I look through the window, and as soon as I lay my eyes on the three of them, I curse.
“I knew I couldn’t leave them alone,” I say in frustration as I open the door and look back at Jagger. “Stay here, we might need to make a quick exit.” He nods as I shut the door and hurry inside.
They’re still standing where I saw them through the window. Pete has a wide grin on his face as he squares off against a stranger who has at least four inches and fifty pounds on him. Three men surround the stranger, obviously having his back. They’re all dressed in expensive, brand-name clothes. Golf shirts with emblems on their chest and flashy watches on their wrists. They scream wealth.
Wren is partially behind Pete, clinging to his arm as she tries to peek out around his side, but Dex has his arm wrapped around her waist, plastering her to his front.
“Pete, it’s okay, we should leave,” Wren tells him worriedly.
“What’s going on?” I ask as I move to their side, eyeing the strangers.
“This asshole bumped into Wren. I told him to apologize, and he refused.” Pete nudges his chin at the ringleader of the other group, who looks at Pete with disdain. When his eyes flick down to Wren, they turn calculating, and he grins.
I instantly understand why Pete is so worked up.
“Don’t look at her,” I snarl.
His eyebrows raise in surprise, then he and his friends laugh before his eyes find Wren again, making my fists clench in anger. “Sweetheart, you sure you want to be associated with this caveman trash? There’s a seat free in my Benz outside if you want to come with me instead? I can show you what it’s like to be treated properly, and not like a piece of meat.”
He eyes the three of us with the last few words, his lip curling in distaste.
Pete laughs. It’s not the friendly, easygoing laugh he commonly uses around Wren; it’s the kind that makes him sound unhinged, and people instinctively take a step back from.
“Treat her properly?” Pete snorts. “What’re you gonna do, order her a salad and talk about your stocks? She doesn’t want a man whotreats her properly.She wants one who knows what to do when someonedoesn’t.”
“Pete,” Wren whispers, tugging at his arm. “Don’t?—”
Too late.
Pete grabs a half-finished drink from the table beside him and throws it straight into his face. The man chokes, sputtering as the soda drips down his designer shirt.
“Oh, no,” Pete says with a mockingly sympathetic tone. “You got soda on your fancy little shirt. Lemme help you with that.” And before anyone can blink, Pete shoves the guy backward—hard—into his own friends, sending them crashing into a table. Food and trays go flying, and someone screams.
The place erupts into chaos.
One of the rich guys swings at Pete, but he ducks, laughing, and drives his elbow into the guy’s gut. “Come on! Ifyou’re gonna throw a punch, at least make it worth my time!”
Another one charges him, only for Dex to calmly step in front of him and grab the man by the collar. “Sit down,” he growls, and hurls him into a booth like he weighs nothing. I grab Wren and pull her into my arms, instinctively protecting her from the onslaught as my eyes dance around looking for threats.
Wren whispers worriedly against my chest, “They’re gonna call the cops.”
Pete swings around to look at her, blond hair falling into his face, eyes wild and bright. When he sees her clinging to me with fear, his grin drops, and he scans the room. His demeanor instantly changing from wild and free to alert and worried.
Finally.
The guy he drenched earlier staggers to his feet, furious and dripping, and Pete doesn’t even hesitate. He grabs a metal napkin dispenser from the table and smashes it down on the table right next to the man’s hand, just hard enough to make him flinch and yelp in fear and surprise.
The sudden quiet that follows feels deafening.
Pete leans in close, smiling with a dangerous calm. “You ever touch her or even look at her again, I’ll kill you. Got it?”
The man nods frantically.
Pete pats his cheek. “Good boy.” Then he turns to us, voice cheerful again. “What are you all standing around here for? Let’s go! We got places to be and people to kill.”
“Pete!” I grunt out in exasperation as we quickly make our exit.
“I mean,see. People tosee!” he calls loudly over his shoulder.
