His lips were on mine again, and I leaned as far back as I could, “Stop!” I yelled as I shoved him off me.
As soon as he was a few feet away, someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me back further at the same time that Brandon plowed into Carter with his shoulder, knocking both of them to the ground. Sean and another Marine, Anthony, were on top of Brandon trying to pull him off, followed closely by Drew and Zach. I shot forward but Derek held me to his chest telling me not to get in the middle of it. As they started pulling each other off, Brad came out yelling for everyone to back off. It took a few more party goers for the fight to end, Anthony and Sean held Carter back as he continued to lunge for Brandon, I was surprised to see he wasn’t bleeding anywhere. Brandon just stood there with his hands down at his sides.
“What…nothing?!” Carter hissed, “You claim to be some fighter, let’s see it!”
Brandon continued to not move or say anything.
“DO SOMETHING!” Carter yelled.
“Enough!” Brad’s voice boomed across the back yard. “Get out. The three of you need to leave. Now.” Looking around him he threw up his hands, “Never mind, everyone get out. Party’s over. If you do not live or stay here, get out!”
Everyone started shuffling in, keeping a distance from the two Marines dragging Carter away. He was still taunting Brandon, who was now standing beside me, replacing Derek’s arms with his own. He wasn’t stopping me like Derek had though, Brandon’s arms were full of warmth as his fingers made small circles on my side and back.
“You okay?” He asked softly, still watching Carter leave.
“I’m fine, did you hurt him?”
“All I did was keep him on the ground.”
I nodded and buried my face in his chest, “I swear I had no idea about any of that.”
He chuckled, “I know you didn’t know, doesn’t mean the rest of us didn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like he said sweetheart, everything he says to you or about you is laced with how much he wants you. You just didn’t realize it because you thought you were only friends.”
I felt incredibly stupid. “How much of that did you see?”
“The whole thing, it just took me a while to get through everyone to you.” He tilted my head up and I was surprised to see a wide grin on his face as he leaned in closer to me, “And I love you too Harper, so much.”
A smile stretched across my entire face as I hurried to press my mouth to his, murmuring how much I loved him against his lips.
After everyone left, we cleaned up from the party quickly, but when the guys and Bree sat down to watch a movie, Brandon grabbed my hand in his and led me to his bedroom. Flipping off the light, he locked the door and changed with his back to me as I slipped into a tank top and shorts. When we were under his comforter, he wrapped his arms around me, pressing my chest to his.
“I’m sorry if you wanted to stay up with them, it’s just been a long day, and all I want to do is be with you.”
I pressed my face into his neck, placing a light kiss into the base of it, “This is perfect.” After a few silent minutes I laughed softly, “I really was starting to enjoy the parties here too. I guess I’ll have to go back to avoiding them, too much drama.”
“One of these days, everyone will get the hint that we’re not going to leave each other. They’ll back off.”
“I hope so.”
“I love you sweetheart.”
My heart soared, “I love you too.”
***