My feet started walking before I could stop them. Reid noticed me when I was a few feet away and stoically watched me make the girl step back by slipping between them, facing her.
“Hi, I’m sorry to break this up.” I reached up and behind me to put my hand over Reid’s face. I felt the corners of his mouth stretch against my palm. “But this is mine,” I told her as nicely as I could.
I heard Mac snort.
“You’re very pretty,” I continued. “I’m sure you’d be able to get anyone else.”
She arched a brow as she looked me up and down. “He didn’t say he had a girlfriend.”
That one comment wiped all niceties away. “I’m assuming you have a point.”
“Maybe he’s looking for someone better,” she said.
“The fuck?” Mac gaped angrily.
Reid grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand from his face. He released it and I let my arm relax back down to my side as I tried very hard not to give in to the anger bubbling inside me.
“I see me calling you pretty has gone to your head,” I said.
“I didn’t need you to call me pretty. I already fucking know that I am,” she fired back.
Her attitude grated. “Right,” I forced out calmly before stepping out of the way. I gestured to Reid as I smirked at her. “Please proceed. Let’s see if you are all that you say you are.”
It appeared she hadn’t expected that. The confidence she’d been exuding wavered. She stared at Reid, who was now expressionless, but I could feel how pissed off he was.
Then the girl threw what was left of her martini at me. All I could do was brace to get wet. Reid moved in front of me so fast, his bicep and shoulder were what got soaked.
Then there was a scream. Reid moved out of the way and suddenly the girl was on the floor with Mac on top of her, smacking her and ripping out her hair. Lemon watched wide-eyed. Reid rushed over to them and pulled Mac off her.
“You came into the wrong fucking bar to pull that shit, bitch!” Mac screamed at her as she fought Reid to get free.
The girl got up off the floor, lip bleeding and hair a mess. She wiped away the blood from her chin. She stared down at it on her hand, then glared at Mac. “As expected from a low-class skank from the wrong side of the bridge.”
I had been punched many times in my life. So I was pretty sure I knew how to throw one. When she said that, I made a fist and swung. It didn’t matter how much my ribs hurt. My adrenaline surged through me and I hit her. Hard enough to feel a crack.
She fell to the ground, blood gushing from her nose. I shook my hand, trying to ease the hurt, before kneeling in front of her. “When you go home to complain to Mommy and Daddy about what happened here, tell them it was Charlotte Kendry who hit you. Enjoy the fucking rhinoplasty.”
Her eyes went wide with recognition, and those wide eyes didn’t leave me even as I stood and walked away. Only when I was storming off did I realize that a crowd had formed. Thankfully, people moved out of my path. I’d been on my way to the bathroom, but I needed some air.
I went straight out the back entrance. Thankfully, no one was outside. I turned my face toward the night sky and just breathed as I rubbed my sore hand.
With my back to it, I heard the bar’s door open. Loud music poured out before it was muffled by the door closing. I turned to see who had come out.
Reid was standing a few feet away, watching me. His gaze dropped to my hands. “How bad is your hand?”
I let them relax at my sides. “Are you here to see how I am or lecture me for what I just did?”
“Why would I lecture you?”
“Maybe someone should. For drinking. For hitting someone.” Feeling cold, I hugged myself. “I’m waiting to feel guilty for what I just did, but I don’t. Maybe I will in the morning when I’m sober.”
“The only thing you’re going to wake up with is a swollen hand if we don’t get some ice on it soon.”
“If I don’t feel guilty, am I just like my mother?” I asked him.
“The fact that you’re even worried about that means you’re not,” he said, sounding angry. “I’ve gotten in fights before. One time, some dude got handsy with Mac while she was working. I kicked the shit out of him. Does that mean I’m like my father?”
I shook my head.
