Piece of My Heart (Fostering Love 4)

“I’m not running,” I told him as he sped up. I pulled my own hood over my hair. “With my luck, I’d slip and fall.”

“I’d catch you,” he replied just as he slipped on the grass. He waved his arms around frantically, barely catching his balance before he fell.

“I’ll take my chances walking,” I said, laughing as he turned wide eyes in my direction. “It’s safer.”

“Let’s forget that just happened,” he whispered conspiratorially in my ear, throwing an arm over my shoulders as we reached Sean and Hailey’s house.

“I don’t think I can do that,” I replied in mock seriousness.

The front door swung open as we started up the porch stairs, and I didn’t even have time to enjoy the arm around me before it slid off my shoulders as Hailey stuck her head outside.

“There you are! Where the heck have you been?”

Alex laughed under his breath as I was pulled into the surprisingly crowded house. In the time it had taken me and Alex to circle the block, at least fifteen people had arrived, and the music had been turned up so loud I could barely hear my friend.

More people poured in the front door a few minutes later, and before long the house was packed so full that there was barely any room to stand without touching someone else. I mingled, saying hello to classmates and their dates, but I considered the less crowded kitchen the prime real estate, considering the proximity to all the snacks Hailey and I had prepared.

I noticed that the vegetable trays were looking pretty empty, so I began pulling extra carrots and celery out of the fridge. I was bent at the waist, trying to reach a container that had been shoved toward the back, when all of a sudden a hand grabbed my ass. It wasn’t a brush or a pinch; it was a full-on entire-hand grab.

I’d spent my teenage years in New York and I’d dealt with my fair share of creeps, but I’d never been so blatantly groped in my entire life, and I was embarrassed by the way I froze in horror. My first thought wasn’t that someone was assaulting me or even that I was angry someone would touch me without permission. No, my first thought was that I shouldn’t have worn the tight jeans that accentuated my ass. I knew that was complete bullshit. It didn’t matter what I was wearing. I hadn’t done a damn thing wrong. Shame was almost instantly replaced with rage as I jerked away, practically diving toward the back of the fridge.

“The fuck are you doing?” Alex’s angry voice thundered.

I stood up and turned just as Alex’s fist met the face of a guy I’d never seen before in my life.

“You like it when people put their hands on you without asking?” Alex asked, hitting him again. “Feel good?”

“Man,” the guy said, clearly drunk if his slurred speech was anything to go by. “She was shaking it right in my face—what was I supposed to do?”

Alex’s expression grew even darker as he slammed the guy against the wall. “You motherfucker,” he said, raising his fist again.

“Evans,” a man called, pushing through the crowd. The man stopped Alex by wrapping an arm around his waist and lifting him off his feet. “Beating on civilians is a good way to get thrown in the brig.”

“That fucker—” Alex replied, pointing at the bleeding idiot standing against the wall.

“I know, I know. I saw what happened,” his friend said soothingly as he dragged him back a few feet. “We’ll take care of him, all right?”

Alex’s eyes met mine from across the room, and I felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment and something very close to gratitude. My rescuer didn’t relax until a couple of guys grabbed the groper and shoved him out of the room. As the people around us went back to what they were doing before the drama, Alex mouthed, Are you okay? At my nod, he turned and let the big guy lead him away.

I was ready to leave at that point, but some stubborn part of me refused to show that I was shaken up. I went back to filling the vegetable trays as if nothing had happened, even though my hands were shaking. I took my time, making sure that everything was placed just so, before putting the extra food back in the fridge.

Then I walked slowly toward the living room, planning on getting my coat and making a quiet exit.

“I think everything’s going good, don’t you?” Hailey said, practically bouncing toward me, completely oblivious to what had happened in the kitchen.

“It looks like a success to me,” I replied, my eyes straying from her to Alex. He was talking to a group of people, and they were all laughing at whatever he’d said. I was glad that he seemed to have shaken off his anger, but it also left me feeling strangely alone.