Chapter Twenty-Six #2
Cody shifted around in his seat, clutching onto his beer like it would provide him with support.
“Her and TJ had just finished dancing. He wandered off to go talk to some girl and El looked like she was about to head back this way. The guy stopped her, started talking to her. I know she’s capable of handling herself, so I gave it a second, but then he like, grabbed her shoulder, sort of, and I called it. ”
Cody just solidified this guy’s execution.
A stranger talking to her was one thing, but touching her was another story.
I was grateful that Cody stepped in, protecting her when I hadn’t been present to do so. He would never let me down.
My hand tightened around my beer bottle so stiffly that I was surprised it didn’t shatter in my palm. “Point him out.”
“Matt...”
“I just,” I gnarled before catching myself, pulling back, “want to know who he is.”
Studying me with uncertainty, Cody’s mouth flattened to a hard line. He sighed deeply. “Over by the pool table. Blonde guy in the white long sleeve.”
The culprit stood tall, a cocky persona wafting off him. Based on his height and build, football player wasn’t a bad guess. Sleeves rolled up to his forearms, he chatted with a group of guys, but I only recognized two that seemed disinterested in the conversation.
Finn Hannegan and Jack Zehner.
Two football players that I had a pretty solid relationship with.
We found ourselves at a lot of the same parties over the years, and they even came to our post-championship celebration.
Cedar U’s football team was decent; they always did well and won the conference title a few times in Cedar U’s history, but they’d never won a national championship. We were known for being a hockey school.
Once the guy in question ran off, probably to hit on someone else’s girlfriend, I trekked over, zoning out Cody’s pleas not to.
“Hey,” I nodded.
“Gallagher,” Hannegan smiled.
“What’s up, man?” Zehner greeted me.
“I was just wondering, who’s the dude in the white long sleeve?”
Their eyes wandered across the bar with a light cringe.
“Orion,” Hannegan answered.
“Who is he?”
“O-line. He’s a freshman.”
My brow raised. “A freshman?”
Zehner leaned closer. “I tolerate him because he’s on our team, but I don’t really like the guy, if I’m being honest.”
Yeah. Me neither.
Swiveling around, I caught El’s gaze. She was watching me, and I hoped Cody didn’t tell her why I came over here.
Hannegan and Zehner had seen first-hand the damage that I could inflict. I made sure not to hold back the warning in my voice. “Alright, well whoever he is, tell him he better not say another word to my girlfriend or else it won’t end well for him.”
Exchanging glances, I could see the deep rise and fall of their chests in uneasiness.
“Got it,” Hannegan nodded firmly.
“Cool,” I exhaled. “Thanks, guys.”
El’s gaze followed me all the way back to the table. I offered a dim smile. “Hi.”
“Hi,” she gave an unsettled smile back. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” I kissed her forehead. “Are you okay?”
She chuckled. “Perfectly fine.”
The table was half-empty. TJ was still off talking to some brunette in the corner. Keith was in the middle of a group of girls who were practically clawing at his chest. And Cody was nowhere to be found.
“Where’d Cody go?”
El only shrugged, while Jett butted in. “He left. He’s probably got a scheduled hookup.”
“Ah,” I nodded. No surprise there.
After two more beers and a few rounds of Uno that TJ forced us to play when he found it in the stack of games that Stallions had piled near the back, El and I agreed to have one last drink before heading out.
She was on her fourth sex on the beach, and I was on my sixth beer, barely buzzed. That was one thing that sucked about my size. It took a hideous amount of alcohol to actually get me drunk.
Based on El’s lazy smirk, and the glossy lust in her eyes, practically sending me mind messages that she wanted me on top of her the second we got home, I could tell she was quite tipsy.
The shot that her and TJ took an hour ago probably didn’t help.
It wasn’t until then that I realized the scumbag that touched her earlier was still eyeing her every few minutes like she was a piece of candy.
I knew she was mine. I knew nobody else would get the opportunity to touch her or hold her like I did. At the end of every day, she’d be coming home to me, and that was what mattered most.
However, I didn’t like that this guy put his hands on her. I didn’t like that at all.
“Uncomfortable” never left her mouth, but her expression earlier told me all I needed to know.
Before we were dating, I would’ve burned down a house for her.
I’d burn down a whole goddamn city now.
Downing the rest of our drinks, I trailed a few steps behind El, snaking slowly through groups of people towards the back exit. Some of the football players waved or nodded in my direction, and I returned the courtesy.
Until I saw a hand reach in front of me, gliding across El’s wrist in an effort to grab it.
My ire grew heavy, seeping into my bones. Vision blurring red faster than the speed of light, my fist met his face, dropping him to the floor like a fly.
“Matt!” El screeched.
Dozens of eyes shot over to us at once before falling to the motionless body on the ground. Hand at the base of her back, I rushed El out of the bar.
The frigid air hit me, but it was more relieving than anything, working to calm my body down after the adrenaline spike.
El’s steps remained brisk in front of me; they were practically stomps.
Softly, I called out to her, “El.”
She didn’t turn, only kept parading towards the hockey house. Her small footprints stamped the fresh, thin layer of snow on the pavement, and I followed them, feeling a flush of woe encapsulate my lungs from her rejection.
El’s arms wrapped around herself; she was probably freezing, and I wanted nothing more than to wrap her up and keep her warm.
“El,” I announced again, desperation leaking into my voice.
Flipping over her shoulder, the look she shot me was colder than the night surrounding us. “Matt,” she gritted through her teeth, “you cannot just go around punching everyone that bothers you!”
“I didn’t even hit him that hard.”
El blinked at me rapidly, mouth parted. “You knocked him out!”
My teeth sunk into the inside of my cheek, almost sheepishly. Something about her shaky exhale made me even more unsettled. I wasn’t used to her being mad at me or upset with me. Disappointed, maybe, but never the other two.
I found her standing in front of me, so close that I could push her braid over her shoulder or lean down and kiss her. All the fury that had been coursing through my veins had dissipated the moment we stepped outside, and it was entirely gone now at the sight of her.
Her voice was steady, calm. But with one single streetlamp shining on us, I could see the anguish in her eyes.
“Matt, I love you, but there’s going to come a day where you have to face your problems like an adult rather than facing them with your fists.”
With that, she turned and walked off.
All I could do was follow.