Broken Hill High (Broken Hill High #1)(31)

It’s well past midnight when Maxen stands and takes Brooke’s hand before disappearing upstairs. She looks back at me with a wink and I can’t help but laugh. I also can’t help but wonder which of the three rooms upstairs they’ll be taking and I hope to god it’s not mine.

Some people have disappeared from the party but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still ridiculously huge. Pizzas were ordered so I guess we can still tell the boys’ parents that we ate pizza for dinner without actually lying, but as for the rest… I don’t know.

I’m standing by the pool with Courtney, laughing as Bec twerks and grinds her ass into some guy we don’t know with a major smile on her face. “I’m going to be hearing about this all day tomorrow,” Courtney tells me with a laugh.

“I know,” I agree with a laugh as I spy Jesse just behind them, taking a girl by the hand and leading her away. “You better watch her closely or she’ll end up going home with him.”

Courtney rolls her eyes as chasing around after Bec when she’s had too much to drink has become the norm for these two. It’s a routine Courtney knows all too well, though, Bec does it just as much for her too.

I lift my cup to my mouth and notice a guy sitting across the pool watching me and Courtney, and honestly, even though it’s dark, I can tell from a mile away that he’s hot. I don’t know him though so he must be from the public school.

With the liquor going through my body, I find myself smiling at him. He grins and rises out of his chair before making his way around the pool. “Wowza,” Courtney says from beside me.

“Oh yeah,” I agree.

The guy comes over and stops beside me. “Hey,” he says, offering me his hand. “I’m Jackson. I don’t think I’ve met you before.”

“No, I don’t think so either,” I tell him as I take his hand. “I’m Tora.”

“Tora?” he questions, bringing my hand up and pressing the softest kiss to my skin. “That’s different.”

I look up at him while giving him my best man-eating smile. “Yeah, my-”

Courtney clears her throat and cuts me off. “I think I hear Bec calling.” She grins and backs away, leaving me alone with Mr. Ladies’ Man.

The second we’re alone, Jackson steps into me and brings his hand up. He runs it down the side of my face and sends shivers all over my body. “You want to get out of here?”

I step away as my back stiffens. I wasn’t expecting that. I was hoping for a little flirting, maybe an intense make-out session, but not to be asked to leave with him within the first two seconds of meeting. “Wow,” I say to mask my unease. “You’re confident.”

“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’?”