~Chapter 21~

~Fights~

"I don't like him."

"You don't know him."

"I don't need to. I see the way he is around you. I don't like it and I don't like him."

"Mason." He crossed his arms, squared his shoulders and faced off with me. "He's like that with everybody. How many times have we had this conversation already?"

"And we'll keep having it. I don't trust him. He's always touching you." His face scrunched up in disgust.

"Hmm, remind you of anybody?"

"That's different, Eva! I'm your boyfriend. It's my right." His chest puffed out.

I scoffed. "Right. Uh-huh. Listen right now, Mason. You're not going to dictate who I can and can't talk to. If I didn't want him to touch me, he wouldn't. Same goes for you, buddy." We were toe to toe. "And that's my right."

"So you want him to touch you? Damn, Eva. That's nice to know." His eyes darkened, nostrils flaring, he took a step back from me.

"That's not what I said, Mason. Don't fucking put words in my mouth. God. Why can't you be more like Ryder and Cam? They like him, why can't you?"

"Fine, Eva. Whatever you want. I'll be more like your brothers. Why don't you go see if Brent can fill the boyfriend position better? I'll talk to you later." He stomped out of the room.

"That's not what I meant. Mason!" I got as far as the hall when I heard him talking to somebody at the bottom of the stairs. "I don't know." Pause "Ask your sister."

"Amazing. He's angry," I grumbled to myself, leaning back against the wall to wait for whoever was down there to come up.

Luckily, it was Cam. I didn't really feel like dealing with Ryder. He'd undoubtedly take Mason's side and say he'd feel the same if it were Abby.

"He's blowing it all out of proportion. It's not like he has anything to worry about and Brent's only kidding around. I don't take him seriously so neither should he."

"Wait. Back up. What's going on?"

"Mason's having a fit about Brent. Again. He's being irrational. Brent doesn't mean anything he says. It's a joke. I don't understand why he's getting so upset."

Cam stood there a minute, just looking at me. I didn't quite know how to take his expression. He ran a hand over his face before speaking. "Eva… Um. Okay, let me ask you this. How would you feel if some girl was constantly flirting and hanging all over Mason?"

"I wouldn't care. I trust him." I stood up straight and crossed my arms. This wasn't going as I'd planned. Maybe I wasn't as lucky as I'd originally thought. I would have had better luck with Braden.

"Uh-huh. Right. Bye Eva."

"Wait, you're leaving? That's all you have to say?"

"Yeah. You obviously have all the answers therefore you don't need me. Mason's wrong, you're right, end of story." In your eyes went unsaid.

He was already half way down the hall. "And to think I wanted him to be more understanding like you." I said it under my breath but Cam must've heard. He paused, shook his head and walked into his room.

"Ugh," I sighed, frustrated. This was going nowhere.

Later when I picked up Braden, I decided to test my theory. "Braden, would you care if I talked to another boy?" We'd just pulled into the driveway and I turned off the car.

"No."

"Okay. What if there was a girl you liked and—"

"Like Ruthie."

"Um, yeah. Like Ruthie. And, say, Ruthie was playing and talking with another boy, how would you feel?"

"I wouldn't like that, but she's not mine."

"Yours?"

"Yeah, she's not my girlfriend."

"And would you be mad if she did that stuff with another boy if she was your girlfriend?"

"Yes." He sat up straighter in his seat.

"Uh-huh. You're just like your brothers." He grinned. That statement absolutely made his night and that wasn't at all how I'd meant it. He wouldn't understand that I could be angry at them. To him, they were his world. He looked up to them and for me to say he was like them, that was the best compliment he could ever receive.

"Can I go in now, Evie?" Sighing, I nodded and he quickly hopped out and ran into the house. Probably bursting at the seams to tell somebody, anybody who would listen, that he was just like his big brothers.

I sat there, gripping the steering wheel and beat my head against it a few times before crossing my arms on top and just resting it there.

AN: hmm, what do you think is going to happen next? thoughts?

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