Page 1 of Heartbreaker

Prologue

I lace up my trainers and straighten up to look at the man in the mirror. My blueish grey eyes stare back at me. They are filled with excitement with a soft look that makes me grin. Tonight, is the night.

It’s my seventeenth birthday and I plan to tell Jade how I feel about her. Just thinking about her makes my skin tingle. She’s the captain of the gymnastics team, and the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.

I know it isn’t cool for guys to be so mushy over a girl, but ever since I saw her in year ten of high school, I’ve been smitten. I never thought she would look twice at me. She’s everything I’m not, Jade is the cool girl, the flame that everyone is drawn too. I’m just—normal.

Brown hair, normal build, okay I’m tall, not ugly but, I’m not in her league either. We’ve been dating for a few months now and she told me she wants to wait until we get married before we have sex. I agreed mainly because I respect her and don’t want to ruin things.

We’re meeting at the park by the river. I have it all planned; a romantic picnic, and maybe I’ll get to second base. The thought of all that soft, pale flesh makes my body tighten.

Leaving the house, I shout goodbye to mum and my older brother Jake. Mum replies with her usual warning of being careful, and don’t do anything stupid. Jake just grunts at me. He’s busy ironing his clothes to go out with his girlfriend Sadie to care about what I’m doing.

Arriving at the river, I see Jade leaning against the tree. Her long tan legs are encased in short denim shorts, and her midriff is peeking out from under her white crop top. She smiles at me as I walk over to her and my heart flips.

Taking her hand in mine as I reach her, I bring it to my lips and kiss the soft palm. Jade giggles as she pulls her hand away. I see her cast her eyes around and wonder what she is looking for, but I don’t ask. I’m too engrossed by the sexy swing of her hips as she saunters away.

Laying the blanket down, I sit next to Jade and unpack the food I’ve brought. Mum packed it for me, not that I’ll tell Jade that. She picks at the fruit and we talk about our day. She has been practising hard for a competition while I’ve been studying for my exams.

I steel my nerves and pluck up the courage to tell her how I feel. Taking her hand and looking into her eyes, I utter the three words I have wanted to say for so long.

“I love you,” I say. I watch her for a moment as she doesn’t say anything. and I’m disappointed when she just smiles at me. I decide to leave it at that, I don’t want to ruin the mood for the night. I mean Jade is not like me, she can appear standoffish sometimes, but I know that’s not really her. She is a princess and sometimes acts like one, but that’s okay. I’ll treat her like one too.

I notice again how different we are in other ways too. My trainers are new, but they are cheap, hers are new and probably cost more than what I make in a month at the newsagents where I work. She doesn’t seem to care about that though, which is the main reason I like her so much, although I know her friends do.

Just the thought of the crowd she hangs out with makes me feel weird. They never say anything to me, but they have a way of making me feel as if I’m not good enough.

Once again, I notice Jade looking around us but am completely spell-bound as she stands and starts to strip down to her underwear. Her body is beautiful, all toned muscle, except for her small perky breasts.

I feel my dick harden and I adjust myself, so she doesn’t see.

“What… what are you doing?” I stammer.

“Come on, Jackson,” she says holding out her hand to me.

As I go to take it, I stop for a moment and think about what I’m about to do, then my inner voice speaks, ‘Don’t be a pussy.’ Shaking my head, I take her hand and she pulls me to my feet. I go easily, like a lamb to the slaughter.

“I want to go swimming,” Jade says before she turns and heads for the water.

“But I have no swim shorts,” I shout as she reaches the water.

A smile plays on her lips, it’s seductive, even sultry. “I don’t mind if you don’t,” she says.

Should I? But I have nothing on under my jeans except my now raging boner.

Her smile does it for me though. She walks into the cool river up to her knees. I strip at rapid speed, turning my back to her as I do. As I turn back around my stomach drops, the sound of laughter echoes around me, her friends are all standing by the tree. They are all pointing and laughing at me, but that’s not what guts me. What has my heart splitting open and bleeding is that Jade is the one laughing the hardest and the loudest and as she does her arm is draped over David Standfield.

I’m confused and don’t understand what is happening, I can’t stop looking at his arm around my girlfriend, then he speaks.

“You didn’t honestly think that a girl like Jade would be interested in you, did you?” he sneers, and I can feel my heart pounding in my chest. I keep my eyes on Jade, not wanting to believe what is happening.

I love her, this can’t be right! Her next words kill every ounce of love I’ve ever felt for her.

“I’m sorry, Jackson, but you just wouldn’t take the hint. It was fun for a while, but I need to be with my own kind now. Daddy says I shouldn’t be with a man who can’t afford to look after me.”

My heart shrivels, dying in my chest, leaving a gaping cold hole. I quickly grab my clothes shoving them on as the others laugh some more as I trip and hop around in my haste to be gone.

With one last look at the girl I thought would be my future, I turn and walk away. I know in my heart that I’m forever changed by what just happened. Never again will I let anyone, especially a woman, hurt me.

The laughter at my expense echoes in my mind as I walk home. She thought I wasn’t good enough or rich enough. I’ll show that bitch and her friends if it is the last thing I do. I will have more money than them. Never again will someone look down on me.