Looking for Trouble (Nashville U Book 1) (4 page)

Clay looks over at me, his grin even wider. I didn’t think it could get bigger than it already was. “
Anything
? Hmm, that could be interesting.”

He looks like he’s considering his options, so I hurry to clarify, “Anything that isn’t sexual, illegal or immoral.” Clay’s face falls, and swear to God, he
pouts
.

“Well, you’re no fun.”

I roll my eyes. “No, I’m just not stupid and I don’t want to end up expelled or in jail or the health clinic because you gave me the Clap.”

“The Clap?!” Clay puts a hand over his heart, gasping like he’s wounded. “I can’t believe you’d think that of me, Kitty Kat. I always, always wrap my guy. No STD’s here.” He runs his hand down his stomach, resting it on the button of his jeans as he leers at me. “Don’t be shy, little kitten. If you want to see, you just have to ask.”

Cringing away from him, I make a gagging sound. “You’re such a pig. I wouldn’t touch you if you were the last guy on Earth, and it was up to us to procreate.”

Clay laughs loudly. “Never say never, sweetheart.” Shaking his head, he starts to walk away. “Let’s go, time’s a-wastin’.”

Against my better judgment, I follow him to his car. At the beginning of his senior year, Clay’s parents bought him a sleek black car. Since then, he’s added blue racing stripes and fancy chrome wheels. Acting surprisingly like a gentleman, he reaches around me to open the passenger door, shutting it behind me before walking around the rear to get in himself. As soon as the car starts, it’s obvious the stripes aren’t the only addition. With a sheepish look, he turns down the blaring radio quieting the thumping baseline somewhat, though I can still feel the vibrations through the seat.

“Sorry,” he says with a shrug. “I like my music like I like my women—loud.” He winks, and I don’t know what to do with a Clay who’s not just a vulgar jerk. He’s making jokes and I want to laugh. It’s a new side of him, one I actually like, and I don’t know how to reconcile it with the Clay who makes me want to commit murder on an hourly basis. I can’t help but stare at him as he turns the radio up just a little before he puts the car in gear and takes off. We head for the apartment he shares with Max and Emmett, silent but for the curse-filled rap music playing too loudly to encourage more talking.

Clay

When we pull up to my apartment, Max’s “great pumpkin” is parked in front. Kat’s eyes dart over to it, stuck as she pulls her bottom lip through her teeth. I’m not sure exactly what she’s thinking, but I figure it’s something along the lines of
why didn’t he show up to get me? I had to hitch a ride with the asshole brother
. She’s still sitting in the passenger seat when I shut the car off and get out. Just the closing of my door startles her, but her eyes are still locked on his car.

I pull her door open and reach out a hand for her to take. When she doesn’t move, I crouch down to look at her. “Are you planning to sit here all night? I told you he was probably here and just sleeping.” Big eyes meet my own and she finally unbuckles. Ignoring my offered hand, she unfolds her lean body and slides past me, careful not to touch me more than she has to. Normally I’d tease her, but for some reason, seeing her so out of sorts stops me.

Kat walks ahead of me up the stairs, and I realize she has a really nice ass. Usually, she’s careful to stay out of my range, but right now, at this moment, it’s practically in my face and I can’t help but stare. Stare, salivate, imagine it in my hands.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
I shake my head trying to clear the image of her curves filling my hands and try to replace it with anyone else’s. It doesn’t take long for us to reach the top of the stairs, and thankfully her butt is no longer right in my line of sight, I breathe out a sigh of relief as we walk down the hallway.

She stops outside the door, hands tucked into the pockets of her dark skinny jeans and shoulders hunched against the cold air coming through the breezeway. Max has brought her over enough times that she should feel comfortable just walking in, but she never does. When I open the door, she waits for me to walk in first. I step inside, listening for Max’s soft snores, but the sounds coming out of his room are definitely
not
from him sleeping.

For reasons I can’t even begin to understand, I immediately try to usher Kat back into the hallway, but she doesn’t follow my lead. “What are you doing?” she asks. There’s no way for me to answer this without her finding out exactly why my little brother didn’t show up at school on time.
Stupid bastard
, I think, mentally shaking my head at his idiocy.

I struggle for something to say that’s not
Max is boning some random girl, and you probably don’t want to know about that
, but I come up empty. The most I can do is open and close my mouth a few times. Kat continues to study my face, scrutinizing me closely. The longer I go without explaining, the more concerned she becomes.

“Is something wrong with Max?”

She tries to step around me but I block her. “No,” I start, but the situation gets the best of me. I start to laugh, thinking of all the things I could say in reply. “Max is finally ‘doing‘ something right,” or “the only thing wrong with him is that she’s not making enough noise.” The possibilities are endless. Kat’s eyes narrow in frustration. She shoves me as far as she can, which albeit isn’t very far, but it’s far enough for her to dart past me.

Not thinking, I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her back … right into my front. Her body fits perfectly against mine, and her soft curves against me have my cock taking notice.
This is not the time for that
. I can’t get a stiffy with my brother in the next room having sex. That’s all kinds of wrong. Not to mention, this is
Kat
. I start thinking about football plays, I mean, they’re non-sexual.

Eagle cover three—I got the running back.

Falcon blitz two—I cover the slot. Shit, that doesn’t help.

Charlie Over Strong—I hit the tight end.

Fuck me. This is just making it worse.
I try thinking first about Livvie because I can’t stand that tramp, and even the fact that my brother is having sex a few feet away—anything to stop the rising situation in my pants. Luckily, Kat jerks away from me before my dick makes himself known, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, as soon as she takes another step forward, the noise from Max’s room is easy to hear. She freezes. All the color drains from her face as it falls. I feel shitty since I’m the one who brought her over. Don’t get me wrong, pissing Kat off and annoying the shit out of her are two of my favorite pastimes, but I’m not unfeeling. There’s nothing funny about seeing someone’s heart being broken. That shit’s messed up, and I’m not going to be the one to rub it in her face.

I know she’s seconds away from tears, so I fall back on the relationship Kat and I have had since we met. Stepping up behind her, I lower my mouth to her ear and say in the sexiest voice I can, “Wanna go back to my room, baby? We can show them how it’s done.” I didn’t think it was possible, but her body stiffens even more at my words. With a swift intake of breath, she elbows me in the stomach. For someone so fragile looking, she has hella-pointy elbows and I cough out a rough breath.

“Christ, Kat, was that absolutely necessary?” I wheeze, trying to get my breath back. Her breath catches on a sob, and I reach for her arm, but she shoves me away. Before I can say something, apologize for the way I tried to help, she runs past me, a hand over her mouth and tears filling her eyes. She doesn’t even look at me as she leaves. I’m left standing in the entryway, unsure whether to go after her or go beat my stupid brother’s ass.

A few seconds later, his bedroom door opens and feminine laughter can be heard just before Max walks out, wrapping his arms around the waist of a slim brunette, one with massive tits and a tiny waist wearing only his t-shirt, from behind. Her tan legs look smooth from where I’m standing, toned. If I wasn’t fuming over his treatment of Kat, I’d be proud of him for landing such a nice piece of ass. The boy is screwing a girl who is way over his pay grade. However, his “best” friend just ran out of here in tears, so I’m not so inclined to pat him on the back and praise him for landing a girl who’s way out of his league.

“So, this is why you didn’t show up to get Kat this afternoon?”

They both stop when they hear my voice, and the girl whose name I don’t know looks up at Max with a raised eyebrow. “Kat? Who’s Kat?” she asks, her displeasure obvious. She’s clearly coming to the conclusion that Max used her to cheat on his girlfriend, and I have to duck my head so she doesn’t see my smirk. The little fuck deserves everything he’s getting, and more.

Max is quick to placate her. “She’s just a friend, Soph, promise.” “Soph” doesn’t look convinced, and my brother pulls her further into his arms, murmuring who knows what into her ear. Whatever it is, it works, and again, I want to congratulate the shithead for his level of game. Any other time, I’d be giving him all kinds of shit, but right now? Well, right now, all I can think about is the girl who left with tears tracking down her cheeks.

The chick walks back into his room, leaving Max in the living room with me. He flops down on the couch, and I wonder if he’s just oblivious to the amount of rage coming from my side of the room, or in just too much of an after-sex fog to care. Watching my brother be so nonchalant about breaking a poor girl’s heart has me reevaluating the way I’ve treated women. As the oldest of three boys, I’m the one Max and Linc look up to. Is Max’s treatment of Kat because of what he’s seen me do? The thought leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. If that’s the case, I hope the fact I haven’t lived at home for three years means Linc has at least a chance at being a decent guy.

“C’mon, man,” he whines, when he finally picks up on my mood, “Kat will forgive me for not showing. She always does.” He blows it off like it’s no big deal that he left a friend in the lurch, that he just bailed on her with no notice, no explanation, nothing.

“Are you fucking serious right now?” I fume, struggling to keep from punching him in his whiny mouth. “I gave her a ride over here, asshole. She knows
exactly
why you didn’t show up and what you were doing instead.” I laugh mirthlessly. “You’ll be lucky if she forgives you before graduation. Yours, not mine.”

Max finally clues in to what I’m saying and he jumps up from the couch. “Kat is
here
? Where is she?” He starts to look around, like he thinks she’s hiding in plain sight, before his panicked eyes land on me.
Yeah, not so funny now is it, shit stain?

After watching him look for her for a few minutes, I take pity on him. “She left. Poor thing couldn’t handle hearing you banging Big Tits McGee,” I gesture towards his bedroom door, “through the wall.” Without another word, he races past me, the girl in his room all but forgotten as he goes after Kat. I follow him at a slower pace, giving him time to make things right with her, or at least time to grovel without me as an audience. Boy has some serious work to do. If they were dating, he’d be spending the next couple hours on his knees in apology. And, there goes my dick again.
Fucking traitorous appendage
.

Kat

After tripping down the steps and almost breaking my neck, I sit at the bottom, set my bag on the ground, and drop my head in my hands. What the hell just happened? Clay’s words echo in my head.
Wanna go back to my room, baby? We can show them how it’s done.
God, he’s such a jerk! I can’t believe his solution to finding out Max forgot me because he was too busy with another girl is to compete with him in the moaning department. My disgust at his suggestion did distract me for a few precious seconds though, so I should probably thank him. But, I won’t. I can only hope Linc doesn’t grow up to be like his older brothers. One Mitchell hottie
has
to be a decent human being.