BooksBarbecue
Back Fractured Save as PDF
Chapters (42)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. DEDICATION PAGE
  4. CONTENTS
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  42. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tegan flushed, but she smiled up at him anyway. “Maybe Saturday.”

He raised and lowered his eyebrows a few times. “Definitely Saturday.” He turned to Malachi again. “You want to come out with us tonight? We could show you how we have fun around here.”

Ian, Greg, and Levi smiled while the girls looked sullen.

Malachi wiped his mouth with his napkin. Under the table, the fingers of his other hand brushed against my thigh. “Thank you for the invitation. Perhaps another time. Lela and I have plans tonight.”

Now my cheeks were pink, for sure. It had been such a soft-spoken, casual statement, but he might as well have shouted it. Everyone’s eyes were on me, conveying everything from resentment to curiosity to admiration. Greg stared at me like he’d never before realized that I was a girl. Laney looked like she wanted to flee to the bathroom and burst into tears. And Ian … I was stunned to see the glint of interest in his green eyes. For a year now, most of these guys hadn’t even thought to glance in my direction, and I definitely hadn’t looked in theirs. Apparently, all it took was for one hot guy to like me, and the rest of them were suddenly taking notice.

Aden shrugged. “Maybe we’ll hang out after the volunteer thing that our women are dragging us to. Ow!” He rubbed his arm, which had been on the receiving end of one of Tegan’s sharp little elbows.

“Stick to the left side,” instructed Greg. “His throwing arm is school property.”

Tegan smiled at him sweetly, but her dislike for Greg was one thing we had in common. “I’ll remember that,” she said icily. Then she looked at me and Malachi. “You two are coming tomorrow, right? The rest of these losers turned me down.”

I forced myself not to roll my eyes. “Yep, wouldn’t miss it.”

“You’re such a good friend, Lela,” she said. “Oh, and can you drive me? My dad would kill me if someone snatched the emblems and rims off my Beamer.”

Malachi’s hand closed over mine and squeezed. It was enough to keep me from telling her where she could shove her BMW emblems, but not enough to keep me from wondering if I’d added one more thing—a friendship with Tegan—to my impossible to-do list.

FIVE

FIVE

I WENT HOME AFTER school, tried to catch up on my homework, and ate dinner with Diane. She grilled me about the movie and whether Malachi had been a gentleman, and I told lies about the former and the absolute truth about the latter. Well, except for the part about how he nearly killed some muggers.