“Shut up Ter,” Danny hisses, reaching for me. “Kat, baby,” he whines.
A twitchy feeling starts in my extremities, and I shrug him off.
I turn to my housemate. “Cleo, honestly. You’re welcome to him,” I say, turning and walking away. “Goodbye, Danny.”
“Kat, no. She doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s just, a guy has needs, and you keep saying no?—”
I spin around, putting up a hand to prevent him from smashing into me. Instead, it ends up flat against his chest. Danny clasps it in both his hands.
“Kat, listen, I’m sorry.”
A roiling heat fills my belly, and I pull my hand away, using all my willpower to refrain from wiping it down my jeans.
“Ever think the reason I didn’t jump into bed with you is more to do with you than me? Go back to Cleo, Danny.”
I look over his shoulder, but Cleo has disappeared. Maybe she only wanted him because she thought he was mine.
Call dibs on stealing Kathryn Frazer’s boyfriend.
I stop the grimace that threatens.
Oh joy, living together now is going to be so much fun!
I turn to walk away, only this time he grabs my arm.
“Don’t walk away from me, Miss High and Mighty Frazer,” he snarls.
I glare down at his hand curled around my bicep.
“Remove your hand, Danny,” I say quietly.
“Or what?”
I don’t say anything, instead I grab his hand and twist, the way my self-defence coach taught me years ago. Danny spins, and I press him down onto the nearest table.
“That’s what, Danny. Don’t fucking touch a woman when she doesn’t want to be touched,” I say next to his ear, shoving down hard before I let go.
A camera flash goes off, and I grimace.
Great, just what I need.
Mum and Dad are going to love that headline.
He slides off the table onto the beer-soaked floor, grabbing at his shoulder.
“You’re a fucking psycho,” he yells.
I raise an eyebrow, but say nothing, turning on my heel and walking back towards my friends.
Carol runs up. “Are you okay? Where the hell did you learn to do that?”
I smile at her. “Dad made sure we all had self-defence lessons growing up. Glad I’m not rusty.”
“It was really cool, can you teach me?” she asks.
“Of course.”
Every girl/woman should know some form of self-defence. The other girls gather around. Danny has clearly sloped off somewhere to lick his wounds. He’s Mr Popular, he won’t appreciate having been put in his place by me, not so publicly.
