Free Arianna's Tale: The Beginning by D. J. Humphries Page A

see,” Austin nonchalantly answered
while Jack fished in his pocket and pulled out a pen and then
pulled my hand gently over to him.
    “Call me,” he began, jotting down his name
and number on my palm, “No matter what you decide; so I know
whether or not to keep an eye out for you.” He met my gaze for a
long moment before glancing at Austin again, “You’re all
invited.”
    His fingers curled my hand into a fist as
they slid to the table and he headed back to his group of
friends.
    “Do you want to leave?” I inquired, chancing
to look up at Austin who looked probably normal to someone who
doesn’t know him, but he was definitely barely containing his
anger.
    “No… you don’t walk away from a Clayborne…”
Austin uttered beneath his breath, “If I’d known who you kept
staring at… we would’ve left earlier… I want to scrub your hand
clean….” I unconsciously curled my fist tighter and pulled it into
my lap, only realizing I’d even done it because Austin’s gaze
darted down to follow my hand. “God… you want to go….”
    “He said no matter what our decision was… to
call and let him know… it would be rude to just not show up…” I
countered, uncurling my hand in my lap to keep from smudging the
ink, “And I do think it would be fun if all three of us went….”
    “I don’t want to share you,” Austin rebutted
almost silently while my gaze fell back to my ice cream, “I
certainly don’t want to share you with a Clayborne….”
    “You’re going to have to explain that to me
at some point,” I mumbled, looking up when Jack’s group got up to
leave the ice cream parlor and he smiled and waved at me before
following his friends outside. “And I do want to go… I think it
would be fun.”
    “We’ll see,” Austin dismissed, but anger
flared like heat inside of my chest.
    “I’m not a little kid, Austin… and you’re
not my boyfriend… if I want to go, I’ll go, and you can’t stop me,”
I uttered, being sure to keep my voice between the two of us and
not let the nearby people hear me.
    “We’ll see what Dad has to say about it…
about that Clayborne and his friends and if it’s safe to go,” Austin countered stubbornly, “Let’s get home, Anna.”
    I only nodded. I’d just finished my last
bite of waffle cone; so we headed out of the ice cream parlor, not
unnoticed, and got in his car, still being watched, and started
towards home.

Chapter
3
     
    “Tell me about your dislike of the
Claybornes,” I asked as soon as we were out of sight of the
parlor.
    “Patrick is the older one… we fought a lot
when we were younger… he’s nothing shy of an ass… and insanely
stubborn… if he thinks he’s right, there’s no changing his mind,
and he will do anything to get what he wants. His parents
are really the same way, so I’d hope you’d understand why I don’t
particularly like the idea of you being around any of the
Claybornes, especially not a guy that’s obviously into you,” Austin
quickly spat out, his words still tipped with anger, “If Jack is
anything like his family, he’ll do anything to get you.”
    “And if he’s not like his family? Will you
stop being so obnoxious about it? I want to go to the bonfire,” I
rebutted and Austin sighed, glancing over at me when he could.
    “We’ll see what Dad has to say… There’s no
way I’m agreeing to this whole bonfire idea unless Jason and I both
go with you… what if Mark showed up? No one would know to keep him
away from you,” Austin continued, trying to push the few buttons
that would make me not want to go to the bonfire.
    “Why would he know to look at some lake that
I don’t even know where is? And I very much doubt he’d do anything
to me if there were other people around…” I tried to keep my voice
strong, but even I heard the slight quaver in it.
    We reached the house still arguing, but our
arguments were silenced when we spotted Mom’s car in the driveway.
I stared in blatant