You + Me = Us (now published so sample only)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - Friends and what?

Link

Who in the hell was this guy who just walked through the door? I mean one minute Shanay is all over me and now she's hugging this huge tree of a guy. What gives? I sent her a questioning look and she finally seemed to understand.

"Uh, JJ, I guess you know everyone here except for Link." Shanay said as she bit down on that swollen lip of hers that I had just been kissing.

I wanted to snatch her away from this guy. Jealousy seethed through me almost uncontrollably as he dropped an arm across her shoulder as if he owned her. I sucked in a deep breath and forced a polite smile onto my face. I wasn't going to be the one to show how much I despised this guy, just by looking at him.

I stood up and yes, I sized myself up against the guy. On second glance, he wasn't quite as big as I thought. Shanay was such a tiny little thing that everyone seemed huge against her. We seemed equally matched and that made me feel better.

"Joel, this is my best friend, Lucas." Shanay pointed between us with a worried glance.

I looked at him before doing the polite thing and sticking out my hand to shake. The guy was a few centimetres shorter than I was, and I enjoyed looking down at him.

He pulled his arm from around Shanay and gripped my hand tightly. His palm was wet with sweat making me want to gag. It was the first time I realised that this guy was nervous, even more than he should be.

"Link, this is Ali's half-brother. He, um, normally lives with his mum and goes to boarding school." Shanay explained as she twiddled with a thread coming loose on the hem of her shirt and refused to look at me.

That pissed me right off! She could at least have the decency to look me in the eye! What the hell was going through that damn mind of hers right now? I sucked up the horrible way I felt and faced this guy I'd never heard of before.

"Nice to meet you, Joel." I managed to get the words out through my gritted teeth.

"Hey call me JJ, man. So you're the guy she's always telling me about in emails?" he said in a fake jovial way.

His fingers tightened fractionally in mine before he let go. I raised my brows at Shanay who still refused to look at either of us. There was no way I was telling this guy that she had never told me about him. I couldn't believe that Shanay of all people had kept secrets from me.

"I guess so." I said as conversationally as I could.

"What are you even doing home this early, J?" Ali piped in looking at her brother strangely.

"Got bored. I forgot there's not a lot to do in this town." He shrugged his shoulders but I noticed he tensed up as if he was trying to hide something.

"You can join us if you want. We were watching a great horror film, well until we got distracted." Jess said sending a smirk to a smug looking Jake.

"Sure that would be great." JJ enthused and I went still.

There had only been enough room for the six of us on the couches and recliners. Now it seemed someone would have to take the fall. I sure as hell wasn't going to be the one left standing there looking like the world's biggest loser. That wasn't going to happen.

"You know what? I'm going to head off and see you guy's later okay?" I said as I pulled the keys out of my pocket.

I didn't even look at Shanay as I went to walk out the door. If only I hadn't screwed things up a while ago! I knew that was the only reason that Shanay didn't get up to follow. Shit! I'd kissed her and now I was walking out of here alone. This night sucked.