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Smirking, Johnny dragged me to my feet before pulling the zipper of the jacket open and freeing my hands.
“Better?” he asked, his hands settling on the slight curves of my waist.
Not really because I could feel the heat of his hands on my body, and even though a full layer of clothes separated his touch from my flesh, I still felt it all the way down to my toes.
This was so not good.
Red-faced and blushing, I latched onto his forearms, balancing on my one sheathed foot, and blurted out the only thing I could think of in this moment, “I don’t want to get beaten up.”
His hands tightened on my waist as he stared down at my face. “Who would beat you up?”
“Your girlfriend.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he replied slowly, wariness and confusion etched on his face. “You know this.”
“Bella.”
“Did she say something to you?” Johnny demanded, tone hard, expression angry.
I shook my head.
He cocked a brow. “No?”
“No,” I confirmed quietly.
“You’re sure she hasn’t said anything to you?” he probed.
“I’m sure,” I replied. “But I don’t want to give her a reason to.”
Johnny stared hard at me and repeated his earlier statement with a few tweaks. “She was never my girlfriend, Shannon.”
“Yeah, well, a couple of the girls in my class were saying that you had a—”
“You were talking about me?” he interrupted, a hard edge to his tone. “With them?”
“No.” I shook my head. “They were talking about you. To me.”
Johnny arched an indignant brow. “Is there a difference?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “A big one.” I swallowed deeply and shook my head. “Listen, Johnny, I don’t need… I can’t get into any more…” Exhaling a ragged breath, I forced myself to look at him. “I don’t want to get hurt because you spoke to me.” My words came out fast and breathy. “I don’t need that kind of trouble in my life. I’m not a fighter. I need to keep my head down and get through school with no drama.”
There was a long pause of silence where neither of us spoke.
“You think I’d let anyone hurt you?” Johnny finally asked, his eyes dark and intense and focused solely on my face. “You think I’d let anything bad happen to you, Shannon like the river?”
I stared up at him, unsure of what to say and uncertain of my feelings.
When I didn’t respond, Johnny released a low growl and shook his head, causing droplets of rain to spray my face.
“Because I won’t,” he answered his own question by saying. “Nothing bad is going to happen to you,” he added, blue eyes dark and locked on mine. “Because I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, okay?”
I nodded uncertainly. “Okay?”
He watched me carefully, eyes heated and locked on mine. “Do you believe me?”
“I want to,” I breathed as my fingers dug into the hard plains of his shoulders—my body’s helpless reaction to his words.
God, I want to…
