Page 79 of Boundaries

My skin started to crawl at the thought of either of these boys with Jenna.

“No, she will be with Nixon McKenna, her husband,” I pointed out with raised eyebrows. If that thought scared him, he didn’t show it but then he was a strange individual. They both were. Tyler shot a meaty toothless grin toward us.

“Well, we could take you and your little sister back to yours, she’s sixteen now I heard,” Jonathan purred. It wasn’t a pleasant sound.

“Sorry, maybe another time. We’re both stopping at our friend’s house tonight,” I lied. They must have seen from my face that I found their suggestion ridiculous. After another five minutes of attempting to change my mind, I managed to break free. I had to be brutal and put them straight, saying how they were punching way above their weight with us. They didn’t like it, their fish-like eyes had narrowed and I was pleased for the crowd around us.

As I made my way to the toilets, I recalled Jonathan’s comment about Mattie. If what he had said was true, Chrissy and I would have to catch a cab home. I certainly wouldn’t be asking the Proctor boys for a lift!

After I’d been to the loo, I headed back to the group and checked my phone for messages. Nothing.

Betty had bought me a beer, and I leaned against the fence instead of sitting. Needing to stretch my legs.

“What do you think of the beer?” Martin, a boy I used to go to school with said. “It’s pretty shit, isn’t it?”

I grinned and twisted to face him. He was tall and thin with brown hair and green eyes; his tan made them stand out even more. I remember him as a cheeky lad but a bit of a player at school. He’d had one of those on-and-off relationships with one of the popular girls. Sarah Brooker. What a bitch.

“I must admit, it isn’t the best but I’m on my fourth and so it’s getting better with each mouthful. How about you?”

He dashed a hand across his face and stared down at me, interest oozing from him, he didn’t even try and hide it.

“You’re a lightweight. This is my tenth.”

Wow, he didn’t look or sound pissed, but that was one hell of a lot of beer and it was only around three.

We spoke for a while; the chat was nice and refreshing with a healthy portion of flirty in there and I felt relaxed.

My creepy run-in with the Proctor twins was slowly wiped from my memory and I was glad to be talking to a handsome boy, out in the open and able to be myself. Betty shot me a suggestive look from her position next to Chrissy and then blatantly started talking about me behind my back to my sister. I didn’t care, they could both piss off, I was letting my hair down. Something I hadn’t done in ages and we were only talking.

Martin said something which probably wasn’t as hilarious as the beer I was drinking made out, but I shoved him playfully in the chest a couple of times. He really was quite funny. He lifted my mood and our banter just flowed.

I wound him up about a rumour that had circulated school about him giving one of the teachers a blowjob, which he totally denied. Eventually, I was punished as he swooped in and started tickling me. I had always been ticklish.

He kept touching my hair and saying how soft it was and it felt nice. I lapped up the attention he was showering me with and then some.

Halfway through relaying a story about an escaped pig in the village, Martin glanced over my shoulder with a frown. I drew back and looked up at him in silent question.

“What’s up? You, OK?” I said in a throaty voice, feeling high on life in the sunshine.

“Fucking hell. I appear to be getting the dead eye from one of the McKenna lads,” Martin whispered, drawing his gaze back to mine.

I frowned and made to glance behind my shoulder, wanting to see which brother he was talking about.

He clutched my arm to stop me from turning, “No, don’t look now or he’ll know we’re talking about him.”

I gently pulled away from his touch, “Who will?”

Why was he so worried, had he had a run-in with them in the past? Martin physically recoiled in front of me. I was desperate to see if it was Boyd or Seth. It couldn’t have been Mason or Nix.

“Fuck me, he’s coming over here. Shit,” Martin swore. He had paled significantly.

At that point I didn’t dare turn around myself, the guy was acting like he’d seen a monster. And then said monster spoke.

Fifteen

“What the fuck are you doing?” Mason’s voice struck behind me like a crack of thunder.

Martin’s eyes widened, “What me?”

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