I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling my anger rise up.
The sound of someone opening the sliding glass door, of people shouting that I was about to get into a fight, came through loud and fucking clear. It was like piranhas in a blood-filled lake, the partygoers knowing something was about to go down.
That just pissed me off even more.
“Like, I didn’t know anyone could come,” that bastard said again. He was really running his mouth, and I was about to put a stop to it.
I didn’t know who this fucker was, not really, aside from playing a hand of poker with him, but it was clear he knew Kennedy.
And then I felt her, like some kind of fucking magnetic pull that couldn’t be denied, that I couldn’t ignore. I turned and looked over my shoulder, my heart beating faster, the very sight of her, knowing she was here, in my home, causing all kinds of possessive need to slam into me. And the beers I had only seemed to intensify that, only seemed to make my need for her climb.
And it made me even more protective of her.
I don’t know when she’d come outside, but here she was, watching what was going down with wide eyes. I hated that I’d put that look on her face.
“Kennedy,” I said her name on this harsh growl. “You know that bastard?”
She glanced down and shrugged. “Not really, but I have a few classes with him.” She glanced up at me and I could see she was embarrassed, her cheeks painted a pink color. I got even more pissed that someone had made her feel that way.
I looked back at the fucker who’d disrespected her. “You got a fucking problem?” I was getting pumped, adrenaline moving through my veins, the very thought of fighting this asshole giving me a high. He wanted to disrespect Kennedy, then he’d deal with me and the repercussions.
The asshole grinned. “Brother, hanging with her is social suicide.” He chuckled, as if what he’d just said was the funniest fucking thing in the world.
This was fucking insane. “You realize we aren’t in some high school movie where any of that shit even matters, right?” I wasn’t going to try and reason with him. I was going to beat his ass. “First off, I’m not your brother. You want to go there with me, talk down to someone I care about a hell of a lot?” I rolled my head on my neck, curling my hands into tight fists at my side. “We can go there. We can sure as fuck go there.” I reached out and took Kennedy’s hand, pulled her toward me so she was now behind my body. I didn’t want to do this around her, but I also wasn’t going to let this asshole off with the way he’d talked about her.
As the prick stared at me the air changed. A crowd was starting to grow in a circle around us, the promise of a fight getting everyone jacked up. This sure as fuck wasn’t how I wanted to spend my Saturday, but for Kennedy I’d do anything, even if it was just defending her honor.
A few murmurs surrounded us, but I only focused on the meathead in front of me. The asshole hadn’t backed down, and didn’t appear ready to either, so it looked like things were about to get real.
Good, it’ll get some of this feral energy out of me.
I should have just moved on, kicked all these fuckers out of my house and spent time with Kennedy. That’s what I really wanted to do. But I wasn’t a stranger to getting into trouble, and I couldn’t back down. My pride, and making sure that people treated Kennedy with the respect she was due, were my top priority.
I didn’t go around looking for trouble and throwing random punches, but when a threat presented itself, I sure as hell wasn’t going to back down.
“Brandon, this is stupid,” a girl said, walking up behind the asshole and touching his arm.
“Not now, Shan.”
“You sure you want to do this?” It was a courtesy question, and one I hoped he’d decline.
Truth was, I wanted to fucking fight right now. I had a lot of pent-up arousal for Kennedy, and a hell of a lot of aggression moving through my veins.
Brandon threw off his jacket and shoved it at the girl still standing behind him. “Shan, get the fuck out of here.” The girl looked up at him as if she wanted to try and stop him again, but she kept her mouth shut and went to stand by the crowd.
“You’re a big motherfucker, but I can still take you,” Brandon said and cracked his knuckles once more.
“Roman. He’s not worth it. I’m fine.”
I looked over at Kennedy and wanted to pull her into my arms.