“Wha–”

Carter turned and roughly pressed his mouth to mine. My eyes went wide and I pushed against his chest, trying to scramble back.

“What the hell?!”

He was still holding my upper arms, his eyes smoldering, “Blaze, I want you. I’ve wanted you since I met you last year.”

My jaw dropped and I shook my head, “What?”

“I love you Harper.”

“No you don’t, we’re not like that, you know that!”

“No…I don’t know that. I moved here for you, I followed you across the country so I could be with you.”

I glanced at the people looking at us and tried to quiet my voice, “Carter, you’re my best friend. Don’t do this. Don’t try to change things between us, let’s just go back to how we were.”

“Did you never understand anything I did for you? Did you not hear everything I’ve ever said to you?” He looked at me incredulously, “I have never thought of you as just my best friend, I even asked your dad if I could date you and he made it clear as long as I was in his unit, I couldn’t. But I knew you would be leaving soon, I knew that was our chance to be together.”

“Carter,” I said softly, “I love you, but not like that. You even said it yourself, I’m like your little sister.”

“You know I was lying. I had to because you didn’t even wait five f**king seconds before hooking up with the first guy that you came across.”

My jaw dropped, “Jason!” I hissed.

“Just give us a chance Blaze, I can love you and take care of you better than he can. Better than anyone can.”

“I’m in love with Brandon, but even if I wasn’t, I would never think of you that way. I’m so–”

His lips were on mine again, and I leaned as far back as I could, “Stop!” I yelled as I shoved him off me.

As soon as he was a few feet away, someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me back further at the same time that Brandon plowed into Carter with his shoulder, knocking both of them to the ground. Sean and another Marine, Anthony, were on top of Brandon trying to pull him off, followed closely by Drew and Zach. I shot forward but Derek held me to his chest telling me not to get in the middle of it. As they started pulling each other off, Brad came out yelling for everyone to back off. It took a few more party goers for the fight to end, Anthony and Sean held Carter back as he continued to lunge for Brandon, I was surprised to see he wasn’t bleeding anywhere. Brandon just stood there with his hands down at his sides.

“What…nothing?!” Carter hissed, “You claim to be some fighter, let’s see it!”

Brandon continued to not move or say anything.

“DO SOMETHING!” Carter yelled.

“Enough!” Brad’s voice boomed across the back yard. “Get out. The three of you need to leave. Now.” Looking around him he threw up his hands, “Never mind, everyone get out. Party’s over. If you do not live or stay here, get out!”

Everyone started shuffling in, keeping a distance from the two Marines dragging Carter away. He was still taunting Brandon, who was now standing beside me, replacing Derek’s arms with his own. He wasn’t stopping me like Derek had though, Brandon’s arms were full of warmth as his fingers made small circles on my side and back.

“You okay?” He asked softly, still watching Carter leave.

“I’m fine, did you hurt him?”

“All I did was keep him on the ground.”

I nodded and buried my face in his chest, “I swear I had no idea about any of that.”

He chuckled, “I know you didn’t know, doesn’t mean the rest of us didn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like he said sweetheart, everything he says to you or about you is laced with how much he wants you. You just didn’t realize it because you thought you were only friends.”

I felt incredibly stupid. “How much of that did you see?”

“The whole thing, it just took me a while to get through everyone to you.” He tilted my head up and I was surprised to see a wide grin on his face as he leaned in closer to me, “And I love you too Harper, so much.”

A smile stretched across my entire face as I hurried to press my mouth to his, murmuring how much I loved him against his lips.

After everyone left, we cleaned up from the party quickly, but when the guys and Bree sat down to watch a movie, Brandon grabbed my hand in his and led me to his bedroom. Flipping off the light, he locked the door and changed with his back to me as I slipped into a tank top and shorts. When we were under his comforter, he wrapped his arms around me, pressing my chest to his.

“I’m sorry if you wanted to stay up with them, it’s just been a long day, and all I want to do is be with you.”

I pressed my face into his neck, placing a light kiss into the base of it, “This is perfect.” After a few silent minutes I laughed softly, “I really was starting to enjoy the parties here too. I guess I’ll have to go back to avoiding them, too much drama.”

“One of these days, everyone will get the hint that we’re not going to leave each other. They’ll back off.”

“I hope so.”

“I love you sweetheart.”

My heart soared, “I love you too.”

***

I slipped out of bed the next morning to use the restroom and freshen up a bit, smiling the entire time. I was still on cloud nine from Brandon telling me he loved me. I’d known I was in love with him for a couple weeks now, but I had been too afraid to tell him. I guess that was one thing I could thank Carter for, he made us skip the awkward moment of telling each other for the first time. Carter. I rolled my eyes. He’d left me ten voicemails and dozens of texts last night apologizing, and I hadn’t said one thing back to him. I hated what I’d lost from our friendship in North Carolina, but he was just too different now, I didn’t know how we could even continue on being friends, especially after what happened last night. I mentally shook myself as I pulled my hair back into a loose low bun, I didn’t want to think about him right now. I just wanted to go back to my boyfriend, and spend the weekend wrapped up in his arms.