Page 4 of When You Became Mine

I nodded. I wasn’t okay. It felt like all of my ribs were crushed, but I didn’t want to look weak.

He gave me a curt nod and then turned his attention back to Jude. “Get the hell outta here!”

Jude was on the ground, on all fours, breathing heavily. A small puddle of blood was beginning to form on the sidewalk, no doubt from the cut that was over his eye.

It was going to need stitches.

I smiled. Good.

I was still smiling when someone’s hand wrapped around my arm, yanking me to my feet. I bucked, afraid it was one of Jude’s friends. He had plenty of them who would be more than happy to take a shot at Hampton Reed.

But it was worse.

Lawson.

Shit.

He looked mad. Worse than that, his lip was split wide, blood dripping on his white T-shirt.

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nbsp; “What happened to you?” I asked.

“Get up,” he seethed through clenched teeth.

“Oh my God! Did one of Jude’s friends hit you?”

Yeah. It was safe to assume Hampton and I were going to be in a lot of trouble.

It didn’t matter that we didn’t start the fight.

Lawson wasn’t a fighter like Hampton. His mom was going to lose her mind when her quiet boy came home with a busted lip.

His lips barely moved when he growled, “I told you to get in the damn car, Piper. What’s wrong with you?”

He tugged on my arm, dragging me to his sports car. I looked behind me as Hampton landed one more kick to Jude’s ribs before stumbling after us.

Lawson wrenched the door open and shoved me into the back seat. He didn’t even bother to wait for Hampton before he stalked around the car and climbed into the driver’s seat.

Georgia and Jack sat wide-eyed beside me, Jack’s face a mixture of irritation and fear.

Georgia whispered, “You were so kick-ass!” but quickly clamped her mouth shut when Lawson called her name sharply.

Hampton had barely pulled the door shut when Lawson put the car in gear, squealing his tires as he peeled out of the middle school parking lot.

“Law—” Hampton started before he was silenced with a hand in the face.

“Shut up,” Lawson clipped as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his eyes in the rearview on me. “What the hell is wrong with you, Piper? Jesus, you can’t even keep my brother out of trouble for one week? I have enough crap to deal with at school, without driving over to the middle school to bail your tails out all the time.”

Hampton burst into laughter. “I’m not sure getting a shiner is considered bailing us out. But whatever you think.”

I didn’t dare laugh. Not with Lawson’s hard brown eyes aimed at me in the rearview mirror.

Hampton kicked his feet up on the dashboard and threw his hands behind his head. “How’s it feel to be a man, Lawson? Your first real fight. Did you even get a punch in?”

Lawson’s eyes flicked back to the road but his hand flew out to the side and fisted in his brother’s shirt. “And you…you got a girl fighting for you now? You idiot. She could have been seriously hurt.”

“Oh, please. I’m fine.” I crossed my arms over my chest and fought back a wince when my ribs objected. “Besides, Jude started it!”

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