Page 103 of Dare You to Run
“You feeling okay, little mouse?”
“Mhm. Just a little tired, but I’m good.” She leans down and kisses my lips chastely, then strokes her fingers over my scruffy jaw.
We continue to talk and drink and laugh as the pool is empty aside from us. But that peace doesn’t last long when a group of rowdy college boys stumble through the gate.
They’re loud and annoying and I immediately feel like I need to call every teacher I ever disrespected. They flop down on several loungers and begin peeling out of their frat boy uniforms. One of them tosses a football as another jumps in to catch it. Water splashes everywhere when the rest of them dive in.
“Ah fuck. There goes our evening.” Mal grows easily perturbed by their presence.
“It’s getting late and we had a long day. I better get Dagen to bed.” I drop her legs and rise from the hot tub, Mal and D doing the same thing.
“Oh okayDad. I didn’t realize it was my bedtime.” She sasses me and it fires me up.
“Daddy’s gon’ tan that ass of yours if you keep it up,” I growl in her ear.
I see a blush creep across her face, but hear no more protests. I give her a little pat on her ass as we grab our clothes and towels off the chairs. Dagen bends over to slip her feet into her shorts when a football slams into the back of her head.
“Ow!” She yelps.
I snatch the football from the ground and turn to face the guys with murderous rage flowing through my veins.
“Who the fuck threw that?” I bellow.
“Hey. Sorry man. It was an accident. We didn’t mean to.” The guys all watch Danté, Mal and I as we stand like a brick wall in front of Dagen.
“You just hit my girl. I should kick your fucking ass, you know that.”
“Woah. Bro. Relax. It was an accident and he already apologized.” One of the bigger guys wades through the water to speak up.
“Don’t fuckingbrome. You apologized to me, not her.” My hands are clenched into white knuckle fists and I can feel them tingle with the itch to beat this guy's face in.
“Hendrix. It’s okay. Let’s just go.” Dagen places her hand on my flexed bicep, trying to talk me down.
“We’re not leaving until these douchebags. apologize for hitting you.” My chest rises and falls with deep, hot breaths.
My brothers step a little closer to me, knowing that if shit is going to go down we need to be ready to guard Dagen.
“We’re sorry, okay. Now can we have our ball back and you guys can go crawl back into the prison cell you broke out of?” Dagen’s head presses against my back and I feel a gush of air across my skin.
“If you only knew who you were talking to, you’d be eating those words you little punk.” Malik tries to clue them in on the fact that we could ruin their lives, but they don’t seem to get it.
I stare them down then take their goddamn football and throw it as hard as I can, over the bushes that surround the pool area and into the parking lot.
“Hey asshole. That wasn’t yours.” The guys start climbing out of the pool and walking towards us.
“Hendrix. Please? Can we just leave?” Dagen’s voice trembles with fear and I can tell she’s on the verge of tears.
“Go get our fucking ball before we beat your ass to a pulp.” The big guy stands at the center of the group, the other five right behind him.
Danté reaches into the pocket of his jeans that he lifts off the chair and pulls out the knife he carries with him everywhere. I hear Malik’s knuckles crack and his neck pop as he rolls it out. Mal is the funny one of the group, but he’s just as twisted and bat shit crazy as Danté and never backs down from a fight.
The three of us step forward to the pack and size them up. It’s six on three but these assholes are soft and probably raised in a country club. They know nothing about trying not to break when the entire world is stepping on your neck, trying to keep her head underwater. We can take them and walk away with barely a scratch.
“You little pricks fucked with the wrong guys. If I were you, I’d gather up my shit and leave now. Open your mouth again andit’ll be the last fucking thing you say.” My eye twitches, praying they make one more sound so I can kick their asses.
They all stand with cocky smirks on their faces and big egos on their shoulders. It’s clear that no one has ever knocked these guys down a peg or two. Or ten like we’re about to do.
“Hey sweetheart. Just nod your head if you’re in danger and we’ll get you away from these psychos.”
