Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Zane
I saw red.
I didn’t know who the woman was or why Gus had his hands on her, but my brother was on the ground, and she’d made it loud and clear his advances were unwanted. That was all I needed.
By the time Gus cocked his arm for another swing, I was already moving.
He never got the chance to throw that fist.
I shoved in between him and the waitress, grabbed a fistful of his shirt, and drove my own punch straight into his gut.
He folded with a grunt, stumbling backward into a barstool that toppled out from under him.
Luke was on his feet again, stepping in beside me just as Gus’s buddies closed ranks behind him.
My knuckles throbbed, but my head was clear.
Gus sneered. “What’s the matter, Luke? Can’t fight your own battles? Gotta have big brother rescue you?”
Luke took a step, but Norah threw out an arm and blocked him. “Enough! All of you! Gus, I think you and your friends have had plenty of fun. Time to go.”
Just when I thought Gus might argue, Trace, the bouncer, appeared and clamped a hand on his shoulder. “Y’all know the rules. You fight, you leave,” he said, and shoved him toward the door.
“Damn it,” Luke muttered, brushing off his hat and eyeing the fresh bend in the brim. He turned to me and slugged my shoulder. “Really had that under control, you know.”
I raised a brow. “Yeah? From the floor?”
“I was working on something,” he said. “Then you had to go full hero.”
I rolled my eyes. “You're welcome for the save.”
He grinned and clapped me on the back, but the moment still buzzed under my skin.
Trace turned to us. “Sorry, guys. You’re gonna have to go, too.”
“Why?” Luke asked, frowning.
“Rules are rules,” Trace said. “Can’t let y’all stay or others will think they can get away with it.”
Luke cursed under his breath, but I was already turning toward the door.
“It’s fine,” I said. “Let’s go.”
I hadn’t even made it ten feet into the bar before everything went sideways.
Didn’t even get a drink before I was throwing punches and getting kicked out.
I should’ve kept walking. Should’ve let the door swing shut behind me and left the whole damn night behind with the rest of the noise.
But just before I stepped outside, I turned.
Norah was guiding the waitress toward the back, her arm resting gently around her shoulders. Her hair had fallen loose from her ponytail, dark waves spilling down her back.
And even from here, something in me reacted.
Still, I couldn’t stop watching her.
And I hated that.
I’d sworn off women. Love, lust, all of it. Swore off the drama, the mess, the wreckage they left behind.
But something about her…it pulled me in. And I didn’t know whether I wanted to shake it off or chase it down.
I didn’t need this. I didn’t want this.
But as I shoved open the door and stepped into the humid night air, I knew I was in trouble…because I was trying my damndest to convince myself to forget her and not having the least amount of luck.
Yeah…
I was fucked.