We know that, and anyone else with a set of eyes knows that, but she needs to work it out for herself. Now, I know you’re all cut up about Brooke, but if you don’t tell me what the hell went down with that dickhead tonight, I’m going to lose my shit in a big fucking way.”
I don’t know how he manages to sound so damn threatening and intimidating while also continuing to soothe me. His fingers never once let up running down my back, giving me every ounce of comfort he possesses.
I let out a sigh and push up until I’m straddling his hips. I run my hand across my face, trying to get rid of as many tears as possible, knowing Nate hates the sight of them, but it’s useless, more instantly take their place.
Nate places his hand on my waist, stilling rubbing his thumbs back and forth as he patiently waits, and I want to hate myself for what I’m about to tell him. I don’t doubt he isn’t going to take this well. Hell, I’m probably going to have to hold him down so he doesn’t go and find the guy.
I take a deep breath and try to even out my voice. “I was here, on the couch when he came in,” sniffle, “and instead of going down to Brooke, he stayed here and started giving me this shit about wanting to apologize, but it was fake cause he kept looking me up and down like he wanted to eat me.” Nate’s fingers tighten on my waist and I try to ignore it as I continue. “I got up and was in the middle of telling him to go and fuck himself,” a shudder runs through me and I cringe with the next words that are about to come out of my mouth.
“Just say it,” Nate says, his voice low and threatening.
I swallow and meet his eyes. “He grabbed me around the back of my neck and held me still while he forced his tongue down my throat.” Nate’s fingers clench down into my flesh and I don’t doubt it’ll leave a bruise, but to be honest, he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. “I… I shoved against his chest to get him off me and that’s when Brooke walked in. He made it look like I was coming onto him, and of course, Brooke believed him.”
Nate sits up, putting us face to face. His eyes roam over me, searching for any signs of injury. “Are you ok?” he murmurs, pushing hair back behind my ear. I nod my head, even though the torturous mental image is ingrained inside my head. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“Don’t,” I say, latching onto his arms to keep him rooted to the couch as I search his eyes. “Don’t go. At least, not now. I don’t want you to leave.”
He lets out a sigh and I watch as he visibly allows the rage to leave his body. He relaxes down on the couch, pulling me back down with him. “I should have been here,” he says. “The whole point of me moving in was to stop that dickhead from touching you.”
“I thought it was so you could be with me.”
His chuckle vibrates up through his chest. “You know it was,” he tells me softly, going back to running his hands down the length of my back.
I let out a shaky breath as the last of the tears finally disappear. I nuzzle my face into his wet shirt, needing more from him. Nate tightens his hold around me and I sigh in satisfaction. “Tell me something to get my mind off it.”
“I got a call from Jess,” he says with a knowing smile.
“Shit,” I groan. “Tell me something else.”
“I think you hurt his feelings.”
“I know,” I sigh. “I just had a shitty day with a headache and having to deal with transferring classes and rearranging my schedule. Then to top it all off, my History professor was an asshole. I just needed to come home to a quiet house, and I know he meant well by having everyone over, but he just picked the wrong day to do it.”
“Nah, I get it,” he says. “This is your home and it wasn’t how you needed it when you got here, but you know how Jesse is…”
“I know,” I tell him, finding his hand and sliding my fingers between his. “I’ll make it up to him.”
Nate smiles and although he likes to tease his brother and give him shit, he also loves him fiercely and hates that he’s hurting. He probably hates it even more that I was the one who caused that pain, but I promise myself that I will do anything and everything I can to make it right. Just not now. After a good sleep and a few more painkillers for this damn headache.
“You know,” Nate says, giving my hand a squeeze. “You can’t keep up with all this work. You’re going to kill yourself.”
“It’s fine. I’m managing.”
“You’re not, babe,” he tells me. “You’re staying up past midnight every night with your head stuck in textbooks, you’re skipping meals, you’re cracking the shits with all your friends. Where does it end? You can’t keep this up.”
“I can,” I argue, hating where he’s going with this.
“You can’t, you’re wearing yourself down and forgetting to live,” he says smoothly. “You need to cut back. You have the next few years to do all this. Why don’t you pick a few classes that you’re enjoying and put off the rest? You can pick them up again when your workload isn’t quite so crazy.”
I shake my head. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” he questions. “No one is going to think you’re weak. Hell, no one even has to know.”
“It’s not that,” I tell him. “I just… I want to be the best. What kind of lawyer am I going to make if I can’t manage a few extra classes?”
“You’re going to make an incredible one because you’re going to be able to focus properly on each class you take, rather than rushing through your studying.” I let out a sigh and drop my eyes away from him.
Nate squeezes my hand again. “Will you at least think about it?” he asks quietly. “I’d hate myself if something happened to you because you were overworking yourself.”
How could I possibly say no to him? “Ok,” I murmur, closing my eyes and relaxing into his chest, the one place I know I can always find peace.
�
�Ok, you’ll cut back? Or, ok, you’ll think about it?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Alright,” he says. “I guess that’s a win in my book.”
I smile against his shirt and breathe him in, content to lay here in complete silence.
“Is your headache gone?” Nate questions, somehow managing to make his voice soothe my head rather than poke at it like everyone else’s voice seems to do.
“Yeah,” I tell him. “The pain illers were helping for a while until all that Lukas bullshit happened.”
Nate adjusts himself under me and before I know it, he’s carrying me down the hallway with me safely in his arms. He pushes into my room and places me down on my feet before him.
He reaches for my shirt and slides it up over my head before reaching around me and unclasping my bra. It falls from my arms and I look down as it falls to the floor. “Nate,” I sigh with a cringe as he goes for the button of my jeans, not really feeling in the mood.
As if sensing what I’m feeling, he catches my eyes. “Trust me, ok?” he says. “This is all about you.”
Butterflies take flight in my stomach as I slowly nod. I watch Nate as his eyes flame with need. He takes the button between his fingers and easily undoes it before slipping his thumbs into the waistband on either side of my hips.
Nate draws my jeans down my legs like some kind of erotic dance, letting his fingers tickle my legs on the way down. I suck in a breath as he looks back up at me. He looks so damn hungry for me that I’m already feeling it.
I step out of my jeans and Nate straightens himself up. He slides one arm around my waist and lifts me as though I weigh nothing at all. I curl my legs around his waist as he steps back into the bed and lays me down.
He comes down on top of me, bringing his lips to mine in the same instance as his hands begin exploring my body with feather soft touches. It’s a tease. It’s almost as though he’s giving me exactly what I want while leaving me desperate for more.
Broken Hill Havoc: The Broken Hill High Series (Book 5) Page 12