Sea Breeze 04 - Just for Now

I was in his face. “Never talk about her like that again. She is not someone I’m screwing around with.”
    I swung the door open and walked outside with Amanda still attached to me.
    “Maybe you should have been nicer to Rock and brought him out here with you,” she said, walking as closely to me as possible.
    “I don’t need Rock. It’s gonna be okay. But he’s right. You need to let go of me. This ain’t gonna help Marcus’s temper.”
    She shook her head, and I gave up.
    Marcus was pacing in front of his truck. When he saw us, he stopped and his hands fisted at his sides.
    “Let go of him, Amanda,” he ordered as we approached him.
    “No, Marcus. Listen to me. You don’t understand. You need to calm down and let me explain.”
    “I don’t need an explanation. I’ve known Preston since we were kids. I’ve seen it all from him. Enough to know that he isn’t the kind of guy a girl like you needs to be hanging on to and defending. You don’t know him, Amanda. I do.”
    “Yes, I do! I know a lot about him, and you have no idea what is going on here. I started this. He ran from me for months. He pushed me away, and I just kept on coming back. And he is not treating me the way you seem to think he is.”
    “She didn’t chase me,” I said. I couldn’t stand to listen to her tell him she’d come after me so hard and I’d just given in. That wasn’t the way this had happened at all.
    “I didn’t think she did,” Marcus replied in a deadly calm voice.
    “Yes, I did! I even took advantage of him when he was drunk one night,” Amanda said, stepping in front of me.
    “Manda, don’t—”
    “He was completely drunk, and I came on to him. He doesn’t even remember it. He tried so hard to keep me at arm’s length. He was nice to me, but he kept telling me no. Then his sister got sick and I ran after him to his Jeep and went with him. She is so sweet and little, Marcus. We took care of her together, and then things just happened. I finally got past his walls. He let me in. Don’t ruin this for me. I’m in love with him.”
    What?
    Marcus reached for Amanda and jerked her away from in front of me. His fist was planted firmly in my face before I could wrap my head around the fact that she’d just said she loved me.
    “You sorry-ass motherfucker!” Marcus roared, and jerked me up by my collar before his fist connected with my face again.
    I could hear Amanda’s screams in the distance. But my eyesight was blurry and my head felt foggy. I shook it and raised my hands to block any more attacks while I tried to stop my world from spinning.
    “Marcus, NO!” Amanda was crying. My head cleared up real fast. This was making her cry. I didn’t want her to cry.
    When his fist came at me this time, I blocked it and shoved him hard in the chest to get him to back off me. Hitting him would upset Amanda more, but I couldn’t let him beat the shit out of me either.
    “I trusted you. You’re my best friend. How could you screw around with my little sister? She thinks she loves you,” Marcus roared. “She doesn’t even know you. Tell her, Preston. Tell her the shit you’ve done.”
    “Shut up!” I yelled. “You got your hits in. She’s upset. I’m not going to hit you and upset her more.” I reached up with my arm to wipe the blood that was trickling out of my nose. Amanda ran past her brother and barreled into my chest.
    “Dammit!” Marcus growled.
    “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” Amanda cried against my chest. Seeing her like this was making me crazy. Could he not see he was doing to her?
    “Give me a minute,” I barked at him. “Let me calm her down first. She needs reassurance we aren’t gonna kill each other. Can’t you see that?”
    I bent my head and cupped Amanda’s face so I could look down at her. My left eye was swelling closed, but I could still see her tear-streaked face. I hated seeing her like this. If it wouldn’t make things worse, I’d take a few swings at her stupid-ass brother for making her cry.
    “I’m okay. I won’t let him hit me anymore. He caught me off guard.”
    She loved me. Her words replayed in my head again. How could someone as fucking sweet as Amanda Hardy love me?
    “I just want to go. I need to get you some ice, and you’re bleeding.” She hiccupped.
    “I know. I’ll let you do both those things, but first let me deal with him, okay?”
    She wrapped both her arms around my chest and held on tight. This was her way of protecting