Page 17 of Dirty Love

I cock my head and he chuckles, checking to make sure no one’s listening this time before he turns back to me.

“Nothin’, it’s just… your brother’s a little… intense.”

I laugh lightly at that, nodding as I sling my backpack over my shoulder. “Yeah, I know.”

“Are you going to Austin’s party on Saturday?”

“What?” I ask, pulling my head back at the sudden change of subject. “Why?”

“You know why,” he teases, dragging his lip through his teeth as he drags his eyes over my form, blatantly checking me out in front of everyone in here.

I swallow my fear and grit my teeth at him, warning him with my eyes to keep his fucking mouth shut.

No one but me, Nicky.

“Look, man, whatever it is you think you know about me, you’re wrong.”

“Is that right?”

“I like girls,” I whisper harshly, leaning in as I squeeze by him to ensure he hears me loud and clear. “If you’re smart, you’ll say the exact same thing.”

“I’m not that smart,” he jokes, snatching my forearm to pull me back to his chest. “I can make you feel real good, you know? All you have to do is let me.”

I shake my head and take a step back, slapping his hand away when he tries to grab me again. Before he has the chance to say anything else, I turn around and all but run away to find my brother, jumping out of my skin when I run right into him in the hall. He gets one look at me and glares, his hands clutching my ribs as he bounces his vicious eyes between mine.

“What the fuck happened?”

CHAPTER 8

KADE

Today’s a bad day.

That’s what our mom used to call them before we knew what depression was. The ones when her body and mind just refused to work with her, when she’d do nothing but lie in bed all day, unable to keep that fake smile on her face or eat or even talk to us.

Nicky’s like her, but whereas she had more bad days than good, especially towards the last few months of her life, he has more good days than bad.

Most of the time.

I’ll take him to get help after we graduate if that’s what he wants, but for now all I can do is watch him suffer and keep on hiding the razor blades.

As if sensing my eyes on the scars I can’t see beneath his hoodie, he locks his jaw and pulls his sleeves down to his knuckles, leaning back beside me on the three seater couch we’re sitting on. Austin’s tiny living room is bursting with drunk people, most of them too fucked up to think straight by this point, the lights low, the loud music drowning out the sounds of their shouts and laughter.

“We don’t have to be here, you know?” I ask again, hoping to get an actual sentence out of him this time, but he just stares at his lap and flicks his lighter to burn the joint he’s smoking.

I sigh and run my hand through his hair, discreetly kissing his temple before I move to stand. I walk over to the kitchen and grab him a bottle of water from the fridge, shaking my head when I find Austin and Parker making out with a set of smoking hot twins on the other side of the room. Mark walks over and grabs himself a beer from the box on the counter, tipping his chin at Nicky while he uncaps it with his teeth.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“None of your fuckin’ business.”

He snorts at that, nodding to himself as he takes a sip. “Yeah, well, I think the new kid wants to know, too.”

I tense and look up, struggling not to react when I see Jasper standing at the bottom of the narrow staircase, once again staring at my brother like he’s the hottest guy he’s ever seen.

“Kid looks like a fucking fag,” Mark sneers, not even bothering to mask his disgust toward gays.

That’s the problem with this bullshit town.

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