Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
With the colder weather coming, I suspected Sully was going to start to nag Fallon and Brooks about the club getting a hot tub now that the pool was old news.
They’d give in eventually. No one could seem to outlast Sully’s persistence.
I accepted my beer then moved to sit at the bar, not really in the chatting up anyone mood. Maybe I would be later, back at the clubhouse after a few drinks. Or maybe this would be one of the nights where I went to bed alone, something I’d begun to enjoy on occasion now that I finally had my own room instead of sharing the prospect room with the others. That pleasure was now for Perish and the twins since Sully, Nave, and I officially patched-in.
A minor argument broke out toward the side of the bar, making Toll sigh and make his way out to deal with it.
My gaze started to follow his movement to see if he needed any backup when something else caught my eye, making me stiffen.
There, toward the front of the bar, was a group of guys in their twenties. That whole frat-boy-asshole vibe clinging to them as closely as the too-strong body spray I could smell clear across the room.
They’d been there since we arrived, seemingly chatting up two girls.
It wasn’t until the crowd parted a little as two of the guys started to lead the black-haired girl away from the rest of the group, that I realized that this particular girl was not only not twenty-one, but likely barely in her mid teens.
I glanced toward Toll, seeing if I could push the task off on him, but the argument was getting more heated over in the corner, so I sighed and climbed off of my stool as I saw one of the too-old guys snake his arm around the black-haired girl who turned uncertain eyes toward her friend at the table.
The “friend” shot her a thumbs up, oblivious to the girl’s uncertainty.
The guys seemed to pick up on it, though. The one holding onto her tightened his grip as the other rushed forward to open the door.
“Great,” I grumbled, moving across the bar and getting out the door when they were halfway to their car.
“Hey!” I called, voice taking on that authoritative edge that I could never shake after I’d left the military. “Yo,” I called as the guys tried to shuffle faster. “Get your fucking hand off of her,” I snapped.
“Mind your fucking business, man,” the one not holding onto the girl said.
“Couple of predators trying to take an underage girl in their car, that’s my fucking business,” I said, shoving him back into his car, taking a little pleasure in the cracking sound and the pain that sliced across his face before the anger replaced it.
I knew what was coming next and was quick enough to duck the punch while bringing my own up and colliding hard with his side, aiming just low enough not to hit his spleen. Not because the fuck didn’t deserve a rupture, but because I wasn’t interested in spending time behind bars because of a couple of assholes at a bar.
The idiot doubled over in pain. These were not the rough and tumble sort of guys. I’d bet good money on the fact that neither of them had ever been hit in their lives.
Which made it all the sweeter when the other tried to come to his buddy’s aide only to get a bloodied nose and lip.
He was trying to keep the blood from flowing down his face when his friend finally recovered from the punch to the gut and came back at me.
Unlike some of the guys in the club, I was slow to fight. I always tried to think of another way around it if possible. That didn’t mean, though, that I didn’t enjoy the fuck out of one when it came up.
Adrenaline surged through my system, making my movements faster.
Right hook.
Upper cut.
Spin to grab the wrist of the other guy as he tried to grab me.
“Ah!” he screamed as I twisted his hand in the wrong direction, stopping just short of hearing that crunch, some sick part of me really wanted to make happen as he dropped to his knees, gasping for air. “No!” he cried, tears literally filling his eyes.
“You’re gonna get your asses in your car and get the fuck out of here. And while you’re at it, you’re gonna text your other buddies to fuck off as well. Or they get to meet my buddies. Who might not show them as much mercy as I’m showing your asses.”
“Okay, okay!” he panted.
The second I released him, he scrambled to the passenger door. His chickenshit friend was already in the driver’s seat, trying with shaking hands to stick the key in the ignition.