Chapter 25 Get him!
Hallie saw Travis and two other cowboys crowding in on Luke. She ran over as fast as she could...
Travis was winding up for a punch when she ran up behind him and tackled him. Her momentum was so strong that she toppled him to the ground! She managed to get her arm around his neck, putting him in a choke hold while pummeling his ribs with her fist.
“What the fuck?” Travis croaked. “Get off of me!”
“Hallie, let him go!” Luke’s voice cut in.
But she wasn’t about to release him and let him start a fight with Luke. Travis was way too dangerous.
Luke came towards her, but one of Travis’s friends, a big hulking fellow, blocked his way. Suddenly, the man crumpled as Luke stepped to the side and roundhouse kicked his torso.
Hallie managed to keep her choke hold on Travis even while he staggered up to standing, but then somebody pulled on her hair, nearly ripping it out. That red-haired woman had grabbed her!
“Don’t you dare touch my boyfriend!” the woman yelled, unleashing a storm of punches.
Hallie struck back, but she was forced to let go of Travis and try to deflect Carly’s assaults. She stumbled backwards and tried not to fall...
With the corner of her eye, she could see Luke facing off calmly against Travis and two other guys.
Luke was perfectly in charge of the situation as he blocked their punches and repaid one man with a chop to the throat, toppled Travis with a strong side kick, and then threw the third man over his shoulder on top of Travis.
Hallie was so distracted she caught a punch that nearly knocked her down. Luke came over and grabbed Hallie’s hand, yanking her away from the scuffle.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said. “The rodeo has just gotten a little too exciting.”
Hallie decided it was best to go with the flow and followed him as he ran towards the parking lot.
“Get him!” Travis shouted somewhere behind her.
The infuriated bull rider chased after them, but his friends held him back. That was probably very wise of them, Hallie thought, considering how swiftly Luke had taken them out.
Still, she felt more at ease once they were safely inside her trusty red pick up.
“Are you okay?” Luke asked. He didn’t have a thread out of place on his fancy shirt, while Hallie felt completely disheveled from the fight.
“Yeah.”
“Where did that come from?” he wondered, smiling at her, “You came out of nowhere like a tornado and tackled that big fellow. I had no idea you were so tough.”
“I was just worried about you, I guess,” she replied, looking down as she suddenly felt self-conscious, “Travis has been known to wreak havoc. He broke a guy’s jaw once.”
“Well, I owe you my thanks.”
“You’re deadly, though,” Hallie said. “Dealing with Travis and that other guy in just a couple of seconds?”
“I’ve been trained in Tae-Kwon-Do and Ju-jitsu from a young age,” he replied, blushing a little.
“Why did we even run away?”
“I wanted to get you out of danger,” Luke replied.
“That woman looked like she was out for blood, and she got some.” He examined her face with a concerned frown.
Hallie flipped the mirror down and saw that the side of her forehead was bleeding.
Carly’s ring must have cut her. “We should go to a pharmacy and get some antiseptic for that cut.”
“Oh, it’s fine,” Hallie said. “It barely hurts at all.”
“Still, I want to make sure it’s clean,” he insisted.
They drove to the nearest drug store, which was the only one in this small town. Hallie waited in the truck while Luke got all the stuff. He didn’t want people to think he was responsible for the damage, so he insisted on going in alone.
Hallie sat there in a daze wondering why she had come to his rescue so determinedly. She supposed she would have done so for anyone, a friend. Maybe Luke was like a friend after all these days of living at the ranch?
“Let me see...” He dripped hydrogen peroxide onto a cotton ball and dabbed the cut on her forehead.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry, I know it stings,” he said patiently. This was a whole other side to him she had never seen before. He stuck a small bandage over the cut and smoothed it out. “There, looks good. But your hair is a mess.”
He took out his comb and reached for her hair, smoothing it out with his hand first.
“You don’t have to do that,” Hallie said, though she was tempted to give in. It was kind of refreshing, having a pretty boy at her side to fix her hair. Most guys she knew would never carry a comb with them.
“Please, it’s the least I can do,” he said. The touch of his hand felt so pleasant that she relaxed into it, letting him gently comb the locks that had been mussed by the fight.
“I should be mad at you,” Hallie said, “You were probably flirting with Travis’s girlfriend, weren’t you?”
“Only the tiniest bit,” Luke said calmly. “I was barely flirting with her at all. This is all your fault, actually. I came down from the seats because I wanted to make sure Terry didn’t upset you with her latest tirade.”
“Really?” Hallie didn’t want to believe that he cared this much. He was probably just trying to get into her pants again, but it was almost working.
“Yeah, I don’t like the way she treats you,” he said with a serious expression. “Next time, just don’t talk to her at all. See how she likes that.”
It was nice to have something like an ally in her war against Terry.
“There, your hair looks gorgeous.” He finished up by separating one strand and draping it loosely down the side of her face.
“We should go see Gigi,” Hallie said, remembering she was going to do that after the rodeo. It wouldn’t be safe to go back to the rodeo grounds now anyway. “She lives around here.”
“Who’s Gigi?”
“Her real name is Rose, and she’s my grandma. But she hates being called grandma, so don’t ever call her that.”
“Understood.”
She didn’t think Luke would be very excited to meet her grandma, but he seemed up for it. Maybe the fight had changed something. He was acting more like a decent person, though it was probably still just an act.