Page 54 of Meant for You

“Heeey, Everly,” he said, or rather slurred.

I tried to pull my arm free. “Um…hi.”

“You don’t like me much, do you?” he said.

I blinked up at him, not sure what to say. “Ah…well, sure I do.”

He shook his head so vigorously he almost lost his balance. “Never thought you were one of those bitches,” he said, face screwing up.

“What?” I whispered, shocked.

“We went out. I thought it went okay, except for the…you know.” He motioned to my head and the still-visible cut. “Then some asshole with tattoos and a bike comes along and you ignore me like nothing happened.” He stumbled to the side.

I straightened my spine. “Nothing did happen. It was just one date. And I didn’t ignore you. You avoided me.”

“You trying to make me jealous or something, hanging around with that prick?”

“No. I wouldn’t do something like that. I’ve known Dane since I was twelve.” I stopped myself. I didn’t need to explain myself to him, and he was too drunk to have a rational conversation anyway. I was also getting seriously pissed off. “Maybe you should stop drinking now. Calling guys with tattoos and bikes assholes, while surrounded by bikers, isn’t very intelligent.”

“I could take any one of these fuckers.” He sneered at me. “You’re like all the others here. You’ll spread your fucking legs for these pricks. Whores like you—”

Tanner was yanked back hard. And if Dane didn’t have him by the back of his shirt, he would have hit the ground.

“What the fuck did you just say? What did you call her?” Dane roared in Tanner’s face, looking as angry as I’d ever seen him, which was saying something.

Everything went quiet. The music turned off.

Dane pushed Tanner back, shoving him against a tree, and I stood there stunned.

“You don’t talk to her. You don’t look at her, and you sure as fuck don’t touch her.”

“She was mine before you came back,” Tanner said. “I fucked her first, and I’ll fuck her again.”

Dane growled, loud and vicious, and drew his fist back. Grifter was there suddenly and grabbed his arm before he could let it fly.

“He’s wasted,” Grifter said. “Not in the mood to drive this fucker to the emergency room.”

Dane didn’t seem to hear him, and he looked like he was fighting to hang on to Tanner and against Grifter at the same time. That was the same anger I’d seen when Dane had lost it eighteen months ago. When someone tried to hurt me.

I was moving before I knew what I was doing, and I didn’t stop until I was crammed up against Dane’s side.

“Back up, Everly,” Grifter said.

I ignored him and grabbed Dane’s jaw, forcing him to look at me. His eyes were wild, so full of fury I flinched. But that anger wasn’t directed at me. Dane would never look at me that way. “I’m all right,” I said, voice as strong as I could make it. “I don’t care about him. I care about you. You need to let him go, Dane. Let him go for me.”

He blinked hard, the rage clearing some. His jaw tightened and he shoved Tanner away, pulled his arm from Grifter’s hold, and scooped me up, carrying me away from what had just happened.

I watched as Tanner’s friends came and pulled him away, leaving the party. Grifter yelled for someone to put the damned music back on, and everything went back to normal around us.

Dane carried on over to his truck and lowered me to my feet so I was leaning against the side. He crowded me, arms bracketing me, locking me in like he was afraid I’d make a run for it.

“I’m sorry, baby. I thought you were still dancing. I was talking to some of the guys. Didn’t know you were getting a drink—”

“Shhh.” I cupped his face. “Dane, I’m fine. Tanner was just drunk, and his pride was hurt. He lashed out. His name calling didn’t hurt me. I don’t care what he thinks.”

A muscle in Dane’s jaw jumped. “No one talks to you like that.”

Before, I’d never known how to calm him down, but now I did. Now I knew how to distract him. I got up on my tiptoes and pulled him down, kissing him. He growled softly against my lips, and I felt it move right through me. “Let’s stay over here for a bit,” I said.