Page 29 of Surge of Fire

My cheeks are burning when I go to answer, but Aydan answers for me, “Of course she’s not going to go.”

“Aydan.” His name comes out harsh. “I told you to stop doing that.”

His earlier mood has vanished. He’s angry now. “You don’t even know what kind of guy he is! What if he hurts you?”

I’m pissed. “You think a guy has never hurt me? Newsflash, Aydan, I’m a twenty-one-year-old woman. I have perverts shouting at me all the time. I've had assholes follow me to my car when I go to get groceries. I've had guys trying to slip crap in my drinks every time I turn around. And I have guys who I dated,who hurt me. Where sex is painful. Or they make me feel like shit about myself." I hold up my hand to stop him interrupting. "No, I didn’t stay with them, but my point is that if you’re trying to protect me from the world, you can’t. It’s a brutal place for a woman. I’ve had to learn to protect myself, and trust my own instincts. So, I’m not worried about fuckingWill."

“Sam,” Granger whispers my name into the silence. “That’s really what your life is like?”

He can’t really be surprised, can he? Men can’t really just live their lives with their heads in the clouds when it comes to what we women endure, right?

“That’s what most women’s lives are like,” I tell him, daring him to question me.

He shakes his head. “I never knew. I’m so sorry. I guess I took for granted just being able to live my life without being harassed.”

Now, I feel bad. “I’m not saying guys don’t deal with shit too. It’s just different sometimes.”

“Yeah, I’ve dated some girls that must make a sport of collecting broken hearts, but it’s nothing like you’ve been through.” He gives me a quick hug, then releases me, and we look at Aydan.

I’m startled by how angry he looks, and I try to wrack my drunken brain for what I exactly said that pissed him off so badly. I touch his arm, and he startles, turning to me like he forgot I was there. His gaze lands on me and grows even fiercer.

“If you know how dangerous the world can be for a girl like you, then maybe listen to me. Tell that asshole to shove it and let me walk you home.”

This man has the thickest skull I’ve ever seen. “Actually,” I draw out the word, “I think I’ll go visit Will. I’ll see you two later.” Then, like a lady, I flip him off.

Not wanting to argue, I head down the path, taking the further one that leads to Cabin 10, Will’s cabin. A place he wassureI knew about when we exchanged numbers at lunch. The night is chilly, and my breath puffs out in front of me as I listen to the sounds of my footsteps stomping on the ground.

But as time passes, I start to slow.Do I really even want to hang out with Will?No. But I do want to make a point.

“You made your point.”

I whirl around and see Aydan right behind me. It must have been the liquor that dulled my senses. Normally, I’m pretty sharp. His arms are crossed over his chest, like he’s daring me to argue with him, and I hate that he knew exactly what I was doing.

“What’s my point exactly?”Let’s see if the Neanderthal has figured it out yet.

“You’re a woman. You have boobs. You can fuck whoever you want. I got it.”

I’m debating the wiseness of smacking him when I see some students stumbling along a path in the distance. Marching up to him, I haul him into the shadows beneath one of the administration buildings, and try to pick my words with care. Words that should smack him without me having to.

“If you’ve figured out my point, go back to your cabin, right now.”

He laughs, but the sound is angry. “Yeah, I’m going to leave you alone and drunk out in the woods while some predator tries to get his hands on you.”

“You realize I’m not prey.” Fuck, it’s hard not to shout. “And that your words right there prove that you've learned nothing. You don’t think I can make my own decisions.”

He paces a step away and then back. “That’s not what I said.”

“Then walk away.” I stand, waiting.

It takes him a long minute, but then he shakes his head. “Can’t.”

His words infuriate me for reasons I don’t understand. This damn man has grown up with me. He knows I’m a woman, just like he’s a man, but all he sees when he looks at me is a child, one he has to protect, and I just can’t do it any longer. I can’t spend a summer watching him fuck a bunch of girls while I’m expected to stand on the sidelines and watch like some virgin maiden.

I can’t do it. I thought I could, but being around him and not being with him is hell enough on its own.

I stand up on my tiptoes, so close that it’d take nothing at all for him to lean down and kiss me, not that he would. “Aydan, since you can’t treat me… like an equal, like an adult, I’m not going to have anything to do with you. Do you understand me? Don’t look at me again. Don’t talk to me. Don’t call me or text me. Our friendship is over.”

Done? I’d just told him I was done?I need to go, before I lose my nerve and tell him it was all a joke, or worse, cry.

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