“Please,” someone said.
Everyone stood scattered around, their heads tilted skyward. I followed their gazes and dropping my skirt, my hands flew to my mouth.
With his arm around Alan’s thighs, Shay held a naked Alan upside down over the upstairs balcony.
“Last chance, dude,” Griffin yelled. He stood next to Shay and looked over at a sobbing Alan.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Skye, I’m sorry.” Sporting a black eye, Alan cried between snot and tears when Shay dropped him an inch.
“Louder, asshole, she can’t hear you,” Shay threatened, letting Alan slip another inch.
Alan’s head jerked from side to side, looking for me. “Please, stop,” he screamed.
“Guess your dick ain’t cocky now, is it?” Griffin goaded.
My gaze dropped to Alan’s flaccid penis, and I rolled my lips to keep from laughing. Everyone had their phones out, recording him, their laughter drowning his cries. I just might escape the name-calling at school.
Then he spotted me. “Skye,” he yelled. “I’m so sorry. I’ll never touch you again. I’ll never come near you again.”
Shay’s eyes sought mine through the crowd. “You okay?” he mouthed.
Something in his expression was different, similar to the one I’d seen when he came through the door at home, earlier tonight. He’d never looked at me like that before—a deep soul wrenching admiration, almost like he was jealous of Alan. Maybe I’d misread it then but the way he was looking at me now, I knew I couldn’t be wrong.
I nodded and he winked, causing my heart to flutter. Then he offered me a sexy smile and the flutter turned into a sonic boom I felt in every nerve.Shit.Here I go again, calling my off-limits brother’s smile, sexy. I glanced away, hoping to hide my telltale blush.
Thankfully, he dropped his gaze to Alan and shook him a few times. “Will you ever touch another girl without her permission again?”
“No!” Alan screamed. “I promise to never touch another girl again.”
“Drop him!” someone shouted.
I looked for the culprit.
“Yeah, drop the ahole,” another person roared before a chant picked up.
“Drop him! Drop him!”
My head swiveled the other way trying to see who started the rollicking calls. Griffin was rolling a fist in the air, urging Shay to do it while Alan begged for him not to. Horrified, my gaze sought Shay’s, my head slowly shaking from side to side, silently asking him not to do it. But his gaze was fixed on the crowd of idiotic students. Judging by the height, I figured Alan would sustain a few scrapes and maybe fracture something if he fell but I didn’t want Shay to take that chance. If something worse happened, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing I sent Shay to prison.
“Shay, please,” I yelled at the top of my voice. “Don’t.”
Strangely, he seemed to hear me among the noise and his gaze connected with mine, his grin immediately falling into concern. Could he see my fear, hear the frantic beat of my heart, erratic more for him than Alan? He answered my question by pulling a sobbing Alan up and over the balcony followed by a hiss of boos from the crowd. As everyone scattered, I walked away to the road, seeking out Shay’s car.
I was leaning against the passenger door, my lip between my teeth, my gaze riveted on the ground when he arrived. “Are you okay, Blue?” I lifted my eyes and the consoling look on his face brought immediate tears I couldn’t hold back. “Hey.” He swallowed me in his warm embrace, pulling me tight against his chest. “Did he hurt you?”
Instead of an answer, his soft tone, had me bawling my eyes out into the crook of his neck, my fingernails biting into his abs. Oddly, the fear of what could’ve happened, more tangible now than it was in that room with Alan.
“Everything’s going to be all right, baby,” the endearment falling from his lips had me crying harder. He’d always be my hero, no matter what.
If only you were more...
