A Good Girl’s Guide To Bad Boys

‘It was self-defence,’ he informed me and I scrunched up my nose.

‘That’s getting old.’

He shrugged, preparing himself for his next remark. ‘Never have I ever mooned someone,’ he replied and I stayed well away from the bottle. He didn’t seem surprised, he just watched me with his mystifying eyes, waiting for me to speak.

‘Never have I ever been arrested.’ Unsurprisingly, Hunter reached forwards and took a long swig of the drink, shooting me a smug grin. When he didn’t speak, I raised an eyebrow. swallowing the lump of bile in my throat.

‘I was done for beating someone up, no big deal,’ he said with a shrug. I sensed that there was more than that but I didn’t push it.

‘Never have I ever been to church,’ Hunter remarked with a smirk and I sighed, annoyed that I was living up to his assumptions. I took a drink and moved to sit back against the armchair.

When I was younger and my parents had just divorced, my dad used to make me go with him every week. It had to be the dullest day of the week, especially when I wasn’t religious.

Just as I was about to open my mouth for a snide remark, the doorbell went and I got up, leaving him hanging. I walked to the door and took the money that Hunter had left on the table to pay the pizza guy.

I put the pizza box down on the sofa just as Hunter reached up and grabbed my hips, pulling me down onto his lap. His lips grazed the sensitive spot between my neck and my collar bone.

‘Church girls just so happen to be very sexy,’ he whispered into my skin, gently pressing a kiss there before working his way up my neck. My blood started to power through my veins and any resistance that I had towards him melted. His fingers were tracing circles on my hips and I let out a small noise from the back of my throat, moving my head down to kiss him. He smiled against my mouth and deepened the kiss, taking over and moving us back against the floor. Hunter gently ran his hands down my sides under my shirt, pressing his lips to my neck. He ground his lower half against me and I breathed out through my lips, feeling the weight of him above me. Whenever he got this close, all thoughts of his arrogance disappeared and I couldn’t think of anything but how he made my heart race. I ran my hand through his soft hair and then down the warm, firm skin of his back, feeling it against my fingertips. Just as I felt the hard fabric of his jeans, I remembered what he’d put in the waistband a mere few hours before. I pushed back gently and Hunter immediately went with the push, backing up a bit. He opened his mouth to ask me something, but I cut in first.

‘I can’t live here,’ I said and he pushed himself back, rolling his lower lip into his mouth.

‘I told you that when you first got here,’ he said and I huffed, wiggling out from beneath him to distance us.

‘I know you did but I didn’t know quite how dangerous you were,’ I countered.

Hunter’s eyebrow rose and he sighed. ‘Is this still about the gun?’ he asked and I nodded, folding my arms tight against my chest.

‘You have a gun, Hunter, that’s illegal and all this shit that is going on between you and your brother is dodgy. I don’t feel safe,’ I said and he sighed.

‘If I tell you something, you promise not to freak out?’ he asked. I gave him a single nod and watched with interest.

‘The gun was given to me by my father,’ he said and I frowned.

‘Why?’

‘That’s not important,’ he said.

‘What type of dad gives his son a gun?’ I asked incredulously.

Hunter’s eyes shot to mine and behind them was a mixture of emotions. More prominent than any other was fear. ‘I have never fired it and I don’t plan on firing it. It’s unloaded and I keep it there to keep it safe, okay?’ he clarified.

I nodded again and rubbed my eyes. ‘I don’t know if I believe you, but okay,’ I said and he sighed.

‘I wouldn’t hurt you,’ he added and I nodded for the third time. I got up and evacuated the room, running my hands down my face with a sigh. I had no idea what to do or how to handle this. University was meant to be simple, studying and a bit of fun on the side. It was beginning to turn out to be more trouble than it was worth.

Chapter 11 (#ulink_0bedea5e-2d7d-52e5-827e-78bb7f5a320a)

My feet moved almost mechanically. Forwards, backwards and across while my arms rose above my head and I ran my hands down my bare stomach. The beat rang through my chest and echoed around the warehouse. I had decided to take a break after uni. The crew weren’t practising but I didn’t feel like going home. So I did what I normally did when I was stressed or needed to sort my head out. Danced. I moved down onto the floor, allowing my arm to hold my weight as I shuffled and kept my feet in the air above me, almost as if I was flying, weightless.

Dancing had always been important to me, from the age of five when my mum enrolled me in ballet, to the age of thirteen, when I saw a street crew dancing for money in the streets. It sorted me out if I was stressed and provided a break from reality, which recently I really needed.

My breaths rushed in gasps and I smiled to myself, leaning forwards and resting on my knees.

‘You’re good.’ I raised my eyes and found myself glancing up at Seb.

I straightened, placing my hands on my back as I stretched myself out. ‘Um, thanks,’ I replied through my gasps of breath and Seb smiled.

‘No problem. Although, I didn’t come here to stalk you,’ he joked and I smiled, turning around to turn the CD player off.

‘So, what did you come here for?’ I asked, wiping my forehead with my towel.

‘I did originally come here to ask you out for a coffee but I think that you could probably use a shower first.’ He smiled and I grinned, sniffing my armpit.

‘Do I really smell that bad?’ I teased and he laughed, shaking his head.

‘Nope but feel free to stop at my dad’s place for a shower, it’s closer than mine or yours,’ he said with a shrug as if it was nothing. I, on the other hand, wasn’t too keen on the idea of being anywhere near the father of the two brothers.

‘Sure, that’d be great.’ I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder as Seb led me over to his car. It wasn’t quite as nice as Hunter’s but it was probably about £100,000 out of my price range. Seb held the door open and watched me as I stopped, his eyes flickering over my stomach in the crop top.

‘Would you prefer it if I sit on my towel?’ I asked and his brows furrowed.

‘Unless you sweat through your ass, you’re fine without it,’ he replied with a teasing edge to his voice. I felt my cheeks burn as I gave him a sour look, lowering myself onto the posh-looking leather seats.

‘I took you for a motorbike kind of guy,’ I admitted, fiddling with the straps on my bag.

Seb smirked, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. ‘Do I look that bad ass?’ he asked and I laughed, shaking my head.

‘My dad drives a motorbike. He works in an office. Motorbike does not mean badass. But, yeah, you do,’ I added. He chuckled, turning the wheel effortlessly onto a neat-looking street. The houses were like soldiers, standing straight and tall, towering over the road as we drove through. Seb stopped outside one of the biggest houses there, killing the engine.

After looking over at me, he smiled, getting out of his side and walking over to mine to hold the door open. I thanked him and followed him up the steps to his house, gaping in awe when he revealed the marble porch that led to the type of bachelor pad you’d see on MTV.

‘Wow,’ I squeaked, looking at the pictures on the wall and the plasma screen that looked about the size of my bed. What surprised me was that for a father, there were no pictures of his sons, his wife or any form of family member. Just a couple pictures of some supercars. Seb chuckled, leading me through to a fairly large bedroom. It was clean, too clean for a room that was lived in.

‘This is the guest bedroom, you can use the ensuite.’ I followed his arm as he gestured to the door at the back of the room. I nodded and thanked him before going into the blinding white bathroom.

In no time at all, I was in the shower and feeling the hot water rushing down my body, soothing away the aches and sweat.

Seb was waiting for me after I had changed, applied a thin layer of mascara and towel-dried my hair.

‘Ready to go?’ Seb asked, heading towards the door. I nodded, following him back out to his car. Going for coffee didn’t seem like too bad an idea; he couldn’t exactly do anything to me in a public place, but Hunter’s warning was stuck in my head.

The car rumbled to life again once I was inside, it roared ferociously before trampling down the road towards a cafe. I’d never seen it before but it looked fairly cosy.

‘My dad used to take Hunter and me here when we were kids. The cappuccino is amazing,’ Seb threw over his shoulder. I tried not to show my curiosity at hearing about their dad. Hunter hadn’t really said anything about his family.

‘Hunter hasn’t really mentioned his dad,’ I admitted and Seb glanced over his shoulder.

‘It’s understandable. They don’t really get along,’ he informed me as he held the door open.