Sweet Sofie (Moreno Brothers)

Chapter 4: The Promise

The guy standing with Sofia did the stupidest thing he could do at that moment. He reached over and touched her arm. Eric had never had a problem controlling his temper, but right then, he felt like exploding on the guy.

"What are you doing, Sof? What's this?" Eric gestured to the guy's arm still touching her.

"Who are you?" The guy asked before Sofia could respond.

He didn't even ask it with that much conviction, but that's all Eric needed to let out what he'd been feeling the whole time since he spotted them. He jumped in the guy's face. "Who the fuck are you?"

Sofia jumped in front of him, her breasts pushed against him. "Stop, Eric!"

Angel and Romero were there in a second.

"Easy, Eric." Angel glanced back at the guy. When the guy's friend came from behind him as if to back him up, just like that Angel was on fire. "What are you gonna do?" He growled, jumping in his face.

Sarah struggled to hold Angel back. Romero got in on it when more of the guys closed in. The girls all did their best to keep the guys apart, though the other guys didn't put up too much of a fight. The younger ones didn't even try to get involved. When it was all over, the other guys walked away. Eric glanced at Valerie and her friend, who still struggled with holding Romero from going after them. Sofia pulled her hands away from his chest and took off toward Angel's car.

Still reeling and breathing hard, Eric wondered if Angel would question just why he reacted that way. The door to Angel's car slammed, getting all their attention. Sofia was already in the back seat of Angel's car. Obviously, she wasn't jumping in with Eric.

Angel and Sarah got in the car. He stood outside the passenger side, trying to hear what Angel was telling Sofia until he heard him ask her if she was crying. Instinctively, he stuck his head into the side of the window. "You crying, Sof?"

After Romero stuck his head into the driver's side window to see what was going on, Sarah sat up. "All right, out!" She pushed Eric's head out. "You too, Angel."

Eric walked around the car and met Angel and Romero, "Good looking out, man." Angel held up a fist.

Eric tapped it with his own fist, trying to smile, but he was still too wound up. "Always."

"Was he being a wise ass?" Angel asked, as they walked away from his car toward Valerie and her friends.

"Yeah," Eric embellished. "I didn't like the way he was looking at her either."

"One of those, huh?" Angel shook his head. "Fucking asshole."

They talked to Valerie and her friend for a few minutes before they headed back to their cars and off to the beach for a bonfire. Eric thought about Sofia with that guy the whole way there. He knew she couldn't be happy about seeing him with those girls yesterday and today, but if she thought she was going to be hanging with guys, she had another think coming.

With Angel so distracted with Sarah at the beach, Eric took full advantage. He'd already planned on coming to some kind of understanding with Sofia. He knew he had to after she'd jumped in Angel's car yesterday instead of coming home with him. After tonight's incident, he definitely had to get things straight with her.

It helped that Romero was busy trying to cozy up with Sarah's cousin Valerie. Eric wouldn't have to deal with him interrupting. Almost as soon as they got the fire going, Angel and Sarah laid a blanket down and sat down on it. Within seconds, Angel was all over her. That guy was so obsessed. Eric had never seen him like this. He walked over to Sofia, who was putting down her own blanket on the sand. "You wanna go for a walk?"