I nodded. “Do your worst, Doc.”
He smiled grimly and proceeded to torture me with feather-light taps along my cheekbone, and the bridge of my nose. “Can you move your jaw?”
I proceeded to open and shut my mouth and waggle my chin back and forth. It hurt like hell, but I figured if anything was actually broken, I’d be screaming on the floor, so that was probably good.
Finally, he nodded and backed away. “Nothing seems to be broken, so that’s good.” He set his hands on his hips and his face into a scowl. “I should order you to go get X-rayed, but that would require a trip to emerg.”
I groaned.
“And hours and hours of waiting,” Robbie said.
“I know. You’re relying on my expertise to say nothing is too damaged.”
“He was right about my fingers,” Shaw said.
“I’m good. Not going to spend hours in a waiting room for them to tell me the same thing you just did.”
“I would like to know what happened,” Darby said.
“So would I,” Robbie agreed.
I tried to recall the flow of the conversation, how it had started, and exactly when it had escalated to physical violence. Had I provoked them? I didn’t really think so.
“They were drunk,” Sheri said, coming over and handing me a bottle of water. “You need a straw, sweetie?”
I considered that a moment, nodded, and moaned softly from the movement.
“Why’d you over-serve them?” Shaw asked her.
“I didn’t. They only had one shot here. They were tipsy when they sat down. Or at least the one who didn’t play was, but he didn’t buy any of it from us.”
Evan rubbed his hand in circles between my shoulder blades, telling those who had gathered around to listen what had happened in the parking lot. His account seemed accurate, from what I remembered, but it was scary-weird how fuzzy my memory actually was.
I glanced from him to Darby. “I think that’s how it happened?” I said.
“Don’t worry.” Darby put a hand on my shoulder. “Adrenaline does strange things to your recall.”
“I’ll say.”
I was still trying to piece it together when Channing came storming back into the bar.
My entire team formed a solid wall between him and me.
“Move,” he commanded.
Evan crossed his arms over his chest and Shaw and Darby didn’t budge.
I could see Channing’s thunderous expression and met his gaze.
“Are you okay?” he asked me, through my teammates.
“Not really.”
His gaze darkened.
“Not permanently damaged,” I conceded.
His nod was quick and sharp, as was his exhale. “Can I please see the damage he did?”
