Born To Be Wild by Patricia Rosemoor

starry sky. She felt the same as she had that night—joyful and filled with hope for their future, so filled with love for Micah that she couldn’t think of anything but being together.
    Halfway through the second song, Micah straightened and moved away from her, and Isabel saw Bobby and his brother, Hank, standing behind him. Bobby was grinning and Hank was snorting and trying to keep his balance.
    Hank was drunk, Isabel thought as Bobby said, “Cutting in.”
    Micah gave him a dark look in response. “I don’t think so.”
    “Oh, come on, man. You have the best-looking girl here. Give a guy a break. It’s just a dance.”
    “Yeah, j-st a dance,” Hank slurred.
    Micah looked to her. “Isabel?”
    Thinking Bobby was Micah’s friend, and that he wanted his friends to get to know her, she shrugged. “Sure.” She could forgive Bobby that one encounter when he’d threatened her at Suicide Hill months before. Probably he’d been drinking and hadn’t meant it anyway. He wasn’t drunk now, even if his brother was.
    Still, when Bobby took her in his arms and tried to hold her too close, she grew uncomfortable and pulled away a little.
    “Hey, come back here, Isabel.” He jerked her hard against him.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” she snapped.
    “Giving you what you like.” He ground his groin into her in time to the music. “I just want a little of what you’re giving Micah. Friends share good things.”
    Pushing at his chest hard until he loosened his grip, she said, “You’re not much of a friend if you’re trying to make time with your buddy’s girl.”
    “What? You think a Wild is serious about a Falcon? Get real, honey. He’s just taking what you’re offering until something better comes along. I, on the other hand, have no such prejudice against your family.”
    She struggled with him, and when he wouldn’t release her, she shoved her knee where it would hurt the most. But he saw it coming. He let go and sidestepped her, so her knee glanced off his thigh.
    “Bitch!”
    Isabel hauled off and punched him in the gut hard enough for him to jerk back with a loud “Oof!” The crowd around them let out a collective gasp. Some guys made catcalls.
    “When it comes to girls, Bobby’s opinion of himself is a little overinflated,” someone said.
    “Part of him is overinflated right now,” another snickered.
    Bobby’s face grew mottled with anger, but before he could make a move, or hit her back, Micah was there.
    “Don’t ever touch my girl again, Bobby!” he growled, getting right in his friend’s face.
    “Hey, you can’t tell my brother wha-what t’ do!” Hank said, tripping over his own feet.
    Bobby lunged at Micah.
    And ran straight into Micah’s fist.
    …
    The ensuing bloody fight ended whatever friendly feelings had remained between Micah and Bobby, Isabel remembered. It still angered her when she thought about how, out of spite, Bobby had told Cruz about her and Micah. He’d known full well that her hotheaded brother would go straight to tell their father, and hadn’t given a damn about the consequences.
    Poppi had threatened to lock her in her room until she got some sense and promised to give up seeing Micah. Isabel had threatened right back, swearing to find a way out of the house and never return if he dared to try and make her give up the boy she loved.
    The feud between families had turned inward, and had caused the first of many wounds in her relationship with her father.
    Filled with so many regrets that they pressed on her chest like a vise, she closed her eyes for a brief moment.
    Then she gathered herself together and said, “Bobby is the first suggestion that makes sense. You know he hates both of us, and now has a reason to hate Lucy. He can get even with all three of us by doing this.”
    His expression grim, Micah nodded. “I’d say that’s enough reason to check him out.”
    In the end, though everyone promised to do the same with the people who might