Fuck.
I give her a lopsided grin and shrug my shoulders, absolutely owning it. “Alright, you got me. I’m only a gentleman most of the time.”
“And the other times?” she laughs, picking up her pace once again.
“Oh, baby, I’m not sure you could handle that kind of information.”
Elle looks across at me before curiously narrowing her eyes on me. “You…you don’t know anything about me, do you?”
I shake my head. “I can’t say that I do, but I’m not going to lie, I’m kind of thinking I’d like to.”
Relief flashes in her eyes but it’s gone a second later. “You’re trouble, Jackson Millington. So much freaking trouble.” She stops by a white BMW convertible and unlocks the doors. “I have to go.”
Elle opens her car door and I find myself stepping into it and blocking her way. “Don’t go,” I murmur, unsure why I feel so desperate to keep her company. I hold up the bottle of Jack and give her my award-winning grin that always does the trick. “Stay, we’ll make a night of it and I’ll walk you home later.”
Temptation crosses her features as she looks between me and the bottle of Jack, and just when I think I’ve got her, she shakes her head. “No, I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m not the girl for you, Jackson. Find someone else to spend the night with.”
“Hey,” I say, reaching out and taking her chin between my thumb and forefinger, forcing her eyes back to mine. “Why are you running?”
Elle considers me a moment, but all I can focus on is the way my fingers tingle under the touch of her burning skin. Elle shakes her head, freeing her chin from my soft grasp as her big blue eyes grow fearful. “I’m just…I’m not right for you.”
What is this? Why am I so desperate for her not to go?
With that, Elle steps past me and drops down into her car. She takes off, leaving me wondering why the hell that hurt so bad. But one thing’s for sure, I need to know more about this girl. I just wish I could understand why.
Chapter 5
Elle
“Oh, God,” I groan as Jesse Ryder waltzes into my homeroom without a care in the world looking like sex on legs with his cap on backward and his signature cocky smirk. He walks right up to me before sliding the belongings of the girl beside me along the desk only to plant his firm ass on it and stare down at me with a wide, cheesy as fuck grin.
He waits me out, seeing how quickly my curiosity will get the best of me, and naturally, I break within the first two seconds. “What do you want, Jess?”
Jesse grins proudly, feeling as though he’s won some sort of victory, but it doesn’t last long as Miss Williams sends us both an unimpressed glare. “Yes, Jesse. I’d also like to know why you’re disrupting my homeroom and not attending your own.”
The victorious grin is wiped from his face and instantly replaced with the panty-dropping one that seems to help him get away with murder. “You see, Miss Williams, a little while ago, I hurt Elle in a nasty way and while we’re chill now, I don’t think I ever got around to apologizing for being such a douche.”
“Watch your language, Jesse,” Miss Williams scolds. “But I’m sorry. Now is not the time for apologies. You can speak with Elle during lunch.”
Jesse flashes her the puppy dog eyes and I don’t doubt she’s a goner. “I cleared it with Mr. Harris. He’s cool with my invasion. Actually, to be honest, I just think he’s happy to have me out of his classroom.”
“I don’t doubt that,’ she grumbles with a roll of her eyes, falling victim to Jesse’s wicked charms before looking between the two of us. “Dare I ask what this is all about?” she questions. “If you say you hurt Elle in a nasty way, then perhaps barging in here and forcing her attention is not the right way to go about it.”
“It’s fine,” I tell her as a deep voice calls from the back of the room. “You don’t need to worry about that. From what I hear, Elle likes it when guys barge in.”
The room falls into snickers as my face flames with embarrassment. I see the regret in Miss Williams’ eyes. There’s no doubt she knows all about what cost me the cheerleading team, all the teachers do. They gossip more than the bitchy girls around here do, but from the look on her face, she feels for me, which only increases my embarrassment. Having the teachers know my dirty secret is even more humiliating than having just the students know.
I hang my head into my hands but before my eyes have even cast down to my lap, Jesse is up off the table and hovering protectively in front of me as he glares towards the back of the room. “Got something to say, mother fucker?” Jesse roars, demanding the attention of everyone in the room as he seems to double in size. “Say one more word about her and I’ll fucking drop you.”
The room falls to silence and I look up, wanting to watch the fear on the guy’s face, but Jesse is blocking my view and something tells me that he’s doing this on purpose.
Not a word is uttered as Jesse remains in a stare-off with the guy. “Alright, Jesse. I think you’ve made your point crystal clear,” Miss Williams says, trying to break the tension in the room. “Why don’t you take Elle outside and you can talk there.”
Jesse doesn’t move so I slide back out of my chair and wrap my fingers around his large forearm before giving him a gentle tug. “Come on. Jess. I’m fine.” Jesse narrows his eyes further before finally allowing me to pull him away.
Jesse grabs my things off my desk on his way past, assuming I won’t be coming back before leading me out the door and being a perfect gentleman by holding it open for me.
We walk aimlessly through the school, side by side, getting all sorts of looks from other students and teachers until we break out into the fresh air and find our way down to the bleachers overlooking the football field.
“That’s all on me,” Jesse finally murmurs. “Do you get that shit from people all the time?”
“Every single day,” I tell him, dropping down onto the cold metal bench of the bleachers. “But that’s expected when you’re a social outcast with a past.”
“You’re a social outcast because of me,” he reminds me, though the reminder isn’t needed, that night is etched into the front of my brain for all of eternity.
“You don’t need to apologize,” I tell him despite appreciating the fact that he’s doing exactly that. “All you did was air a little secret and the students did the rest. Besides, it’s not like what I did was that bad, most of the senior class has done it themselves.”
“You weren’t outcasted because of your secret,” he explains. “You were outcast because I was the one who aired it. I made it known that you were the enemy and everyone followed suit. I made it that way and I’ve regretted taking you down like that ever since.”
“Don’t,” I say reaching out and squeezing his knee. “I deserved it. You were right. I was the one who put the idea in Josh’s head to go after Tora. I thought he would just scare her a bit. I had no idea he’d go to those lengths and if I had, I never would have done it. But my actions have consequences and I think I’ve come out a much stronger person. This was good for me, Jess. The road to get here just sucked is all.”
“You know I’m sorry, right?” he murmurs. “I was trying to prove some kind of point in protecting Tora, but she wasn’t the one who needed protecting.”
“I don’t need protecting, Jesse.”
“Yeah,” he laughs. “You do.”
“I think I used to,” I admit. “You know, back when things were really bad, right after it happened, but it forced me to change. I was forced to re-evaluate my choices and realized that I was heading down a dangerous path. I wasn’t a nice person and my priorities were all fucked up, but I see the bigger picture now and I think I had to go down that rough road to be able to come out a better person in the end.”
“I think you’re right,” he agrees with a proud smile.
I beam back at him. “I have friends now, like real, down to earth, true friends and I have nothing to thank except for your douchebaggery ways.”
I narrow my eyes at the second most popular kid in school, wondering what he could possibly want to talk to me about. I mean, wanting to discuss our differences is one thing, but having two separate things on his agenda is simply unheard of when it comes to me and Jesse.
“Spit it out, Jess,” I say when he doesn’t come right out and say it.
“It’s about Jackson,” he warns.
My brows furrow. “Huh? What about him?”
“Don’t shoot me for this, but I heard you and him were getting a little close on Friday night.”
“What?” I sputter, staring at him in shock. “What the fuck are you talking about? I talked to him for all of three seconds while I was trying to leave Crystal’s party. He walked me to my car and then I took off.”
“Really?” Jesse questions as a devilish smirk pulls at his lips. “I heard you guys were fooling around. Well, to be honest, I actually heard a few different variations of that rumor.”
“Let me guess,” I groan. “I’m perceived as a whore around here so I’m assuming it’s something about screwing in the bushes and letting him do whatever he’d like to me?”
“The back of your car actually, but yeah, you get the gist.”
I roll my eyes as I shake my head. “That’s ridiculous. Have you seen the back of my car? I can barely fit in there myself let alone getting naked in there with a monster of a guy like Jackson.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, but you’re small so I figured maybe you’d learned a few tricks that you could share with the class. You know, give me a few pointers on working with minimal space. I don’t know about you, but I like to move around when I’m getting down, you know what I mean?”
I glare across at Jess. “Seriously?”
Jesse nudges my shoulder. “Chill out. I’m teasing. I know nothing went down. I’ve been keeping my eye on you and I know you’ve been keeping clean. You’re like a born again virgin, it’s been that long.”
“Why am I not surprised?” I scoff, rolling my eyes.
Jesse shrugs unapologetically. “Look, all I’m saying is be careful. I’ve got a soft spot for you now and I don’t want to see you get in trouble and that’s exactly what would happen with a guy like Jackson. You know, he’s been asking about you, right?”
“What?” I grunt, raising a brow in curiosity. “Why?”
“I don’t know, Elle,” he says, getting up when the bell rings. “Just be careful, okay?”
Jesse waits for me to acknowledge him before bounding down the stairs of the bleachers and disappearing behind them, leaving me wondering what the fuck that was all about.
I get myself to my first class of the day and to be honest, I haven’t been this distracted since I was a cheerleader. On Friday night, I felt something between me and Jackson, despite how badly I didn’t want to.
Jesse’s right, he is trouble and I see it in the glistening of his deep eyes, but that knowledge doesn’t stop the way my heart races when he’s around. I’ve spent the last few weeks avoiding him like the plague solely because I know that he’s the kind of guy that would drag me into his trap and devour me, and that’s just not something I’m down for at the moment.
Besides, after all that threesome bullshit, it’s best for me to lay low and a public relationship with the resident bad boy is not the way to go.
My day drags and by the time lunch comes around, I couldn’t be happier. I grab something to eat and squish my way between Brylee and Brooke as Courtney and Puck remind the rest of us that we’re grossly single.
I slouch in my seat, leaning forward onto my elbow and sipping at my water when I feel his piercing stare. I’ve been getting it all day or maybe I get it all the time but only now I’m noticing it. I don’t know what this is but Jackson is seriously messing with my head.
I can’t help but meet his eyes across the cafeteria and when I do, a sexy as hell smirk cuts across his handsome face, making something pull inside me. Why is it that I so desperately want to run across the cafeteria and climb up into his lap and promise to be a good girl if he’ll promise to treat me like a bad one?
Shit. This is so not good.
Brylee flicks a french fry at Courtney and Puck and I can’t possibly be more grateful for the distraction. “Would you two knock it off?” she grunts. “I can hear the sound of your saliva moshing together and it’s making me want to barf.”
Courtney pulls back from Puck and narrows her eyes on her best friend before looking at the rest of us. “You bitches are so jealous.”
“Jealous of what?” Brooke snaps back, making my eyes go wide. What the hell is this about? These girls don’t get catty like this? This shit is usually reserved for the cheerleaders. “Every girl in school has already been with him.”
Fuck. Don’t bring this back to me. Don’t bring this back to me.
Puck holds his hands up in defense, pointedly not meeting my eyes to draw attention to the big target on my back. “Hey, what did I do?”
Courtney ignores him as she glares across the table at Brooke. “You’d know,” she snaps. “You’re the biggest whore around.”
“Guys,” I say, trying to find the peace, but apparently, it’s long gone and I let out a sigh. I was hoping for a better lunch to make up for the shitty, confusing day, but I guess that’s not going to happen.
“Says you? You’re the one with your tongue down your boyfriend's throat,” Brooke says, flying to her feet, but more importantly, why is Jackson still staring at me and why the hell does it have me clenching my thighs under the table?
Court gets to her feet too. “Well, at least my boyfriend doesn’t cheat on me.” With that, she grabs her phone off the table and storms out of the cafeteria, leaving me gaping behind her.
“Shit,” Puck grunts as he narrows his eyes on Brooke. “Did you really have to do that?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Brooke yells. “Brylee was the one who asked you to stop and that cow was the one who claimed we were all jealous. So, why don’t you go and run after your precious little girl and remind her that all this bullshit is on her.”
Brylee sighs as Puck shakes his head and gets up from the table, hopefully, to go and find Courtney. “What the hell was that?” Brylee questions. “Are you feeling okay?”
“No. If they want to make babies then they should go and do it privately.”
Brylee's lips pull into a tight line and it’s clear as day she’s pissed with Brooke, but then, Brooke is right, Brylee and Court are the ones who started this shit. Brooke just finished it. Court did take it too far, but that's when I realize that this is something more. Something is hurting Brooke and I’d bet anything that it’s got something to do with Maxen.
Those two have been going through a rough time over the past few weeks with a devastating break up after Brooke caught him cheating. She’s been hurting ever since, but she’s been trying to be strong for Tora as she’s going through a similar heartbreak.
Brylee gets up and hauls ass after Puck and Courtney, leaving me and Tora with a pissed off Brooke. “Alright, now that they’re gone,” Tora murmurs. “You want to tell me what the hell that was about?”
“You know what that was about,” Brooke grumbles, refusing to meet Tora’s eyes. “Courtney’s big mouth.”
“Brooke,” Tora scolds as I wonder if maybe I should make myself disappear. “Spill it.”
She lets out a frustrated groan and leans forward onto her elbow. “Maxen asked out that whore, Holly, today.”
“Fuck,” Tora curses. “You okay?”
I cringe before leaning in closer, hoping I’m somehow able to lighten the mood. “Okay, here’s the plan. I’ll hold him down while you two beat the shit out of him.”
Brooke lets out a big booming laugh and just like that, I know she’s feeling a shitload better, even though the hurt shines brightly in her eyes.
“
Besides,” Tora continues. “Holly is a bitch ass skank. She went down on a linebacker last week. It’s only a matter of time before they cheat on each other. We can make it a game,” she laughs excitedly. “NO. A bet.”
Brooke grins. “You’re on. Twenty says she tries to fuck Tyson by the end of the week.”
Tora reaches out and shakes Brooke’s hand. “Twenty says she does ‘an Elle’ and tries to do them at the same time.”
My mouth drops in shock. She didn’t really just say that, did she? “Hey!”
“You going to deny it?” Tora grins, teasing.
I roll my eyes before glancing around and making sure no one is listening in on our conversation, though it’s not like what I did is a big secret thanks to Jess. “Don’t knock it till you tried it.”
“Ewwww,” Tora laughs as Brooke raises a curious eyebrow. “You two are such skanks.”
“Don’t give me that innocent bullshit,” I tell her. “You were with Nate Fucking Ryder for months. You can’t tell me that a guy like that didn’t want to get a bit…nasty in the bedroom.”
“I am so not talking about this with you guys,” Tora says, though she’s distracted by something across the room.
Brooke gasps as her eyes widen. “Tell me,” she begs. “What did you do?”
Tora gets to her feet before grinning down at me and Brooke. “You whores can get lost. I’m not spilling anything.”
Tora takes off and Brooke and I are left behind, calling after her and demanding her presence, but I quickly realize that she’s chasing Nate and Jesse out the door and where they’re concerned with Tora, Brooke and I are practically invisible.
I slouch back in my chair only to find Brooke focusing intently on me. “What?” I question, narrowing my eyes at her.
She grins wide. “Tell me more about this threesome. Suddenly, I’m very curious.”
A devilish grin tears across my face and I find myself glancing at Jackson before turning back to Brooke. “Well, what exactly is it that you want to know?”
Jackson: Broken Hill Boys (Novella 2) Page 4