“Sure. Touch her and I’ll kill you.”
A chorus of challenges came from the group of meatheads, who started laughing at James. Austin, on the other hand, looked extremely serious, and shot me a look.
“Threats don’t suit you, you’re not in the position to . . . Didn’t we fuck you up last time, or am I wrong?”
The guys chuckled. James was forced to back away, and in that fraction of a second, Austin grabbed one of my arms and dragged me toward him. I tried to resist but it was useless. He put his arm around my waist, trapped me with both of his arms, and held me still with my back on his chest.
James clenched his jaw and glowered at him. “Let her go.”
“Don’t make any false moves, James,” Austin threatened, as I started to dissociate from reality.
My feet were cemented to the ground in fear. I closed my eyes and only understood the gravity of the situation when he grabbed my hair and exposed my neck. I felt my heart in my mouth and his heavy breath all over me.
“No! Let me go!” I screamed as his cold, calloused hand slithered under my hoodie.
“Listen to how this princess screams.”
My survival instincts kicked in. I lifted my foot and slammed it into his shin with all my might. It was enough to make him push me to the ground.
James pounced on top of him to punch him so hard that it knocked him out. Ethan Austin’s face was full of blood, and his body turned into deadweight. He was out cold. He seemed like a lifeless dummy. I stared at him dumbfounded.
I lifted my head. James was looking at me.
“Are you okay?” he whispered.
Austin’s friends took advantage of the moment of distraction to grab James by the shoulders.
Frightened, I screamed. Everything happened so fast that I felt like I was in the middle of a movie scene.
It was four against one. Two of them held him back while the other two socked him in the stomach repeatedly. I saw him throw up blood and collapse on the ground. And even then they kept kicking him.
“Please, enough!”
Obviously nobody listened to me. The melee was getting so out of control that other people came to break it up.
Bewildered, breathless, and with my heart bursting, I resigned myself to watching them defenselessly.
“Want a hand, man?” A guy offered to help James, but Austin got up and scared him away with a glare.
“This asshole still doesn’t know who calls the shots around here.” Austin spit on the ground before leaving with his group of friends.
James rolled onto one side and clutched his stomach. He tried to get up, but it seemed like he was in too much pain to do so.
“Are you crying, White?” he asked, wincing in pain.
Confused, I touched my cheeks. “Of course not. Can I help you?”
I tried to put his arm around my shoulders to help him up.
“No.”
Jesus, he was heavy.
“Where’s Will? I want to go home. I can’t be here anymore,” I exclaimed, my voice cracking in fear.
James made a subtle sign with his head, so I went with him to the parking lot. We plodded to his Mustang, and he collapsed in the driver’s seat.
I grabbed the first aid kit from under the seat.
