Page 6 of Chasing Elliott
“Son of a bitch,” I groaned as I looked down at my now horribly stained jeans.
“Shit, I’m so sorry,” the guy in front of me said as he gripped my arm to try and steady me. “Come on, let me help you get cleaned up.”
“I can take care of myself,” I told him somewhat harshly through clenched teeth, still notlooking up as I pushed roughly past him to try and find a restroom.
“I know you can, but it was my fault. It’s the least I can do,” he continued to push. Isighed loudly and turned around, taking out my anger from everything that had transpired tonight on the poor stranger in front of me.
“Look, I am sick and tired of men who don’t understand what the word no means. Just because I sleep around doesn’t mean I like getting walked all over and treated like shit, nor do Ideserve that. I’m not in the mood for some guy with a hard on and a savior complex to try and force himself on me, I’ve already dealt with that enough tonight. So why don’t you go find some other girl who’s in the mood for a guy like you. I know there’s plenty of those here.”
I trudged through the sand with my empty cup in one hand and my shoes in the other, finally reaching the bathrooms that were near the sidewalk a ways away from the ocean. Once Iwas inside, I slammed the door shut behind me and made sure it was locked. Walking over to thesink, I braced my hands on the countertop and looked at myself in the mirror.
My hair was slightly disheveled, but other than that I looked a hell of a lot more put together than I felt. I sighed as I closed my eyes tightly, trying to fight back the tears offrustration that had suddenly sprung to my eyes.
Most of the guys I slept with wanted the same things as I did which is what made it so good. Then there were those few guys, like Marcus and Ryan, who wouldn’t take no for an answer. It was guys like those that made me feel dirty and worthless, like maybe I deserved everything that was happening to me. I mean, I had yet to find a guy who actually gave a shit about me as a person, someone who wanted to get to know me and didn’t want me just for my body. But it didn’t matter anyway; all I wanted was a good lay.
You can’t get your heart broken if you don’t give someone the opportunity to break it.
After a few minutes I decided to go rejoin the party, despite the fact that there was a very obvious stain on my pants. Flipping the lock on the door, I made my way back out onto the beach and toward the party, surprised to see that the crowd had doubled in size but that didn’t stop me from instantly finding Kara. Her and Benjamin were sitting together on a towel near thefirepit, more specifically she was sitting on his lap, and I smiled to myself before deciding to go back to the water for a breather.
Walking through the cool night air, I smiled softly at the feeling of the soft wind whipping through my slightly messy hair. I stopped in the wet sand, staring out at the ocean and the stars littering the sky, enjoying the way the music had faded from my senses and all that was left was the waves breaching the shore. Suddenly hearing footsteps crunching in the sand, Iturned toward the direction of the sound and scowled as a very drunk Marcus sauntered towards me.
“Don’t do this,” I whispered, already seeing that crazy look in his eye that I had caught a glimpse of earlier. He quickly began to approach me but to my surprise, a tall figure suddenly appeared and blocked Marcus from me.
“Back off, man,” the guy in front of me said sharply, an obvious sternness seeping into his familiar voice. “Keep your hands off her.”
“This doesn’t concern you,” Marcus hissed, a slight slur evident as he got into the face of the guy who was trying to protect me. The brunette in front of me put a hand on Marcus’s chest and tried to push him back but without warning, Marcus suddenly punched the guy in the facewhich caused him to stumble back into me.
I put my hands up, one bracing his back while the other cupped his forearm as Isomewhat broke his fall. He quickly gathered his bearings and threw a punch right back and Marcus fell roughly to the sand.
“Hey,” I almost shouted as I moved to stand between the two men, placing a hand on the guy's chest so he wouldn’t jump on Marcus and continue the fight. Even though I was grateful for his help, I didn’t want more bloodshed on my behalf, especially when Marcus was drunk out of his mind.
“You’re both going to regret this,” he warned as he pushed himself off the ground and walked past us, stumbling through the sand before disappearing into the crowd. I took a deep breath and decided to sit in the damp sand.
I glanced up at the guy in front of me and my breath hitched in my throat, not only because it was the guy who I had ran into on the way to the bathroom, but also because I finally recognized him as the guy who I met earlier at the overlook. I bit my lip as I found myself staring at his hair and imagined running my hands through it.
Jesus, Elliott, now is not the time.
He had a couple tattoos on his arms, but I couldn’t make out what they were in the dark, however I was easily able to tell he was fit. He stood at about six foot three which was almost a foot taller than my small frame.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a deep yet boyish voice as he stayed standing in front of me.
“For stalking me, spilling my drink earlier or for Marcus’s behavior?” I asked with a small smile playing on my lips as I cocked a brow at him, trying to make it obvious I was joking.
“Both,” he replied, not catching on to my playful tone. I chuckled softly before I patted the space next to me.
“Sit,” I told him, and he didn’t hesitate as he knelt down to join me. “I’m Elliott, by theway.”
“Cooper,” he informed me with a smile that revealed an amazing set of white teeth and dimples.
“Thank you, by the way, for saving me, and I’m sorry about earlier. It’s just been a rough night.”
“Hey,” Cooper said softly as he didn’t hesitate to put a comforting hand on my leg. “Don’t apologize, I totally get it. There’s no hard feelings whatsoever.”
I gave him a small smile and nodded my head, grateful for the amount of understanding he was showing me. Before I had the chance to say anything else to him, I turned to see Kara and Benjamin come walking over, hand in hand.
“There you are,” Kara chirped as she practically skipped towards us, dragging Benjamin with her. Cooper pushed himself up to his feet and turned around, extending a hand out towards me with a smile. I grinned up at him before happily accepting, allowing him to pull me up to stand. “We were thinking of grabbing some food, want to come?”
“Well, you and I did come here together,” I teased as I glanced between her and Benjamin’s still intertwined hands and had to bite my lip to contain my smile. “And I told you I’d be mom for the night so come on daughter, let’s go feed you.”
