One Summer Only

Chapter Three

When Caleb and I got mom and dad's order, the triplets and us exited the ice cream shop and began walking to our cars. "Hey, you wanna ride with me back to your house?" Luke asked as he ran up next to me. "Sure, why not." 

"Are you riding with me, Cass?" Asked Caleb. I looked at Caleb and then Luke. Both of them wanted me to ride with them, but for two different reasons. Caleb's reasoning was simple and sweet: he didn't want me to ride with Luke...period. On the other hand, I wasn't exactly sure why Luke wanted me to ride with him. "Um, I'm just gonna ride with --" 

"Me." I turned around, confused by who had just interrupted me.  

There Raine stood, arms crossed, and a mischievous little smile plastered on her face. I quickly walked over to her and mumbled a quick "thank you".  "No problem. I could see the tension rising between Caleb and Luke, but I don't exactly know why though."  I played it dumb and agreed with her. The thing was, I think I understood. Caleb was protective. Protective of me, protective of mom, and overall, protective of our family. He only became this way when he believed that we were in a situation that would either hurt us or potentially begin something we didn't want started in the first place. 

In the simplest terms, I was once hit on by a guy at a party. Caleb being Caleb, was observing his surroundings. I'm sure he saw many individuals making out, a couple people high as a rocket, and more than over a dozen people drunk off their ass. Nevertheless, I doubt he thought he was going to see his sister being practically eye raped by a man who had cornered me into the edge of the house. If I know one thing for certain, it's that Caleb despises seeing me uncomfortable, hurt, or even scared, and I can tell you that in that moment I was scared. Maybe even terrified. 

This man was nearly over six foot and seemed to have drunk too much. In his hand, was a glass bottle of beer, which was almost completely empty. I noticed this man when I was on my way to use the restroom.  Before I entered the bathroom, I remember making direct eye contact with him. To say the least, he gave me the creeps. I quickly entered the bathroom, locking the door in the process. I did my business and washed my hands before heading back out to the main room where the music had been blaring from. I looked around and found no signs of him. As I grabbed myself another drink, I noticed him from afar -- still watching me like a hawk with a smirk on his face. It wasn't until I was about to join a group of friends, that the guy grabbed me by the wrist. I told him to let me go, but he began to slur a few uncomfortable phrases that made my skin crawl.  Feeling unsafe, I tried to talk my way out of things, but the more I tried to get away the worse it became for me. He had somehow cornered me away into a section of the house near the living room. My friends were too wasted to even help me, and those around me didn't seem to care. My heart began to race as his hands began to roam over my body. I still remember the incident. His hands started at my face, traveling down towards my waist, and then up to my breasts. By this moment, my face had become wet from the few tears that I had produced. I knew that if nobody stopped him, he was going to rape me without a second thought. Before his hand could venture downward, he was aggressively pulled off of me and was slammed down onto the floor. As I tried to clear my eyes from the tears that I had shed, I briefly remember seeing a guy punching the living crap out of the man. When the man was unconscious, the other guy made his way over to me, constantly asking if I was okay or hurt. His eyes were so deep blue that I didn't doubt it was Caleb. 

As he began ushering me out of the house, I was quickly losing a strong hold of the tears that wanted to escape. We both silently got into the car. When Caleb started the engine, he slowly turned on the radio. "Crash my Party" by Luke Bryan was softly playing, causing the awkward silence to disappear.  "You're not going to another party by yourself ever again. I don't care if your friends say they will be with you all night. They left you by yourself for over ten minutes and look what happened. I will for now on be with you at all times. Okay?" I just nodded my head, hoping to stray away from this conversation. That was the last thing I remembered from that night. I didn't remember getting home or falling asleep, but I what I do remember is a strong whiff of cedar wood and spice.