“He tried to touch Ellie,” Holland grits out. Mason and Logan share a quick glance before looking over to Ellie and me. Their faces shift once they realize the tears on Ellie’s face.
Logan rolls his eyes, his head falling forward as if he’s contemplating his next move. Mason’s face gets red as he glares at Danny. All three of these guys can kick some serious ass, but we don’t need that right now.
Right now, I need to get Ellie out of here.
Danny scoffs. “She wanted it. That’s why she came out there. She knew I was out-,” Holland lunges for Danny but before he can get to him, Mason and Logan are tugging him back.
“You son of a bitch,” Holland yells. Danny’s lips turn into a smirk, and my body shivers. I don’t really know the guy, but I’ve heard enough to know that he’s a sleaze ball. If I wasn’t trying to comfort Ellie right now, my knee would hit his balls so hard they’d pop out of his mouth.
“Holland, let it go. I’m taking her home,” I tell him, hoping that my words will bring him down a bit. Holland doesn’t get mad often. He’s the kind of guy that lets most things roll off his shoulder.
Not when it comes to the people he loves though. He’ll do anything to protect them. That I’ve learned first-hand throughout the years I’ve known him.
Holland’s body visibly relaxes, and Mason and Logan let him go. He straightens out and looks Danny dead in the eye.
“Don’t ever look at my sister again, you got that?”
Before Danny can answer, Holland pushes his way through the crowd of onlookers and heads for the front door. Ellie and I follow closely behind while Mason and Logan stay behind to help remedy the party.
The chill in the air feels good against my clammy skin as we walk across the street to our house. Holland doesn’t say much as we approach.
“I’m going to go in and take a shower. Thank you for making sure I was alright, Laine. Holland, I appreciate that you didn’t kill Danny so I didn’t need tobail you out of jail,” Ellie teases. Holland shrugs his shoulders casually, as if he didn’t just beat the shit out of someone.
“I do what I can,” Holland smirks, his hands in his pockets. I roll my eyes at his very ‘Holland’ response.
When the door clicks shut after Ellie disappears inside, I take a deep breath and look at the black sky. No stars tonight, only a crescent moon and a few streetlamps lighting the small street.
“This is not how I thought this night would end,” I chuckle to myself.
“Yeah, seems like you expected to be getting railed by some guy tonight, aye Barkley?” I narrow my eyes at him.
“Yeah, I was… And?”
Holland holds both hands up in surrender.
“Nothing, nothing. Good for you,” he says as he shoves his hands into his pockets. I give a curt nod and begin to turn toward my front door.
“It’s just…” Holland continues. My head falls back in annoyance. Of course he has more to say. When doesn’t he? “I thought you had standards, Laine.”
God, he’s the worst.
Placing my hands on my hips, I look him up and down. “I do. I’ve never slept with you.”
Holland smirks, not at all offended by my comment.
“Not yet,” he winks, and I gag.
“That is never going to happen, Monroe. Nice try,” I sling back, whipping around to walk into the house.
“Whatever you say, Bug.”
Slamming the door in Holland’s face before I strangle his cocky ass, I shudder at the nickname. He only calls me that when he’s trying to get a rise out of me.
He doesn’t need to call me a nickname to do that though. His existence does it naturally. I wonder if Ellie would be heartbroken if her brother disappeared off the face of the planet?
Fights like the one that just happened never surprise me, really. The Elites are always finding new ways to get into some trouble. Holland was never really a hot head until last year when everything went down with his dad.
Ryker, Logan, Holland, Mason, and their friend Patrick took down their father’s empire. I don’t know all of the details, but apparently their dads were doing all kinds of illegal shit with their business.
