Summer's Desire Vol. 1 (Complete)

Part 1: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Two weeks later they were at the park, Seth on a stone gathering expedition and Summer following a few paces behind him as usual. Abruptly, she found her way blocked by three big boys.

"Ooh, lookie what we have here!" one of them jeered. "It's the freak who can't speak." All three burst into mocking guffaws.

Biting her lip, Summer tried to go around the first kid. The other two quickly closed ranks, however, and just like that she was surrounded on all sides.

"The freak hasn't got no tongue, but at least it's got preeetty hair," one boy taunted, reaching for her locks.

She ducked his hand and became aware of the scald of hot tears on her cheeks. The boy reached for her again—but this time he found himself forcefully shoved away. Like a ghost, Seth had materialized in front of Summer and pushed back her bully. His body was shielding her. She looked up at him in gratitude... and froze.

Seth was vibrating with rage, his eyes blazing pure menace. He was a bit younger than the other boys, not quite as tall as them, but in that moment he seemed so strong and dangerous that she felt certain he could tear the others to shreds.

"Don't come near my girl!" he snarled at the bullies. "Don't talk to her! And sure as hell don't try to touch her!"

"Yeah?" The ringleader scoffed. "What if I wanna touch her? Who's gonna stop me, loooser?" And once more his grubby hand rose toward Summer.

Yet it never came even close to reaching her, for Seth swiftly pushed her to the side. With one ruthless punch, he sent her tormentor flying with a trail of blood gushing from his nose. The other two immediately tried to jump him, but he dodged them nimbly.

To Summer's awed eyes, Seth seemed to have transformed himself into a whirlwind of destruction: moving with astonishing speed, he danced around his opponents, avoiding their hits but landing all of his own powerful blows. Less than a minute later, he was the only one still standing.

In truth, Seth had taken a couple of glancing hits too, but they were no big deal. He was used to much worse. And it was worth it: the bullies had been reduced to a pitiful heap, lying dazed on the ground.

He gave them his most ferocious glare. "You asked who was gonna stop you, you stupid assholes? Me—that's who. And know this: you only got off easy this once. Next time you go looking for trouble, it'll go much worse for you."

Then, without deigning the boys with a second glance, he spun around—toward Summer. Furtively, he wiped the blood from his knuckles on his dark pants.

He reached Summer in three long strides and crouched down beside her. She was still sitting on the soft earth where she had landed when he pushed her away, and she was staring at him out of huge, shocked eyes.

Seth raised a gentle hand to her cheek. "Sunny, you're alright?" The next words left him in a rush: "I never meant to hurt you, I just needed to get you away from those jerks. I didn't want you in the middle of the fight." His voice turned whisper soft. "You're hurt anywhere?"

She shook her head.

"Okay, that's good." He exhaled in relief. Then, hesitatingly: "You're mad with me for fighting?"

She shook her head again. By causing the downfall of the bullies who had so frightened her, Seth had in fact achieved near godlike status in her eyes.

"And you're not scared of me?" He held his breath in wait for her answer.

Once more she shook her head, forcefully, and her gaze told him clearly how stupid she thought his question was. How could she ever be afraid of her best friend and protector? She already loved him more than anything else in the world.