Page 17 (1/2)

She narrows her eyes as she reaches for a glass cup under the counter "Do you ater with your ice?"

My fake sht up"

She rolls her eyes at me as she retreats to the back of the bar She scoops solass down in front of uy with salt-and-pepper hair sitting down at the end of the bar

I pick up the glass and press it toout a relieved breath as the cold begins to soothe the heat I prop ainst uys cheer fro li down my flushed skin and my hair is a little frizzier than normal because of the heat My cheek is so puffy it looks like I’ purplish blue

The song switches to a et even noisier, cheering for lass and bail because I have a long walk ahead of me and very little patience left I hop off the barstool while the bartender’s distracted by the old dude at the end of the bar I’ has shifted to shouting I glance over h the air and then it se It causes a do up froe I’ve never actually seen a bar fight… or a strip club fight, but the idea of ju in makes uy in the uys that look large enough to be bouncers

Luke Price He’s wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt with the sleeves pushed up and there’s blood staining the front fro from his cut lip His jeans also have blood on the held back as a thinner, but taller guy stands in front of hi the fact that he’s getting his ass kicked I kind of understand it, although I usually try to avoid the actually physical part of a fight, just letting it work up to al a tight black shirt and steel-toed boots standing in front of Luke and he says sohs as he sla it into one of the bouncers faces, the taller one with a uy’s nose as he releases Luke He starts cursing as he clutches his nose, blood dripping down his hands and arins to raise one of his ar, not adrenaline, but close to it, and suddenly I’ so y in me it’s hard to knohat to do with it I don’t help people out Ever But with Luke I feel obligated because he’s helped ive me a look like I’m insane as I squeeze by them, but I’m too amped up on shock and adrenaline to care With each step, the eht slowly erase, the confusion Preston put in s that surfaced fro By the time I reach Luke and the bouncers, I’

Luke’s attention darts to h the last of the bodies and out between hi in front of him The taller and rounder bouncer is hunched over, his nose bleeding all over the floor and the other one has wrapped his aruy has a puffy nose and a swollen eye, which I’ is why Luke’s knuckles are scraped

Luke looks atup toand standing, probably because he’s beyond drunk

"Who the hell are you?" the thin guy asks then spits blood on the floor, his boots crunching against the glass and peanut shells as he turns toward uys and then at the thinner one, realizing I should have created a plan before I walked into this uys pu me even more silence from the earlier eh, like I’hin my ears It’s like I’

I fix uy with barbed wire tattoos on his arer over uy one ofsmiles

The skinny one frowns, unimpressed, and crosses his arot to pay for it" He leans to the side to look at Luke "No touching the dancers" He points to a sign hanging on the wall to ht that matches what he just said

I look overan eye roll "Really? You couldn’t have just gone home and jerked off"

He shakes his head, his brown eyes darkened by the alcohol I can s" He has this silly, drunk, innocent look on his face that actually makes my heartwhether or not just to let him handle this on his own, but then reave me a ride to McDonald’s My shoulders slu the one thing that I’ people

"Look… he’s really sorry he broke the rules, but can’t you just let hiuy narrows his eyes "I was just going to kick hi sucker punched ets a freebie for touching, but I’to hit his "Haven’t you ever heard of an eye for an eye? He hit me so I hit hi this guy ra nose … for hi ht seeht of the crappiness It’d take my mind off Preston, the detective, the fact that I’m probably homeless

I feel my heart pitter-patter with exciteard for ive hmyself to create one of the best lies I’ve ever come up with "You can’t kick my boyfriend’s ass He does this so to have a baby" I rubit out a little "And he’s been really stressed working two jobs so we can et a house" I take a deep breath and let it out, releasing the tears I only let flohen I’ problem and I don’t really knohat to do anymore but he’s the father of my child and I need hiuy shifts aardly "You can’t hurt hi to have to miss work and we can’t afford it"

I’ it or not but he’s definitely not couys aren’t, which ood luck And I don’tas it doesn’t have any eo" I finish it off with a heart-wrenching sob, letting my shoulders curve inward as I cover ht now… everything’s just too stressful"

The whole roouys start to wander back to the tables, over the dra at me like I’ve just escaped from a mental institution

Then he shakes his head and throws his hand in the air exasperatedly "Just let hiet the fk out of here I’uy shoots his to go back to what they where pre-Ted?"

"Ted was a uy says, cupping his hand over his puffy nose and wincing