“Thegirlgave me a look. I know when I’m wanted, so mind your business, fatso.” The dude looked at me again, his eyes moving down my body. “I’ll throw in another hundred if I can take a shot off you.”
“No.” My voice shook. Fear rooted me to the spot. They could overpower me, easily. I had no muscle or weapons.
The guy reached over the bar, attempting to grab my forearm, when Cal punched him in the face. The sound was unlike anything I had heard in real life, just movies. Flesh onflesh. The gross sound of squishing. The scream. The thud. Blood.
It happened so fast and so slowly at the same time. Cal’s left hand pushed me behind him as he retracted his fist from the guy’s face. “She said no. Get thefuckout of here.”
The party lost it. Shouts and shoves and pushes, and oh my god, it was a bar fight. Glass shattered, and I stood there, terrified and stuck in place. One of the party dudes shoved Old Jim, the seventy-year-old who always drank a Moscow mule. Panic clawed at my throat.What if he’s hurt?Then Gregg with two g’s fell off his stool. It was a madhouse.
The police! I had to call them!
“Police are on their way,” Alex yelled, their voice angry as hell. They disarmed two of the bros and shoved them through the door. Big Ben took a punch to the gut before knocking one of them out. My entire body hummed with fight or flight, but I did neither, just froze and watched.
“Get in the office, now.” Cal picked me up and carried me. “Lock the door.”
“What about—”
“Lock the fucking door. Take this just in case.” He handed me a knife and shut the door in my face. I locked it and gripped the weapon hard.
What the fuck was my life?
I crumpled into a ball, not wanting to be seen as everything trembled from my fingers to my toes. My eyes watered from the rush of emotions. Fear, anger, fear again. What if that guy had touched me? What if I’d been alone at the bar?
God, the possibilities of it were endless, and I swallowed. My mouth was completely dry, and I took some calming breaths. The police… Cal…holy shit. Cal hadpunchedthat guy in the face. Worry for him took over, and I snuck a look outside. It was still madness. Chairs were flipped, andfuck!
The window shattered right above my head. I screamed as shards fell on me. My skin stung from the glass, and a hand reached into the window and unlocked the door.Oh my god, oh my god.
“It’s me.” Cal was there, his gaze hardening when he found me sprawled out on the ground. “Fuck.You’re bleeding.”
“The window shattered.” My voice trembled, and he bent down. “I don’t understand.”
He carefully pulled a piece from my face, his fingers gentler than I would’ve thought, and his frown deepened. He took out a few more shards before the sound of the cops stopped him. “Thank Christ.”
“Charlie, the bar….” Having Cal with me, near me, provided me a much-needed relief. Being with him meant I was safe.
“It’ll all be okay.” He cupped my face, his eyes softening as he said, “I promise. I got you.”
Someone gave me a blanket at some point. I wasn’t cold, but the escape of adrenaline made me shiver. Charlie stood off in the distance, talking to the police as Alex explained what happened for a fourth time. Cal, Big Ben, Gregg, me… everyone told the same story because it was the truth. Even if the fucking asshole intended to press charges against Cal for the punch, every witness account said it was to defend me when the guy grabbed me.
My stomach ached for Cal.Ifcharges were pressed, I didn’t want that to affect his hockey career.
“How you doing?” Cal joined me on the bench, his arm coming around me. I snuggled into his warmth and fought the urge to cry.
This had been the most stressful day of my entire life, and my emotions were spiraling. “I don’t know. Terrified, exhausted, concerned about you.”
“Don’t worry about me. My hand is fine. Just a little sore.”
“Your hand is sore?” I moved and took his right one. Bruises had formed on his knuckles, and there were scabs. “Cal. I’m so sorry.”
“Stop. You did nothing wrong, and I’d punch that guy a million times if he touched you again. I’m glad you’re okay. Your face is covered in blood.”
“The shards.” I touched my cheek, and his fingers replaced mine. Our eyes held as he traced along my jaw and toward my forehead. A different kind of shiver overtook me, and I swallowed, hard. “Thank you. For punching him, for getting me to safety. The whole thing.”
“Of course. It’s my fault it happened. I knew better than to let them in. I ignored my gut, and now look at the place.”
“No, you couldn’t have guessed it’d be that bad.”
“I had feeling.” He tilted my face to look at him, his eyes moving over my forehead and cheeks. Then my mouth. “I need to stay with you tonight. Charlie wants to talk to me but then we’re going home.”
