Chapter 30

I wasn't supposed to be here.

Carter leaned on the back of my Firebird. I'd spent all of the past summer working on it with my dad.

"We should get out of here before Tana spots us," he mumbled. He threw the cigarette he'd recently started smoking to be cool on the ground before stomping on it.

"How is Tana going to spot us? Everyone is inside."

He shrugged. "Your sister has radar. Didn't you and Van already threaten her date earlier? I'm pretty sure the dude is going to be too traumatized to even get it up later."

I punched him in the arm. "Stop talking about my sister having sex!"

"I wasn't! I was talking about her not having sex." He moved away before I could punch him again, rubbing his arm. "Dude you have got to calm down. I'm glad I don't have any sisters."

My eyes roved over the mostly empty parking lot. We were both seniors so we could have gone to the prom if we'd wanted to but Tana had already warned me to stay away if I wanted to keep my dick intact. It wasn't like I cared about prom shit anyway, which she knew. I hadn't cared at all about going until recently.

Until I heard that Charlie was going.

With Kenny Baker.

That little prick.

"No one is even out here. What are we waiting for?"

"Just checking things out." I avoided his eyes.

I couldn't tell him that I wasn't sure exactly what I was waiting for but that I would know it when I saw it.

A group of guys came out of the school, laughing and clapping each other on the back. Things were so quiet it was easy to hear everything they were saying.

"You aren't getting anywhere with Saint Santana. I heard she wouldn't even dance with you without a foot of space between you. Enough room for the Holy Ghost."

Laughter rang out. I straightened from where I'd been leaning against the car.

Carter groaned. "Fuck. They're being dicks but if you start a fight Tana is going to kill you."

Kenny's voice carried toward us again. "Me on the other hand, I am about to have my hands all over Charlie Monroe's fine ass. While you're dancing with the Holy Ghost, I'm going to take Charlie behind the bleachers and show her what heaven is really like."

They were so busy laughing I was almost on them before one of Kenny's friends noticed me.

"Oh shit." He broke away from the group and ran back to the gymnasium door.

At least one of them had some sense.

Kenny yelled after him. "Where are you going?"

I tapped him on the shoulder. The others backed away slowly.

"He probably went to tell everybody about the fight."

Kenny looked at me warily. "What fight?"

I punched him in the face.

His friends erupted into a loud chorus of ohs, ahhs, and did you see that's? None of them bothered to help him up, I noticed.

"What the hell man? What is your problem?" Kenny rolled away and struggled to get up.

"Not such a big man now, huh? Talking shit about what you plan to do behind the bleachers."

His eyes rounded. "Whoa. I don't know what you heard but I didn't say anything about Santana. We're just friends."

"You think I'm only mad about what you said about my sister? So it's okay for you to talk shit about Charlie because she doesn't have a brother to beat your ass?"

He jumped up and rushed at me. I shoved him off me. He grabbed a rock from the ground and flung it in my direction. I laughed.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

I glanced around at all the people screaming. The crowd had grown considerably in the last few minutes. Like sharks scenting blood in the water, they wanted to see something happen. They were hungry for it.

"What the hell is your problem? It's not like Charlie's your girl or something?" Kenny narrowed his eyes. "Or is that your problem? You want her and you know she's going home with me tonight."

"She's not going anywhere with you."

His friends were chanting his name now, asking him what he was going to do. His eyes darted around, aware that everyone was watching.

"You sure about that? "

I punched him right in the mouth.

The crowd erupted as the guys around us went crazy, screaming and chanting. Suddenly someone pushed through the wall of people.

Santana glared at me.

Shit.

Wherever Tana went…

Charlie appeared right next to her, her eyes on the guy on the ground. "Oh my god. Kenny?"

The idiot was playing it up, too, moaning like he was dying. Already he had the beginning of a beautiful shiner on his left eye. He wiped the edge of his bleeding lip with the sleeve of his tuxedo.

I smiled. Yeah, there was no way he was getting his deposit back.

Charlie knelt next to him on the asphalt and reached out to help him up. He pushed her hands away and stood on his own.

"All this for some pussy. Not even worth it," he mumbled.

Her face fell.

If I could have punched him in the mouth again for that comment, I would have.

Charlie spun around to face me. "Rix, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood."

"And your first order of business was to beat up my prom date? For no reason?"

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend why I punched him?" I raised my voice loud enough to make sure Kenny could hear me.

He didn't look back.

Coward.

The crowd had mostly dispersed now that the fun part was over.

Charlie threw her hands in the air. "It's not enough that you annoy the hell out of me every other day but you had to ruin my prom, too. Great work."

My heart turned over in my chest. Even angry, Charlie was beautiful with her dark eyes flashing and a flush to her golden-brown skin. Maybe that was why I loved to annoy her so much.

I would take any of her attention I could get.

But that wasn't what was best for her, was it? She was bright and shiny and had a future to match. This time next year she'd be in New York City just like she'd always talked about, living the life of her dreams. Why was I still poking at her, desperate for her to notice me when I knew that she was destined for greater things?

I called myself protecting her but maybe the best way to protect her was to leave her alone.

"Then I guess my work here is done."

I turned to walk away.

Tana pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry everything got so messed up. I don't know what Hendrix was doing. He wasn't even supposed to be here."

Charlie sniffed. "Doing what he always does. Ruining everything."