Chapter 15
Her
After Levi shoved me forward, I stumbled a few steps before I could catch my balance.
Whirling around, I saw him, standing tall, while three figures emptied out of a pickup truck.
A clatter of aluminum cans hitting the pavement let me know that alcohol had been flowing for the three young men now making their way toward Levi.
“Hey, fucker,” one of them called. “Didn’t we tell you not to show yourself around this town ever again?”
“Yeah, we told him,” one of the others snickered.
“I guess he needs another lesson, eh, Dalt?”
“He does, Gun. He does.”
And then one of them seemed to notice me standing in stunned silence a few feet away from Levi. “You can go on home, ma’am. He won’t be botherin’ you no more.”
In that moment, something truly shocking happened to me.
I felt a bubble of rage boil up from someplace dark and deep within myself, and after curling my hands into fists, I shrugged out of my long coat, tossed it aside, then walked forward to stand next to Levi.
But I didn’t just stand next to him; I took up a power position, with a widened stance, bent right knee, braced back leg, and my center of gravity rooted just behind my right leg.
I couldn’t see the facial features of the young men in front of us given the way the headlights of the truck were shining so brightly in my eyes, but I could tell by their voices that they were probably around Levi’s age, but not a one of them was as tall.
“Seems this does concern me after all, fellas,” I growled.
The three of them laughed like I’d just said the funniest thing, and Levi nudged me with his shoulder. “Maddy, you gotta get outta here. These assholes are gonna hurt you. They don’t care that you’re a girl.”
“Perfect,” I told him. “I don’t care if they’re girls either.”
The snickering stopped. “What’d you call us?” the guy in the middle of the pack asked. He walked forward a few steps, and I could now see him clearly. He was an ugly son of a bitch, with pudgy cheeks, buck teeth, and brass-colored hair. He looked mean to the bone, but I didn’t feel an ounce of fear.
In the back of my mind, I heard myself say, My hands are free, and his days are numbered.
Instead of answering him, I launched myself forward, bringing my left elbow up high and cupping the back of my head to block the punch he belatedly tried to swing at me.
I then gave him an uppercut with my right fist that connected solidly with his chin, snapping his head back.
I used the moment to knee him as hard as I could in the groin.
He let out a sharp cry and his knees buckled.
I dropped low and twirled in a circle, sweeping his feet out from under him, and he fell onto his back with a heavy thud.
Barely waiting for him to land, I was up and launching myself again toward the figure closest to Levi, who was staring at me with a slack jaw and wide eyes.
He didn’t even get a chance to put up his hands before I’d clocked him in the nose with the back of the cast on my left arm, then used the momentum I’d created to grab hold of the front of his coat, pull him nearly onto me as I rolled to the side,
throwing him over my body to land with a second thud hard on the pavement.
Not slowing down for an instant, I kicked him in the lower back as hard as I could, then used the entire weight of my body to land with one knee on the side of his rib cage.
I felt the crunch of breaking bones even as he screamed in pain.
Scrambling off him, I began to run toward the third man, currently pummeling blows on top of Levi, who was trying to block them, but some were landing, sending my friend reeling backward.
A few feet from my target, I leapt in the air and brought my knee up hard, making contact with the left side of his mid-back.
He grunted, the air getting knocked out of him, while I grabbed onto his collar and rode him like a wild steer to the pavement.
We landed, him on his side and me still on my feet, thank God.
I twisted, still holding onto the motherfucker’s collar, pivoting him to face up toward Levi, who came rushing forward to throw a solid punch to the man’s nose.
I heard the connection and the loud crunch of bone.
The brute cried out, one hand immediately covering his face.
His mass made it easy for him to throw me off, and he got up, staggering backward as the full weight of how quickly the tables had turned against him showed clearly in the look of panic in his eyes.
“What the fuck!” he screamed, his voice nasal as he clamped his hand over his nose.
There was no way I was allowing him the curtesy of remaining on his feet.
I charged forward, grabbing him by the lapels of his jacket, and sank my weight to my heels, rolling myself backward onto my ass before using all of my strength to punch both feet up into his torso.
His own feet left the ground and he went flying, and I do mean flying, backward, crashing into the brick wall of Wanda’s Diner, where his head made a thunk sound before he slowly slid to the pavement. Out cold.
As I sat there, my chest heaving and adrenaline coursing through my veins, my mind filled with a satisfaction that was hard for me to put into words.
It was like I’d been denied power for so long that I was absolutely starved for it, and laying out all three of these fuckers in quick succession without even needing to think through the moves—like they came from many years of training—was immensely fulfilling.
“Holy shit!” Levi exclaimed into the silence that followed. “Holy shit!”
I got up and wiped my hands on my jeans, then grabbed my coat on the ground, quickly shrugging into before latching onto Levi’s arm, tugging him away from the scene. “You know that idea you just had?” I asked, panting for air but still relishing that elated sensation.
He stared at me blankly, his mouth hanging open in astonishment. “What idea?”
“The one where you said to run. I think it’s a good idea and we should do that right now!”
We took off, rounding to the back of the diner, then along the alley, all the way to the back door.
I unlocked it quickly, and Levi held open the door, allowing me to enter first.
After we were both through, he shut and locked the bolt, then we tore up the stairs, through the loft door, and slammed it behind us. Levi locked that door too.
For a long couple of moments, all we did was bend over and grab our knees, winded from the fight and our mad dash home.
Levi was the first to break the silence, but it wasn’t speech; it was laughter.
I stood tall and looked at him. I’d never heard him really laugh before. It was a gorgeous sound. I joined him, and before we knew it, we were hanging onto each other, trying to remain standing while the peals of laughter just rolled out of us.
After a bit, he stood tall again, staring at me, and said, “Who are you?”
I giggled, wiping my watery eyes while trying to catch my breath. “No fucking clue, dude! Like, duh!”
He doubled over again, and I laughed with him. “You’re like some kind of ninja!”
I shrugged. “Who knew?”
More giggles and nudges to each other’s shoulders followed.
“No, seriously, Maddy. That was badass!”
“I don’t know what came over me,” I admitted. “Or where I learned to do that.”
“That’s some skilled hand-to-hand for sure. Do you think you might’ve been in the military?”
I shrugged again. “Dude, like I said, I literally have no clue!”
Levi nodded, holding up his hands in surrender. He then moved over to the window and looked down at the alley. “No sign of them.” Then he turned to me again. “Should we call the sheriff or get some help?”
I knew what he meant. We’d kicked their asses and one, two, or all three of them might’ve been really injured and in need of an ambulance.
I frowned. The last thing I wanted to do was help the motherfuckers who attacked us and had no doubt routinely beaten up Levi.
Then again, I supposed I wanted to be charged with manslaughter even less.
I had no idea how badly I’d injured any of them.
Concussions, for sure. Broken ribs. Broken nose.
But if I’d cracked a skull, then I might be in trouble.
“Come on,” I told him, heading to the door of the loft. “Let’s sneak down to the diner and look out the window.”
A few moments later, we were ducking low in the darkened diner to spy out the far window, where we saw the Three Stooges stagger to their feet, holding themselves at bent angles, and trudge toward their pickup.
“Who are those assholes?”
“Brad Singer, Trever Cruise—who goes by Gun, as in Top Gun—and the big guy that you just annihilated is Dalton Bishop.”
I eyed him sharply and realized he had his phone out and was recording the scene outside. “Bishop?” I asked. “As in Luca Bishop?”
Levi nodded. “Luca’s cousin. He’s two years younger but taller and definitely heavier than Luca was. He’s headed to Azusa Pacific in California next year on a football scholarship.”
“So, he’s the one who’s been kickin’ the shit out of you?”
Levi’s lips formed a sardonic smile. “Yeah. He and his bros. Until tonight, that is.”
I grinned. During that entire encounter, I hadn’t thought through a single move—I’d simply reacted.
Everything had felt natural; each punch, kick, and throw felt like a movement in a dance I’d learned long ago.
Like at a wedding reception when you fall in line for the Hustle when “Stayin’ Alive” starts playing.
Levi was staring at the screen on his phone while it recorded the Stooges limping, groaning, and trying to staunch the blood from a broken nose. “Back in the day, Dalt would’ve thought twice about taking me on. But things are different now.”
“Back in the day?”
The set to Levi’s mouth formed a hard line. “Yeah. Back when I was training every day and eating as much as I wanted. I had it good, and I didn’t even know it.”
My heart broke for this young man. He’d had a whole life and identity that’d felt safe, solid, and secure, and then everything had changed in an instant.