Starting With You

41. Don't you ever put your hands on my girl!

Jensen

WE REJOIN MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS AT our table, and I take a long drink from my warm beer, refilling it with cold stuff from the group pitcher. A few minutes later, Teddy leans toward me in her chair. She combs her hand in my hair at the nape of my neck, rests her chin on my shoulder with her face turned toward me and whispers, "J, we didn't use a condom."

My eyes grow big, and I whip my whole body to face her. "Shit!"

Before I can say more, she places a finger over my lips to shush me, and whispers in my ear, "Don't worry about it, baby. I'm on the pill. But I need to go to the bathroom. You're leaking out of me."

"Teddy," I groan, ducking my head and scrubbing a hand over my face.

She cackles. Like the witch she is.

Rylie points between us. "This? What's this?" Her eyes widen and mouth falls open. "Shut. Up. You didn't!"

Teddy nods toward the bathroom. "Come with me."

The two girls disappear into the crowd, and Kelly gets my attention by kicking my chair under the table. "Really, J?" He raises an eyebrow; and when I just smirk, he chuckles. "Where? Where did you even do it? Tell me it wasn't in the bathroom?"

"Don't worry about it." I take a drink of beer, unable to remove the smirk from my lips. "But it definitely wasn't the bathroom."

"It was probably that storage closet," Finn pipes in. "You know, the one right off the bathrooms? It gets plenty of use, trust me."

I groan, not loving the fact that I stooped to my stepbrother's level of debauchery, but it's hard to deny the hotness factor of the whole experience. Maybe, just maybe, my player brother knows a thing or two.

I notice Teddy and Rylie approach the bar; they order drinks, then immediately return to whatever conversation they had paused, their heads thrown back in laughter. I smile at the scene. The two friends couldn't be any more different, but for whatever reason, they just work.

A guy approaches them, and I grit my teeth. He looks familiar. It takes me a minute to place him; he was in Finn and Charlie's grade in school—Chris, I'm pretty sure that's his name. The girls eye him with bored looks, and then turn their attention back to each other; but Chris is persistent. He continues talking to them, disregarding their uninterested signs.

I fist my hands on the table, fighting my instincts to storm over there and intercede like I normally would. I told Teddy I'd be better; and this is me trying, even if I hate every single second of it.

Kelly notes my fists and turns to see what's got me worked up. "You aren't going over there?" he asks, eyebrows raised.

"Ah, shit." Finn is now looking at them. "Is that Chris Wilson? I hate that greasy cocksucker. Ten bucks he's going to put the moves on one of our girls. Probably Rylie. No offense, J, but Rylie is more his type. Plus, the whole town knows Teddy belongs to you. He'd be real dumb to mess with your girl."

Kelly points at Finn as if that's solid proof of something. "Still not going over there?"

"Fuck." I rake my hand through my hair and try to talk myself out of doing the thing I really want to do. "No. I can't. I promised Teddy I'd quit being a possessive asshole."

"Is this because you sent Dylan home for checking out her ass? I heard she ripped you a new one for that and then refused to talk to you for a whole day." Finn chuckles, obviously not caring about his own welfare. I kick his chair under the table, and he steadies himself by grabbing the table before the chair can topple over. "Don't get pissy with me just because you can't go over there and beat that guy's ass for talking to your girl. That's your issue."

Kelly smacks Finn upside the head. "Shut it, dude." Then he turns his attention to me. "Really, J? You sent him home for checking out her ass? What's wrong with you? Even I know that's a huge no-no." He laughs. "Man, you suck at this relationship shit."