I shrugged, not wanting to admit that he was right. Instead I met Lucas’s heated glare, hoping that he realized he was one of those boys, and by the look on his face he knew what I thought.
Jacob exhaled a deep breath and stepped toward me. “I get that you want to grow up. It’s just a little hard to see it. You’ve been following us around since you could crawl. Okay?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does to us,” he stressed.
“We will always protect you. It’s in our nature. We will take it down a notch. That’s the best I can give you, Half-Pint,” Dylan added while glancing at the guys and then back at me. “Happy?”
I sighed defeated. “It’s a start I guess.”
Jacob kissed the top of my head, Dylan pulled me into a tight hug, and Austin rubbed my back, grinning and tugging on the ends of my hair before they made their way back inside. I was left with Lucas, who hadn’t moved or said one thing since I yelled that I cared about Cole. Knowing it had nothing to do with Cole.
It was the fact that I said I cared about someone…
Who wasn’t him.
I needed to be alone with my thoughts.
This wasn’t going to end well if I didn’t control the rage I felt for her sticking up for some fucking douche that acted as if he owned the ocean. Riding up and stealing another surfer’s waves. There aren’t many rules to surfing, but you respect each other’s breaks.
Plain and simple.
I didn’t know what possessed me to act like that.
Yes, I did.
Although the encounter didn’t go as I envisioned it. I was blinded by rage and panic of having her flirt with someone who wasn’t me. The urge to mark her overwhelmed me, and I found myself digging my nails into the palms of my hands to keep from shaking the shit out of her. I wanted to remind her that she was mine. I couldn’t seem to control myself, or the rapid thoughts that circulated my mind. She belonged only to me. As stupid as that sounds, that’s how I felt. I didn’t want her to be friends with another guy, and the reaction that she just pulled on me was complete fucking bullshit.
Neither one of us dared to say a word, knowing that nothing could take away my desire to claim her as mine. Alex knew me like the back of her hand and vice versa. I was jealous and she was resentful, two emotions combined that only led to disaster.
“Tell me, Alexandra, do you like your new friend?” I viscously mocked.
Her eyebrows raised, the shock evident on her beautiful face making me regret my words almost instantly. “Half—”
“Not as much as you like Stacey,” she countered almost knocking me on my ass.
“Leave Cole alone, ya hear?” she added, not breaking the intensity of our stares.
“Or what?” I scowled through gritted teeth.
“Lucas,” Jacob hollered from inside.
I turned to find him staring us both down, taking in our heated standoff with eyes that realized more than I wanted him to. “Come on,” he said with a nod while opening the door wider. The cool air brushed against my heated skin and helped ease the fact that I wanted to hit someone.
Mostly Cole.
I didn’t turn back around. I just left.
All I achieved was adding to the times that I would walk away from Alex.
“What the fuck was that?” Jacob asked as he grabbed my arm, stopping me to face him when we were outside.
I aggressively pulled my arm away. “Don’t worry about it.”
He jerked back while cocking his head to the side and spoke with conviction. “We’re all pissed, Lucas, why don’t you calm down before you do something you will regret later.”
“What do you want?”
He didn’t miss a beat. “Are you jealous, Lucas?”
“No,” I lied with a straight face.
“It looks like it, and from what I overheard, it fucking sounds like it too. Let me remind you that Alex is our little sister. You do remember that right? She’s not Stacey.”
“No shit.”
“Then I’m going to pretend that I didn’t see what I’m assuming.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Jacob,” I snapped.
He put his hands in the air out in front of him in a surrendering gesture. “Half-Pint is off limits, to all of us. Especially you.”
I scoffed. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I replied through gritted teeth. My fists clenched at my sides and my muscles tensed. I could feel my temper looming. It took everything inside me not to put my hands on my best friend. But this wasn’t the time or the place. It would take years for Jacob and me to throw down though it being for a whole different reason.
“Do you even have to ask me that? You’re not good enough for her. You know it and I know it. You’re going to hurt her if you haven’t already.”
I swallowed the saliva that had pooled in my mouth, trying like hell to not take his words to heart, but I couldn’t help it. Everything he said was true. I had hurt her in ways I promised I never would. Immediately the memory flooded my mind of watching her fall apart in the abandoned house we called our safe haven. It was as if I stood there all over again and not in front of Jacob. It replayed in my mind causing me to feel the shame and remorse for the piece of shit I knew I had been.
Or possibly still was.
“I love you, Lucas. But I will knock you the fuck out if you don’t put your cock back in your pants and start thinking with the head on your goddamn shoulders. We clear?” He acknowledged with a nod.
I decided to ignore his threat to break the tension between us. “What did you want?”
I wasn’t scared of Jacob.
“You want to direct your anger at someone? Well, I got the perfect guy.” He grinned while snickering, slapping me on the arm, and hauling me over to his chest in a lighthearted manor. “Let’s catch up with the boys.”
We trailed behind a few blocks until we caught up to Austin and Dylan. Not just them, but Cole too. They stood in front of him, almost caging him in while he leaned against a fence with his foot propped resting along it, his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn’t afraid of us, nor was he intimidated. That much was clear.
We gathered next to all of them with our bodies firmly facing Cole. You would have thought we were having a fucking pow wow with the way his demeanor carried. Not a thread of worry in his eyes or in his stance, he was as cool as the ocean water. This guy could fight. That much was also obvious.
“Seems like we all started off on the wrong foot,” Jacob recalled in a throaty tone, breaking the silence but not the intensity.
Cole cocked his head to the side with a toothy grin. “Oh yeah? You mean that’s not the general welcome around these parts? Damn,” he sarcastically stated.
I chuckled. I couldn’t help it. “Cute,” I snickered as I eyed him up and down, ready to punch the smart ass fucking grin off his face. He realized it. I was never one for being subtle.
He unyieldingly arched an eyebrow. “I try to be. Alexandra sure seems to think so,” he snidely insinuated only provoking me further. If I didn’t hate him so much already, I probably would have shaken his goddamn hand.
Dylan placed his palm on my shoulder, sensing that I wanted nothing more than to take his sorry ass out. That wouldn’t score me points with Alex though, and that’s the only reason I kept playing nice. But if he kept luring me like that I wouldn’t give a fuck anymore and take the bait. Alex would forgive me eventually, and I would have the pleasure to fuck up his pretty boy face. He walked a thin line and he knew it, part of me realized that’s what he intended. He wanted me to hit him for whatever reason.
Through the years, Cole would prove to be smarter than I ever imagined.
“What Jacob here is tryin’ to say, is that you’re only going to be around for the summer, I highly advise you to reconsider where you stand,” Dylan warned not letting go of his tight grip on my shoulder.