she's mine.

22

"Eli," I said in a hushed voice as he stared at his friends. I waited for him to laugh or say he was joking, but was completely serious.

"What?" Kam's brows pulled together in confusion.

"We are all tired," Eli ran his hand through his hair, pushing it off his forehead. "And I think we all need our rest."

"No, what we need is to go beat the-"

"Kameron," Levi cut him off. He was staring at Eli with an understanding look in his eyes. "Eli is right," he turned to Kameron. "There is nothing we can do tonight even if we wanted to, let's get some rest and we will figure everything out in the morning." Eli looked at Levi with grateful eyes, but I was guessing that was the closest thing he would ever get to a 'thank you'.

"But there has to be-"

"C'mon man," Jake looked more exhausted than anyone. He had dark circles forming under his eyes and he rubbed the back of his neck as he blinked slowly. He must have stayed up all night planning and preparing for this party, and it was ruined all because of some feud between his brother and this guy we barely knew. My heart went out to Jake. "Just sleep on it, please." He pleaded with tired eyes.

Kameron looked from each one of his friends waiting for someone to take his side, when no one did he growled out a grunt. He grabbed his jacket off the back of the couch and headed for the door. He slowed down as he came close to passing Eli and I. "If anything else happens to her," he said in a low voice and I saw Eli's jaw and fists clench in unison. I knew this was about to be a repeat of the screaming match earlier. I quickly put a hand on Eli's forearm to try and draw his attention to anything other than Kam, even if that meant i would take his wrath. I saw his eyes flicker to my hand on him and he let out a sigh. His body was still tight from the tension of holding back, but he didn't bite the bait.

"I will kill every last one of them," Kameron finished before storming out. Eli took a step toward the door as if to go after him, but I tugged gently at his arm hoping to get him to resist. I swear he would have ripped Kam's head off if I wouldn't have been his main concern right now; I could see he was still worried i'd try to make a run for it. He glanced down at me letting out a deep exhale through his nose. I could tell it took everything he had to find the smallest amount of serenity.

"I'll be by tomorrow," Levi gave Eli a small nod as he followed Kameron's lead toward the door.

D quickly gave Lea and I a hug telling her happy birthday once more. "I'm glad you're okay," she whispered as she hastily wrapped her arms around my neck. I liked her already. I could tell she was a good friend. I hope she would stick with us through all of this.

When they left I watched all three of the Jones siblings relax into themselves. Jake leaned into the couch next to him. Lea slumped into the wall, her head resting on the door frame. Eli let his shoulders fall and his hands finally release from the hard fists they were in. It was strange, I hadn't realized how much every single one of them was wanting the house to themselves, the serenity in the solitude of just them in their own home.

"That means you guys, too," Eli's deep voice was hard.

"What!?" Lea's head popped up and her eyes widened as she stared at her brother. Jake seemed too tired to care at this point, he remained where he was.

"Lea," Eli's voice always seemed to soften when he spoke to his baby sister. "I need to talk to Rai, alone."

"No," she straightened up. "You need to explain to all of us what is going on."

"Lea," he said again. "Please."

"No! I am not going to let you treat me like a child anymore! I am apart of this fight just as much as much as you!!"