“Don’t care, I’ll figure it out,” he said, standing up and walking right past the rest of us.
To some extent, even we were impressed by how much of a manwhore Garrett was. We liked girls, absolutely, but given the choice between breathing and sex, I didn’t think anyone knew what Garrett would pick.
“Have you ever thought about getting someone really unattractive and sending her to Garrett when he’s hammered?” Connor said. “Just to fuck with him?”
“Not like he’d take the time to verify until it was too late,” I said with a chuckle. “Not sure where we’d find one here in this bar, though.”
“Ask Zack. He’s with all the kids in college.”
“Why the hell would I—”
I felt a firm hand on my shoulder whip me around. I turned just in time to see one of the Bandits cocking his fist back. I ducked, he missed, and I tackled him.
And just like that, in a half-second, the entire bar devolved into utter fucking chaos.
“Let’s fucking go!” Connor roared, charging at the other three Bandits.
“This will be fun,” Mason said.
Anything said after that was a blur, because the next minute was a bloody ruckus of shouting, cursing, punches, roars, and collisions. In the corner of my eye, I saw Tara moving away from Steele, taking Elizabeth and Kathryn to the women’s bathroom. That was reassurance enough for me they would be safe.
I landed a punch right on the fucking jaw of the Bandit who had tried to knock me out, but he bucked me over. I scrambled to my feet, put my fists up, and smirked at him.
“You wanna fucking go again?” I said. “Bring it, Bandit. I’ll fucking cave your skull in.”
“Shut up, punkass!”
He charged at me. The two of us collided into a booth. The hard end of the booth drove straight into my hip, drawing one of the loudest curses I’d ever made. Fortunately, the Bandit caught the worst of it, dropping to the ground and clutching his leg. I kicked him in the face and left him to wake up in a few minutes.
I found Connor and Mason taking on three Bandits and somehow holding their own. I was about to jump into the fray when Steele beat me to it. But if I was concerned about being left out of the bar fight, I had nothing to worry about. A few more Bandits came in, pushing past the security guard trying to break things up.
“Ready?” Zack said over my shoulder.
“Don’t forget me,” Garrett said. “Fight and fuck in one night? Yes, please!”
“That’s what’s up,” I said.
The three of us charged forward.
Everything became an even greater blur. If someone came near me who wasn’t one of my five friends, I swung. Sometimes I hit, sometimes I missed, and sometimes I got hit. But nothing staggered me; I’d been in too many fistfights in my youth and with these guys to not know how to hold my own.
It went on like this for what felt like an hour, even though it was probably closer to just one minute.
And then I saw something in the corner of my eye.
One of the Bandits must have caught sight of the girls’ bathroom, because he headed that way.They can’t cause that kind of trouble in Santa Maria anymore. But they’ll try that shit here.
I ran behind him and tackled the asshole right as he pushed open the door. The two of us spilled onto the floor of the women’s bathroom. I could hear Tara, Elizabeth, and Kathryn screaming, but this wasn’t the time to talk. I delivered a couple of hard blows to the jackass, knocking him out cold. I stood up. Tara was the only one not hidden in a stall.
“Are you hurt?” I asked.
“No—”
“Stay in here,” I said. “Scream like hell if anyone other than one of us comes in here.”
I dragged the man out of the bathroom just in time to see police charging in. They were pepper-spraying everyone and disrupting the brawl. Where I stood, I could claim that I was not an active participant and, in fact, something of a hero.
“Get down on the ground! Hands up!”
