Free Looking for Trouble (Nashville U Book 1) by Stacey Mosteller

my parents.
    My honesty prompts Kat to stop concentrating so hard on the placement of books in her bag and look over at me. “Fine,” she says with a long-suffering sigh. “When do you want to meet?”
    I’m a little surprised she gave in so easily. I expected more of a fight. It throws me off a little, and I say the first thing that enters my head. “How ‘bout right now? We can brainstorm over an early dinner.” Kat’s face scrunches into a frown, and I know she’s about to turn me down. “C’mon,” I cajole, “I’ll buy.”
    She agrees once I offer to pay for dinner. I’ve now sunken so low, I have to pay a girl to spend time with me. I must be losing my touch, although with Kat I’m not sure I’ve ever had one. I don’t even know why I’m trying to get her to spend time with me. I should just let her do the project on her own and take half the credit. It’s what I’d normally do. Something tells me Kat will never go for that, and there’s no way I can charm her into it. She’s immune to the huge … amount of game I have.
    We walk out of the classroom to find Max waiting for us at my car. Kat sighs and mutters under her breath. “Well, hello, deja vu.” Max waits for us to walk over to him and then smiles at Kat.
    “Hey babe,” he greets her, bending to kiss her cheek. She moves back, leaving him to kiss air. I snicker at the shocked look on his face. Wow, He really expected her to let him touch her. Idiot.
    Her step backward brings her close enough for me to feel her body heat. There’s barely an inch between us, and again, I react to her. Kat Fletcher is not a girl I should be reacting to on any kind of sexual level. She’s the exact opposite of the girls I like. I like easy to please and ready to play, not difficult and commitment-ready.
    “I’m not your babe, Max. My name is Kat. Not babe, not honey, not sweetie. I’m not some disposable girl you can just cast aside when you want to get laid and then pick up when you’re finished.” She has her hands on her hips as she glares at Max and we both stare at her in shock. This is a side of Kat I’ve only ever seen directed at me. Kat’s usually all sweetness and light when it comes to dealing with my brother. It’s good to see her not only standing up to him, but him seeing that she’s not going to sit back and let him treat her like shit. I almost tell her “good job,” but I’m afraid she’ll turn on me. Her claim that his actions are somehow my fault have begun to work their way into my subconscious. Until the other night at my parents’ house, I’d never given much thought to how both of my younger brothers might respond to my actions. If I’m the reason he thinks it’s okay to treat her this way, I sorta want to apologize to them.
    Max steps forward, holding his hand out to her. He looks contrite, his eyes downcast, and a frown pulling at the side of his mouth. “Kat, come on—“
    She cuts him off. “Come on what, Max? I told you the other day. I don’t want to stop being friends, but I need some space. You need to let me be angry, and showing up out of the blue like this only proves how little you care about what I want. You’re always blowing me off, and I’m always quick to forgive you.” She pokes herself in the chest, prompting both of us to look at her tits. “I’m tired of being your back up plan.”
    She has a nice rack.
    “I deserve better than this, better than you ,” she tells him.
    Ouch . That had to hurt.
    Max stares at her; his mouth dropped open and his eyes comically wide. I take a step around Kat to get to my car and stop in front of him, standing so he can still see Kat and she him. With one finger, I close his mouth. “You’re gonna catch flies little brother.“
    Kat groans in disgust before she pushes by both of us to get in my car. “If you two are done, let’s go, Clay. I’m hungry, and you promised me dinner.” She takes a seat in the car and slams the door hard enough that both