Prince Charmings (BOOK ONE)

1

Well, almost all of them.

I glanced back at his arms, then out past his shoulder, listening to Tommo stomp out the backdoor.

"What do you want?" I cut to the chase.

Clark gave me an unimpressed look. He never liked when I cut his fun short.

"Don't be snippy, Bow-Bow," he scolded, and I flushed at the nickname. It was what my sister called me when she was annoyed, something Clark to this day still found hilarious enough to copy.

"I was just wondering if you were keen to take a little detour tonight before the party?"

I arched an accusing eyebrow at that.

The entire day Clark had been rushing me, ensuring we would make it to Jessica's on time.

"Why the sudden change of plans?"

Clark rolled his eyes, waving his phone in my face.

The screen was lit with a myriad of text messages from 'Jessy' against the backdrop of our school's baseball teams huddle.

I knew from memory Clark stood in the middle, mooning a rival team's coach with SUCK IT printed in green along his ass. Sure, it was a little self-centered to have a photo of yourself as your lock screen, but the picture was a good moment. They'd won their qualifiers, and Clark always got carried away after a good game.

"Jess pushed the party back an hour. The bonfire's busted so Tony is trying to fix it before everyone comes," Clark explained, spitting Tony's name so fast out his mouth I wasn't entirely sure he hadn't just performed an exorcism.

It was no secret he hated the guy, more for the giddy looks Jessica made at him than anything else. She had drunkenly confessed to me she'd lost her virginity to Tony, something she made me swear not to tell Clark.

Part of me wished I'd blurted that tidbit out to him immediately, get him to drop Jessica for the dead weight she was. But I never did.

"Okay..." I said, still unsure.

Clark's face broke into a grin and he surged up to force eye contact.

"I swear it'll be fun. A nice adrenaline rush before we drink the night away."

Before he and Tommo drank the night away was what he meant. I was the DD. Actually, now that I reflect on it, I was always the designated driver when our trio went out. Tommo for some reason liked running everywhere and Clark flunked drivers ed twice, refused to walk, and was barred from public transport for indecent exposure after he fingered Greta Myer's on the bus to the annual ski trip.

"Adrenaline rush?" I caught on when he pulled back enough that I could no longer feel his breath hit my face. The scent of the spearmint gum he spat out an hour ago still lingered and the depraved part of me just wanted to surge forward and taste it.

Jesus Christ, the stuffiness of the room was making my head run wild.

"Tommo can't know, stickler for the rules. Asshole," Clark scoffed, pinching my knee quickly when he caught me drifting off. "I told him to start walking while we packed up the rest. He'll get to Jessica's house by the time we do if he gets a move on now."

I frowned.

"You can't make him walk, her house is miles out the way and it's freezing. Let's drop him off and then circle back to whatever craziness you have planned."

Clark huffed, punching my shoulder before collapsing his arm back down. "You're no fun. The wind's harmless. If we drop off Tommo first Jess will see us and make us come in. We won't have time to do this later."