Closer

Chapter 21

"Well, so much for not starting a faction war," I heard Jennifer sigh as I coughed, trying to catch my breath. I looked over Eric's shoulder as he crouched down next to me. Her facial expression lead me to believe that she wasn't surprised by Eric's actions.

My attention was brought back to Eric as he took my face in his hands. "You okay?" The worried look that was cast over his featured mirrored the one that he wore when I was in the infirmary.

"That depends on your definition of okay," my voice was hoarse, but I could feel the oxygen flowing through my lungs again.

His worried look remained, but he smiled slightly. I looked over at Jennifer as Eric helped me to my feet. She had a smiled on her face as she looked between the two of us. So much for trying to stay on the down low.

Once I was on my feet, Eric's attention strayed from me to Marcus. Marcus groaned, rubbing his jaw as he stood. Eric's look of worry was soon replace by anger and rage, a look that I was quite familiar with.

I shot Jennifer a look and she knew exactly what was going to happen. I grabbed Eric's arm as he stepped forward, Jennifer placed her hand on his shoulder. "Eric, don't," she cautioned. We might have gotten away with Eric not doing anything stupid, but that chance flew out the window when Marcus got in his face.

"This is none of your business! You have no right-," Marcus started. He was embarrassed, it was written all over his face. I wasn't sure what he was embarrassed about though; being knocked on his ass by Eric or being caught red handed portraying something other than his Abnegation leader façade.

Marcus was cut off as Eric's hand shot up and wrapped around Marcus' neck, shoving him against the wall, just as Marcus had done to me. You would think Marcus would be smart enough to not challenge someone that had a foot in hight on him and at least 50-100 pounds on him.

"Shut your mouth," Eric growled. "You made this my business when you decided to put your hands on her," Marcus' face began to turn a bright shade of red as Eric's hand kept it's lock on his throat. "How dare you think that you have any right to even look at her," Marcus grabbed Eric's wrist, trying to relive some of the pressure. "You touch her, speak to her, or go anywhere near her ever again we're gonna have a problem, understood?" he voice low, his tone dripping with conviction. It had been a while since I had seen Eric like this; cruel, cold, and scary as hell.

Marcus did his best attempt at a nod, earning his release from Eric. I watched as Marcus dropped to floor once again. Eric crouched down next to him as he gasped for air, "Now, I suggest you keep this conversation to yourself, wouldn't want to tarnish your imagine, now would you?"

Eric didn't wait for a response as he stood and walked back over to Jennifer and I. I couldn't help but smile at his actions. Yeah, they were actions that could get him in some serious shit, but he did it for me. He placed his arm around my shoulders and we began to walk back to the conference room. I intertwined my fingers with his hand that hung loosely off my shoulder, wrapping my free arm around his waist.

"Thanks for telling me about this, by the way," Jennifer say sarcastically as she continued to smiled in our direction.

"Sorry," I blushed, looking at the ground.

"I saw it coming though," she pointed out. "Eric never talked about anybody as much as he talked about you."

"More like complained," he responded, earning a jab in the side form me.

"How did you know I was in trouble?" I asked. If they hadn't have come to rescue my sorry ass I'd probably be dead right now.

"As soon as you left Marcus followed you out. I asked Jenn to come with me so it didn't look as bad as it could have," he informed me.