Chapter One #2
Fuck, that woman frustrated the hell out of me!
I knew there had to be a reason she balked at making our relationship public, but she just kept evading the issue.
I was a hair’s breadth away from having Shadow snoop into her and see what was up.
I knew that would cross a line, but I wasn’t sure it was one I cared about.
Did she have an ex she didn’t want me to know about?
Or one that still had a legal claim on her?
Because I could fix that without breaking a sweat.
She didn’t act like someone running from an ex though.
It had a different feel to it, and that’s what scared me.
More like she didn’t want people to know about me because they thought she could do better.
Admittedly, she probably could but that was just too bad.
I had her now, and I had no intention of letting her go.
“Cassie, huh?” I looked at Joker.
He shrugged. “Like I said, we met at the tattoo parlor. She was getting a dragonfly on the back of her shoulder. Said it was in honor of her grandmother who’d had a thing for them.”
“And?”
“And we got to talking. You know. Families. Life. Shit like that. Ended up at the steakhouse for dinner, and I invited her to come watch the races with me today.”
I nodded. “So not a long-standing secret affair you’ve kept from the club all this time?”
He smirked. “You mean like you and Janet? Nah. At least not yet. I haven’t told her about Riptide.”
I sighed. Everyone except Janet seemed to be aware of our status.
A ruckus over at the far side of the room caught my attention. Two burly guys were half leading, half dragging a woman toward the back exit, and she was not going willingly. Squirming and letting out muffled screams through the hand one of them had over her mouth.
“Fuck. Looks like she needs a hand. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Need me for backup?”
The two were nearly at the door, one swearing loudly as the woman stomped on his foot. “Two against one? I think I can handle it. Keep Janet amused for me.”
Joker laughed. “No problem. I’ll tell her about the time you thought the monkey crying in the jungle was a kid and just about got yourself killed going to rescue it.”
“Asshole.” I stood and shouldered my way across the floor to the trio. By the time I reached them, they’d manhandled the girl outside and the door was closing behind them.
“Not so fast, guys.” I pushed the door open and stepped outside, ready for a little exercise. I hadn’t been in a decent fight in weeks.
As the door snapped shut behind me, I saw the girl standing alone on the far side of the alley. In the second that it took for my brain to register that, a fist slammed into the side of my head.
Ambush!
Fuck!
Not my first one though, and I ducked low, twisting to the left as a second blow glanced off my shoulder. I brought my fists up to protect my head, and aimed a roundhouse kick at my assailant, connecting with a satisfyingly meaty thud that drove him backward.
The second guy was quick, and he had a knife. Holding it low, he slashed upward.
I jumped back, and the blade traced a shallow path across my abs.
He bared his teeth and came at me again.
I kicked low, hitting his knee and causing him to stumble. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girl turn and run, waving to my attackers as she headed out of the alley. Fucking slut wasn’t waiting around to see the outcome.
The first guy came in from the side, pummeling me with his fists. I ducked to the side, getting my back against the wall so they couldn’t come at me from behind.
Still, two against one, with one of the two brandishing a knife.
Didn’t look good, but I wasn’t going out without a fight. Fuck that. Vikings had coined the term berserker , and they didn’t call me Thor for nothing.
Letting out a furious battle cry, I threw myself at the knife-wielding thug. I got in a few good shots with my fists before a searing pain lanced through me. A quick glance down showed a crimson gash on my side.
Ignoring the pain, I grasped his wrist, the one holding the deadly blade, and twisted. The knife arched back, and wussy let out a scream of agony as it bit into his flesh. He dropped to his knees, and I turned to protect myself from his buddy.
The next few minutes stretched out like a slow-motion movie. At this point in my life, hand to hand combat was second nature.
Attack.
Defend.
Kick.
Twist out of reach.
Punch.
Duck under the next blow.
I could do this on autopilot, like a choreographed dance. If not for the wound on my side, I would have made mincemeat out of this clown in minutes.
I was holding my own, but I could feel my strength waning as a crimson trail of blood dripped from the knife wound. Not as shallow as I’d first thought.
My breathing was labored. My hits had less strength behind them. The pain was getting harder to ignore. I wasn’t going to last much longer but damned if I wasn’t going to take this asshole down with me.
Just as the thug came at me yet again, baring his teeth behind a split and swollen lip, the door slammed open, and Joker entered the fray.
He might be a medic, dedicated to healing, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t fight.
Faced with a fresh opponent, and his sidekick lying motionless on the concrete, the coward turned tail and ran.
“What the hell, man?” Joker took a few steps after the asshole to make sure he was gone, then turned back to me. He grabbed my arm, gently lowering me to the ground. “Where’s the girl?”
“Ambush.” I grasped my injured side, wincing. “She bailed somewhere between the first punch and the knife.”
Joker eyed up the assailant lying motionless on the ground. “You had a knife on you?”
I shook my head. “Nah. He brought it. I just turned it back on him.”
Joker nodded. “Self-defense.”
I nodded. “Fuck yeah. He got in the first strike.” I grimaced, trying to take shallower breaths. As the adrenaline rush of the fight receded, the pain set in. Good chance I had a broken rib under that slash.
I spared a look at the remaining attacker. “How bad is he?”
Joker shook his head. “Dead.”
I looked over at the crumpled form. “Seriously?”
“Yup. Knife went straight in, sliced the main artery and took out one lung. He bled out. Probably before he hit the ground.”
“Crap.”
Joker pulled out his phone. “I’ll get Daryl on it before the cops show up.”
Daryl was the club attorney. Yeah, we had a lawyer on speed dial.
Yet another ex-SEAL, but one who’d made the transition back to civilian life better than the rest of us.
Used the GI bill to get an education and pass the bar.
If anyone could spin things in my favor, it was Daryl.
When one of us got into legal type trouble, Daryl was there to fix it.
We got into trouble more than we liked to admit.
The door swung open again, and Janet stepped outside. She looked gorgeous as always. I tried to smile past the pain that was quickly ramping up.
“I might want to take a raincheck on that burger, Cupcake.”