Off Limits
"You gonna run?" I ask the cute stranger. He's about to speak but some yelling pulls our attention elsewhere.
"Yo, Wes!" Everyone turns to the voice. A man, much shorter than my brothers, is stalking our way. He clearly isn't happy. His face is pinched tight, and his hands are in fists. My brothers stand to their full height. This is a defensive tactic. Vin is well over six feet tall. Vance and Vaughn are almost the same. The three of them are very intimidating alone, put them together, and they are downright scary. My brothers move towards Wes, standing at his back, a clear sign. Wes gently pushes Taylor behind him, and she glances at me, her brows furrowed together looking worried. It wouldn't be the first time a fight broke out over someone being a sore loser. The Strip is full of cocky assholes who think they're the shit, that their car is the fastest, best car around. Losing is a major slap to their ego.
"What's up, Chris? You got my money?" Wes asks, not caring that he's looking pissed.
Chris stops a couple feet away from Wes. His nose flares, but instead of going off, he lets out a sigh. “Yeah, I got your money." Wes puts out his hand, and Chris pulls out a wad of cash from his pocket, slapping it into Wes' open palm. "Fucking bullshit man! What the fuck you runnin'?"
My brother's stances change at Chris' question. Obviously, he's not a threat anymore. They all launch into ‘car talk’ about Wes' ride, and I feel myself relax, even though I didn't realize I had stiffened.
"V, I’m gonna tell Wes that we are going to get a drink. I’m parched." Taylor hollers over her shoulder as she walks over to her boyfriend, slipping her arm around his slim waist, and he pauses his conversation to give her attention. His lips widen in a smile when he looks at her, and it is the sweetest damn thing. I glance away, feeling slightly envious. Not that she has Wes, but that she has that. You can see how much he loves her…I'm envious of that. I'm eighteen, and I haven't had one serious relationship. My focus moves at that thought, scanning for the cute stranger's face. His Skyline, the hood now closed, is still parked in the same place, but the guy is regrettably nowhere in sight.
My brothers, however, haven’t moved an inch. If I don't let them know I'm leaving, I'll never hear the end of it. Sometimes I feel like I have five fathers, rather than four brothers and one father. Vin is closest, so I yell out to him. "I'm going to get a drink!" I point towards the food trucks. Vin simply looks at me and nods then this attention is back to the conversation. Taylor returns to my side, wrapping her arm around mine and tugs me with her.
There is a decent line for this food truck, and many of the provided picnic tables are occupied. The whole area is pretty crowded, groups of teens standing around, and I take notice of the number of young girls and their attire. A majority are scantily clad, like the girls in front of us. Small skirt, even smaller tops.
"So, are we going to the field after this?" Taylor's question makes me forget about the underdressed girls around us.
"Meh,” I scrunch my nose, “No, I gotta work in the morning."
"Just go for a little, Pleaseeee?" Taylor begs.
"Yeah, okay," Pure sarcasm. "A little always turns into hours. Plus, if I go, so will my brothers or at least Vance since a lot of his friends are home for break."
"Yeah but Vance's the cool one."
"No, he's not … none of them are cool."
"We can say you're coming to my house."
"They'll know, Tay. They always find out, and they're going to give me shit. I just don't want to deal with them. We can go tomorrow."
"Finnee. You party pooper!"
"So, ‘baby sister’ is it?" a deep male voice cuts into our conversation. Taylor and I both turn around to find the hot owner of the Skyline standing directly behind us. His hazel eyes are raking over my face and down my body. I sigh, "Yes, that'd be me."
"Do you have a name? I don't really want to call you baby sister." He grins, causing a dimple to appear. Grin + Dimple = Danger.
"Oh pretty boy, you have a death wish," Taylor says bluntly, and I elbow her. She shrugs, turning to put her order in, leaving us alone.
"Veronica," I answer him.
"Veronica,” he repeats like he's testing the name on his lips. “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl." He smiles showing near-perfect teeth. "I'd like to take you out, but I assume your brothers are pretty protective of you?"
"Was it that obvious?" I ask sarcastically.
He laughs. "Yeah. So, maybe you can give me your number, and I'll give you a call sometime."
"I don't even know your name."
He chuckles and licks his lips before answering, "Ryan." Ah. No longer the cute stranger. His hand moves out towards me and I instantly notice how large it is. I tentatively put out my hand to meet his. His hand gently closes around mine; my soft to his rough. He moves our hands up and down. "So, now that we're friends, we should exchange numbers."
"Oh, is that how it goes?"
"Well, yeah. Friends hang out…I want to hang out with my new friend."
"Alright, Friend." I conclude. He smiles wide and pulls his phone out of his pocket. I begin to rattle off the first few numbers.
"Get. Lost!" a deep familiar voice cuts in.
Startled, I whip around and find Vance standing behind me, his mouth in a tight line and eyes narrowed at Ryan. He raises his hand and takes a step forward, jabbing a finger into Ryan's chest.
"You don't fuckin' listen. I told you this is my sister! She's off-limits!"
"Vance, stop!" I plead, completely mortified.
"No! He was all over some chick earlier tonight. I don't give two shits what he does in his spare time, but it won't be you!" He grabs my arm and pulls me away from Ryan who's standing there dumbfounded. When we're far enough away I rip my arm out of his grasp. "That was embarrassing!" I hiss.
He stops a few feet from me and turns around. "Look, I'm not sorry I embarrassed you. Sure, I could have done it in a better way. But he's a dick, and you're better than that!"
"You do realize that you can't protect me from every guy, right? I'd like to date; I want to fall in love."
"You will V....but guys your age, hell even my age, they only want what’s in your pants. I know, I'm a guy! You don't want that! I don't want that for you! Focus on school, make a career for yourself, then settle down."
"You sound like dad, Vance. You're twenty-one, not fifty." He needs to lighten up.
"Good! Dad's an amazing man, I hope one day I can be half the man he is! You just gave me a huge compliment." He smiles big.
"It wasn't supposed to be." I huff and cross my arms. Vance wraps his arm around my shoulders and hugs me to him. "I did you a favor, V. Say thank you and move on."
I stay quiet because while he probably did save me from ‘falling in lust’ with Ryan and getting hurt, I don't want to admit it.
"Vernnn..." he drags out my childhood nickname.