“You heard me. Get. Up.”
Because of my stature and my tattoos, I can come off as overly intimidating. But this guy doesn’t think so.
“Yeah. No, buddy.” He looks me up and down like I’m garbage. He probably thinks he has more money than me because of how I look.
Newsflash: he doesn’t.
But guys like him just don’t know when to shut up or quit.
I don’t hesitate and grab the back of his collar, hauling him out of his chair. “What the fuck, dude. Get your hands off me.”
The guy is almost half a foot shorter than me. It’s no wonder he has little man syndrome and talks to women the way he just did.
I don’t say anything more, just walk his ass to the door and toss him out.
“I’ll press charges!” he yells at me as he wipes invisible dirt from his shirt.
“Do it,” I tell him and walk back into the brewery. I’m not worried about him pressing charges in the slightest. I think every person in the brewery would defend me after the shit that asshole said to Penny.
I head back to Penny’s table to make sure she’s okay, but she’s not there anymore. I look around and deduce that she went to the bathroom and head towards the sign that signals down a short hallway.
I wait at the head of it, and Penny comes out a minute later. She stops in her tracks when she sees me, and I have to hold myself back from moving toward her. She’s a beautiful sight with her newly cut hair. Normally, I would say I’m a long-haired man, but on Penny, the short is even better. I wouldn’t mind running my hands through the silky strands just to confirm how soft they are.
“Did you follow me?” she asks, venom lacing her tone.
I have no idea what I did to deserve her wrath, but she’s pissed at me when she should be pissed at the asshole who basically called her fat.
I don’t answer her question and instead ask one. “Are you okay?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know? You didn’t need to step in back there. I was going to handle it myself.”
I take a step forward, and she takes one back. “It didn’t look like you were handling it. You shouldn’t let people talk to you like that.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “Right. Because you’re any better. Screw you, Declan.” She moves to slip past me, but I catch her by the wrist. She looks down at where I’m touching her. “Get your hand off me.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “I’m not the bad guy here.”
She scoffs and tries to pull away, but I crowd her instead, forcing her back against the wall.
I let go of her wrist and lean my hands against the wall, caging her in between my arms. “You’re being a brat,” I tell her. Because she is. I don’t deserve this from her.
Her eyes widen at my comment. “A brat?I’mbeing a brat? No, Declan. I’m not being a brat; I just don’t like you.”
I search her eyes. She’s pissed at me, and I have no idea why. “What did I do to you?”
She shakes her head and purses her lips. “Let me spell it out for you since you men can’t be bothered to notice the smallest things. You don’t have to worry about playing daddywith my daughter, Declan. Or being in any other part of her life, for that matter.” My eyes widen, and she continues, “You don’t like kids, I get it. So, you don’t have to be around me and mine anymore.”
I’m stunned speechless. She heard the conversation between me and Kate out on the landing. That’s what this is about. That’s why I haven’t heard or seen from her.
She pushes at my chest, and I let her. I take a step back, and she glares at me one last time before exiting the hallway.
I never intended for anyone else to hear my words that night, but I should have known better because the walls are thin. If I were Penny, I would be pissed, too.
I know I’m never going to be with someone romantically who has or wants kids, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want Penny as my friend. And I might not like little humans, but Autumn was starting to grow on me. The kid clearly has good taste if she liked the unicorn drawing I did for her.
But as I turn to watch Penny walk out the door without a backward glance, I know I fucked up.
Big time.
