Читать книгу A Good Girl’s Guide To Bad Boys - Katie Hart - Страница 13

Chapter 8

‘I’m not being your girlfriend,’ I replied hastily and then immediately regretted it when I saw the look on his face. Deciding to blame it on the alcohol in my system, I held my chin up defiantly.

‘Seriously, princess, get your nose out of the romance books.’ He rolled his eyes, making small circles on my hips with his thumbs.

‘Are you going to continue mocking me? Because that’s really not a way to get on my good side,’ I snapped, letting out a deep breath. I had no idea what room we were in, but it was so dark that I could only just make out Hunter’s large form and deep green eyes. His breath was dancing along the skin of my forehead, brushing my hair away when he leaned closer, gently placing a kiss on the curve of my neck.

‘Maybe I don’t want to be on your good side,’ he replied in a husky tone and I rolled my eyes, shoving on his chest. One, because I couldn’t concentrate on a word that he was saying and two, because I was done being a play thing. I had more self respect than that.

‘What do you want?’ My voice came out a lot firmer and thankfully, not as husky.

‘I need you to get close to my brother,’ he said, not moving his face from the curve of my neck. I frowned.

‘Are you bipolar?’

Feeling the smile against my neck, I groaned, shoving at his chest again. He went with the movement and kept his arms on the wall behind me, his face close to mine. Ducking, I moved out from his arms and stood behind him.

‘No, I’m not.’

‘Then why the sudden change of heart? I don’t like him anyway so you have no chance,’ I answered.

He smirked, leaning back against the wall. ‘I could make it worth your while,’ he winked. I hated that my blood started to rush through my veins in excitement.

‘I don’t really care to be honest. I’m not getting involved with your brother,’ I argued, looking him straight in the eye.

He cocked his head and sighed, running his hand down his face. ‘Can’t you just help me out?’ he asked and I shook my head, pushing myself away from the wall to the door. Hunter put his arm out, blocking the doorway. I considered ducking under it, but torturing him was a lot more fun.

‘No. Give me one good reason why I should.’

He gently placed a hand on my cheek, cupping it to make me look at him. ‘Because if you don’t, I’m a dead man walking,’ he admitted, brushing his thumb across my cheek bone. I gulped, realising the honesty that was behind his eyes. More than that, there was fear.

‘I’m not doing anything for you without some kind of explanation or reason. I came to university to learn, not fraternize. ?’ I said but he smiled softly, shaking his head.

‘If I told you why, it would be dangerous.’ I huffed, stepping back from his hand. He let it drop to his side.

‘And I thought that you were the ‘bad boy’,’ I teased and he chuckled.

‘Sweetheart, I may be bad, but he’s worse.’

I sighed, running my hand through my hair. ‘I don’t do danger, Hunter,’ I countered.

‘I’ll pay you,’ he added with a shrug.

I shook my head indignantly. ‘No, that would make me feel like a hooker.’ I shuddered to exaggerate my point and he laughed.

‘Suit yourself. I need this done, Andy, please. It doesn’t have to be for long, a week, max.’ I raised an eyebrow and he hastily shook his head at my cynical expression. ‘I got you into a new dance troop,’ he tried

‘Tell me why and I’ll do it, but I’m not doing it for more than a week,’ I warned.

‘Do it for the week and I’ll tell you what’s going on,’ he said, sounding more and more desperate by the second.

‘Why can’t you get Kenzi to do it?’ I asked.

‘Kenzi doesn’t scream trustworthy,’ he replied carefully and gave me a final look. ‘Please.’

I was an absolute sucker for people in need and despite the fact that I really didn’t want to. He’d helped me downstairs and he had also helped me with my troop. I exhaled deeply through my nose.

‘I’m doing this because of what you did for me earlier. I refuse to kiss him or do anything intimate, just become his friend and it’s only for a week,’ I outlined. If anything seemed like it was going to be too much trouble or something illegal, I would go no further with it, I’d made that silent promise to myself. He grinned and reached down, taking my face in his hands.

‘Thanks, Andy. You’re really helping me out here,’ he said, sounding somewhat sincere as he planted a kiss on my forehead.

‘

And with that, he walked away before I could get another word in. Knowing that I had to go back to Seb, I groaned.

I went to the toilet and applied a fresh layer of makeup, only to find that everyone had evacuated the bedroom. One thing that hadn’t crossed my mind was Kenzi. She had a major crush on Seb and I didn’t think that she would take well to me trying to get close to the guy that she wanted. She could have Hunter. I supposed that would make up for it.

On my way downstairs, I heard shouting coming from a nearby room. Normally, that was the point in a horror film where I would be screaming at the stupid girl in the film to ignore it, but being that stupid girl in the horror film, I opened the door.

I was greeted by someone that I didn’t recognise and the guy that had forced himself on me, both of them glaring. I gulped, backing out of the door as the guy made his way towards me.

I ran towards the stairs. The guy was shouting at me to stop. He hadn’t listened to me earlier, so I wasn’t about to listen to him as I grabbed the banister and jogged down the steps. My ankles were wobbly in my heels, but it didn’t slow me down.

My breaths came thicker as I got to the bottom of the stairs. A warm hand enclosed my arm and pulled me forward. Expecting to see Hunter, I was surprised when I found myself face to chest, Seb. He placed a finger to his lips as I heard the guy jog past into the beat of the music.

I pulled my arm back and then remembered that I was meant to be getting close to him. ‘Um, thanks,’ I said and he smiled.

It wasn’t friendly, more patronising. ‘How much have you had to drink?’ he asked and I frowned, trying to smell my breath with my hand.

‘Don’t know, a fair bit.’ I shrugged and then cocked my head to the side, taking in his features. ‘Why?’ He smirked, annoyingly alike his brother, and then glanced behind me.

‘You seemed a bit wobbly on the stairs there,’ he said, smiling.

It was then that I noticed we were in the dark, surrounded by the walls and the hollow beat of the music.

‘Come on, let’s get you some water.’

I shrugged, following behind him as he walked us to the kitchen. He was a bit shorter than Hunter and his shoulders were wider, so much wider that I couldn’t see past him.

‘Juice?’ he asked when I got there.

‘Just water, please.’ He nodded, passing me a glass with clear liquid.

‘How do I know that you haven’t drugged this?’ I asked with a raised eyebrow and he smirked.

‘Unless Kyle’s tap pours out date rape, then I think you’re safe.’

I chuckled, taking a sip and sighing, leaning against the counter.

‘So, Hunter, eh?’ he asked and I nodded, putting the glass down on the counter.

‘Yep.’

‘What’s it like living with the tosser?’ he asked, trying to conceal the fact that his eyes were trained on my lips.

‘So much fun,’ I replied in a sarcastic tone. One side of his mouth quirked and he started walking in my direction. Not missing a beat, he placed his hands on either side of me on the counter.

I glanced at him, trying to think clearly rather than in my alcohol-induced haze. I would say beer goggles, but this guy was good looking without those.

He leaned down and pressed a single kiss to my lips, not sloppy but gentle. I looked up at his dark eyes and he smirked, not moving away from me. There was a strong scent of alcohol on his breath when he breathed out and met my gaze.

‘You know, you guys do actually have something in common,’ I admitted. He leaned back and looked at me with interest, crossing his arms.

‘And what’s that?’

‘Neither of you keep your hands, or your lips, to yourselves,’ I stated and he chuckled.

‘Must run in the family.’