Chapter Eight
Watching Juliette fall to the floor had me out of my seat with my boys at my back. Watching her fight to get up off the floor had all our blood boiling as we moved toward the brawl.
I run into the crowd, throwing guys off me as I fight through the brawling idiots.
I find her curled in a ball near the stools.
Guys are kicking her and the two fighting on the floor punch her in the face instead.
Reaching down under the chairs, I pull her up into my arms and toss her over my shoulder.
Her short frame can still dangle above the crowd with my height.
Spinning around I’m met with the original instigator.
The one who pushed my wife off the bar and claimed that my friend deserved to be unconscious on the ice with a cracked fucking helmet.
He smirks at me with blood dripping from the corner of his lip.
“Don’t fucking touch my wife again.”
“Or else what, douchebag?”
My nostrils flare, I grip Juliette’s ass tighter, holding her to me as I lift my arm in the air, fist flying through to connect with his face. More blood sprays on the bar and I’ll have to pay for that later. Another apology for her.
Murray spins him around, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.
He looks him right in the eye. “Get the fuck out of this bar and in case it wasn’t clear your fucking banned, don’t come back here.”
The maniacal laugh that comes from him scares me. I don’t put it past the Black Key to do some illegal shit to retaliate.
Murray and the rest of my guys walk around pulling everyone up off the floor, chairs, and wherever else they landed and throwing them out the door. I hear one of them announce that the bar is officially closed and to get out immediately.
Bringing Juliette back to her office, I set her on the couch getting my first good look at her. “Shit. You got punched pretty good in the eye. We need to get you a steak on that.”
“Always the cowboy.” She reaches up, tentatively, grazing her skin with her fingertips. She flinches at the small touch from her own fingers. That’s going to be one nasty bruise and black eye. “You got more blood on my bar, didn’t you?”
I follow her gaze to my blood covered knuckles. “I’m gonna kill that fucker,” I mutter.
“Did Murray really ban him from the bar?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they banned the whole group. If you saw what we saw, it was bad. As soon as you went down, our guys were ripping people off the floor. It was like a scene from a movie.” I chuckle.
A small knock at the door sounds before it opens. Jess pokes her head through the small opening.
“Just wanted to check on you. Murray and the guys got everybody out. I think it might be best shut down for the night.”
“Yeah, I agree. Sounds like I need to get home and get a steak on my eye.“ Juliette laughs, but winces when the motion moves her face muscles.
“If you wanna go, I’ll get Murray to help me clean up. Maybe even some of those other boys. Who knows, maybe I’ll find myself a date for the rest of the night.” Jess winks at both of us.
“Remember, Dakota called dibs on Murray, so you’d have to fight her tomorrow over coffee. And we don’t need a repeat at Buckles and Brews.” My eyes ping-pong between Jules and Jess as they talk.
“Yeah, yeah. I don’t see her acting on it though.” Jess waggles her eyebrows before walking out, leaving us alone.
Goddamn, Murray. I’ll have to make sure he didn’t mess up his chances with Dakota tomorrow. I have a feeling Jess doesn’t get told no very often.
“What do you say we go home and watch your favorite movies on the couch? Get that steak on there. I might even make you some popcorn.”
“A second date? Are you going to cater to my every need when you take care of me Nurse Davies?” She asks with a sultry tone in her voice.
“You know damn well I will.” I lean down, tickling her side and drop a soft kiss to her forehead.
“Take me away, cowboy.” She moves into my lap for me to carry her out to the truck.
I scoop her up, making her giggle. “Your wish is my command.”
We make it halfway through the dining room before Juliette loses her shit at the sight.
“You’ve got to be shitting me!” She hits my shoulder. “Let me down!”
I’m sometimes a smart man, so I place her down like asked. “You’re not staying. You need to rest.”
She steps away from me, spinning in a circle to take in her bar. “There’s so much blood! And broken chairs!”
“Yeah, I might recommend calling in the cops for this one. They should have to pay for it.”
“Which one? There were too many to count that contributed. I’ll just have to eat the cost.” She presses her fingers into her temple before wincing at the forgotten bruise.
“Okay, you’re done. Come on. We can figure it out in the morning.” I take her hand and pull her, reluctantly, out of the bar. She waves, yelling directions to Jess and the guys.
We drive home in silence, I know her, and I know she’s running all the possible scenarios in her head for tomorrow. The only thing I need to do right now is place my hand on her thigh, reminding her that I’m here for her.
She wraps her fingers around mine like she always used to, and she isn’t even looking at me. She’s deep in her own head.
Parking in front of the house she still doesn’t move. I give her hand a squeeze to get her attention back to me.
“Sorry. I went all space cadet on you.”
“I knew you were running all the ways tomorrow could go with a plethora of mental lists, so I let you be.”
“Thanks.” With a weak smile she pushes the door open.
That was your job, idiot. I spent too much time watching her instead of opening her door. She beats me to the front door, unlocking it and letting us in.
“It’s a little chilly in here tonight. Should we start a fire?”
“Sure. I’ll do that and then get your steak ready. Go get settled on the couch and pick a movie.”
I step back out to the front porch to grab some logs. Our ranch house is one of the original cabins on the ranch. Henry renovated it so it’s all modern, but we were left with gorgeous river stone fireplaces in the living room and our master bedroom.
Setting up a few of the logs in the fireplace I get a small fire going before grabbing her cowboy ice pack.
Placing the steak into a bag, I zip it closed to bring over to the couch. She eyes me as I walk. “Stop ogling me.”
“I’m not ogling. I’m… appreciating.”
I lean down to place the cold steak to her eye, she sighs when the cool soothes her swelling skin.
“God, this night was a shit show.”
I pull her feet into my lap, kneading at the bottoms of her soles. “It certainly didn’t go how I thought it would.”
A moan leaves her lips. “When was the last time we did this?”
“What?”
“Laid on the couch together, talking, you rubbing my feet, the best part honestly.” She peeks at me around the bag of steak.
“We haven’t talked much lately, have we? I’ve been failing at making you a priority. I just got comfortable with our opposite schedules and just doing what I needed.”
There’s a pause of silence, and I’m not sure where her head is at.
“I did too. I did the chores, went to work. I just knew you’d be here at the end of the day, and I was only focusing on what you weren’t doing instead of the things you were.” She tosses the steak aside, scooching closer to me.
“Hey, we’re moving forward.” Reaching over I move a stray piece of hair from her forehead, tucking it behind her ear.
“We are.” She smiles at me before settling in to snuggle on my chest.
This is the best night I’ve had in a long time, and I’m not eager to end it so I go back to kneading her feet.