Free Stubborn Love by Natalie Ward Page A

see Mia again if she really does
keep her promise and comes to watch us play.

 
    We arrive at the club at
the same time Ben walks up. I watch as he runs his eyes over Mia’s whole body
and I immediately want to punch him. I no longer have my arm around her
shoulder, so it’s not like I have any claim to her, but just the thought of his
eyes on her pisses me off.
    After we are stamped and
head inside, Mia offers to buy us all drinks.
    “I’ll get them,” I tell
her, even though I don’t really want to leave her alone with Ben while I do. I
have no problem with the guy, we’re good friends and I know he wouldn’t do
anything to hurt Mia, but I just don’t want him interested in her, at all. Some
small, possessive part of me, just wants to keep her all for myself.
    “No, let me, please,” she
says. “You brought me out tonight, at least let me get the drinks.”
    “Okay,” I say, pushing the
hair back off my face. “You got your ID?” I know she’s two years younger than
me, which makes her underage. She got carded that time we went out for lunch
and she probably will be here too.
    “Yep,” Mia says, nodding.
    I smile at her. “Well,
I’ll have a beer then, thanks.”
    After Ben asks for the
same, we both watch Mia as she weaves her way through the crowd of people to
the bar.
    “Man, I’d forgotten how
hot she is, how old is she again?” Ben asks.
    I turn to look at him as
he watches her walk away. “She’s Luke’s sister dude,” I answer, a warning note
in my voice.
    Ben’s face immediately
snaps to mine. “Yeah,” he says, gesturing towards the bar. “I know, but I asked
how old she is.”
    Yeah, but that’s not all
you said, I think to myself. “Nineteen,” I answer.
    “She’s fucking hot is what
she is.”
    I can feel a ball of fury
building in my stomach. On any other night, I’d be agreeing with him, checking
out the girl in question just as much as Ben is right now. But tonight, with
Mia, I don’t want Ben or anyone else in the club even looking at her, let alone
thinking about touching her.
    “She’s Luke’s sister,
Ben,” I tell him, my voice firm and measured. “She’s a no-go area, okay?”
    Ben doesn’t say anything,
just continues to watch the bar, where only the top of Mia’s head is visible.
    “Ben?” I repeat, jabbing
him in the ribs.
    He turns to face me now.
“Alright, alright, keep your fucking pants on. I won’t touch,” he says smiling
at me as though he’s already forgotten before turning to face the rest of the
room, no doubt looking for a new conquest for the night.
    It shouldn’t piss me off,
but it does. Watching Ben like this is a bit of a slap in the face at what I’m
normally like. Out on the prowl, checking out the women and not really thinking
of them as anything but a hot piece of ass. But with Mia, I’m experiencing
something entirely different. It’s not just a protective thing because Luke
asked me to look after her. It’s a possessive thing too. Something that makes
me want to not just look after her, but have her. Have
her in a way that lets everybody else in this place
know that she’s with me. I want her to be mine.
    Of course it’s fucking
laughable that I’m telling Ben to back off, when all I can think about is doing
the complete opposite. Memories of a drunken night a couple of months ago resurface
and once again, I am filled with both regret at how it all panned out and a
longing to go back and do it all over again. Christ, I can’t stop thinking
about her.
    Mia eventually walks back
over, carrying beers for each of us. We all turn and face the stage, watch as Damien
and the rest of his band set up their instruments. When they eventually start
up, the music is deafening, making any chance of conversation virtually
impossible. I’m standing between Ben and Mia and I’m acutely aware of her arm
as it occasionally brushes against mine when she takes a sip of her drink.
Every single movement she makes burns itself into my