She paused. “Then keep them for the two girls from the hallway. I’m sure they’d enjoy it more than me.”
Benji snickered. “Is that jealousy I hear?”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“Holy shit. You’re jealous.”
“Jealous of what?”
I grinned as Benji stepped between her and me.
“You’re jealous of the girls Maxy-boy here had at the party.”
Benji slapped his hand against my chest and I caught his wrist.
“Easy there,” I warned.
He giggled nervously. “Doesn’t change the fact that you’re jealous.”
Daddy’s girl shook her head. “Nope. Not even a little bit.”
“Face it. You like Max, don’t you?”
“Nope.”
“Oh, then maybe you like me.”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
Benji sighed. “Well, she’s obviously jealous. And that’s kind of cute, don’t you think?”
Daddy’s girl glared at us. “I’m. Not. Jealous. I could never be jealous of a couple of college girls with no standards.”
“What did you just say?”
I placed my hand onto Benji’s shoulder. The boy was always much too fired up. Always ready to prove his worth. Always ready to jump down someone’s throat to prove he belonged somewhere he didn’t. It was entertaining for a while. Until it became too much.
Like now.
Benji leaned his head toward her still. Creating a friction against my hand that made me fist his coat. Even still, though, his arms slid out of the jacket, inching him even closer to the girl who had gone from timid, to jealous, to angry, to frightened.
I didn’t like the fact that Benji was scaring her.
“Where’s your mommy, Bambi?” he whispered.
My nostrils flared. “Enough.”
“Huh? Yeah? You like being called Bambi, Little Miss Jealous?”
I growled. “I said, that’s enough.”
I pulled Benji back to my side as his jacket fell down his back. I watched her jerk away, clutching her backpack to her chest as she rushed off. Her feet carried her away from us as quickly as she could move. And as I stood there, forcing Benji to stay at my side, I wanted nothing more than to twist the little fucker’s head off.
Especially since he was laughing.
“Oh, wow. Chicks like her are too easy of a target. Man. She needs a damn backbone, don’t you think?”
He looked up at me and I glared at him. Ready to rip him to shreds and cast him to all the corners of the globe. Benji didn’t know the first thing about being a Red Thorn. Or a decent-enough human being. He thought being in the crew was all big talk, sex, cigarettes, and fast bikes. He didn’t understand the world we delved into. He didn’t understand the price we all paid. The devil we had sold our souls to in exchange for a small slice of heaven every once in a while.