Page 97 of Sugar Rush
Unfortunately, by the time I jumped out and planted my feet on the ground, Kieran had already reared back and punched him in the face, hard. Andrew crumpled to the ground, and I swiftly moved in front of him, planting my hands on his chest as I stared up at him.
“Kieran, stop. He doesn’t matter,” I added firmly, unsurprised that his furious expression didn’t budge an inch.
“Did he touch you?” He asked, the words coming out in a deep growl. I shook my head quickly.
“No. I’m okay,” I promised, panting slightly. “I swear. I’m fine.”
“This is exactly the shit I was trying to explain to you,” Andrew said from somewhere behind me. “You really want to spend your life trying to keep some trashbag delinquent from losing his temper and hurting people?”
“I’m going to fucking kill you!” Kieran snapped, attempting to shove past me and get to him. Shifting my hold and clinging onto his biceps, I didn’t let him shake me off.
“Kieran, please!” I tried again, digging my fingers into his skin. The muscles in his arms were hard and taut, straining against my hold on them, and we both knew I wasn’t really in any kind of position to hold him back from anything. He could have flung me into the air like a bug if he really wanted to. “I… I know about what happened with your dad!”
He froze, his eyes darting to mine, and my heart clenched as I watched apprehension, misery, and self-loathing flicker in their dark depths.
“I know you’re just trying to protect me,” I rushed on, wanting that look, and the thoughts in his head that caused those looks, to go away forever. “I know you can’t stand the thought that someone might hurt me. And that’s not a bad thing. But I swear I’m okay. He’s nothing. He’s no one.”
Looking pitifully conflicted, Kieran swallowed hard, letting his breath hiss out between his teeth. Recognizing I was at least somewhat getting through, I dragged my hands up the straining muscles in his arms, over his tight shoulders, and up to his face.
“I love you. If you love me, you’ll back off.”
He let out a bark of bitter, caustic laughter, rolling his eyes up to the sky, but he didn’t push me off. “Give me a fucking break, Jordy.”
“Thank you,” I said, relieved when he let me nudge him back, little by little, until his back was against the passenger seat of the truck. “You’re-”
“You know, I really thought you were different,” Andrew piped up from behind me. When I looked back at him, I saw the flesh around his eye was already red and starting to swell from where Kieran had decked him. But at least he’d risen up to his feet. “You’re a whore, just like every other omega. You’re going to look around one day and regret settling for a bully that keeps you locked up like an object!”
“You don’t know me, and you don’t know him!” I snapped. “I tried to be nice to you, but you’re a creep. Get the fuck out of here before I let him go and you end up with more than a black eye.”
Glaring at me with more hatred than I’d ever seen in anyone’s face, he turned away and started stalking off. We watched him until he had fully retreated back into the youth center. The moment he was out of sight, my muscles relaxed, and I let myself melt into Kieran’s chest.
He reached down to grip my ass, pulling me up into his lap as he lifted himself up onto the passenger seat. I kissed him, obediently letting him squeeze me around my waist and hips and thighs like he was checking to make sure I was really okay. When he seemed satisfied with the results of his brief exam, he pulled back and stared into my eyes.
“The next time anyone tries to touch you like that, you’re not holding me back,” he warned me. “I mean it.”
“I know,” I said, a chill skittering up my spine. I knew he meant it, too. “That’s not going to happen. I mean, it neverhashappened until him. You know that.”
He didn’t respond to me with words, but instead reached up and brushed a tendril of my hair off my forehead. He looked calm, but when I felt his fingertip tremble just slightly against my skin, I knew he was still upset.
“Hey,” I said. “I don’t want to go home yet.”
“Okay,” he answered. His voice was still intense, without an ounce of casual in it. I wished I could read his mind so I knew what to say to soothe him. “Where do you want to go?”
“Can I drive?” I asked, the corner of my lip perking up when he gave me an incredulous look. I’d definitely expected that.
“No.”
“Mom lets me drive her car sometimes,” I pointed out, and he scoffed.
“Mom drives a sedan,” he informed me flatly. “This thing is a boat on wheels.”
“I can do it,” I said, even though I was pretty sure I couldn’t. It didn’t matter, I’d known he wouldn’t let me anyway. But at least if he was thinking about this, he wouldn’t be thinking about anything else.
“Do you even know how to drive a stick?”
“I don’t know, do I?” I asked, blinking my eyelashes at him as I poked a finger into the crotch of his jeans. Batting my hand away, he shook his head, but he was laughing a little.
“If I thought you could drive this thing as well as you do that, then we wouldn’t have any problems,” he remarked. The tiny smirk on his face was so handsome I could feel my pulse fluttering inside me. “But I don’t think that. So no. You’re not crashing my truck.”
