Page 21 of My Brother's Best Friend

Vera bumped her hip against mine. “Someone sounds jealous …”

I slammed my locker closed. “I’m not jealous.”

Piper gave a dry laugh. “You really like him, don’t you?”

“No.” I flared my nostrils. “I hate him.” I glanced back over my shoulder at him, just to remind myself that he was the biggest player at Redwood Academy and that I, Maddie Weber, didn’t like him, not even in the slightest. “He’s a dick.”

Walking backward down the hallway toward us, Alec raised his hand to wave to Sandra. “See you later, Sandra!” he shouted loud enough for the entire school to hear. And then he bumped into me, shoving me against my locker, purposefully.

“Watch it,” Alec said, turning around to face me.

“You watch it.” I ground my teeth together but felt those tingles zip across my body when he brushed his hand against mine briefly. He felt like he had on Friday night, but better somehow, and I hated it. Fucking hated it. “You bumped into me.”

Alec curled his lips in disgust, but those dark brown eyes were softer than usual.

“What’d you say?” Alec sneered at me.

Gathering all my courage, I stared him right in the eye. “I said, watch it.”

Alec had had no reason to walk over to me, to bump into me, to say a word to me. But he had. Which meant that he wanted something from me. And if he wanted to fuck me again, then I would punch him right in the face.

Instead of walking away, he smacked his large hand across my books, shoving them to the ground, our hands grazing against each other again. Then, he leaned closer to me and lowered his voice so only I could hear him. “Can’t wait to see you bend over to pick up those books, Cupcake.”

I hurled my fist back and slammed it into his jaw. “I hate you, you fucking dickhead.”

While Alec didn’t stumble back, he grasped his jaw and chuckled, which made me angrier with him. Who the hell did he think he was?! Flirting with Sandra all night at the party, sleeping with me, then another girl, flirting with Sandra again, then with me?! He was giving me a goddamn headache.

“Don’t laugh,” I scolded quietly. “Pick up my books.”

When he leaned down and grabbed my books, I widened my eyes. He was really …

He handed me the stack of books, his fingers lingering on mine, his smirk gone, and his eyes suddenly duller than usual. “Can we talk?”

“No,” I snapped.

He drew his tongue across his teeth, walked a few steps backward down the hallway, then turned around and disappeared around a corner. We both had AP Calc first thing this morning, so I had to see his pretty—ugly—mug in less than fifteen minutes.

“He means nothing to you, right?” Vera nudged. “Because that punch sure had a lot of passion behind it.”

“I’m passionate about how much I hate him,” I said, walking down the hallway. “I’ll see you guys at lunch.”

Flustered and frustrated, I gritted my teeth and turned the corner to head for AP Calc. I didn’t want to see him again this morning. I would honestly love to never see that stupid little smirk again because I?—

Before I could make it to Calc, someone slapped a hand over my mouth and tugged me into the first dark, empty classroom.

CHAPTER12

ALEC

Ipressed Maddie against the shut door and buried my face into her neck. “Cupcake.”

While I had been desperately trying to keep up with the whole king of Redwood attitude that everyone expected from me, we had seven minutes until the bell for first period rang, and I was already exhausted with the whole charade.

Maddie tensed and squirmed in my arms, twisting toward me and shoving her hands into my chest. “What are you doing?!” she whisper-yelled, breathing quickly. “Get off me! I never want to see your ugly face again.”

I moved back, but I was still inches from her, posting my arms on the door behind her to trap her in. “Is that better?” I asked.

She stared up at me, her cheeks flushed and her nipples poking through her Redwood Academy hockey T-shirt, and she pursed her full lips. She glanced down between us, pressing her thighs together. “No. You’re still too close.”

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