Page 61 of Steeling Her
“What the fuck is going on?” I ask openly to anyone who will give me a straight answer.
“Shut the fuck up, Jackson!”What the hell is Ryan’s problem?I narrow my eyes at him and step forward, readying myself for a fight if he dares to speak to me like that again. I will floor him so quick he won’t even reach the end of his goddamn sentence.
“What the fuck is your problem, Averman?” I interrogate him, trying to get him to tell me what’s been lodged up his ass.
“You! You’re my fucking problem!” He pushes Rob off successfully and stands up on his feet. Stalking over to me, I see his fists balled. I immediately know someone is getting punched. I can guarantee it won’t be me. “You fucking took her! You son of a bitch!” What crap has he been drinking tonight? I didn’t take anyone from him. I may have done it in the past but he’s never been this pissed at me before.
“Ryan, who are you talking about?” TJ cuts in. Ryan’s stare never wavers from my eyes. The bulging vein in his neck tells me he’s fuming. He’s bright red, too, and it looks like it’s taking all of his might to not start anything with me because he knows I’ll do more damage than he will.
“Steel . . . that’s who I’m fucking talking about. You took my girl!” My eyes widen when the words that left his mouth registered in my head.His girl? I don’t fucking think so.I step closer to him, right in each other’s face, foreheads touching. Now I’m fuming.
“Come again?” I say while gritting my teeth. I feel the heat in my body radiate in waves around the room. I’m about to nail him to the fucking floorboards. My breathing is erratic; one slight movement from him and I won’t hold back.
“You heard me, Jackson. Next time, stick to Maya; you always go back to her anyway. Stay away from Carter. Consider this a warning.” I laugh bitterly in his face, igniting a fire in my body. This prick. “I saw her first,” he claims again. It took everything in my body to not beat this fucker senseless.
“You can have Maya if you’re so in love with her,” I spit out. I grind my teeth, annoyed with him. I see Rob trying to pull his twin away from me. “And I saw her first; not you. You ever claim her again, I will put you in the hospital and have you breathing through tubes, got it?” This prick has the audacity to smirk at me.
“Fighting over a pathetic freshman, boys? How noble of you.” Hearing that sarcastic voice, I lose it completely and walk away from Ryan to see Maya standing behind TJ in the kitchen watching all this unfold. I walk towards her and watch her straighten up from leaning her shoulder on the pillar. The playful glint in her eyes tell me she’s the one who set him off on me.
“I should’ve known it was you, Maya. Sending your lapdog to do your dirty work? If you’ve got something to say, say it.” I challenge her, and she smiles sweetly at me. I feel like yelling at her. She can really make people’s lives miserable when she wants to.
“Leave her and Ryan to it, Nick. She’s not in the same league as us and she never will be.” She smirks as she says that. I lean into her, and she wipes the smirk off instantly. I start breathing to calm myself down. I would never hit a girl, but damn, she’s testing my patience right now.
“You don’t know the first thing about her. You’ve been nothing but a bitch to her from the start. Do me a favor and fuck off, Maya! I can’t stand looking at you right now.” I storm off to my room. Hurt flashes in her eyes from my words, but she quickly masks it. Anger now taking over, she trails her tongue on her lips and narrows her eyes at me, her jaw ticking with irritation. She doesn’t say anything further, but Ryan does. He shoves his shoulder into mine from behind and I turn around to face his soon to be rearranged face if he doesn’t stop what he’s doing. He’s on thin ice with me, and it’s cracking.
“Like I said, stay away from her, I saw her—” he doesn’t get to finish his sentence as I get right in his face again.
“Finish that sentence, Averman, I fucking dare you.” I challenge this asshole, who is slowly becoming my next punching bag. His tone is sending me over the edge more than his words. It’s smug and arrogant. As if Carter would even go for him; he’s nothing but a douche.
“She’s mine, Jackson. BACK THE FUCK O—” My fist connects with his jaw cleanly and he stumbles back, clasping on to it. Rob quickly pushes him against the wall while TJ pushes me to the opposite one. Ryan’s clawing after me, but Rob is getting the brunt of it.
“Relax, Ryan!” Rob says over and over to calm his twin down. TJ, on the other hand, is smirking at me. I see it from the corner of my eye, but my gaze is fixed on Ryan. My hand begins to throb from the abrupt punch. I unfist my hand, stretching my fingers out all while my heated stare is burning through Ryan and into the wall behind him. It’s almost setting the house on fire.
Rob is grunting as his twin tries to release himself from his hold. Rob is surprising me with his strength right now but his brother’s brown eyes have a fire in them as he stares heatedly at me.
“Bye, Maya.” TJ says over my shoulder, asking her to leave. She does, but not without looking back at the shitstorm she created. I connect with her eyes and see that smirk I’ve come to hate.
“Bye, boys!” She winks at me and I feel my gut burning. She’s up to something. When I find out, I will lose it. My head focuses back to Ryan and see he’s still pinned to the wall, much like me. This time, he’s just staring at me with so much hate in his eyes. The heat settles down in the room, but it stays between our stares.
If he tries to claim her again, I will do more damage.
That’s a fucking promise.
Chapter Fourteen
This Is How It Works
Carter
I hit my head against the cool side of the window when we go over a bump. My teeth clatter against one another as soon as the impact was made. We are on our way to the Jackson household. Haley is hungover and is trying to be revived. Danielle had no sleep, and neither did I, thanks to her.
The three of us were passed out in the back of the car, with the two boys up front. Both of their attention was focused ahead. Nick was driving with a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes and a snapback on his head. He opened the window slightly and I could feel the dry heat slapping against my skin. I was sitting directly behind him.
I think I was able to get three hours of sleep. Danielle was with that guy the entire night, and I could hear every bit of their “fun.” I can safely say I will never lay down with Danielle in her bed again. Ever. Nothing wrong with it or the guy, he was pretty good looking, but no way am I ever touching her bed.
I rub my head softly to comfort the sudden throbbing I’m feeling from hitting the window.
“Sorry,” Nick mumbles to me in the side mirror and I send him a quick smile to let him know that it’s no big deal. The car was silent, with the hum of the engine mixed with voices from the radio. The two girls were fast asleep, and TJ was listening to his music with one earpiece, his fingers strumming on the leather part of the car door to the beat.
