The two women with her sneered almost identically at me. Their glares trickled awareness through my very pleasant buzz.
Sasha leaned in, grabbed my hair, and yanked my ear to her mouth. “Go along with this. I’m sorry. When I punch, pull back, and fake a fall.” She shook me and stepped away.
Oh, crap. My hands were full of shot glasses. “Sasha—”
She pulled back and punched.
I reacted instinctively, dropped the shots, and turned my face. Unfortunately, there was a tall guy next to me, and I didn’t dodge very well. Her fist impacted my left cheekbone, and pain ricocheted through my head. I turned back to face her, gaping.
She quickly hid a wince. “That will teach you. Let’s go.”
“What the hell?” A female snap caught us as Tessa leaped through bodies and tackled Sasha into the bar.
“No,” I yelled, just as one of Sasha’s friends punched me in the mouth. Blood spurted from my lip. I turned and Donna took her down to the ground, my classy sister knowing how to fight dirty when necessary. “Stop—” I tried to yell.
The third woman screeched and grabbed my hair with both hands, pulling.
Pain ripped through my skull. “What are you doing?” I yelled as the patrons scattered to watch the girl fight. Donna and the woman on the floor rolled around in the sawdust and knocked over several bar stools. One landed on my foot, but I was too busy trying to keep my hair attached to my head. “Let go.” I tried to grab her wrists.
She pulled harder and kicked me in the knee at the same time.
My temper finally blew. “That’s it,” I gasped, shooting my arms up and between hers to break her hold. “Don’t pull hair in a fight, you jackass.” When I had my head free, I reared back and punched her square in the nose.
She yelped, grabbed her nose, and doubled over.
I turned to help Donna up, but I underestimated my opponent. She grabbed me around the waist and threw me to the floor. Slivers cut into my palms. I flipped around quickly, just in time to see her drop with her nails aimed for my face. Yelping, I grabbed her wrists before she could do any damage. Grunting and swearing, we grappled. Sawdust covered my hair and flew across my face. She tried to get one leg over me, but I levered a foot beneath my butt and shoved us both over. I pushed her to the side and stood, trying to get my balance back.
Blood flowed from her nose. I think I’d broken it.
A camera phone came out of the crowd and took several pictures with a flash. I blinked stars out of my eyes and groaned when I saw that the phone belonged to Jolene O’Sullivan, a local reporter who disliked me as much as I disliked her. She smiled and took more pictures.
Donna stood up and yanked a bleeding woman up with her. Their hair was all over, and both were covered in sawdust and panting wildly.
Tessa and Sasha were going at it pretty well on the floor, and considering Sasha was a trained governmental agent, I was absurdly proud of my sister.
“Stop it.” Aiden Devlin shoved through the crowd from the door. He must’ve gotten my text or had already been heading out to find us. Quint came from the other direction. Aiden grabbed Sasha while Quint pulled Tessa away from her and put his body between them. “What in the holy hell is going on?” Aiden’s voice was dangerously quiet, and for some reason, he directed the question to me.
Sasha jerked free of him. “I heard about you two and had to do something about it.” Her right cheekbone was already swelling, and her hair looked like it had spilled beer mixed with sawdust in it.
Aiden took in the scene as realization obviously dawned. He looked at Joey behind the bar. “Send me the bill for any damage.” Then he pointed to the door. “Outside. Now.”
Quint ushered Donna, Tessa, and me outside into the warm night, and we all stood near my car. Zena bounded out of the trees where she’d been sleeping and panted happily next to me.
Aiden brought Sasha and the other two women outside. “Sasha? I’ll deal with you later. The three of you go back to the complex. Now.” The hard edge of his voice made me want to go, too. Hopefully this was part of his cover. Yeah. It had to be. I swallowed rapidly.
Sasha lifted on her toes and kissed him on the mouth. I had to give it to her. She had balls. “All right, babe. Say goodbye to that bitch, and we’ll move on from here.” She motioned for her posse, and they all headed for a light blue convertible parked down the street.
Aiden waited until they’d driven off. “Are you okay?”
“Okay?” Tessa exploded. “What in the world is going on?”
I grimaced. “I didn’t have time to tell you everything.” Anything, really. We’d concentrated only on funny stories and childhood memories to ease Quint’s mind during dinner. “It’s okay.”
Donna put her hands on her hips. “No, it is not.”
Aiden hung his head. “Seriously.”
Quint looked at him and then the three of us. He laughed, long and hard. Then he snorted. “It’s good to be home.” It was a real laugh, and there was humor in his eyes.
