More Flirting Games (The Flirting Series - Young Adult) by Stella Wilkinson Page B

people he truly cared about. No, not the only people, he
loved his father very much, but he could never forgive him for remarrying after
his mother passed away. They had never been close again after that.
    So what
would a cold hearted bastard do? He would screw someone else and Vanessa would
never hear from him again.
    He walked
into the school disco projecting an outward appearance of being calm. It was pathetic still being at school, no wonder Vanessa was embarrassed by it. The
school disco was a joke too. He sneered with contempt at the gaudy valentines
decorations. He was here only for one purpose. To find a girl and use her to
wipe all thoughts of Vanessa from his mind.
    He spotted
Nate sitting with Ellie and her friend. Nate nodded at him to come over but he
was in no mood to be around the happy couple. His eyes settled on the sleek
blond hair of Sophie Jones. She was single, as far as he knew. She had lovely
long legs and generous curves. Yes, she could warm his cold heart. He swept
past Nate, Ellie and Flora without a second look and went over to where Sophie
was chatting with Grace Porter.
    Flora had
steeled herself to at least speak with Gabriel tonight, but one look at his icy
eyes and disdainful expression and she had chickened out. She could tell he was
in a bad mood. He was clearly pretending not to be, but his lips were tight and
his jaw was clenched. She hoped he was ok. It was killing her watching him chat
up Sophie and she longed to be able to smooth away his stress, but he would
bite her head off if she tried to flirt with him tonight. Oh well. She had made
all this effort, she might as well practice some flirting with someone else,
maybe the disco could still be fun. Flora determinedly smiled brightly and
within minutes a boy from her year had asked her to dance.
    Gabriel
smiled ruefully as he watched Sophie check her phone for third time since
they’d started chatting. What an arrogant sod he was, he thought. He’d expected
her to be flattered by his attention and be a total push over. He knew he was
handsome, he saw no point in pretending otherwise, but though Sophie was
clearly enjoying his efforts to be charming, he could tell that her attention
was really elsewhere. He decided to leave her to it.
    He wondered
why he didn’t feel more depressed about it. He’d struck out tonight with
Vanessa and now Sophie. But in his heart he knew he didn’t want to sleep with
Sophie, he wanted Vanessa. Paying her back was not going make him happier. He
would be better off being around his mates and just preying that she and
Francis really were just friends, as she had insisted. Not that it mattered
anymore, since they’d split up, but he felt sick at the thought of her spending
the night with someone else. Rather ironic, as he had nearly done the same
himself. Oh well, he would find Nate and exert himself to be nice to the girls.
That Flora had a sweet smile, he could let her gentle and cheerful personality
sooth him a little.
    ***
    Sophie
didn’t know how she knew, as her phone was on silent, but she sensed it the
minute Jack texted her. She was at the disco but had brought her phone in a
small handbag.
    Did you get the flowers? Jack
    She’d
promised her friends that she wouldn’t contact him, but really she felt now
that she should have let him know they had arrived. The lilies would have been
pretty expensive. Surely it was rude not to at least acknowledge receipt? He
only wanted to know that they had arrived, it wasn’t like she was starting
anything with him.
    She
was having a great time being chatted up by Gabriel Brenner but the temptation
to keep reading the text message kept pulling at her. Gabriel was amazing
looking and it was very flattering to be the object of his attention, but her
heart was elsewhere. Still, she reasoned, the girls had told her to move on,
and she was loving all the jealous looks she was getting. Gabriel hardly ever
bothered to chat anyone up, she was fairly sure he had a