A fella in a plaid button up charges at us and I elbow him in the nose, sending him howling. From the blood streaming down his face, it seems broken. Too bad.
Tally laughs when a mountain of a man lunges too close for comfort. She doesn’t hesitate. With a dancer’s grace, she shifts her weight onto her left leg and swings her right boot up.
She catches the dude straight in the crown jewels.
His face twists like he ate a bucket of lemons. He clutches himself, dropping.
“Ooh, nice hit!” I shout over the noise.
Tally flicks her hair over her shoulder. Her chest heaves, but her smile shines brighter than the neon lights above the bar. “You know I fight dirty.”
I grab her face and press a quick kiss to her lips. “Seriously, I’m gone foroneminute and you start a brawl? You wanna have all the fun without me!”
She pouts. “That Trevor asshole was talkin’ shit about you, so I took a swing at him.”
My heart falls into my stomach and jumps immediately back up into my throat. Tally was defendingmyhonor?
Another guy tries his luck with me and I grab him by the collar, slamming his forehead into the bar top. Once I turn back, Tally is gone. I panic, scanning the room, when a whoop comes from above.
She stands on the pool table, Stetson slanting on her head. How the hell did she get up there so fast?
She kicks an empty beer bottle off the edge, sending it flying before it shatters on the floor. One particularly brave fella tries to grab her leg and the tip of her boot gets cozy with his chin. He’s knocked back, holding his jaw.
Tally does a victory dance, wiggling her delicious ass. She spins, stumbles…
And falls.
I lunge, shoving a tangle of bodies out of the way just in time. Giggling, she drops right into my arms.
Her hands brace on my chest, drawing playful shapes. “My hero… You saved me. How can I ever repay you?”
There’s a bruise forming on her jaw and I want to kiss it better. Unfortunately, the guy whose nose I broke earlier has other plans. He dashes toward us and I spin sideways, lifting Tally behind the bar while the man crashes into a stool.
“You had enough for one night. For the love of fuck, please stay here!” I bite out.
“But Rust?—”
I reach over and smile, putting her hat on straight. “This once do as you’re told, woman!”
She nods, giving me bedroom eyes. Fuck, she’s way too into it when I give her orders. And so am I. My cock stirs and I adjust myself, thinking of all the ways I’m gonna make her come when we get back to the motel.
Distracted, I don’t see broken-nose-guy making a third attempt.
He hits me square in the gut, knocking the air out of me. I brace myself on the bar, breathing through the pain, when Tally hops and slides over the top, grabbing a stool. She lifts it and swings, cracking it over the man’s head. Next thing I know, he’s on the floor.
She raises a broken stool leg like a trophy. “Gotcha! You okay there?”
I attempt a smirk. “Yeah, thanks. Guess we’re saving each other.”
“That’s what partners in crime do.”
Police sirens howl outside and, in an instant, the bar gets quiet.
Knots of tangled limbs turn into separate people. Everybody brushes off their clothes, dabbing at bloody lips and eyebrow gashes.
Dave sighs. Like it’s just another routine night, he puts a bucket of ice onto the bar and lays out clean rags. Folks line up to grab some and ice their bruises.
The door opens. A yawning man in a fuzzy purple bathrobe walks in, the color matching the bags under his eyes. He wears slippers and a beige cowboy hat, white hair sticking out from underneath.
