“You got it. Let’s go then.” I tugged her to the back of the bar. We were at Geo’s, the rival to where I worked. Clyde would probably cry if he knew, but hell. I was a college kid. I could live a little. We passed a group of girls I recognized, but not by name. I nodded to them.
“Fake-ass bitch,” one mumbled under her breath. My blood boiled but I swallowed down the urge to fight. Callie, on the other hand, did not.
“Excuse me?” she replied. “What did you say?”
“You heard me.” The tall, tan girl sneered at us. “I know you two. You’re fake as fuck. Acting like one of theboys. You’re not. You can’t hold our guys.”
“Why would you think that, huh?” Callie argued, getting right in the girl’s face. “You think you’re the right one? As if!” She laughed. A little nuts, a little scary.
The girl’s face blanched. “Uh—”
“That’s right. You think you are. You’re not. These guys aren’t property. They don’t date cleat chasers like you. You’re just a place for a dick to sleep over.”
The place fell silent.
Awkwardly silent.
A glass fell. My heart raced. Someone sneezed. And this bitch chose to hit Callie in the face.Oh. Hell. No.
Callie roared, slapping the girl’s hand away while I pulled her back. Callie was persistent, throwing blind punches and kicks, but most of them hit me. I managed to get her to the main dance floor when all hell broke loose. Suddenly, my life was a movie, yet again.
People yelled.
Callie’s fist hit the girl in the mouth and she gasped. “Oh.”
The girl screamed. She charged at Callie, who stood off-balance to my left. Callie somehow dodged to the side and the girl fell to the ground. Callie and I shared a look before I grabbed her hand. “Let’s get the hell out.”
“Yeahhhhh,” she slurred and tripped as we headed toward the entrance. It suddenly felt packed—I couldn’t see more than two feet ahead of me at a time. Being tall had some advantages so I pushed through the crowd and found myself face-to-face with Todd.
His eyes widened, the bruising a sick reminder of what happened all those weeks ago. “Greta?”
“Hi, Todd,” I said without emotion. My focus was getting Callie out of there. “We’re on our way out.”
“Come on, looks like you need a back way out.” He took the tip of my elbow, gently, and helped push a way to a side door. “Your friend there is a little spitfire.”
“Yes. Callie is.” I smiled at my best friend, who was minutes away from crashing. “Thank you for the help, Todd.”
Callie chosethatmoment to pay attention. She jerked out of my hands. “This is the Todd?”
Todd’s face blanched, damn well knowing she couldn’t mean anything good by it. He ran a hand over the back of his neck and cringed. “I’ve been meaning to call you, Greta.”
“Trust me, no need,” I scoffed. “I’m glad to see you’re alive at least.”
He let out a string of curse words and frowned at me. “I didn’t realize… Look…I’m not a bad guy.”
“Not saying you are.” I checked my phone. It was one now. We needed to head out and walking wasn’t an option. I opened the Uber app and saw it was fifteen minutes away.Jesus.
“I owe you an explanation.” He stepped closer toward me, his handsome face showing regret. My stomach tightened. This passedawkward. “My brother is in their gang. He stole money from them. I had no idea.”
Callie gasped and looked at me with wide eyes. “Is this real life?”
“Yeah.” Todd smiled at her. “Sadly, yes. Anyway, they decided to send a message to him through me. I never would have taken you there if I’d thought you could’ve gotten hurt.”
My gut told me he meant it. It was the truth. But it didn’t change anything. I sighed, hearing angry voices farther down the alley. “I appreciate knowing you’re not a criminal. Which I assumed.”
“Naturally.” He put his hands in his pockets and kicked a rock on the road. “Can I at least give you both a ride back?”
“Nah, we’ll wait for an Uber. Thank you, though.” I smiled and heard the voices get louder. I glanced down the alley and saw two massive shadows coming our way. My neck tingled.
