Chased By The Bad Boy

Chapter Four

Dakota’s POV

Though I was studying business and accounting, I was pleased to find out that MAU had a music department. Mum had taught Daxton and I to play the piano from the moment we had been able to press the ivory keys on our baby grand piano in the drawing room. Mum had been a classical musician when she met our father. When she fell pregnant with us, she had given up her career and turned to teaching. Despite missing the stage, she still loved music and had wanted her children to feel that same passion.

Daxton had been much more into sport; he had learned to play because of our mother but had never felt the love for it that she had. I on the other hand, felt at home the moment my fingers rested against the keys. A calm had settled over me as the notes came from the instrument, reverberating through me. I had loved nothing more than to sit and listen to my mother play. She was extraordinary, and it felt like a travesty that her talent had been taken from the world because of Daxton and I. A part of me had also loved it though, loved that her gift was there for me to enjoy whenever I wanted, to not have to share her with anyone else.

I sat on the piano stool in the silent music room, my fingers caressing the keys as I lost myself in the melody that reverberated off the walls around me. I was playing one of my mother’s favourite pieces, the notes making me feel closer to her as my fingers flew over the piano, my eyes closed as I swayed slightly to the music.

Distantly, I could hear the sounds of students, my eyes popping open as I realised that I had been sitting there for an entire period and had missed my calculus class.

‘Shoot!’ I hissed to myself as I scrambled up from the stool and swept my bag up off the floor, throwing it over my shoulder and hurrying to the door.

Throwing it open, I ran out of the building, almost falling over my feet in my haste to get to the canteen where Daxton was meeting me.

Steading myself, my eyes flickered upwards, spotting movement to my right, inhaling sharply, I tried to avert my gaze from the two people who were pressed against the wall. A young girl with flame red hair, that looked to be my age, was pressed against the brick wall of the auditorium. Her hands were pulling impatiently at a blonde haired man’s t-shirt, trying to get it up over his head. The man was tall, at least six feet if I had to guess, his chest was pressed flush to hers, his hands, nowhere to be seen, presumably busy somewhere on her body.

The red headed girl let out a loud groan, her head falling back away from the male, her lips releasing his as he dropped his head to her neck and began sucking her flesh hungrily. Snapping out of my daze, I quickly dropped my gaze and hurried past them, forcing myself not to look back as I rounded the corner and started to sprint toward the college cafeteria.

Pushing open the door, I scanned the room until my gaze fell on the tall muscular frame of my twin brother, surrounded by similarly muscled jocks that I assumed were from his team as well as a few plastic looking girls.

Letting out a puff of air, I relaxed slightly as I joined the queue to get some lunch.

Balancing a tray with a ham sandwich, a coffee and a slice of chocolate cake that had been calling out to me, breaking down all of my resolutions to stay away from the sweet stuff, I wove my way through the crowds toward my brother.

Daxton’s eyes glanced up as I approached, a smile spreading over his face as he stood up, took my tray and pulled me into the seat next to him. Waving around the group, he said, ‘guys, this is Dakota, Kota, these are my teammates.’

On his other side, a flirty blonde gave me an angry look, one I was used to seeing from girls who didn’t know who I was.

‘Dax’ the girl whined, placing her hand on his to draw his attention back to her, ‘so what do you think? About the party Friday?’

Daxton shrugged as he popped a fry from his plate into his mouth and chewed. ‘Sound’s fun, I’ll talk to Dec and see if he’s up for it.’

I frowned at his words. Dec or Declan was my brother’s roommate, but I had yet to meet the guy. Daxton was wary of letting boys near me and from what I could ascertain, this Declan was as much of a man w***e as my brother, hence the not being allowed to meet me.

Daxton broke into my thoughts, ‘what about it Kota?’ he asked, ‘want to come to a party Friday?’

Blonde bimbo, glowered at me as I ignored her, focusing on my brother’s hopeful face. ‘I don’t think so Dax’ I sighed, picking up my sandwich with a sigh, ‘I have a lot of homework already.’

‘Hey, come on sweetness’ one of the other buff boys around the table said, reaching out and grabbing my hand in his as my eyes widened in horror.

Before I could react, the hand was ripped from mine and Daxton had his teammate over the table by his shirt. ‘Don’t ever touch her’ he growled angrily.

The basketball player held his hands up I surrender, ‘chill dude’ he choked out, ‘I’m just being friendly, not trying to muscle in on your girl.’

Daxton’s eye twitched as he released the guy, shoving him slightly as he sat down, ‘she’s my twin sister and strictly off limits’ he muttered, glaring around at the table warningly.

The guy who had touched me glanced between us, his eyes widening, ‘fraternal twins’ I explained to his unasked question, ‘we are not identical, which should be obvious as he’s a boy and I’m a girl’ I added under my breath.

Plastic blonde stopped giving me the evil eye as she draped herself over my brother, ‘oooo, you never said you were a twin Dax! That is sooo hot’ she cooed, her fingers drawing a path down his t-shirt as I tried not to gag on my food at her obviousness.

Glancing at me, she smiled tightly, ‘it’s lovely to meet you Kota, I’m sure we will be great friends’ she trilled.

‘Dakota’ I growled back, peeking over to see her frowning, ‘only my family and best friend call me Kota.’

Cutting through the tension, the basketball player sat on my right, smiled over at me, offering his hand to shake as he glanced warily at Daxton. ‘I’m Greg but everyone calls me tank’ he said as I reached out to shake his hand.

Furrowing my brow, I ran my eyes over his frame, he was muscular, but I wouldn’t say he was built for the name Tank.

His eyes twinkling as he took in my confusion he added, ‘it’s because when I have the ball, I just bulldoze my way through the opposition like a tank, nothing stops me.’

Laughing, I nodded as he released my hand before the next player introduced himself. Soon the entire team had told me their names, some had nicknames like Tank, others just shortenings of their own name like Daxton. They were all nice guys, and I could already see that some were just as happy to play around off the court as well as on, just like Daxton.

Tank was the only one who gave me relationship vibes, when the group made comments or talked about the parties they had already attended, I noticed that he didn’t join in with the banter, preferring to sit back and listen.

Leaning closer, I smiled at him, keeping my voice low, ‘you don’t seem like the typical jock’ I murmured, watching as he glanced over at me.

‘I don’t?’ he asked curiously, ‘in what way?’

I shrugged, ‘well this lot are all alluding to their various conquests, and you seem happy to keep yourself to yourself.’

Tank laughed softly, ‘maybe I just like to keep my private life to myself’ he offered, ‘not every jock needs the world to know if he is getting some.’

I raised my eyebrow, ‘really? Because Dax has no problem letting me know who he’s got his d**k into, whether I want to know or not’ I replied with a shudder of revulsion that made the boy next to me chuckle.

‘I have a girlfriend’ he replied quietly, his eyes warming, ‘Hailee, we’ve been together since Junior year, she’s at the college half an hour away, I go to see her each weekend.’

I nodded, ‘I thought that might be the case, especially as neanderthal over there didn’t try to rip your arm off for shaking my hand’ I added, jutting my chin toward my brother who was now shoving his tongue down blondie’s throat.

Tank laughed, ‘yeah, Dax has met her, he knows I’m a one woman kinda guy, she’s my life, so you are safe around me’ he said as his tone turned solemn. ‘Seriously Dakota, you ever need help with something, and your brother isn’t around, you can call me or any of the boys. We take care of our own, and you are one of us, just like Hailee is. They may talk a load of smack but when it comes to girlfriends and sisters, we don’t cross that line, they’ll do anything to protect people that are important to their teammate.’

Feeling suddenly teary, I blinked my eyes rapidly, trying to stop tears that were prickling my eyelids. ‘I uh, . . I appreciate it’ I mumbled.

Smiling, Tank pulled his phone out of his pocket, indicating for me to do the same before taking it out of my hand and adding his name and number to my contacts. Sending himself a message, he then saved my number in his phone and handed mine back to me before standing up.

‘I gotta split guys, got class’ he called out to the group, giving the middle finger as the boys replied with boo’s and cat calls.

Turning to me, he smiled, ‘nice to meet you Dakota, I’ll try to get Hailee up here to meet you, I think she’d like you’ he said before waving and walking away.

Turning back to Daxton I notice him watching me closely, ‘you OK?’ he whispers as he wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me into a hug, ‘not to much is it? We can leave.’

Shaking my head, I smile up at him, ‘no, I’m fine’ I reply, and for the first time, I think it might be true, I do feel fine.

Scrutinising me for a moment, Daxton slowly nodded, ‘so how about the party then little sis?’ he asked with a wink, ‘lets get you out of that comfort zone a bit?’

Groaning I cover my face with my hands, I was never a party person, every single party I got invited to was always tagged with the words ‘you could bring your brother, if you want.’

Poking me in the side, Daxton chuckled as I yelped, scowling at him through my fingers, ‘come on Kota, live a little’ he pushed, ‘you could even bring that hot roommate of yours’ he added cheekily.

Dropping my hands, I slapped him across the bicep, hard, wincing as pain rippled through my palm. Damn him and his unbelievably hard muscles!

‘Do NOT hit on my roommate’ I growled, ‘I have already warned her about you and she is not interested in your STI’s.’

Feigning hurt, Daxton placed his hand on his chest, ‘Kota, how could you? I am clean! I always wrap it up, this guy practices safe s*x and I test regularly for the team.’

Pulling a face, I let out a groan of disgust, ‘please do not talk about your s*x life with me, just because we shared a womb does not mean I need to know about every floozy you get into the pants of.’

Daxton grinned evilly, ‘if you come to the party, I won’t tell you about how I got Penelope from my Algebra class to get on her knees in the boys bathroom and . . ‘

‘OK OK, I’ll come!’ I shrieked, covering my ears, ‘just please stop talking.’

Winking at me, Daxton returned to the conversation with his friends, leaving me to sulk over having to go to a damn party. What the hell would I even wear? God I hope Lilian was in to attending a party on Friday, I could NOT go through with this on my own.