Chapter Nine

"Get him out of here! He should not be near her!" His voice booms, motioning to his buddies who are holding Logan by the arms roughly.

"What the fuck did I do? I'm just trying to get close with this sexy ass. Was that so wrong?!" Logan screams, struggling to get out of the grip of the two boys. He even manages to pop me a wink, to which he gets a smack to the back of his head.

"Yes it was wrong! Now leave before I have to make you myself." He orders, his eyes narrowing in on Logan who looks like a tiny boy in comparison to him. His fists are clenched tightly and his whole body is stiff. I can see he's trying not to make a wrong move.

"Fine!" He says shrugging off their arms and stalking off, giving me an angry look on the way.

What I do?

"You're ugly anyway." he spits to me, before disappearing into the distance.

"Erin, are you okay?" He says putting his hands on my shoulders and looking deep into my eyes.

I zone out, from all the chaos that's happened in barely a few minutes.

"Erin! Erin!" he yells, while shaking me out of my thoughts. His eyes are full of concern as he tries to figure out what I'm thinking about.

"Oh, yeah." I respond shakily.

"I asked if you were okay." he says in a more gentle tone, his eyes softening slightly. His grip on me softens too, and he seems a little more relaxed than he didn't a few seconds ago.

"Yeah." I mumble, rolling my bottom lip.

"Are you sure he didn't do anything to you?" He asks again.

"He didn't and why do you care anyway? He was the first guy that ever took interest in me and you scared him away!" I say pathetically, both angry and sad.

"He's a bad guy Erin! He shouldn't be around you. He'll hurt you. He's trying to take advantage of you because you're so innocent and naive!" he shouts, tightening his grip on my shoulders.

"I am not innocent and naive! How rude of you!" I scream, angry at him. Who does he think he is?

"And you are nobody to step in my life and try to protect me or whatever! I think he was a great guy! He was a great person to talk to, unlike you!" I say, thrusting my pointer finger to the middle of his chest. I look down at it and his eyes turn red, burning with anger.

"I'm gonna give you one chance to take that back." Jerk.

"You do not get to tell me what I can not do." I say in the same tone.

"I'm only giving you another chance because I owe you." He says again, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes into slits.

"Well it doesn't seem like that because I'm not taking that back! You're an arrogant jerk! I should've been true to my own beliefs! Instead I went on to believe what others said, stupid me! You are not a nice guy! I really thought you were though!" I pour out to him, further enforcing his arguments.

He gets really angry and pins my arms back against the brick wall, rather aggressively, causing my skin to scrape against the rocky edges. In pain, I try to squirm out if his grip, but it doesn't work.

"You listen to me. Talk like that ever again, and I will not spare you." He spits out ever single word.

"I took time out of my day by saving you from that fucking psycho, but it seems like you don't appreciate it. Listen Erin, you're new to this, you don't know much about boys or dating, and trust me he's not the guy to date." He tries to warn me but it's pissing me off at this point. He's barely an acquaintance and he thinks he can control all the boys in my life.

"And why is that, you've never told me anytime during this whole lecture you're giving me." I push, continuing to try to get out of his grip.

"Do you really wanna fucking know? That guy's some asshole. First off, he's a fucking player, fucks girls every night. He'll cheat on you and won't give a fuck. Second, he's gotten into tons of bad shit. He even has a criminal record. Last, he's never actually dated before. He's doesn't know how and won't treat you well. He's known for being a fuckboy. Please trust me Erin, I don't want you getting hurt. Just don't go near him. If he tries something don't fucking hesitate to call me. I'll find him and beat the shit out of him. He fucking deserves it, I've just never gotten the right excuse for it." He ends.

"You guys seem to have a history." I point out with a mumble, looking away from him.

"Yup, a really bad one you need to stay out of." I simply nod understandingly, assuming he's right. After all, I am new to this.

"By the way, it would be great if you'd stop going all over me with the hands." I say motioning to his hands.

"Oh right." he says looking down at me painfully rubbing the area he grabbed. It's starting to redden and it may even bruise. I wince internally to avoid showing him how much he hurt me.

"Sorry, if it hurts." He apologizes, somewhat sincerely.

"It's fine." I brush it off, not wanting to keep this conversation longer than it already is.

"It's not, your skin is red there." I follow his gaze to notice his fixed on my forearms. His eyes continue to stare, as if examining how I rub my wrists.

"It'll go away." I mutter, but he doesn't seem to let it go.

"I'm...uh..um...I'm...I'm sorry." He says again, with a lot of stuttering for all the yelling he did today. If you weren't in my position, you would think he were two people or had split personality. He looks like a tiny, frail boy who's apologizing for something he didn't do. Except he did.

"For?" I ask confused. I don't think he's talking about my wrists...

"For ruining your little date and, yelling at you and hurting you wrists." He says looking down at his combat boots. He shifts awkwardly, causing the rocks beneath him to make scratchy noises, that are awfully annoying.

"It's all okay." I say trying to sound convincing while offering him a tight smile.

"By the way, it was not a date. We'd just met. " I clear the confusion. We just sat on a bench because we were both loners. That would make a really sucky date.

"But you liked him didn't you?" He pushes further.

"I mean you said he's bad so-" he cuts me off.

"Find yourself a guy who'll really like you and is good for you, and you're good. There are guys like that out there, you just need to find them." I slowly nod, thinking about what he just said. He sucks at advice.

"And I care about you." He adds softly, only for me to hear. His friends are occupied with their phones a few metres away from us.

"Uh, yeah sorry-" I try to apologize, but his thick voice cuts me off.

"It's all good. Don't worry about it." He mutters quietly.

"Uh, yeah okay." I sound foreign.

"Well I'm gonna get going. Did you come alone?" He asks, turning to leave.

"No, my friends are here somewhere." I try to look through the window and hope to spot them in the midst of drunken bodies. But obviously, I don't.

"I saw the girl who was with you at the fair, she was half naked lying on a table, getting shots from a few college guys." He smirks, making me feel like a horrible friend.

"Don't worry, some other girl came in and stopped her." He assures me, as soon as he sees my panicky face. That makes me feel relieved and I let out a deep breath.

"By the way, how did you know Logan was here?" I ask, furrowing my brows. I didn't see him at all during the party and I swear I walked through every inch of this property trying to find something to keep myself occupied.

"Cause he's always at parties trying to hook up with girls. One of my mates saw you come with him here-" he says pointing to one of the two guys behind him with a man bun. "So I rushed here, hoping I wasn't too late." He tells me with a serious expression. The guy doesn't really respond, just let's his lips curve up a bit to form the slightest smile. I offer him a smile, but his lips going back into a thin line.

"Too late?" I question.

"Too late, as in before he takes you up to a room and fucks you." He doesn't bother to filer his mouth and I wince. That was harsh.

"Oh." I say quietly, trying to come up with something to say.

"Okay, well, I'm gonna go. Go back inside or I can drop you home, if you want." He suggests silently, almost so quiet that I couldn't even hear him. Was he offering me a ride home?

I look down at my phone to see its 12 already and I have tons of messages from Reagan.

Avery was taking body shots so I called my bro to take us home hope you dont mind

-Reagan

Um, yeah I mind.

Call if you need a ride, sorry sis -Reagan

I am not calling her brother to pick me up. No way.

I have great friends.

"Yeah a ride would be great, thanks." I say with a thankful smile, shoving my phone in between my palms awkwardly, not knowing what to do with my hands.

"You two, get in the back." He says motioning to his "mates."

The dark skinned one I recognize from the fair groans dramatically. "Wow, you're kicking me out of the front seat for a girl. Damn bro." He shakes his head.

"Well, I dont trust either of you with her in the back. And I'm gonna drop you two first." He points to them before beginning to walk over to his car.

"Well, I dont trust you with her after you drop us." The dark skinned boy says again, with a cocky, boyish smirk. He looks like more of the funny dude amongst his friends, always seems to be less serious from the times I've seen him. Not many.

"Just shut the fuck up and get in or I'm leaving you."

"Chill, I was just joking." He chuckles before getting in. The other boy just stays silent while getting in on the other side of the car.

Once we get into the car, he introduces me to his friends, the dark skinned one being Corey and the other guy being Jordan. "I have to step out to fill up the car with gas." He says before getting out and I hear his muffled voice groan at the high price of gas.

For the first time, Jordan speaks up, "You in college?" His question is short, but at least I know now that he's not mute.

"Nope, still in high school." I reply curtly, looking at him discreetly from the mirror.

"Watch out for this guy. He truly cares about you. Trust me, I'd know. I've been his buddy since we were 11. He can be a little bipolar, but that's just him. He's a great guy on the inside, you just need to understand him." He says softly and he sounds sincere so I just nod, trying to take in what he just said. Obviously, me being me, I overthink.

"Yeah." Corey adds on and with that the door opens and he gets in his seat.

"So Erin, what'd these guys tell you about me?" He asks jokingly, looking at them from the front mirror.

"Nothing really, they just asked if I was in college or not." I say, avoiding what Jordan said about him.i look at him through the mirror to see him looking out the window.

"Hmm, okay then." He says popping the key into the ignition.

"Trust me, that's all they said." I say loud and confidently.

"Okay fine, I do, happy?" He says looking at me with sparkling eyes and a huge smile. This has got to be the first time I've seen him smile instead of smirk.

"Yeah." I say quietly, but the roar of the engine overpowers my voice and we are off.