Taking advantage of the fact that his head was turned, Rob moved quickly and punched Ward on the left cheek. Ward stepped backwards a little, into a row of cameramen clicking gleefully. But he recovered quickly, fire blazing in his eyes. And dark delight peppered his face as if this was exactly the invitation he had been waiting for.
No one dared sucker-punch Ward McKenzie.
In one deft movement, and with a wry smile, Ward casually discarded the jacket of his suit, pushed up his sleeves and charged forward.
The wildcat’s claws were out.
His first punch landed squarely on Kendrick’s nose and his mouth twitched at the satisfying crunch of bone and cartilage under his fist. His opponent squealed and swung a return with one arm, while reaching for his face with the other.
Through it all, the cameras flashed – and Hannah felt frozen, watching in dismay. Yes, he might have been trying to defend her honour, but she knew all of her hard work – everything she had tried to do to repair Ward’s image – and salvage her own career, it was all going down the tubes right now. It was Rob’s own fault for daring to attack, there was nowaya guy like Ward would let that go, and now everything was completely out of control.
Her mind swam, desperately trying to make sense of it all. Ward had clearly understood she was unsafe just now, but how did he even know about her and Rob?
It was that phone call. Of course, it was.
‘Oh my God!’ Shelley exclaimed, suddenly appearing beside her. ‘What’s going on? What do we do?’
Open-mouthed, she looked at her, speechless.
‘Hannah, dosomething.Aren’t you supposed to be a fixer? Fixthis,stop them.’
But her mind was a blur, even as she heard another punch land. Rob had somehow been able to get a blow in, hitting Ward in the stomach. Not that it had stopped him – in fact, it had barely fazed him.
She turned back to the other girl, whose expression had turned from pleading to annoyance.
‘Oh, for Chrissakes … ’ Shelley rolled her eyes, and storming off in her Louboutins, promptly raced into action, leaving Hannah in her dumbfounded trance.
She grabbed at Ward’s shoulders, trying to pull him off of Rob, who was definitely at the losing end of the scuffle. His nose was bloodied – and almost certainly broken. His right cheek was already swollen and turning purple, and his previously white dress shirt was now stained with blood. Hannah just didn’t know whose blood. ‘Ward,stopit,’ Shelley demanded. ‘This is bad for you.’
The press was simply eating the drama up and Hannah looked around for security to break things up.
But Shelley’s presence was at least enough to get Ward’s attention. Her face full of colour and her eyes shooting cold, angry daggers, she growled, ‘This isnotthe circus I signed up for. What the hell is wrong with you?’
Of the two men, Ward had, of course, fared much better. His shirt was untucked, a few of the top buttons ripped off and part of his broad chest was exposed. He sported a split lip that didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest as he continued to hover menacingly over Rob, looking eager and dangerously close to jumping back into the fray.
Hannah was just relieved that the other woman’s intervention had calmed things.
Until Rob made the fatal mistake of manhandling Shelley then, trying to swat her out of the way. As soon as he lay a finger on her, her eyes narrowed and then all hell truly broke loose when both Ward and his date hit back in tandem.
A couple of security goons eventually stepped in to break things up once and for all, and Hannah was finally moved to action.
‘Enough,’ she gasped, trying to catch her breath. ‘How could youdothis?’ she cried, directing the question at them both.
While Ward seemed to briefly come to his senses and looked chastened, her ex didn’t appear in the least bit admonished. Still conscious of the press close by, the golfer tried to figure out a way to spin the fact that he’d just got his ass kicked, not just by McKenzie but agirltoo.
He climbed to his feet, gingerly touching his broken nose. ‘Oh, come on, you love the drama, babe. Don’t pretend you don’t.’ He smirked. ‘We can laugh about it later,’ he added mischievously as ifHannah was in on it. ‘And McKenzie, I’m suing your ass. Expect assault charges.’
‘Bring it on,’ Ward countered, taking another step closer. ‘I’ll gladly whoop yours anytime asshole.’
Hannah then turned back to face him. ‘And you … ’ she began as her heart hammered in her chest, but then realized she didn’t know what to say. She looked up to meet his green eyes, still glittering with emotion. She was so angry with him, yet at the same time thankful that he had stepped in. But tonight had surely put the final nail in the coffin of his career … and hers too.
After all of her …their… work.
Now, Hannah knew she would be little more than a punchline in the PR world. There wouldn’t be a third time for her to strike out, that much she knew.
‘Ward … I … ’ she began, swallowing hard. ‘I … I can’t work with you anymore.’
Then turning on her heel as the cameras continued to gleefully flash and record every last humiliating moment, a laughing stock once more, Hannah slunk away into the crowd as quickly as she could, desperate to disappear.
