by Franca Storm
But before I could act on it, the ground reverberated beneath my feet.
I looked to see about a dozen of the neighbors filing into my yard. They formed a wall around me, Ollie, and the pussies we were dealing with.
The shock on Jake’s face would’ve been comical if the situation weren’t so serious.
“You threaten one of our own, you threaten the whole damn town,” Gregory, my next door neighbor; an older man in his seventies told Jake, his fisted hand waving about angrily.
“And we’ve got the whole thing on tape,” Ted said, his arm around his young wife, Cassandra, who held up her phone that was still recording everything. They lived directly opposite me.
But Jake wasn’t smart enough to know what was good for him.
He lunged at me with the knife.
It happened so quickly that no one had the chance to do anything.
Except me.
I hadn’t made the mistake of taking my eye off him, or dropping my guard. The guy was holding a fucking knife for Christ’s sake.
When he was close enough, I grabbed his offending wrist and twisted it brutally hard until I heard a satisfying crack. He screamed and his hand opened. I wrenched the blade from him and thrust my steel-toed boot into his stomach, driving him to his knees.
And then I hesitated.
The blade was in my hand.
Fingers brushed mine.
“Baby,” a small voice spoke.
She stood in front of me a second later, between me and Jake.
“Soph.”
She didn’t say anything. She just eyed the knife in my hand and shook her head at me.
It was all she had to do.
I closed the distance between us and handed her the blade.
I eased her out of the way and approached Jake.
I knelt down beside him and fisted my hand in his hair, tugging hard and forcing him to look up at me.
“You come back here again, you contact her in anyway and I’ll show you how skilled I am with a fucking blade. I’ll do more than break your damn wrist and bloody your face a little. You hear me, asshole?”
He nodded emphatically.
“That girl is mine. And no one touches what’s mine. You try again and I don’t give a crap how many preppy frat boys you have with you. You can have a whole fucking army and I will still end you.”
All he could do was nod and clutch his limp wrist.
I released him roughly and stepped back.
A second later, flashing lights filled my vision as a couple of cop cars pulled up. They hurried into the yard.
I tensed immediately, prepared to be read my rights for fucking up Jake.
But the crowd stepped in and started defending me. Cassandra showed one of them her video. The cop nodded at me. You’re fine.
Soph smiled at me and pulled me away from the scene as the cops got to work cuffing the three assholes and reading them their rights.
“You see now?” she asked.
I looked at her, confused. “See what, Soph?”
“You can trust yourself. You were the angriest I’ve ever seen you. He was threatening me—someone you love. I heard what he said. But you stopped, Brad. Even before I called out to you, I saw you hesitate.”
“Soph—”
“You’re not the man you’ve always been worried you were. You’re the man I know you are, baby.”
She flung her arms around me and squeezed me tightly.
“It’s over,” I whispered in her ear as I pulled her close, wrapping her protectively in my arms.
I caught sight of Ollie approaching us.
He stopped when he saw us standing there holding one another.
To my utter shock, his gaze softened and he actually smiled at me. He nodded and mouthed thank you before turning around and walking over to the cops. I figured he was about to give them his statement. I knew I’d have to as well soon enough.
But right now I stood with my arms around my girl. The only place I ever wanted to be.
Chapter 28
~Brad~
Soph ran her hand lightly over the bandage wrapped around my right bicep. Her gaze was pained and I watched her bite her lip in an effort to try to contain her emotion.
“Darlin’, it’s okay. Just a scratch.”
She shook her head. “That’s not what the doctor said. She said it was pretty deep.”
“Nah, it’s fine.” I held out my hand to her. “Come here, my little princess.”
She left her chair beside me and climbed onto my lap. I wrapped my good left arm around her waist and pulled her against me.
She twisted her body to face me and she grimaced at the sight of the marks on my face. Bruises and scratches and a goddamn black eye.
“Are you sure I’m not hurting you?”
We were waiting for some X-rays to come back on my ribs. The doctor was frustratingly thorough and despite my attempts to convince her there was no need, she’d insisted on double-checking they weren’t broken. One of Jake’s guys had got in a couple of good hits there. At the time, I’d barely registered it, because I’d been in the throes of the fight with a heady cocktail of rage and adrenaline coursing through my system. But it’d been over for a few hours now, the adrenaline had ebbed and I was starting to feel everything.
“Soph, they’re just bruised,” I told her, tightening my hold around her.
“Brad—”
“Trust me; if it was more than that, I’d barely be moving at all right now.”
She took my words in. “Yeah, that’s true. It’s just...I…” She looked away, hiding her face.
I brushed her cheek lightly. “Just what, darlin’?”
“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. He hurt you, because of me.”
“Hey! No, Soph. Look at me.”
She reluctantly did as I asked, her gaze meeting mine. Tears filled her eyes.
“It’s over now. Everything’s fine. This is not your fault. I made the decision to use my fists. The consequences are mine to deal with, not yours.”
In all honesty, I’d been so fucking reckless.
Sure, I’d managed to come out on top, but that was mostly due to the fact that I’d been fighting a bunch of untrained pussies.
I’d had no strategy whatsoever. I’d been running purely on my fucking anger at what that sick bastard had said about my girl. Every move I’d made, every punch I’d thrown, had been completely reactive and in the moment.
“When I saw that knife in his hand, Brad. You don’t even know…I was…I swear, my heart actually stopped beating. If something had happened…if the knife had—”
“Stop,” I said, squeezing her waist. “It’s over now. Okay?”
She blew out a breath and wriggled out of my hold.
She spun around to face me and right away I could see how pissed she was. Uh oh. Here it comes.
She threw her hands up in the air and yelled, “I love you!”
“Darlin’, I know,” I responded uneasily, not sure where she was going with her outburst. All I did know was that it wasn’t somewhere good. No, I was definitely in for it.
“Do you? Do you really, Brad?”
What the fuck?
Before I could get a word in, she continued ranting, “Because you put yourself in a hell of a lot of danger tonight! You didn’t even discuss it with me! You just went right ahead and threw yourself headlong into a fight with three guys! We’re together now! What you do affects both of us, Brad! But what you did tonight didn’t take that into account at all! You acted like you were still single or something!”
“Soph, can we table this until tomorrow?” I asked.
I was exhausted and in enough pain for it to be uncomfortable. It meant my temper was very short and I really didn’t want to risk getting into an argument with my girlfriend when I wasn’t in the best mood. I didn’t have the energy to summon enough patience to take whatever she was about to throw at me without losing my cool and saying some shit I could end up r
egretting.
“No!” she thundered. “We’re talking about this now. I know you. You’ll just keep putting it off otherwise and we’ll never get to have this discussion.”
I sighed heavily. “Look, I hear what you’re saying.”
“You were reckless!”
“I agree.”
Her brow furrowed. “You do?”
“Yeah,” I said, leaning my head back against the wall.
“Then why did you do it?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
I didn’t want to get into all the shit that Jake had been saying about her that had driven me over the edge and resulted in my fist smashing into his pretty boy face.
“That’s not an answer, Brad!”
I lost my cool then and jerked forward in the chair, yelling, “Why do you think? I was defending your fucking honor!” She just kept pushing and pushing. Fuck!
“You were being a caveman again!” she accused.
“Fuck that, Soph! The shit he was saying—no one talks about my girl like that! No one!” I struggled to my feet, gripping the chair arm for support, because my ribs were killing me. “And let me tell you something else: I’d do it again. Any guy disrespects you like that and he’s gonna hear about from me.”
“You’re being ridiculous. Where is your whole no-fight policy now, huh?”
“Tonight was different.”
“Was it now? Please enlighten me. What was so different about it to make you lose your temper after working so hard to control it for the last year, ever since that crap with your dad?”
I slammed my fist into the chair arm and roared, “Because that fucker was hell-bent on laying his hands on you! He’d come to get you, to bring you home with him, so he could beat on you and exert his dominant bullshit over you!”
“What?” she choked.
“No one lays a hand on the woman I love. You got me? No one, Soph. No matter what I have to do, I will fucking protect you. You think I wanted to use my fists tonight? I was fucking scared, okay? Scared that I’d go too far; that I wouldn’t be able to stop. But I risked it, because it was the only thing that asshole would understand. The only thing that’d make damn sure he’d never come sniffing around after you again.”
She was so stunned by my outburst, that she didn’t say anything. She just stared at me, her hands on her hips, as she tried to absorb what I’d just told her.
Someone cleared their throat loudly.
Soph spun around in surprise and I glanced at the door.
I groaned inwardly as I saw Ollie standing there, leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest. Lovely. He’d just heard our heated argument.
Expecting him to give me shit for yelling at his sister, I was surprised when he asked Soph calmly, “Can you give us a moment, sis?”
Her eyes flashed with irritation. “We’re in the middle of something here, Ollie.”
“I heard. Probably best that you go get a coffee, have a smoke and take a breather.”
She blew out a breath. “Fine.” She stomped to the door and stopped just in front of him. “You’re both the same. Cavemen!” she fumed, before storming out of the examination room.
I ran my fingers through my hair in an effort to come down from our argument. Fuck. When the two of us fought, we really fucking went for it. We really knew how to push one another’s buttons.
Ollie chuckled. “I gotta admit, when she gets like that, I’m fucking scared of her.”
“She was just worried.”
“Yeah, she saw you fighting.”
“I know. I was there, Ollie,” I snapped, not in the mood for having a conversation with him.
I was in pain and it was approaching four in the damn morning. And after my argument with Soph, my patience was completely spent.
“No, not at the end. She was standing at the door when I showed up.”
“What?”
“Yeah. She was the one who called me. When I arrived, she was striding towards you and Jake, about to interfere. I stopped her.”
“Fucking hell.”
He leaned against the exam table. “She’s changed. A few months back she would never have risked any shit like that. So shy. So withdrawn. So fragile. She needed my protection, you know?” He crossed his ankles and looked at me. “But tonight, hell, there was no fear there at all. She was fucking ballsy. Confident.” He smiled. “Because of you.”
“What?” Had I heard him right? Was he actually…complimenting me?
“Instead of just doing as I always have and fighting her battles for her—tonight excluded—you taught her. Showed her how to protect herself. You gave her the tools, Brad. And she’s much better for it.”
I shook my head. “I may have taught her how to fight, but the rest was all her. It was always in her. She’s always been a tough little thing. You just never saw it.”
I didn’t want his compliments. He didn’t get it. He was still underestimating Soph. He wasn’t giving her the credit she deserved. He just couldn’t seem to see her for the strong woman she truly was. It always had to come down to others’ influence on her. It was the only way he could see it. And that pissed me the fuck off. She deserved better than that. She deserved everyone seeing the real her.
I watched him mull over my words. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
“I am.” I made no attempt to hide my irritation.
“Look, man. I didn’t come here to pick up where Soph left off and get into an argument with you.”
“Then why did you come here, Ollie?”
“I was worried.”
“She’s fine, just a little freaked out.”
“I meant you.”
I started in surprise. “Me?”
“Yeah, you took a beating tonight from three guys.”
I scoffed. “Come on.”
“Right, yeah. They were pussies, but there were still three of them.”
“I was too angry to give a fuck, Ollie.”
“Thank you, all right?”
“For what?”
He looked me right in the eye then, for the first time since he’d walked into the room. “For defending my sister the way you did. Cassandra showed me the video and I heard what that fucker said about her. I…appreciate it.”
Hell, no. His half-assed attempt at some sort of apology was not flying with me. Too little, too fucking late. “I did it for her. I don’t give a fuck what you think.”
He sighed and headed over to the door. “We’ll talk about this when you’re not so tired and in pain.”
Before I could tell him that wasn’t gonna fucking happen, he walked out.
I slumped back into the chair and pinched the bridge of my nose. What a hellish night.
Chapter 29
~Sophie~
It had been a few days since the Jake incident and Ollie had done a complete turnaround. For one thing, he was talking to me again and he’d dropped his whole standoffish attitude towards me. And the most surprising thing was that he was no longer bad mouthing Brad. In fact, whenever the subject of the two of us came up, he was almost praising him.
As far as I was concerned it was a typical male caveman reaction. He’d watched Brad throw his fists around defending my honor and it’d impressed him enough to transcend his distaste for our relationship. It was so ridiculously primitive. They couldn’t work it out like civilized human beings. No, instead, a physical battle had to be the cure. Argh!
Brad hadn’t backed down since our fight at the hospital. In fact, he was not only adamant that he’d done the right thing, he also planned to do it again if anyone ever disrespected his girl.
While I did appreciate my boyfriend having my back, he’d gone too far.
The actual fighting didn’t bother me as much as the rationale behind it did.
It was a possessive action on his part. And possessiveness meant control. I didn’t want to be controlled.
After Jake, I’d learned my lesson and I didn’t want anyone attempting to
control me again. And Brad was no exception to that. But more and more, that was what I was feeling from him.
The first time I’d noticed it had been his comment about not wanting me to walk into town alone. I’d called him on it then and he’d assured me that he had no intention of controlling me. But then there was his comment about me pacing myself at the fair when he’d seen the beer cup in my hand. And the night of the fight where he’d actually ordered me to stay in his bedroom while he dealt with Jake.
I wasn’t some weak little woman who needed to be told what to do, where to go and when to stay. And I absolutely hated feeling that from him, no matter whether there were good intentions behind it or not. That was how all that bullshit started, just like it had with Jake. I’d let things go too far with that bastard and I wasn’t about to make the same mistake with Brad.
But we were both incredibly stubborn and so, while I’d refused to back down on my end, so had he.
I’d been back at home for the last few days. I’d stayed at Brad’s for that first night, playing nursemaid and making sure he was okay with the injuries he’d sustained. But then I’d taken my stuff and moved back into mine and Ollie’s house.
“You ready, Soph?” Ollie called up the stairs.
“Yeah. One sec,” I called back as I stood in front of the mirror, pulling my hair into a ponytail. I glanced down at myself, checking my appearance. I was wearing black boot-cut pants and my favorite off-the-shoulder gray sweater. Yeah, I was good to go.
I hurried down the stairs to the shoe rack beside the front door. I slipped my feet into my furry black winter boots and tied the laces quickly.
“Here,” Ollie said from beside me suddenly.
I looked to see him holding up my coat and scarf. Smiling, I said, “Thanks.”
He zipped up his puffy winter coat as I sorted myself out.
I snatched my bag off the coat hook and slipped it onto my shoulder. “Ready.”
I opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch steps.
Not paying attention in my haste, I smacked right into a wall of hard muscle.
“Oops. Shit.”
I looked up to see Brad standing there on our porch.
