Free Deciding Love by Janelle Stalder

into the kitchen to find me there.
    When she saw I was clearly of no help, she looked back at him.
    “We were invited...” she said slowly.
    “By who?”
    Jax stepped forward. “Hey, Briggs, it’s cool man. I asked them to come. There’s no problem here.”
    There was some part of me that wanted to shake my head at Jax and tell him to save himself before Kyle destroyed him. The look Kyle slid his way alone was enough to kill.
    He didn’t say a word, just gave Jax a blank look before turning to Cat and I. “You two, outside, now.”
    Then he turned and stormed out the back door. Cat’s shoulders slumped, like a child who knew they were about to get in deep trouble.
    “Come on,” she said resignedly.
    I shook my head. “Nuh uh. I’ll stay in here.” The last thing I wanted to do was get told off by Kyle.
    Her eyes went wide, pleading. “You have to! He said we both do. And I don’t want to get in shit alone.”
    “He’s your brother. Technically I don’t have to listen to him.”
    The back door opened and all we heard was his voice shout, “now!” before it slammed again. I jumped, my hands gripping the edge of the counter.
    “Your brother’s a buzz kill, Cat,” Jax said.
    “Tell me about it,” she murmured.
    “Maybe you girls should just go and see what he has to say,” he suggested.
    Feeling bad that she would have to deal with him alone, I hopped down and jerked my head toward the door. “Let’s go,” I said.
    “Thank you,” she said with obvious relief.
    We walked out to see him pacing along the back of the deck. Everyone else was on the other side. I couldn’t tell if they’d already been like that, or if they’d all moved to that side to get away from Kyle.
    As soon as he saw us he stopped, moving in our direction with angry, purposeful strides. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, kitty?” he barked.
    She shrugged, smiling weakly. “Socializing?”
    I winced. She was so not good at getting out of trouble.
    “This is a college party. Not a place for high school girls.”
    “Relax, Ky. We’re here with friends from school. It’s not like we’re the only ones.”
    “You’re here with guys from your school, Cat. Do you see any other high school girls?” He threw his hands up in the air. “You know what? That doesn’t even matter. There could be a hundred high school girls here, that still doesn’t make it okay for you to be.”
    “Kyle, I’m going to be going to parties now, whether you like it or not. You’re not Dad. It’s not like we’re being stupid and getting drunk.”
    “Go to parties all you want, but not ones at frat houses!” He stepped closer to her, pointing a finger at her chest. “Do you even know what eighty percent of those guys are thinking in there? Do you know how easy it would be to slip something into your drink and you wake up not knowing what the hell happened?”
    “Kyle, neither of us are drinking. We’re not stupid,” I said.
    His angry gaze flew to me, making me take a step back.
    “And you,” he said, instantly making me regret having said anything. “How do you think Colt would react if he’d come here with me tonight?”
    I shrugged, licking my lips against the dryness that had filled my mouth.
    “I don’t honestly know,” I admitted.
    “Well here’s a clue, he’s got a worse temper than I do, so imagine what that would have been like.”
    I was getting really sick of him and his overprotective attitude. Standing up straighter, I said, “I’d like to think, even if he wasn’t happy about it, he’d still have enough respect for me that he wouldn’t embarrass me in front of everyone.”
    His head jerked back. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I embarrass you in there?”
    “Yes,” Cat mumbled so softly I wasn’t sure he even heard her.
    “Does it embarrass you to know that someone is looking out for you?”
    “There’s looking out for people, and there’s just being over protective. We’re not children. We are allowed