she's mine.

63

"Eli," I called after waiting only a few moments. "Eli, we have to go. Something's happened," I called again to the bathroom. He had only been in there a minute, hopefully I caught him before he stepped under the water.

He came out of the bathroom with wet hair and a towel wrapped around his waist. He seemed to have been under the water, but his tousled hair looked as if it had only just been under for a second. He hadn't been able to wash his body just yet. I kept my eyes on his hair to keep from drooling at his naked muscular chest and shoulders.

"What? What is it? Are you okay?" He sounded panicked and worried.

"Yes, it's Lea-"

"What?? What happened to her??" He yelled.

"I- I don't know," I told him as I looked down at my hands. "Jake just called and told us to meet him at the shop as soon as possible," it didn't take more than half a second for him to sprint back to the bathroom to grab his clothes and change.

I stood and waited as he dressed. I couldn't seem to look him in the eye when he came out. I felt as though it were my fault.. again. If I hadn't come over and stayed with him then she would've been home, or if Eli hadn't gone to give himself to Rock for me in the first place we wouldn't have this problem.

He was in a white shirt and light jeans, and he grabbed my hand to spin me as he passed by. We didn't say a word in the car or on the way, we just sped off to the shop.

When we got there I caught sight of Jake's car as well as Kameron's. We pulled into the shop and my eyes searched for Lea. I half expected to find her bruised and beaten up, crying, or something, but as she sat on the table in front of our car she was nothing. She sat staring at our car leaning back with her hands in her lap. She had the same light skinny jeans as before, but now she was in an over sized hoodie. Her dark hair was pulled into a bun and her eyes looked distant, as if she didn't actually see what was in front of her.

We jumped out quickly and went to her.

"What happened?" Eli growled. I looked around to find the other boys. I caught them perk up from the the corner of the garage at the sight of Eli. They looked as if they had been talking quietly, but stopped as soon as they heard Eli.

"I think she's in shock," I heard Kameron sat cautiously.

Lea looked up at her brother, eyeing him for a second before deciding she wanted to talk for herself.

"You know that kid who always smokes weed on the corner?" She asked in a casual tone.

I watched as Eli's brows furrowed. His sister looked up at him with a dazed look in her eyes.

"He doesn't like you," she said with a humorless laugh. "Not even a little."

Her whole persona was making me want to run to her and pull her into my chest, to tell her everything is okay. But there was a sinking feeling in my stomach as she spoke that made me step back instead.

"What happened?" Eli asked again with more force this time.

"He told me you used to be a bad person. He told me you did bad things over the summer," she told him. "But we already knew that."

We all sat staring at the motionless girl as she spoke in a monotone voice.

"You know," she went on. "It didn't really occur to me to be scared of him while he approached me," she looked down. "Not until he wrapped his hands around my neck.."

I don't think anyone in the room was breathing. Nobody said a word, or made a chirp as we waited. I saw Kameron's hands clench at his sides and Jake's body coil up the way a rattle snake did before they unleashed their fangs full of venom.