Page 16 of Beauty and the Nerd
“I’ll show you a nice catch if you’re not careful Em.” He dipped his face down to whisper it in her ear spotting Crystal on the other side of the fountain with a couple others from their grade. “It’s your call baby; do we come out today or leave it for the dance?”
“They’re not worth wasting a sweet kiss on; they’re not worth anything to us,” Emma assured him with a soft smile before moving to stand next to him zipping the bag for the jellybeans. “And I’m not going to have you on a sugar high with any more of these right now,” she added moving to take her bag from him as the girls saw him carrying it.
“I’ve got it. I don’t mind carrying it for you, not when I know you’ll be wearing that bikini formein a few months.” His comment put a wicked grin on her lips. “What? What’s that look about Em?”
She let him know the idea as Carter and the others headed around the fountain towards them. “Well, I was thinking of telling my parents that I’m spending the night with Megan after the dance. Her parents have a place up by the ridge with a hot tub; I could always bring the new suit and try it out there with you.”
“Be still my heart, but not too still because that would mean you’ve certainly killed me,” he said with a laughing groan as the group reached them.
“What the hell is this? Charity work?” Carter questioned stepping into their path. “Not that anyone would want you looking like that, what’s wrong Emma, something starting to sprout around the middle?”
“You wish because it’d mean that I actually slept with you, but despite what you’ve told your buddies, it never happened, and most of them know it because they know I never slept with them either,” Emma stated, before stepping to the side to move around the group.
Carter snagged her arm, twisting her newly healed wrist tightly and she let out a gasp of pain.
“Let her go Carter, now.” Ben stepped up, seeing the look of pain on Emma’s face and in her eyes. “Let her go,” he said again as Carter laughed.
“Damn it Carter, stop it,” Emma said as he twisted it further. “Now, before I tell the copsexactlywhat happened the night of the accident.”
“What was that? You eating my…” Carter started to make the nasty comment with a laugh until Emma kneed him in the groin, and he doubled over, reaching for himself. That had Ben fighting his own laugh but his concern for Emma was higher.
“Are you okay?” Ben asked as she lifted her arm to her chest holding her wrist.
“I don’t know.”
Ben pulled her to him running a hand down the back of her head to reassure himself that she was okay. She leaned into his side letting him move them around the other two who were laughing at Carter.
“Oh no you don’t you freaking bitch,” Carter said advancing on them. “You’re sure as hell not leaving with some nobody like that nerd.”
Ben moved them quickly, so he was between them. “Stay the hell away from Emma. Touch her again and I will make sure it’s the last time you do, got it?”
“Oh, isn’t that cute, the bitch has a puppy,” Carter said, and Ben handed Emma her bag stepping up towards the jerk, finished with him and his ego. He didn’t give a shit if he got the hell beat out of him, no one was going to say that crap about Emma ever again. “Oh, you gonna fight me now? How about I introduce you to a mudpie again?”
“How about you shut the hell up and leave us alone Carter.” Emma reached out for Ben’s arm, trying to get him to leave with her. She didn’t want to see him get hurt. Carter in a temper was scary and while Ben was taller than him, he wasn’t a jock. She didn’t care he wasn’t a meathead with huge biceps. The boy had plenty of definition to his body beneath the baggy clothes he liked to wear, but it was nothing compared to the muscles Carterhad piled on from being on the football team. “I mean it or else the next call I make is to the cops telling them the accident wasn’t entirely the other person’s fault.”
“Shut up, you stupid bitch,” Carter said turning a glare onto her, jabbing his finger her way as he spoke.
“Last chance Carter, walk the hell away and never call her that again,” Ben warned.
“Or what? She’ll call the cops like a whiny little bitch who doesn’t know how to suck a…” Carter didn’t finish the statement as Ben’s fist shot out and caught him perfectly on the nose, shocking her entirely. Blood sputtered from it, and he doubled over cursing trying to stop it.
“Stay away from Emma and don’tevertalk about her like that, understand?” Ben said as Carter turned back towards them with murder in his eyes.
“Make me loser,” he said before charging Ben.
Emma jumped back in worry until Ben crouched down, shouldering the hit in Carter’s middle and flipped him over onto his back amazing her.
“Stay away from her,” Ben stated again, before moving to her side to make sure she was okay again, making her fall even further in love with him.
Chapter 6
“It’s okay Em, I promise,” Ben said as he gently massaged her wrist seeing the worry for him in her eyes.
“Ben, watch out,” Emma warned as Carter got back up not about to be outdone by him.
Ben saw him in the mirrored surface of the pillar and waited until the last second to move them both out of the way, tripping Carter, sending him headfirst into it. It made more blood spurt from his nose, and he kept Emma behind him as Carter turned back their way.
“Get him you idiots,” Carter told the other two and Steve just shook his head no, as he laughed.
