CHAPTER THIRTY
TY
I catchAvery’s damp frame as she falls into me. “Are you okay?” Before she can answer, my eyes are locking on the drunken idiot teetering behind her. “Watch it.”
He smirks, lifting his glass to his lips, disappointed when he finds it empty. Because he spilled it. On Avery. A white-hot anger rises inside me.
“Tell your woman to watch it,” he counters.
That’s all it takes. I release Avery, rushing forward. Grabbing the collar of his flouncy shirt, I steel my features. “What was that?”
The guy has that thousand-mile stare going on. He’s obliterated, lost in some alcohol-induced haze. He can barely find my eyes, but not even that deters me. When his mouth opens again, he’s implacable. “Tell that bony thing you’re dancing with to watch it.”
The syllables pop from his mouth in a spray of saliva. Regardless of how hammered he is, each word somehow feels more intentional than the last.
“It’s okay.” A soft hand grips my bare forearm. It’s Avery. I want to listen to her, want to pull back, but I’m blinded by what he’s cropped up in me, and I yank free.
“He can’t talk to you that way,” I say.
“It’s okay,” she soothes.
The guy smirks at me as his glazed eyes take their time slipping to Avery. “Listen to your broad, homie.”
The band plays on, oblivious to what’s happening, but the people around us freeze. One pulls out a phone, then another. There’s a flash. And another. And then they back up, leaving me and the drunken loser in the middle of a circle of bodies like I’m back in school about to have a public showdown.
Despite the attention, I can’t stop from righting his wrong. I don’t like the way he treated Avery. She doesn’t deserve that. My hand clenches at my side, my fist still firmly knotted in his blouse. I could knock him out with one punch, I know I could. I’ve slammed into bigger guys than this on the field and put them out of commission for the rest of the game, but Avery’s slender fingers restrain me, grounding me in reality.
“Ty, I’m okay. It’s okay.” I let her pull me until my hands release the drunken jack-knob. “Let’s just move on.”
“Apologize,” I spit in his direction.
The guy sneers, backing away as the crowd swallows him up again.
“Let’s go. This was a bad idea,” Avery says, pressing her palms into my chest.
As she pushes me to the edge of the room, I watch the crowd come back together, whispering with each click andflash of their phones. Despite the other guy being the one to cause the scene, all eyes have turned—and stayed—on me. My back hits a dark corner, and our audience dissipates. Still, I can’t pull my attention from the dance floor. I’m like a dog with a scent trail, and I want nothing more than to find my target.
A hand grips my jaw, tugging me back until all I see are two hazel eyes. My favorite hazel eyes. “Ty. We should go.”
I stare down at her. My gaze roams her silky hair, the ends now dripping with beer. Her tan arm flicks it back over her shoulder, her gorgeous button nose wrinkling as she does. Even smelling of skunked hops, Avery is mouth-watering. A force to be reckoned with. And one that deserves respect. My hand skims over hers, but I don’t remove it from my face; it feels too… good.
“He needs to apologize,” I say.
She sighs. “He doesn’t. He’s drunk. And I’m wearing a dark dress. I’m fine.”
I shake my head.
“Ty, really. It’s okay. I’m okay. We’re okay. But we should probably leave.” She glances over her shoulder. “I think we’ve garnered enough attention for the evening.”
Guilt washes over me. Did I ruin our time together? I push the thought away as I grab her hand, towing her behind me as I beeline for the exit. When we’re outside, I make a quick call to our driver, who has been waiting somewhere down the block. When he pulls up, I file her in. She doesn’t say anything, and neither do I. In the back of the car, we wait a few blocks until rehashing what happened.
Avery is the first one to speak. “Thanks for holding up for me.”
I clasp my hands in my lap, unable to make eye contact. “Of course.”
Something happened when she stumbled toward me so helplessly. I shifted into coverage like my body already knew the play. Protecting her—defendingher—was the only thing on my mind. Because Avery makes me want to be the kind of guy who shows up.
I clear my throat. “Next time, don’t stop me.”
