Page 46 of Muse (Fighting Fate)

“Which one?” Jay asks. “They’re both fuckable.”

“Yeah, but damn. Check out Mia’s legs. What I wouldn’t do to have them wrapped around me.”

My adrenalin was pumping way too hard. I was very close to snapping. I stood up, ready to fucking go toe to toe with someone, but then the guys started standing too.

“I think it’s swim time,” Jay said with a grin.

Just fucking great! Now they were going to get closer to her. Their shirts all started to come off and they started heading towards the water. What the fuck was I going to do?

I met Aiden’s gaze across the beach and I did the only thing I could. I gave him a hard look, then directed his gaze down to Mia.

Understanding came to his eyes, and I was filled with relief. As we all walked passed him, Aiden calmly stood. “Any of you fucking touch my sister and I’ll rip your fucking arms off.”

I probably would’ve been a little more direct than that, but I think they got the point.

Chapter 23

Mia

If I just focused on Kaeli and didn’t look around at all the other people I was fine. I’d already made the mistake of looking up once, and nearly suffered an immediate death. It wasn’t just the amount of people. The beach was open enough to counteract that. It was the fact that, for some reason, people were looking at me.

As we bobbed up and down the cold water, trying not to freeze our asses off, Kaeli smiled and shook her head. “What?” I asked.

“I can’t believe you’re with Jace.”

I smiled. I’d told her about my surprise visit from Jace the second I’d sat down on the beach. After she’d gotten over her initial shock, she was exceedingly excited for me. “I can’t believe I’m with him,” I said.

Loud voices and splashing caught our attention, and we looked up to see a group of guys jumping into the water. Jace was with them and when he caught my gaze, he gave me a pointed look, discretely motioning for me to move further down the beach.

With one look back at the guys, I knew I didn’t need to be asked twice. Grabbing Kaeli’s hand, I pulled her along. “Come on. Let’s go down here further.”

Girls started streaming down the beach then, the sight of half-naked guys too much for them to stay away from apparently. When I thought we were far enough away, we stopped.

We watched a few of the girls make a bee line for Jace, one of them Melissa, and Kaeli growled. “I can’t stand that wench. You know she was hinting on Facebook that she was with Jace last night.”

I looked back at Kaeli, stunned. “Really?” I shook my head. “I know she’s lying because he was with me until eleven last night. He did go to the party, but even Aiden was stirring him this morning about him not doing anything with her.”

Kaeli bit her lip, looking back at the group as they tossed a ball around. “You know it’s only going to get worse though, right? Especially if they think he’s available. I mean, they’re a little better with Dean because of Lila, but no one knows you’re with Jace.”

She was right. I knew she was, but I still didn’t think I was ready for people to know. Until then, I just needed to be okay with girls throwing themselves at my boyfriend.

Oh my god. I had a boyfriend. That was just surreal.

The group in the water had grown, and they were now throwing a ball back and forth between them. It seemed to be mostly a boy game because every time the ball came down, a few guys would launch themselves into the air to grab it, and the others would all jump on top of whoever managed to catch it and plunge him under the water.

The girls were just there to be noticed.

I watched Jace for a while, and each time he chanced a look over at me a flush went through my body. The ball sailed up into the air and I saw Jace shoot up with a few of the other guys to grab it. They all came down together. I had no idea where the ball was, but Jace went under, and Ryan and Corey piled on top of him.

My heart went a little crazy for a bit while he was under, but when he shot up again I was okay. He knocked Melissa back as he came up, and I couldn’t help feeling pleased, but as the guys continued to push and shove around her, she went under.

I saw Jace make a grab for her to stop her from getting squashed, his hands going around her waist to pull her up, and she reached up around his neck to hold on. I knew it was complete chance that they’d ended up that way, but seeing them locked in what looked like a lover’s embrace didn’t bode well for my confidence.

I heard Kaeli inhale sharply, and I knew she was thinking the same thing.

When Melissa looked like she was going in for a kiss, I stopped breathing altogether. Holy shit. Not here, not now. Before she could get to him though, Jace reacted. He instantly released her and pulled back out of her grasp. I saw his mouth move with what looked like the word, ‘Don’t’ before he moved far away from her.

I was still watching him intently when I heard Kaeli squeal a little, and I looked up to see the ball coming straight towards us. Instinctively, I put my hands out and snatched it from the air.

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