Three men stepped out from between two parked cars, blocking our path. They moved with undeniable purpose, too coordinated to be random, and too confident to be drunk assholes looking for trouble.
My stomach dropped.
One of them smiled and it wasn’t friendly, either. It was assessing. “Evening,” he drawled. “We’ve been looking all over for you, Macy.”
I froze. The world around me narrowed to the tiniest fucking pinpoint as fear took hold of me. Their next words hit my ears low and muffled, like someone had stuffed cotton in them.
Drew shifted instantly and took a step forward, standing between me and danger.
Again.
“Keep walking,” Drew demanded in a voice so calm, it was scary. “You’re in the wrong fucking lot.”
The man laughed. “Nah. Pretty sure we’re exactly where we need to be.” His gaze slid over Drew’s vest. “Steel Demons, huh? Boss won’t like that.”
Another one cracked his knuckles. “You should’ve stayed hidden, sweetheart.”
My heart slammed against my ribs, and my fucking feet wouldn’t move. My mouth wouldn’t work.
The first punch came fast. The man closest to Drew swung first, wild and clumsy but there was weight behind it. Drew ducked it easily and came back with a punch that knocked that asshole on his knees.
“Stay down,” Drew snarled, kicking him twice in the stomach. “If you know what’s good for you, stay the fuck down.”
I watched it all with wide eyes, fear pulsing through my veins and unable to move. It was just like when I was young and I was too frozen to help myself. I could only watch as the bad shit unfolded in front of me.
The man stayed down but the other two rushed Drew at the same time, hitting him from both sides.
“Drew!” The sound of his name tore out of me, scraping my throat until it hit the air.
They circled him, confident now. I realized with sick clarity that they weren’t afraid because I wasn’t doing shit. I stood there, useless, exactly the way I always did.
One lunged again and Drew pivoted hard, driving his forehead into the guy’s face. The crack of bone made my stomach flip. The man reeled backward, clutching his nose and swearing,stumbling into the side of a parked car before sliding down to the pavement.
For a split second, it was one-on-one.
The third man didn’t hesitate. He slammed into Drew from the side, and they went down hard.
“Drew,” I whispered so softly that nobody else heard me. But that horror and fear that pooled like acid in my belly morphed into something else, something dark and hot. The man on the ground wasn’t getting back up. The other one had Drew pinned, raining blows down while Drew tried to shield his head.
Rage.
It was hot and burning. It was goddamn blinding.
How dare they touch him! My Drew!
How fucking dare they put their hands on him like that! The anger rose up and with each subsequent blow that landed, the anger and the rage built and built. It was a fiery tornado inside of me over all the hits I’d taken in my life and never hit back. Never fought back. I took it. Every single fucking time, I took it.
But this was different. This was Drew and I couldn’t fail him, not now when he needed me. Not after he spent the entire day giving me everything I needed to protect myself.
I couldn’t fail him.
Not again.
I didn’t owe him.
Iwantedto protect him.
He needed me to do something.
