“I hear you have a new friend,” Jaden said, leaning against the locker next to mine the following morning.

I made a face. “What are you talking about?”

“The new guy you’re cozying up to in biology.” His voice was low and hard. Anyone else would think we were having a normal conversation. I knew better.

“We sit at the same table. That’s hardly cozying up. What happened to you last night?” I slammed my locker door shut and turned to look at him.

“I met some of the guys at The Dive and lost track of time, which you’d know if you’d read my texts. Don’t ever do that again. When I text you, I expect you to text back.” He flicked my shoulder. It stung, but I didn’t acknowledge it.

“Well, when you tell me you’re going to pick me up for dinner, I expect you to show up. So I guess neither of us got what we expected last night.”

Jaden grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me behind him. I had to take two steps to every one of his long strides. I was practically jogging to keep up with him.

“What are you doing?” I tried to jerk my hand free. He tightened his grip.

“Walking you to your class.”

My heart rate increased, and I tried to pull him to a stop. “Jaden, just leave it alone.”

I knew what was coming. Brody was new to the school, and he made the mistake of daring to sit next to me in class. Jaden was on his way to set Brody straight. He pulled me into biology. Strolling into the classroom like he owned it, he dragged me to my seat and shoved me into my chair. Brody was already sitting at the table, watching with a raised eyebrow. He reached out to steady me. My eyes met his, and I shook my head once. He withdrew his hand.

“So you’re Brody, huh?” Jaden asked.

Brody tipped his head in acknowledgement.

“I just wanted to set some rules in place.”

“Rules? This should be interesting,” Brody said with a half grin. He leaned back in his chair, his fingers laced behind his head.

“Willow’s mine. Keep your hands to yourself.” Jaden leaned over the table.

Brody just stared at him with a somewhat amused look on his face.

“Mr. Smith,” my biology teacher called, “I don’t believe you’re in this class. Make your way to your own class.”

“Yes, sir,” Jaden said. With one last glare at Brody, he turned and left.

“Big head, little brain. I could almost hear it rolling around inside that oversized skull of his,” Brody said with a chuckle.

“Keep talking, Ace,” I muttered.

“What, are you going to run and tell your big, bad boyfriend?” Brody dropped his arms and leaned forward to look at me.

“No, but someone will. There’s a whole classroom of people listening to you right now.”

He shrugged a shoulder. “Let them. I’ve seen his kind before. Jaden doesn’t scare me.”

He should.

The rest of the hour was uneventful. The teacher droned on about the dissection of an earthworm we’d be completing later in the week. I pretended to be riveted by his lecture—a hard feat—and tried not to look at Brody. Maddeningly enough, my eyes had a mind of their own and my gaze kept wandering to him. I dipped my head toward my notebook, pretending to take notes, letting my hair fall in front of my face to hide my eyes so I could stare at him.

Brody reclined in his seat, his long legs stretched out in front of him, his ankles crossed. He drummed his thumb against his thigh and looked completely relaxed. I eyed him up and down. His perfectly mussed dark hair fell over his forehead and curled slightly around his collar—he had the whole messy bedroom hair thing going on—his lips held a small grin. He was tall and lean, and his black T-shirt—snug in all the right places—hinted at a firm, muscular body underneath.

Jeez, get a grip. I’m acting like some kind of ho-bag… like Sarah. Crap.

But my eyes wouldn’t stay away. There was no denying he was good looking… beyond good looking, in fact. But there was something else about him that drew me in. He had a kind of quiet confidence about him. I saw it in the way he stared at Jaden. It set me on edge, made me feel off-balance, and I felt a little stirring of butterflies in my stomach as I watched him from behind the curtain of my hair.

Then he opened his mouth, and the butterflies scattered.

“Like what you see?” he murmured, not looking at me.

Feeling my face flame with a red-hot blush, I hoped he couldn’t see, I opened my mouth to shoot a witty comeback just as the bell rang.

He flipped his book closed, looked at me, and smiled. “See you tomorrow, Willow. You can stare some more then.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

Ugh, that’s my comeback? Weak, very weak.

He winked and walked to the door. “Later.”

That was when I knew I had a problem. Brody Victor. He was gonna cause trouble. I could feel it.

“So tell me about him,” Jenna said after school. We were at my house, supposed to be doing homework.

I lay on my back across my bed, my feet propped against the electric pink-and-black striped wall. “Who?” I dodged.

“Play dumb all you want, Willow, but Tim told me all about you checking Brody out this morning in biology.”

“I was not checking him out.” I huffed. “Okay, maybe a little.” Looking at her, I smiled. “How can any woman with a pulse not check him out?”

“So?”

“He’s easy to look at.”

“Yeah, that much I can see for myself. He’s almost illegally hot. Tell me something I don’t know.” She leaned forward, pushing her math book out of the way.

“He has an ego the size of Montana.”

“Yeah, the pretty ones usually do.” She sighed. “Has he talked much?”

“Nope. We just sit next to each other. That’s it. Nothing exciting.”

“You should ask him out.” She nudged my shoulder with the eraser on her pencil.

“What? I’m with Jaden. I can’t ask some random guy out.”

“Jaden, yeah, yeah.” She waved her hand in the air. “Dump him and go for the biology hottie.”

Oh, you have no idea how fast I’d dump Jaden if I could. He’d be like shit on a shoe.

“No,” I said, laughing.

“We could do a group thing and invite him along. We can tell him it’s a way for him to get to know people.”

I sat up, folded my legs under me, and tucked the loose strands of my hair back into my messy bun. “That sounds good… have fun.” I flopped back on the bed.

“What do you mean?” She shoved my shoulder. “You’re coming, too.”

“Jenna, you know I can’t. If Jaden ever found out, he’d flip, and I can’t take him with me. He’d do something to ruin the whole thing. You should ask Brody out. You’re single.”

“Maybe, but I think the group thing is the best idea. We can plan it on a night Jaden has football practice. He never pays attention to what you do when football’s involved.”

“Willow! Dinner!” my stepdad hollered from downstairs.

“It’s dinner already? I should go.” Jenna gathered her things, blowing her hair out of her face.

We walked down the stairs together, Jenna still trying to talk me into going bowling with her and checking out Brody.

“You need to unburden yourself of the wart named Jaden.” She gave me a big grin. “Think about it. You know you want to.”

I laughed. “Okay, okay. I’ll think about it.”

“Hey, Jenna, I didn’t know you were here,” my stepfather, Ralph, said with a smile. He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her in for a hug. “Why don’t you stay for dinner?”

“Hi, Mr. McKenna! I wish I could stay. I could smell your meatballs all the way upstairs. They smell delicious. But my mom already gave me strict orders to be home by five.”

Ralph looked at his watch and tsked. “You’ve got two minutes.”