Then I slam my car door shut and reverse out.
Chapter Twenty-Four
AJ
The moment I watch Hollie drive away in her car, back to Canyon, an explosion detonates deep inside my gut. I stand there in the dirt for a moment, absorbing the impact.
The moment she said she wanted to go, I knew. I knew he was the reason.
And not the only reason, either. Because tonight, Chase Brennan proved to me what an asshole I was in high school too. And I hate that I’ve hurt Hollie, and she’s running away from me because of it.
I turn to Reyes and Nicole. ‘Where’d Chase fucking go?’ I ask.
Half of Nicole’s face is in shadow. I see her swallow. ‘He went inside.’
‘Right,’ I say, and my eyes flit to the porch where Lester sits with his feet up.
‘AJ, forget Chase,’ Nicole pleads, because she knows just from my expression that I don’t plan on letting this lie.
As I stalk toward the steps up to the porch, Lester stirs.
‘Hey, AJ, maybe put a shirt on first, huh?’ he mumbles, except I walk right past him before he can even get to his feet.
When I throw open the door to Scotch & Smoke, the music hits my ears.
Thunderstruck.
Through the saloon doors, some Venom bikers greet me as I walk in, but I don’t pay ’em any attention. Some drinkers glance my way, maybe because I’m shirtless. But I keep moving toward the back.
My blood is roasting in my veins. Fuck this heatwave.
I stalk toward the pool tables. I know exactly where to find that motherfucker. Right where he always is.
He’s racking up balls on the surface of the pool table. I press my right knuckles into my left palm. I know this is gonna fucking hurt, but right now, that’s not what I care about.
When my knuckles make contact with Chase Brennan’s cheek bone in a sucker punch, it feels good. It feels like I should have done this years ago.
He’s caught off guard. He careers backward into the wall, so I follow up my initial punch with a left uppercut, hitting him square in the nose. If that first punch was for me, then this one was for Hollie, even if she wouldn’t want me to hit anyone. Chase cries out, blood spewing out his nostrils.
‘What the fuck, man?!’ he hollers at me, clutching his face.
‘You had to fuck this up for me, didn’t you?’ I snarl, raising my voice, because I’m through with being chill with his shitty attitude. ‘You couldn’t fucking resist!’
Chase lunges at me, and within a few seconds, we’re trading blows. He lands a slug to my chin and mouth, and a second to my eye, but the damage I do to his face is way worse.
‘The one good thing that happens to me in, like, forever, and you shit all over it!’ I yell at him.
I barely notice when a small crowd forms around us, but when two of the Venom crew try to split us up, I fight back and jab my elbow into one guy’s solar plexus. Within minutes, all hell has broken loose as more Venom guys pile on to pry us apart. I take a few more punches, and I can hear Nicole pleading with us all to stop.
‘You’re coming at me over a fuckinggirl?’ Chase snaps back as he’s yanked backwards, two guys holding him down.
I don’t even know how many guys are holding me back as I holler, ‘The first girl I actually like, asshole! More than like!’
‘Aww,boo hoo, AJ. So, you played a few pranks on her back in high school. So fucking what? Hollie’s uptight. It’s patheti—’
I yank hard and break free. Shouts go up. Another slug to Chase’s face shuts him the hell up. It’s a bonus that two guys were holding him down already. I feel like I’m only just getting started when I’m wrestled to the floor.
I hear Echo’s voice above the thumping beat of AC/DC and somebody grabs me by the shoulders and jerks me up.
