Shattered Ties(59)

“Dear God,” I muttered under my breath.

He looked up. “What?”

“You look dangerous when you pull your hair back. It makes me want to jump on you and do dirty things.” My face flushed with heat. What possessed me to say that?

He was in the process of pulling on a pair of trunks, but he stopped.

“That’s the hottest thing I’ve ever heard. I’m going to kill Ally for calling.” I grinned. “We always have after the party.”

“I’m holding you to that. Let’s make sure that we get you to school on time tomorrow though.”

“Good plan.”



This time, we took his Jeep instead of my car. We turned down a dirt path that I would have missed if I were driving. We followed it for a few minutes until we came to a clearing where several cars were already parked.

“We have to walk the rest of the way.”

I raised an eyebrow, but I said nothing as we got out and started up a foot trail. We walked for several minutes until we came to another clearing surrounded by huge boulders.

“Where do we go from here?”

“Up.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” There was no way I was going to be able to climb these rocks.

“There’s a trick to it. Come on, I’ll help you.”

I was still skeptical as I took his hand and followed him to one of the smaller rocks. He scooped me up and set me on top of it. I waited as he climbed up beside me. When I turned to look behind me, I saw the beach. There were tons of people already on it. I had no clue how they’d found this place. It was that well-hidden.

“How do you guys manage to get out of here when you’re drunk?” I asked.

“We don’t. We usually stay on the beach all night.”

He jumped off the rock and held his arms up to help me down. I jumped into them, never once worrying about him dropping me. I trusted him with everything in me. He held my hand as we walked down the beach to where everyone was hanging out. There was a large group of people shouting and cheering close to where someone had built a fire.

“Oh shit,” Jesse growled as we approached.

He dropped my hand, and then he pushed through the crowd, right into the middle of whatever was happening. I pushed through, too, but I wasn’t as big or as strong as he was, so it took me longer. When I finally made it through the crowd, I saw Jesse holding Andy back as Andy was trying to break free. Ally was crouched down next to some guy who was lying in the sand, holding his nose.

“Andy, you’re a f*cking *!” Ally shouted.

“He was kissing you!” Andy shouted back as he again tried to break Jesse’s grip.

“So what? I’m not a baby!” Ally shouted back. “You’re my sister!”

“Both of you, chill the f*ck out!” Jesse yelled.

“I will not chill the f*ck out! Andy just hit him for no reason!” Ally yelled at Jesse. “If you would have shown up sooner, none of this would have happened.”

“Don’t even try to blame me for this shit! It’s between you and Andy!” Jesse shouted back.

He was pissed. There was no question about it. I’d seen him mad before, but this was taking it to a whole new level. If looks could kill, Ally would be dead in the sand.

When her gaze found mine, she screamed, “Bullshit! You’ve always been part of our family until you met her. Now, you couldn’t care less! You’re too worried about getting your dick in her to care about who really matters.”

The crowd was silent as their eyes traveled between Ally, Jesse, and me. I wanted to crawl back over the rocks and go home. I had hoped to make a good impression on his friends, but I didn’t see that happening now after Ally’s little show.

“Shut the f*ck up, or I swear to God—” Jesse yelled.

Ally cut him off. “Or you’ll what? Hit a girl? We both know you won’t.”

“Ally, shut up!” Andy shouted. He’d stopped struggling in Jesse’s arms, but he still looked ready to kill.

When the guy on the ground slowly stood up, all eyes went to him. I was thankful for the distraction as Ally helped him.

“You’re all f*cking nuts! I’m out of here!” the guy said as he started walking down the beach.

Ally shot all three of us another glare before she started chasing the guy. The crowd stayed silent while Jesse let go of Andy. They were both still pissed as they turned to face everyone.

“Move it along, or I’ll beat someone else’s ass!” Andy yelled.

The crowd disappeared almost instantly. No one wanted to test Andy’s threat.

Jesse walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me. “You okay?”

“Fine. That was...awkward. Ally really doesn’t like me.”

“Ally needs to get over herself,” Jesse growled. “I’ll take care of her later.”

I hoped that I wasn’t anywhere near them when that conversation took place. Both of them had a temper, and I knew it wouldn’t end well.

“Just don’t fight with her over me. I don’t want to get between you guys.” “You won’t. Ally needs to accept the fact that you’re not going anywhere.”

Andy appeared out of nowhere with three beers in his hands. “I need to get drunk.”