Chased By The Bad Boy

Chapter Two

Dakota's POV

I stand in the middle of my room surrounded by boxes as the door pushes open and my twin brother Daxton walks in, his arms full of my stuff that he has brought up from his car.

We drove down last night and stayed in a motel so that we could be here first thing to unpack our stuff in our rooms. Dax had actually snuck out whilst I was still sleeping and sorted his own dorm before returning to wake me up to get over to the female dorms of MAU.

It had taken us two long days to drive here in his beat up truck, mum had been heartbroken when we announced that we were going to a college so far away, but she didn’t say anything, she knew I needed this.

‘Where do you want this Kota?’ he called as he manoeuvred around my partially unpacked boxes.

‘Anywhere Dax, wherever there’s a free couple of inches of floor’ I replied with a sigh.

Dropping the load, he walked over and dropped onto my bed, rummaging through the box beside him and pulling out a poster of my favourite pop band. Raising an eyebrow at me he snickered, ‘please Kota, at least try and get the girls to think you’re cool before you unleash your inner dork’ he teased.

I reached over and poked his chest, cringing at the wall of abs that were unmoving beneath my finger. ‘You only want me to be cool so you can hit on my new friends you horn dog’ I huffed.

Daxton laughed as he lay down on my bed, ‘well if they are hot . . ‘ he replied as I threw a pair of socks that I had just lifted out of my suitcase at him, making him laugh harder as he grabbed my arm and pulled me into a hug.

That was my brother, he was my complete opposite, where I was studious and quiet, and not a single athletic bone in my body. Daxton was your all-around American jock, he was captain of our high school basketball team, the girls followed him everywhere and his average grades were acceptable because everyone wanted the star basketball player at their college.

Despite our chalk and cheese personalities, there was no denying that Daxton was my best friend, he tried to protect me from everything, and I couldn’t imagine a world where I didn’t see him every day.

Pulling away, I met his gaze, seeing the hint of worry behind his easy smile, ‘so you met your room mate yet?’ I asked, distracting him.

My brother shook his head, ‘nah, I just hope he knows how to spin a ball’ he replied sigh a grumble, ‘I don’t know how I’ll survive four years with a book worm or worse, a damn football player’ he added with a fake shudder.

I laughed, ‘I just hope he isn’t as much of a player as you’ I teased, ‘you need no more encouragement to sleep through the female population on this campus.’

Daxton grinned as he released my wrist, ‘I can’t say it wouldn’t be cool to have me a wing man’ he mused, ‘once I’m finished here, I’ll head back and see if he has arrived.’

Nodding I stuck my head into another box, pulling out a pile of books and stacking them on the tiny shelf above my bed as my brother rolled his eyes. ‘Kota’ he groaned, ‘please at least try to make some friends.’

I turned around, glaring at him as I leaned over and poked his rock hard abs, ‘if these girls don’t like me as I am, then they aren’t worth being my friend’ I replied pointedly.

Watching me for a moment, Daxton’s face broke into his signature smirk as he grabbed me again, pulling me off balance and into his lap with a shriek before starting to tickle me. Bastard! I hate being tickled! He knows it too, it’s how he always got me to agree to all his stupid ideas when we were kids.

‘That’s right little sis’ he crowed as he jabbed my sides, ‘but promise you’ll try and get some girlfriends, just a few, promise . . ‘ he ordered, ‘promise and I’ll stop.’

‘OK OK, I promise’ I yelled, falling off his legs onto the floor as he raised his hands above his head in celebration. ‘Ass hole’ I muttered as I dragged myself to my feet, shoving him hard as he fell back before turning around and coming face to face with a tall, raven haired girl with dark brown eyes who was watching us with her mouth open.

‘Oh my God, sorry!’ she squealed, ‘I didn’t mean to interrupt you, I can go . .’ she added with a blush as her eyes moved to my brother who was leaning back on my bed his shirt ridden up, uncovering that athlete’s body he got from our dad.

Blushing furiously, I shook my head, stumbling as I tried to cover the distance between us around the boxes at my feet. ‘No, it’s OK, I’m sorry, stay’ I rambled apologetically, ‘he’s always been an ass, just ignore him.’

My room mate nodded uncertainly, inching closer, her hand out which I took nervously. ‘I’m Lilian, I’m your new roomie’ she said as her eyes moved back to my brother.

‘Dakota’ I replied, shaking her hand before gesturing behind me, ‘and this is my twin brother Daxton’ I added, ‘and he’s just leaving’ I added pointedly.

Standing up, my brother gave Lilian a smirk I had seen a million times that normally ended up with whoever was on the receiving end without her clothes. ‘I can take a hint little sis’ he drawled, ‘a pleasure to meet you Lilian, maybe I’ll see you around.’

‘No you won’t’ I growled as I pushed with everything I had against his back, dammit! Why does he have to be built like a brick s**t house! Damn me getting my mother’s gene’s, why couldn’t I be the jock?

Allowing me to shove him from the room, Daxton waved over my shoulder at the beet red girl behind me who was almost drooling over him as the door shut.

‘Your brother huh?’ she asked dreamily.

‘Yeah’ I replied with a grimace, ‘and the reason I didn’t have many friends at high school’ I added sadly.

Snapping out of her dreamlike state, Lilian studied me, ‘had a lot of friends throw themselves at him huh?’

I nodded, ‘a lot of friends who thought they could get to him through me, or friends who thought they could change him and blamed me when he broke their heart because he wasn’t looking for more than a night of company.’

Lilian’s face darkened, ‘he’s a player?’ she asked, the stars no longer in her eyes.

‘Yeah, you could say that, though I’ve heard a fair few other less favourable adjectives used to describe him.’ Seeing her expression, I shook my head as I walked back to my bed and sat down, ‘don’t get me wrong, Dax is a really nice guy. He doesn’t lead girls on with promises of relationships or fancy dates, he’s upfront that he isn’t looking to commit, he just wants to have fun. Unfortunately, not all the girls were willing to accept what he was saying, thinking they just had to tame him or something. He’ll do anything to help a friend, you need a lift at 3am from a seedy part of town where you went clubbing? He’ll come and get you no hesitation. Your car break down? He’ll drive his beat up piece of crap and tow you home. What he will not do is settle down with one girl, it’s just who he is.’

Lilian sat down on her own bed, nodding as she studied me, ‘you love him huh?’ she asked with a small smile.

I laughed as I nodded, ‘yeah, I kinda have too, we shared a womb’ I replied, making her giggle.

‘Well just so you know, I am not into the player scene’ she said solemnly, ‘so you don’t have to worry about me getting it on with your brother and falling out with you.’

I let out a small sigh as I smiled, ‘if you could not have s*x with my brother, that would be awesome, because I’d really like to be your friend’ I replied awkwardly.

Beaming, Lilian leaned back against the wall behind her bed, ‘oh girl, we are going to be besties!’ she said, waving her hand as if the thought of us not was abhorrent.

Looking around the bomb site that was our room, taking in all of the boxes and my suitcase, she grinned, ‘well, shall we get you settled in?’ she asked, pushing back off the wall and scrambling off her bed to pull a box toward her.

Nodding I grabbed a second box, the pair of us chatting as we sorted through my things, placing them in the drawers and wardrobe.

Glancing up at my new room mate I felt a tiny bit of the tension that had been in my body since we left our mother trying not to cry on the doorstep, leave my shoulders. Maybe here I could have some real friends, maybe I could leave my past back home and discover the real me, the one that wasn’t broken on the inside.