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  “So much stuff going on under here,” she said softly, still looking at the engine. “I should learn what all of this is.”

  I couldn’t deny how insanely attractive is was that she was trying so hard to understand.

  “I’m actually done.”

  She glanced over at me. “Really?” She looked so happy, so grateful.

  “Really.” Just seeing her like this made it all worth it.

  “I can’t thank you enough, Roman. You’re such a huge help.”

  I cleared my throat, feeling slightly awkward at how embarrassed her praise made me feel.

  “So…” She hesitated for a moment and I turned to face her, giving her my full attention. “Is that invite for tonight still open?”

  My throat tightened instantly. “Absolutely.” Fuck, she’s coming? “You’re really coming?” Calm the hell down. Don’t act so damn eager. You’ll make a fool out of yourself.

  Her smile was bright, genuine. “I mean, you’ll be my first.”

  Fuck. Hearing her say that instantly had my cock hardening. She’d said it so innocently, yet here I was being a dirty bastard about it.

  “Figure if I’m going to go to my first party, might as well be yours, right?”

  Damn right.

  “Absolutely.” And I was feeling pretty fucking good until a car pulled up to the driveway and some asshole shouted out the window for her.

  “See you then?” She smiled and I actually lifted my hand and placed it over my chest, the sight causing my heart to ache in the best of ways.

  I looked over at the guy, instantly glowering. He was some pretty boy, driving an expensive car, all grinning at Kennedy like he knew her better than anyone else.

  No one knew her better than I did.

  Did he know what her favorite food was? That if she could eat chocolate pudding for three meals she would? Did he know that when she was nervous her pupils dilated and she fiddled with the ends of her hair? Or how about when she was excited? Did the prick know that she spoke faster, and laughed more when she was happy?

  Or what about that whenever she ate cherry cheesecake she pushed all the cherries off to the side and refused to eat them?

  I doubted he knew any of that. Those were things I had picked up watching her for these last two years. There was more, so much more. Like how she bit her lip and her breathing increased when she was unsure about something.

  I wanted her to spend time with me exclusively, to know that I could be the one she could come to for everything.

  And then she climbed into the passenger seat and shut the door. She lifted her hand and waved at me, and I forced myself to do the same. But what I really wanted to do was pull that little asshole out of the driver’s seat and toss him over the hood of the car for even looking in Kennedy’s direction.

  My jealousy was so powerful that I gripped the wrench so damn tight, I felt pain lance up my arm.

  I couldn’t do anything but watch her leave, let my jealousy fester because acting out and looking barbaric would do me no favors.

  I growled low in my throat. Tonight, she’d know the truth.

  Tonight, I’d make her mine.

  Chapter Eleven

  Roman

  I kept looking at the clock, then at the front door. As much as I wanted her at the party, I also knew it would probably be best if she didn’t come. But hell, I wanted her here desperately.

  I wanted to see her.

  This wasn’t her scene. Shit, it wasn’t really even my scene anymore. I should have had the balls to shut Raif and Theo down on this whole party.

  “You gonna play, or what?” Theo asked and tipped his chin toward my hand of cards.

  I tossed the cards I didn’t want toward Theo, but my head wasn’t in the game. The music was earsplitting, and the noise from the people packed into my house was pissing me off. But I knew if Kennedy was here I wouldn’t be so grumpy.

  But for party time it was relatively early still, only nine, which told me it was probably too late for Kennedy, and that she wouldn’t show, even if she had said she’d come.

  And didn’t that fucking suck?

  I lifted the can of beer to my mouth and took a long drink from it. It was piss water beer, but this was my fifth and I was already starting to feel buzzed. I’d been nursing the same beer for the past half hour, and it was starting to get warm as hell.

  New cards were tossed to each of us and a silence descended. One of the guys tossed some money to the middle of the table, the pot growing.

  I had a shit hand, so folded just as everyone started showing their cards.

  “A flush, motherfuckers,” Raif said and grinned, spreading his cards down.

  I looked at the front door again. Still no sign of Kennedy.

  “You in for another hand?” Theo asked and I shook my head.

  “I need some air.” I stood and headed out back before anyone could respond.

  There were a handful of people there, the sound muted with the door shut, but the music still loud enough you could make out what it was. I should tell everyone to leave. I’d feel a hell of a lot better. I was honestly surprised the neighbors hadn’t called the cops on me for a noise complaint. But the night was still young.

  I moved over to the back of the house and rested against it, seeing as the two patio chairs I had were currently occupied by groping couples. I must have stayed like that for ten minutes, just clearing my head, trying to figure out how I’d actually feel if it came down to Kennedy not showing up. Shit, I really wanted her to come. But I wanted to spend time with her when there wasn’t a houseful of drunken people here, when it could just be the two of us, where I could be honest with her.

  I let my head rest against the back of the house, brought the beer can to my mouth, and finished it off. After crushing the can, I tossed it in the trash by the back door. If I thought hard enough, I could see myself happy and not giving two shits about what anyone thought about me loving Kennedy. But her reputation and how she felt meant more to me than my happiness.

  The sound of the back door sliding open had me looking to the side and seeing one of the guys I’d just been playing poker with step outside.

  I hadn’t liked him from the moment he’d opened his mouth and started showboating. It was an annoying fucking trait that grated on my nerves.

  “Didn’t realize anyone could be let in,” I heard someone say, a female laugh following the words. Curiosity had me pushing away from the house and looking through the sliding glass door.

  And then I saw her. Kennedy. She was flanked by that same asshole who’d picked her up earlier today. Were they dating? If so, I’d put a stop to that bullshit right away.

  Kennedy was mine.

  She had a red plastic cup in her hand and brought it to her mouth. She didn’t drink, I knew that, but here she was trying to fit in. God, I loved her. She had come here because of me, because I’d asked her. Who knew how many beers she’d consumed already, but that had the protective side of me rising up. I wanted to shelter her, keep her away from all of this.

  I didn’t miss some of the guys checking her out, my innocent little Kennedy who didn’t even realize how drop dead fucking gorgeous she was.

  I narrowed my eyes at the asshole beside her. I didn’t think she was dating anyone, but whoever this guy was looked pretty cozy with her, his arm wrapped around her shoulder, keeping her close.

  A low growl left me and I clenched my jaw.

  The guy who’d come outside pulled out a pack of cigarettes and put one end in his mouth and lit the other end with a lighter. The girl standing beside him had come from nowhere, her arm around his shoulder, this “fuck me” look on her face.

  He inhaled deeply, holding the smoke in as he looked down at the girl. “I mean seriously, who the fuck invited the nerds to the party?” he said, smoke billowing out in front of him.

  I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling my anger rise up.

  The sound of someone opening the sliding glass door, of pe
ople shouting that I was about to get into a fight, came through loud and fucking clear. It was like piranhas in a blood-filled lake, the partygoers knowing something was about to go down.

  That just pissed me off even more.

  “Like, I didn’t know anyone could come,” that bastard said again. He was really running his mouth, and I was about to put a stop to it.

  I didn’t know who this fucker was, not really, aside from playing a hand of poker with him, but it was clear he knew Kennedy.

  And then I felt her, like some kind of fucking magnetic pull that couldn’t be denied, that I couldn’t ignore. I turned and looked over my shoulder, my heart beating faster, the very sight of her, knowing she was here, in my home, causing all kinds of possessive need to slam into me. And the beers I had only seemed to intensify that, only seemed to make my need for her climb.

  And it made me even more protective of her.

  I don’t know when she’d come outside, but here she was, watching what was going down with wide eyes. I hated that I’d put that look on her face.

  “Kennedy,” I said her name on this harsh growl. “You know that bastard?”

  She glanced down and shrugged. “Not really, but I have a few classes with him.” She glanced up at me and I could see she was embarrassed, her cheeks painted a pink color. I got even more pissed that someone had made her feel that way.

  I looked back at the fucker who’d disrespected her. “You got a fucking problem?” I was getting pumped, adrenaline moving through my veins, the very thought of fighting this asshole giving me a high. He wanted to disrespect Kennedy, then he’d deal with me and the repercussions.

  The asshole grinned. “Brother, hanging with her is social suicide.” He chuckled, as if what he’d just said was the funniest fucking thing in the world.

  This was fucking insane. “You realize we aren’t in some high school movie where any of that shit even matters, right?” I wasn’t going to try and reason with him. I was going to beat his ass. “First off, I’m not your brother. You want to go there with me, talk down to someone I care about a hell of a lot?” I rolled my head on my neck, curling my hands into tight fists at my side. “We can go there. We can sure as fuck go there.” I reached out and took Kennedy’s hand, pulled her toward me so she was now behind my body. I didn’t want to do this around her, but I also wasn’t going to let this asshole off with the way he’d talked about her.

  As the prick stared at me the air changed. A crowd was starting to grow in a circle around us, the promise of a fight getting everyone jacked up. This sure as fuck wasn’t how I wanted to spend my Saturday, but for Kennedy I’d do anything, even if it was just defending her honor.

  A few murmurs surrounded us, but I only focused on the meathead in front of me. The asshole hadn’t backed down, and didn’t appear ready to either, so it looked like things were about to get real.

  Good, it’ll get some of this feral energy out of me.

  I should have just moved on, kicked all these fuckers out of my house and spent time with Kennedy. That’s what I really wanted to do. But I wasn’t a stranger to getting into trouble, and I couldn’t back down. My pride, and making sure that people treated Kennedy with the respect she was due, were my top priority.

  I didn’t go around looking for trouble and throwing random punches, but when a threat presented itself, I sure as hell wasn’t going to back down.

  “Brandon, this is stupid,” a girl said, walking up behind the asshole and touching his arm.

  “Not now, Shan.”

  “You sure you want to do this?” It was a courtesy question, and one I hoped he’d decline.

  Truth was, I wanted to fucking fight right now. I had a lot of pent-up arousal for Kennedy, and a hell of a lot of aggression moving through my veins.

  Brandon threw off his jacket and shoved it at the girl still standing behind him. “Shan, get the fuck out of here.” The girl looked up at him as if she wanted to try and stop him again, but she kept her mouth shut and went to stand by the crowd.

  “You’re a big motherfucker, but I can still take you,” Brandon said and cracked his knuckles once more.

  “Roman. He’s not worth it. I’m fine.”

  I looked over at Kennedy and wanted to pull her into my arms.

  “I have to do this.” God, my fingers itched to touch her, to pull her in close. “It’ll be over soon enough.”

  “Best listen to nerd girl.”

  I clenched my jaw, still staring at Kennedy.

  This fucker was going down.

  I felt my muscles tighten, a once familiar feeling from when I’d gotten into fights for the sheer fun of it.

  Well, here we go.

  And then Brandon charged forward and slammed his body into mine, momentarily taking me off-guard from his sudden movement. I took the force and steadied myself for only a second before I slammed back into him. Brandon stumbled back and swung, his anger making his actions sloppy as fuck.

  This should be over soon enough.

  Brandon went to swing again and I ducked and brought my fist up, clipping him under the chin. He stumbled back, rubbing his jaw and growling low. I swung out again when he charged forward, connecting with his nose and hearing bone crunch. Blood immediately spilled from his nose, which was clearly broken.

  “You asshole,” he said through a mouthful of blood. He turned his head and spat.

  I grinned when Brandon tried to get a punch in. The struggle was half the fun, half the rush of the fight. Brandon swung again, and I ducked right before I was hit. We were close enough to the side of the house that when he tried to hit me, and I moved out of the way, he slammed his fist into the siding. Brandon howled in pain and stumbled back, cradling his hand.

  Before there had been a rush of noise from the bystanders, but now there was nothing but silence.

  The anger on Brandon’s face was evident, and as I watched him push past his pain and rush me again, all I could do was grin.

  But Brandon got a hit in, his fist connecting with my jaw. My head cracked back, and blood instantly filled my mouth as my teeth cut into the inside of my cheek. I shook the pain away.

  I could hear Kennedy speaking to someone in the background, her worried voice digging at my heart. I hated that she was put in this position, that she saw all this shit going down. I was better than this. I’d end this now, kick everyone the fuck out, and explain everything to her. I was done pushing those feelings for her down, tired of pretending like all of this was normal, that hiding love for someone was no big deal.

  It was a big fucking deal.

  “Or maybe all of this is because you want to fuck her.” Brandon barked out a string of laughter. It was clear he didn’t know we were step-cousins, because if he had no doubt he’d use that as ammunition. “Yeah, maybe that’s it. You want to corrupt little miss perfect.”

  A blind rage filled me. I wasn’t such a fool that I didn’t know exactly what Brandon was doing. The asshole was goading me, and it worked. I charged after him, took his body to the ground, and slammed my fist into the side of his face.

  Over and over I did it, hearing him grunt in pain, taking a few hits to the side myself. But I didn’t care. It was only when I was pulled off of him that I started to see more clearly again.

  I turned and saw Raif and Theo standing off to the side, Raif grinning like he’d just seen the fight of the century, Theo looking a little uncomfortable. I searched for Kennedy and saw her standing off to the side with some guy. Her friend.

  I narrowed my eyes, hating that she was with someone other than me. I found myself taking a step toward them, but felt someone stop me. I looked down and saw Theo’s hand on my forearm.

  “Shit, dude. Not now.” Theo let go of me and I ran my hand over my hair and blew out a breath.

  “Everyone get the fuck out of here.” My voice boomed and I looked at everyone, pissed that they were here. The party had been a bad fucking idea. “Show’s over.”

  “Roman, you good, man?” Th
eo asked, Raif moving up to stand beside him.

  “I’m fine. I just want everyone out.” Theo and Raif nodded and started ushering everyone out.

  I zeroed in my gaze on Kennedy, saw her looking at me with wide eyes, and felt like shit that I’d made her feel that way. She turned to the guy she was standing next to, and he looked over at me, his expression a little hesitant, but whatever she said next had him nodding. He gave her a hug and I grew even more pissed off.

  I didn’t want anyone touching her.

  Luckily for him, he left with all the other people.

  “Are you sure you’re good?” Theo asked before heading out.

  “I’m good, just don’t want anyone in my house anymore.” I looked at him, but couldn’t be pissed at anyone but myself. I hadn’t exactly put a stop to the party, I’d let Kennedy see me fight a guy, and I felt like fucking shit over it. I’d probably scared the hell out of her.

  Once everyone was gone, it was just Kennedy and me standing out back. I ran a hand over my jaw, felt the sensitivity of it, knew I probably had blood on my mouth, and wanted desperately to get cleaned up. I didn’t want her seeing me like this.

  I’d been drinking, wasn’t completely drunk, but I was buzzed enough that the pain of the hits I’d taken wasn’t one hundred percent.

  I gave her one last look before heading inside to the bathroom. The house was trashed with red plastic cups, beer bottles, and paper plates scattered over the floors and counters. Once in the bathroom, I looked in the mirror. I had a bruise forming along my jawline, and some dried blood in the corner of my mouth from where that fucker had clocked me.

  I grabbed a hand towel, wet it under the sink, then cleaned off the blood. Shit, the room spun for a moment. I grabbed the edge of the sink, closed my eyes, and for a second just inhaled and exhaled slowly. Before I even opened my eyes, I knew she was standing in the doorway.

  “You okay?” she asked softly.

  “I’m good,” I said, but the truth was I was far from it. “Only thing seriously bruised is my ego.”