How could this one moment knock every barrier I put up to ensure our friendship was intact? What did this mean? And could he feel it too?

Thankfully, we were suddenly interrupted by a friend asking us whether we were going to make the after party. Feeling shaken from the intimate brunt direction of my thoughts, I couldn’t find any words to respond, so I looked at Jaxon with raised brows, leaving him to answer.

“Sure, we could go for a bit. What’s Prom without an after party?” he answered with a wicked smile.

*****

The house was swarming with people, and music thumped so loudly it felt like my chest was vibrating. Alex Marcoux’s house was deemed the perfect place to throw the party because it was on the outskirts of Gosnells and isolated. There were hardly any houses around the fielded, rural area.

Alcohol littered the entire place along with the clouds of smoke from cigarettes and other unmentionables. The house itself was a small, basic three by two. It also wasn’t in the most pristine condition, so nobody was keen to mind their step around anything. It was chaos in there.

Jaxon grabbed my hand once inside, ploughing us through the crowd of grinding bodies. He stopped when we got to the kitchen and grabbed two bottles of beer. His suit jacket, tie, and white dress shirt were off. He had on his white undershirt and suit pants. I smirked knowing full well he didn’t want to destroy it because of Lucinda. She’d have a stroke if she saw his top was covered in stains. Oh, Jaxon.

Some girls had changed out of their dresses and into miniskirts and halter tops. I kicked myself for not having done the same, but I had been too preoccupied with getting ready for the actual prom than the after party.

He handed me a beer and took us into the living area. There was only one seat open on the couch. It didn’t seem to concern him as he sat down and pulled me down with him. He widened his legs apart so that I sat on the cushion between them and then he opened his bottle and gulped some beer down.

He barely knew anyone around us, yet he was so comfortable in disrupting their conversations by including himself. Before I knew it, he was having full blown discussions with everyone.

“Didn’t know you two were dating,” said Abby Lowes some time later. She’d always had a hard on for Jaxon, being one of my interrogators throughout the years demanding what he was up to.

“We’re not,” I replied quickly. The last thing I wanted was people to get the wrong idea.

“Really?” asked Mike Kindly, a large robust guy I’d never had any classes with, but I’d known him for being a part of the basketball team. “So you wouldn’t mind if I yanked your friend for a dance, Jaxon?”

Jaxon’s body stiffened behind me. “We may not be dating, but I’m her Prom date, dude. I’d rather she stayed with me.”

“Don’t feel like you have to be baby sit me,” I whispered to him, turning to look at his suddenly dark face. “You go and have fun too.”

Before he could reply, I got up and took Mike on his offer. I might not be the best dancer, but Mike was a seriously good looking guy, and I desperately needed to get away from Jaxon. Those feelings I felt back at the dance hadn’t died down, and I figured I needed to get away from him to re-establish the line I was beyond tempted to cross.

I sipped my beer half dancing in front of Mike and other guys who seemed to appear out of nowhere. I had to bat wandering hands every so often, but it was all in good humour. Peering over to the couch, Jaxon had three girls draped around him, but he looked very unpleasant and stiff. He met my eyes and ignored my fake smile as he continued to down his beer.

I suddenly wondered if I’d ditched him and he was angry at me for it. I attempted to excuse myself to walk back over to him, but Mike’s hands held me in place, and before I could open my mouth to protest, something hard rubbed against my pelvic. I looked down in shock as he grinded his lower aroused self into me. Then he hovered over me, resting his face down so that it was angled at my neck and started kissing me with his wet lips.

“Whoa, bud,” I attempted to take a step back, but only hit another guy’s chest.

“Shame we had no classes together.” Mike’s alcoholic breath felt hot against my neck. “I’d have asked you out, you know, to Prom.”

“All good,” I muttered, pushing his chest back. He didn’t budge.

“Did you wanna go someplace quiet?” His hands wandered about my waist and down to my hips.

“Actually, I gotta get back to Jaxon.”

“Why? He’s taken some girl away.”

“What?” I looked over at the couch. He wasn’t there, and there were two girls instead of three. I glowered when I realized it was Abby who’d gone missing. I looked around but he wasn’t in the room either.

“Come on, let’s go someplace quiet.”

I knew he was referring to a bedroom, and I knew what his intentions were, but I felt suddenly very angry at Jaxon for ditching me among so many guys. I mentally pictured him with Abby getting it on in one of the rooms. That thought made me sick and, surprisingly, sad. “Fine, let’s go,” I breathlessly said.

My own intentions were to storm into the rooms and stop him from being a sleaze, which didn’t make any sense really. I told him it wasn’t my business, that he could do what he wanted with anyone he wanted, and yet I felt so irrationally angry that he’d left me with some guy so he could jump the bones of some girl he’d only just met.

That’s what you just did to him, dumbass. Oh, so was he angry with me too and did it to get back at me or something? I didn’t pay attention to the pats the guys were giving Mike as we waded our way out of the room and up the stairs to the second level. There weren’t many people on this floor, but two doors were closed and one was wide open.

“Let’s go here, babe,” Mike said, pointing to the empty room.

Ignoring him, I stormed into one of the closed rooms. There were two couples in there making out and doing other… sordid things with each other. Astoundingly, they didn’t seem to mind my intrusion.

I closed the door and burst into the other bedroom, ignoring Mike’s questioning. A girl screamed and hurried to cover herself and a guy turned and glared at me. I mumbled an apology and closed the door. Where the hell was Jaxon?

Mike grabbed my hand and began steering me into the unoccupied room.

“I have to go, Mike,” I told him, pulling back. “I need to find Jaxon.”