Let's Play a Game

Let's Play a Game (24)

 “Why are we here?” Ethan asked, obviously bored out of his mind over the fact that he had to walk around a clothing store with his older brother, his older sister, and the girl he couldn’t stand.

“Come on, Ethan,” I teased, smirking at him. “This is fun and you know it. You just have too much pride to admit it.”

“This is not fun,” he snapped at me as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re a girl, so of course you think this kind of stuff is fun. It’s just stupid.” He now turned toward his brother. “Please don’t tell me that you’re seriously having fun.”

Zach shrugged, using the opportunity of being here to check out all the girls and wink at or flirt with them. I tried to ignore it, but it was really difficult to when almost every person of the female gender just had to stop to either talk to or ogle him like he was some kind of display or something.

I remembered the time when this would annoy me just because I thought it was enlarging his already huge ego, but now I was annoyed by it because I didn’t want them anywhere near the person I was in love with.

“Will you stop checking out every girl you see?” I cried, seriously fed up after I had counted over forty girls that he had come into some kind of contact with in that store. “We’re here because you agreed to come shopping with Elizabeth and me, not to check out these poor girls.”

Zach wagged his eyebrows at me. “I guess you didn’t know that the only reason I came here was so I could see the girls that are here.”

And I was in love with… that.

“I’m pretty sure you’re used to that by now, Maxynn,” Elizabeth sighed, checking out a top on the rack beside us. “I’ve learned to just not question it. As long as he’s not hitting on your friends, that’s fine.”

I made a face, remembering how he had hit on Kate many times before. That was not something I wanted to think about.

“I still don’t get why I have to be here,” Ethan now complained, reminding me that he was still here with us. “There’s no point in a ten-year-old kid being here.”

“Sure there is,” Zach grinned now, and all three of us knew we weren’t going to like what he was about to say. “Chicks dig guys with little brothers, or even sons. They think they’re cute.”

Ethan scowled at his brother. “So you’re just using me as bait?”

“Pretty much.”

I was surprised when Ethan hit his older brother in the stomach, but Elizabeth acted as if nothing was wrong at all. Zach only smirked at his younger brother, suddenly picking him up off the ground and over his shoulder.

Ethan punched at his brother in the back, but this did nothing at all. Ethan was too small and Zach was too big for it to do any type of damage to him.

“Both of you, stop it,” I snapped, slapping Zach in the arm then, so he would put Ethan down. Though that did end up happening, I was the one being picked up and thrown over his shoulder only a second after Ethan was free.

“Put me down!” I shouted, quieting myself down after I remembered that we were still in the middle of the clothing store. “Zach, put me down right now!”

“Hey!” we heard before the fight could really escalate, but Zach still didn’t put me down at the sound of this voice. All four of us turned our heads to see two security guards glaring in our direction, looking menacing and almost evil.

“Uh… Zach…” I blinked, my whole body feeling numb as I stared back at the two security guards. “You can put me down now…”

This caused him to throw me over his shoulder so I would now land on the hard floor of the store. I landed right on my shoulder blade, and I couldn’t help but hiss out in pain at the contact.