Page 9 of Waiting for Her

“Dawson. You seriously don’t want to go there,” Blake warns him, the back of his hand pressing against Dawson’s chest to get him to back away. “My suggestion? Back the fuck off, man.”

Although I appreciate Blake sending a warning on my behalf, my eyes don’t stray from Dawson’s.

He stares at me for as long as he thinks is intimidating before he realizes I’m not backing down then scoffs, throws back the rest of his beer and saunters off.

Once he’s out of earshot, my friends don’t give him a second thought, all of them going back to joking around like he never interrupted us to begin with. That’s what happens with shitheads like Dawson.

They become insignificant.

Until they aren’t.

Within ten minutes of Dawson walking away, I realize just howsignificantthe prick really is.

“Grady! Get your ass over here now!” At the frantic yells of one of my friends, I take off at a dead sprint through the empty field.

I have no idea why my heart is pumping so hard or why I feel like lava is running through my veins, but ever since we got to this damn party, I’ve felt on edge. I round the corner and see my friend Conner pulling Bri up to standing, her hair a mess and the jersey—myjersey—she is wearing covered in dirt.

Dawson is on the ground, shoving Blake off him. Blake stands, kicking the side of Dawson’s brand new red pickup his daddy bought him. Dawson jumps up and takes one step toward Blake but then stops. “What the fuck, Blake?” His gray t-shirt is covered in dirt and a few blood splatters and his hair is a mess. From the looks of it, he’s just had his ass beat and it only makes me even more nervous.

“What the hell happened?” Bri’s friend Grace shouts, running up behind me but immediately moves to Bri’s side, hugging her. Even though I want Bri in my arms right now, I have this ugly feeling wrapping itself around my heart that’s telling me I need to keep close to Dawson. Grace starts brushing off the dirt from Bri’s jeans and picks dried leaves out of Bri’s hair, turning glaring eyes at Dawson.

“Fuck you, D. I know what I saw,” Blake snarls.

“You don’t know shit,” he says, before he spits blood onto the ground.

“Someone want to enlighten me as to what the fuck is happening right now?” I growl as I move closer to Bri. My eyes cut to hers and what I see breaks my heart. Seeing the tears streak down her gorgeous face and her cheek already red, there’s not a doubt in my mind I know exactly why I was so on edge earlier.

I’ve always had a sixth sense when it came to Bri.

She’s my other half.

The missing part to my soul.

And the thought of some asshole touching her…

“D here thought he’d take matters into his own hands when Bri brushed him off a-fucking-gain. Like he can’t get it through to his thick skull that Bri doesn’t want him.”

“Fuck you and fuck her. She’s nothing but a tease.”

I don’t give myself time to think.

Or ask questions.

I react.

“You asshole!” I scream as I lunge at Dawson, my right fist connecting with his left cheek. He fights back, landing a few punches of his own, but my adrenaline has kicked in and I have a hell of a lot of anger building up.

I don’t let up. I rain punches down on his face like it’s a punching bag, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. And even when he crumples to the ground after a hard punch to his gut, I don’t back down.

“You don’t touch her! You hear me?”

“Grady! Stop!” I hear Bri cry out, but I can’t. Not when he possibly did what would be my worst nightmare. I can only hope he didn’t take it as far as... the thought makes me hit harder.

Hearing her trembling voice should put me on pause but it only amps me up again. I fall to the ground over top him, using my fists to show him exactly what I think of him. “You son of a bitch! She’s not yours ever, you got it yet? She’s mine!” I shout and grunt when I feel arms wrap around me.

I spit at Dawson’s busted up face as three of my friends start pulling me off. I kick him in the balls, because the fucker deserves it, and relax my stance. My friends slowly release their hold, but the anger is still coiled tight around me.

“Grady,” I hear Bri plead one more time and it’s quiet enough around us it causes me to look over at her. She’s still a mess from whatever that asshole did to her, but it doesn’t take away from how beautiful she is.

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