“I’ve not slept with her. She believes in no sex before marriage.” Liam smirked.

Jake looked like he nearly passed out, he was looking at Liam like he had grown another head. “You…. she…. what?” he stuttered, shaking his head violently.

Liam just laughed. “As of now, I’m officially off the market. So, Angel, tell your friend that I’m taken,” he instructed, turning to me and giving me a wink.

“I will. Wow, so a reformed man-whore, maybe there is hope for you after all, Jake.” I laughed, throwing a coco pop at him.

“No way, I give it a week and Liam will be back to his old self, sleeping with anything that moves,” Jake stated confidently.

“I don’t know Jake; he looks pretty serious to me,” I said as I finished my breakfast. Liam smiled at me, he obviously liked what I said, showing my trust.

“Finally, you’ve learned to use the head that’s attached to your neck,” Jake joked, making me flinch at his words.

“I think it’s sweet, Liam. She’s a lucky girl; hopefully you won’t break her heart,” I muttered, looking down at my empty bowl, just hoping that he wouldn’t hurt me.

“I won’t,” Liam stated confidently. I smiled as I walked back to my room to see Kate. I could hear Jake quizzing Liam in the kitchen and I didn‘t want to be there for it.

“So, what shall we do today?” I asked Kate as she was applying her usual ton of make-up.

“Hmm, I know, how about we go bowling? I could call Sarah and Sean. We could ask your brother and Liam to come,” she chirped excitedly. I didn’t really like bowling much, but my other friends loved it. We probably ended up going about one a month.

“Sure, I’ll call them.” I grabbed my cellphone and dialled Sarah’s number.

“I’ll go ask sex god one and two.” Kate smiled, skipping out of my bedroom.

I followed behind her as Sarah answered. “Hey, Sar, want to come bowling?” I asked cheerfully, as Kate plopped herself down next to Jake on the couch, practically sitting on his lap.

“Yeah sure. What time?” she replied, sounding excited.

“We’ll meet you there in, say, an hour?” I suggested, looking at my watch, it was only just after ten now so that should be fine.

“OK. I’ll call Sean, I can pick him up on the way,” she chirped.

I grinned because Kate was now flirting with Jake shamelessly. “OK great. See you there.” I disconnected the call and leant against the wall, watching my best friend plead with my brother.

“Please come with us? Then you can see how skilled I am with balls,” Kate purred, fluttering her eyelashes. Liam choked on his laughter, quickly turning it into a cough as Kate turned to face him. “Come on, Liam, I’ll make it worth your while. I know you’re a good player, how about you teach me a few tricks?” she said seductively, moving closer to him. He looked uncomfortable with her advances. I was actually enjoying him squirm. Usually, he would flirt back with her, but today he looked like he wanted to run away.

I decided to help him out. “Kate, will you leave them alone? I don’t want my slut of a brother, and his reformed slut of a best friend, coming, if I have to watch you throw yourself at them all day,” I scoffed, pretending to gag. I was actually getting quite annoyed that she was still looking at Liam like she wanted to eat him there and then. Liam looked at me gratefully, which made my heart seem to stutter slightly in my chest.

Kate grinned at me. “Hmm, well where’s the fun in that?” she asked, winking at me and making me chuckle.

“We’re going bowling in an hour anyway; if you want to come it’s up to you. Sarah and Sean are coming, and maybe Terri too.” I shrugged, plopping on the floor by Liam’s feet, leaning against his legs. I could see Kate staring at me with shocked, wide eyes, so I quickly moved away from him, blushing like crazy.

“I don’t mind bowling. What do you think, Jake, want to whip the girl’s asses?” Liam asked, grinning.

Kate nodded quickly. “I’m definitely up for some whipping,” she said enthusiastically. The boys both ignored her.

“Yeah OK. I like bowling I guess. Hey, Liam, why don’t you ask your girlfriend to come along too? Or are you afraid that she’ll take one look at me and think she’s made a mistake and dump your ass for an upgrade?” Jake joked.

“My girlfriend wouldn’t even look at you, Jake, so I don’t have anything to worry about,” Liam answered confidently; I could hear the amusement in his voice. I just blushed harder, trying to melt into the sofa and disappear.

“You have a girlfriend, Liam?” Kate asked, frowning. She looked like she was trying to solve a complicated math problem, her face all scrunched up in concentration.

“Yep he does. Some mystery girl who he’s crazy about, apparently,” Jake scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Kate’s eyes shot to me for some reason. She looked like she was trying to bore a hole in my face. I gulped and looked away, not really wanting to lie to my best friend. She gasped and looked at me with wide eyes, then looked at Liam, then back to me, silently asking if it was me. Holy crap, what is she a mind reader or something? I nodded slowly, trying not to be obvious, making her gasp again and giggle excitedly.

“Let’s go finish getting ready in your room, Amber!” she cried, jumping up. She was so excited that she actually clapped her hands like a child. I groaned internally, oh great, here it comes, the million questions.

“I’m already ready.” I shook my head at her warningly.

“I need your help in the bedroom with something!” she hissed, looking like she would murder me if I didn’t get up right now. I pushed myself up and I heard Liam chuckle from the couch. I rolled my eyes at him; he really had a big mouth at times! But it is a sweet mouth.

I followed Kate into my bedroom; she shut the door and grabbed me. “I knew it! That boy has been eyeing you for years!” she cried, jumping up and down. I laughed at her excitement; she seemed almost as pleased about it as if it was her going out with him.

“He has not!” I smiled.

She dragged me over to the bed. “Oh be quiet! He is always looking at you. He finds any excuse to touch you. He flirts with you shamelessly, and is always telling you how hot you are.” She sighed dreamily. “So, young lady, when were you planning on telling me, your best friend?” she scolded, playfully.

“Er well, we were going to keep it secret for a couple of weeks. Jake’s really not going to like it.” I cringed slightly at the thought of the warning look I’d seen him giving Liam earlier when we were cleaning after the party; he was really opposed to the idea of me dating him.

“Wow, yeah, I didn’t think about that. Jake’s going to be crazy mad!” she said with wide eyes. I nodded, playing with my hands in my lap. “So, when did all this happen? You were together at the party, right? He was staring at you the whole night, and he beat the crap out of Jessica’s brother for kissing you.”

I gasped, a little shocked. “He beat up Jessica’s brother?” I asked. I remembered him pinning him against the wall, but then I ran off to be sick.

“Yeah. He was shouting at him to keep his filthy hands off you, and that you didn’t want him to kiss you. He’d seen you trying to push him away, apparently. Liam hit him a couple of times before the team broke it up. Then he just disappeared after that, Jake said he went home.” She eyed me curiously. I knew my face was red, I was a terrible liar. “He didn’t go home, did he?” She smirked at me knowingly.

I took a deep breath and shook my head. She screamed, literally screamed, and about two seconds later Jake and Liam came bursting into my room.

“WHAT? WHAT IS IT?” Jake shouted, looking around like there was a fire or something.

“Er…. Er, it was a…. er,” I stuttered, grasping wildly for something to say.

“Spider,” Kate interjected quickly, pointing in the direction of my bathroom.

Jake sighed and walked in there, shaking his head disapprovingly. “Seriously, all that over a spider? I thought you were being murdered in here!” he scolded.

Kate smirked at me and Liam. He actually looked like he was having fun watching me squirm. He winked at me, which made Kate laugh. I stuck my tongue out at him and he waggled his eyebrows at me, she just laughed louder at the two of us.

Jake walked back out, frowning and shaking his head. “I couldn’t find anything in there.”

“Oh, maybe it wasn’t a spider; it might have just been a bit of fluff or something,” Kate suggested, waving her hand for them to leave.

Jake rolled his eyes. “Jeez, Kate, you really are weird,” he said, walking out and shutting the door behind him.

She turned back to me, looking excited. “I can’t believe you lost your virginity to Liam James! Was it good? I bet he was good, right? He is so freaking hot! I’m so jealous!” she cooed, going off into a world of her own.

“I didn’t have sex with him,” I said quickly.

She snapped her eyes to mine. “You didn’t? Well why the heck not? If that was me I would have jumped his fine ass there and then.”

I giggled and shrugged. “Yeah I know you would, but that’s just not me.”

“OK, I know.” She sighed, looking a little defeated. Suddenly her face brightened again. “So, what did you do then?”

“We just made out, Kate, that’s all,” I said honestly. We really hadn’t gone much further than that, so it wasn’t really a lie.

“You’re so lucky. You have the hottest guy in school as your boyfriend and the second hottest is your brother. I mean, that’s just greedy!” she scolded, waggling her finger at me in a mock annoyed gesture. “So, he called you his girlfriend! Has he asked you out? Like officially, you’re a couple? Exclusively?” she asked, looking at me in awe.

I nodded, but grimaced at the same time. “Yeah he has, and yeah we are. But to be honest, I don’t know how it’s going to work out. I mean, he’s such a player I’m honestly a little scared to let myself fall for him in case he cheats on me or dumps me or something,” I admitted in a small voice, staring at the floor as all of my worries flashed through my mind.

She grabbed me into a hug, which immediately made me start to feel sick. My heart was pounding in my chest at her casual touch. I knew she was only trying to comfort me, but I couldn’t help my body’s reaction to touch. “I don’t think he will. I mean, he’s never had a girlfriend before, he’s never been exclusive, so you have nothing to base your theory on. Technically, he’s never cheated on anyone before.” She gave me a half smile. I couldn’t help but laugh at her attempt to make me feel better. I guess that’s true, the fact that he’s willing to be exclusive is a sign that he’s into it.

“We’d better go anyway; Sarah and Sean will be waiting there for us. Oh and Kate, don’t say anything to anyone, OK? Not even Sarah. I just want to see how it goes for a couple of weeks before Jake finds out,” I explained.

“I won’t, I promise,” she vowed, crossing her heart. “So, is he a good kisser?” she whispered, as we walked down the hallway.

“Unbelievable,” I replied, as we walked to the lounge.

“Damn it! Lucky cow!” she muttered quietly, making me chuckle.

Chapter 9

“So, are you guys coming or not?” I asked, because they were still sitting on the couch.

“Yeah, OK.” Jake sighed. He obviously didn’t want to come, maybe Liam was making him. He grabbed his keys and headed for the door. “I’ll go get the car out of the garage. Meet you out there.”

“Oh crap, I forgot my purse,” Kate said, skipping off back to my room.

Liam immediately grabbed me and kissed me, pushing me against the wall gently. I wrapped my arms around his neck, gripping my fingers in his hair. “Mmm, I’ve missed you,” he murmured against my lips.

“You did? I had no idea. Could you make it a little more obvious?” I joked, making him chuckle.

He kissed me again, sucking on my bottom lip lightly, asking for entrance. I eagerly opened my mouth for him; he slipped his tongue in, exploring every part of my mouth, making my stomach get butterflies. Someone cleared their throat and we jumped apart, thinking it was Jake. Thankfully it wasn’t though, it was Kate.

She had the biggest grin on her face that I had ever seen. “You two look hot together,” she stated, smirking at me.

Liam laughed and threw his arm around my shoulder. “Angel looks hot whoever she’s with.” He grinned and kissed my cheek, softly.

“Aww, that’s so sweet!” Kate cooed, putting her hand over her heart, looking at him adoringly.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, come on! We’ll be late if we don’t go now.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the door. I turned back and threw my keys to Liam, who locked the front door behind him. As he handed me back my keys, his finger brushed mine on purpose, making me moan a little in the back of my throat.

“Hey, Liam, you don’t mind riding in the back with Amber, do you? I really want to sit up front,” Kate called from the car, giving me a wink.

I saw Jake shaking his head at Liam, obviously asking for help. Liam smirked in his direction. “No. That’s fine if you want to ride up front.” He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. I smiled at Kate subtly. I loved my best friend; bless her, she was giving me time with him.

I climbed in the back and Liam slid in next to me, pressing his knee against mine. I put my hands in my lap and smiled. He reached out and took my hand, holding it tightly, putting it on the seat in the middle of us and moved his leg so it was shielded from view in case Jake turned around. There wasn’t really much chance of that though, considering he was driving, but I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry. Liam’s casual touch was sending sparks of electricity shooting up my arm. I bit my lip and looked out of the window, fighting the desire to grab him and kiss him until I couldn’t breathe. After the longest, most excruciating car journey ever, we arrived at the bowling alley. OK, that a slight exaggeration, it only took ten minutes, but the whole time I was fighting with myself to just jump on him and hold him tightly.