she's mine.

74

"Oh Eli," the moans were getting louder. "Oh Eli!"

"Could you guys shut up already!" I turned around to yell at Caleb and Danny as they continued to mock me by calling Eli's name who apparently didn't mind at all because he said nothing. Wasn't he supposed to be on my side!? Why was he not stopping them??

They both burst out laughing and fell back to give me space, finally noticing I was clearly ready to throat punch them. Ugh.

I turned to Eli quickly.

"Can't you make them stop??"

He looked at me with a smirk on his lips and humor in his eyes with no shame.

"I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure if I said something it would just make it all the more fun for them to continue," he tried to reason. He may have a point, but it was still annoying. I huffed like the two year old I was at heart and crossed my arms. He smiled down at my point gently grabbing my forearms to pull me in and kiss my forehead. "Just be glad it's this and not us fighting."

I almost wish they were fighting rather than making my look ridiculous.

I mentally rolled my eyes.

"JP was only upset because he thinks of me as a sister and with everything that happened to his sister he's a little protective," I sighed. It was sweet to have so many guys protecting me physically and emotionally. I never worried about a broken heart or someone laying a hand on me, I knew they would have their worst nightmare at their doorstep if a boy hurt me.

Eli's brows pulled together. "What happened to his sister?"

Oof. I felt a pang of regret for bringing it up. It was a touchy subject and I hated even bringing it up.

"He and his sister were in the system," I said carefully. "They got separated; some family wanted her and not him. She refused to go without him, but JP being they guy that he was, knew it was her chance to get in with a good family and wasn't going to ruin that so he made her to go," I felt my fingers wrap around the ring on my thumb to turn it round and round. "He hasn't seen her since. She wouldn't call him back and then eventually someone else answered her number and told him he must have the wrong number- that it was a new phone. He regrets it more than anything," I glanced at JP as he laughed with the others who were talking in a small group.

Every single one of them, every single person for that matter, had been through or was going through something that would make us all drop to our knees clenching our chests in desperation to not feel the pain anymore. It was something I never let myself forget. I may have lost my father, but at least I had Jonny and my mother. My father had always been the one to remind me that the world was unfair to just about everyone, that we didn't need a reason for bad stuff to happen to us. He made sure before he died that I was left with his way of life imprinted on me forever.

You would never find my father going through some of the hardest times in his life without a 'we'll get through it' attitude. He was head strong and steadfast in the movement of believing life was as good as you make it.

Suddenly I was pulled from my thoughts when a set of long rough fingers wrapped around mine, stopping them from twisting my ring over and over.

Eli pulled me to his body. My arms naturally wrappeed around his waist as he took my face in his hands to look down at me. It was on feeling- to feel as if you've known someone forever but yet, wanting to keep them around for all eternity. What we had would move mountains, bring the world to its knees, it would never fade or be lost- I was sure of it.

His brown eyes lost their stoic gloss the way they always did when he looked at me. His eyes dilated and he sighed. I knew it would hit him different. Both of our minds were quickly wondering to the same place.