Page 15 of A Little Bit Reckless
Gosh.
My face shot up a million degrees. I didn’t know what Thatcher meant. And suddenly, the dining room was filled with half the house. The dining and living rooms were connected,and my best friend Noa Sloane-Mallick—Sloane, to me—and her boyfriend, Dorian Prinze, entered the living room.
Sloane and Dorian had been on the couch watching TV with Ares Mallick and his fiancée, Fawn Greenfield, only seconds ago. Ares was also Sloane’s twin brother.
“Leave her alone, you ass,” Sloane said, her lips turned down. She was always on my team, and we’d been best friends since high school. She was also gorgeous, with dark hair and a natural tan, and was easily a foot taller than me. Most people were taller than me, but I never felt small around Sloane. She always lifted me up and bolstered my confidence with hers.
Thatcher looked like he might say something back to Sloane. She never stepped down from anyone, even though my brother and his friends could be crazy intimating. Hands on her hips, Sloane looked ready to take whatever my brother shot back at her, but then Dorian got between them.
He was kind of the leader of my brother’s friend group. A tall blond, Dorian shot Thatcher a look like he dared my brother to say something to Sloane. Dorian and Sloane had been dating for forever, and we all knew they’d get married someday.
Thatcher put his hands up in front of Dorian. They were both huge football players, and, though my brother was also bigger than Dorian, he respected him. Thatcher laughed. “Chill out, man,” he said before facing Sloane. “And my sister did look weird earlier. Like all spacey-eyed.”
Oh my God.
I had no idea I’d looked that way, but I also knew I hadn’t been completely paying attention during my study session with Wells.
I’d been thinking about that kiss.
I felt sick after I kissed Bru. He called me beautiful but obviously hadn’t meant what I thought he meant.
“Bow, I’m so sorry.”
He’d actually apologized to me, and I probably looked so pathetic. Ifeltpathetic.
My fingers curling on Wells’s book, I sat there with it in my hands. My tutoring session with Wells had been surprisingly easy, considering the circumstances in which we were working together. I wasn’t Wells’s favorite person, and definitely not after I basically manipulated a situation to get him to do what I wanted.
“What would make you think I’deverhelp you?”
I tried to ignore his voice in my head. He always had a way of making me feel like the worst piece of scum on the planet, and I knew he believed that I was. He thought I was lower than scum, probably.
I caught Wells’s eyes on me after what Thatcher said, like he was trying to analyze me and figure me out. He was so good at that,greatat that.
Wells had his thick arms crossed in his tight, white tee. I refused to look at how the fit hugged his biceps and made him look more intimidating than he already did. He was probably doing that on purpose, too. He liked making me uncomfortable. He liked reminding me of the power he had over me and my life, but he didn’t have to do that.
I was well aware of it on my own.
“I need a break,” he mumbled before dropping his arms from across his chest. I may have been distracted tonight, but I was also aware he’d taken a lot of breaks during our session. Wells pushed back his dyed locks. “I’m going outside to smoke.”
I cringed. It was like he couldn’t stand being around me more than fifteen minutes before he went off to smoke weed. Like it was all he could do to stomach being around me.
My stomach tossed, tightened. I didn’t want to work with Wells either. He was so mean to me, but I got it.
I got it.
There was a history there, and it made me just as sick as what I was doing now with this whole blackmailing-him-into-letting-me-tutor-him thing. I was sure Wells thought I was an excellent manipulator, and I hated that I was proving him right.
Wells grabbed his Pembroke Football hoodie off his chair before exiting the room, and, once he had, Sloane shook her head.
“How is he being toward you?” she asked, taking his seat. Dorian and Thatcher headed back into the living room and plopped on the couch across from Ares and Fawn. It looked like they were all watching a Japanese anime.
“Not bad,” I said, watching their small group. Ares and Fawn were hugged up on the couch watching TV, and Dorian would be too if Sloane was over there. If Thatcher’s girlfriend, Aspen, was in town, they probably wouldn’t even be in the room at all. They didn’t see each other a lot since Aspen was on tour. She was a professional cellist, so, when she was in town, they basically took every opportunity they could to be together alone.
My brother and his friend group were my whole world, which was a big reason I lived in a dorm by myself. I also didn’t have a choice, since no one would room with me. Sloane would have of course, but she and Fawn were with the guys all the time. I probably deserved to be alone anyway.
“I have no idea why you’re doing him a favor,” Sloane said.
I just smiled at Sloane. She sounded so much like her brother Bru. He wasn’t her biological brother, but they were still so similar, kind. I hugged my arms. “He’s not that bad.”
