To Claim His Girl

“Hey, where are you going?” Mary asked.

“I’ve got to get back home. Dad told me to be home by ten.”

“You’re nearly eighteen. His ass should leave you alone. I bet he was out screwing every single chick he could,” Branson said.

“Either way, he’s not eighteen now, and he can make life really difficult.” Everyone grumbled. “I can walk home. You guys can stay here.”

“I’ll take you home. I got my car, and you won’t get into trouble,” Eli said.

“It’s no bother. I can walk.”

“You think I’m going to let a psycho take you away from us. Not a chance.” Eli followed behind her, and they waved toward their friends. “I’ll be back, guys.”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Chris said.

She rolled her eyes, gave them a wave, and grabbed her bag. As she followed behind Eli, they made their way toward his car. She pulled a towel out of her bag, and tried to dry her clothes off. “I’m going to ruin your car.”

“No worries. It’s just a car,” he said, opening the door.

Placing her hand against his temple, she frowned. “What have you done to my friend?”

He caught her wrist and kissed her knuckles. “He grew up.”

“Did anything bad happen to you?”

“No, nothing.”

“Then how did you grow up?”

“I realized what I wanted, and I know what I need to do to keep her.”

“Her? So you came back for a girl?”

“I came back for a lot of things, babe. Get in the car.”

“Can you turn the heating on or something? My dad is going to kill me if I go home like this.” She looked down her body, and sighed. “You really shouldn’t have dunked me.”

“I couldn’t resist, and you’ve got to learn to have fun. Lighten up a little.”

She got into the car, and he closed the door. It was still warm out, and her clothes had already started to dry. When he was behind the wheel, he turned the heat up, and started to blast her.

She pointed the heat at her clothes.

“Are you looking forward to tomorrow?” she asked.

“Not so much. There’s going to be a lot of questions, but Redgrave’s said it’s fine providing that I stay out of trouble.”

“Please do. It wasn’t the same as last year without you.”

“No one gave you shit did they?”

“Not so much. If anyone tried to say anything Chris and Branson was all over them.”

“Good, I was worried that some people would piss me off.”

She chuckled. “You’ve always been so good to me. I really do appreciate it.”

He took hold of her hand, locking their fingers together. “I’m going to be here now, and no one is going to give you shit.”