In Another Life

29

Unfortunately, their backs were to me, and the music was too loud for them to hear me. Fucking hell. I tried to twist away again and his fingers bit into the flesh of my waist roughly. Fuck this. Asshole thinks he has a right to put his hands on me this way, just because we were dancing? Hell no! I twisted again, hard, feeling his nails tear my skin as I snatched out of his grasp and turned to face him. My arm came swinging up, my open palm connecting with his face in a loud crack. His own hand came up to cup his cheek as his eyes filled with rage. "You fucking bitch!" he growled, reaching for me again. I backed up, and stumbled into someone, almost falling over. Once again, I felt familiar hands on me, this time on the bare skin of my midriff, the cool steel of his rings pressing into my waist. "Careful. Are you okay Princess?" That voice. Those words. I jerked around, leaving my back exposed to the asshole, to let my eyes trail over the combat boots, up the black pants with the familiar chain, to the long sleeve blue and white sweater that I hadn't seen before. His chains hung down as they always did, his rings glinting on his fingers. I let my gaze travel up more, over his lips to his worried, but hard blue gaze. While I had turned around, his hands had stayed on my skin, the warmth of them burning into my flesh, making me very aware of it. "I'm fine," I breathed out. "She's a fucking tease is what she is. The bitch fucking slapped me for no reason. You need to teach ya girl some manners." The gravely voice from behind me sparked my anger, that the shock from seeing Colby had temporarily calmed. I whirled back around, opening my mouth to say exactly what manners I had learned, when I felt one of those hands grab my wrist. I had subconsciously raised my hand again. I guess I was going to hit the guy one more time. I looked back at Colby but he wasn't looking at me. Instead, his steel blue gaze was fixed on the jerk. I almost flinched back from him. The look in his eyes had me thanking God that I wasn't on the receiving end of it. He pulled me back away from the guy, and pushed me gently into Sam, who I hadn't noticed was standing behind him. They all were. The entire gang had just witness what had happened. Wonderful. Sam took me from Colby and wrapped his arm around my waist, holding me in place. I wasn't sure if it was for comfort, or because he thought I was going to go after the guy again. Brennen came up to stand on my other side and I felt like I had my own personal entourage...it was slightly embarrassing but comforting. "You should learn some manners yourself," Colby replied, stepping closer to the guy. The guy probably had a couple of inches of height on Colby, but he backed up a touch. "Looked to me like you were trying to do more than dance and she didn't want that. When a woman says no, it means no." The guy lifted his lips in a silent snarl at Colby, before replying. "She wanted it, or she wouldn't have been pressing her ass all against my dick." The rage soared up in my chest, and I stepped towards him. "You fucking lying ass-" Sam yanked me back by my waist, and Brennen took hold of my arm. They were fucking holding me in place. "Let him handle this," Brennen murmured. Colby smirked at the guy, like he thought he was funny, but the glint was still in his eyes. "You should watch your mouth before I-" "Hey, what's going on?" Denise came running up to us then, the guy she had been dancing with beside her. The jerk's friend. "Your friend is a cunt, that's what," the guy spat out, looking to his friend for back up. "I was dancing with her and she slapped me for nothing." "That's a lie!" I screamed, pulling against the hold that the guys had on me. Denise shook her head, as the rest of my friends and the guy's friends came up behind her. "She wouldn't do that for no reason. T, what happened?" "We'll talk about it later. For now, I want this asshole to leave," Colby said, never taking his eyes off of the guy. The guy had his friends around now so he just smirked right back at him. "You can't make me leave. Public property. I have every right to be here as you." Colby nodded. "You're right. You did. Now you don't. You can leave, or I make you leave. Your call." The guy snorted, and looked behind Colby to his few friends then over to his bigger group of friends. "I think we can take you. I don't think you can make me go anywhere," he replied, stepping towards Colby. I saw Colby's fist clench. "Colby, don't. You're in Florida. You don't need to be arrested for fighting. I can handle this," I begged, pulling against Sam and Brennen again. "Brother, she's right. There are other ways to deal with this," Sam, always the level headed one, replied. Jake pulled Tara up close to us, on the other side of Sam, and gave her a look that said to stay there. Then he walked off, into the crowd towards the bar. I didn't know where he was going, but really? Now was not the time to leave! "No one is going to jail," one of his friends replied, stepping forwards. "We don't want any problems, just wanted to have a fun night out while we were in town. Steve, why do you always have to get drunk and fuck shit up? You're not coming next time." The jerk's, Steve's, mouth fell open in shock. "I didn't even do anything! You're really gonna take these douche bags word over mine?!" Then he walked over to Colby, and put his hand on his shoulder. Colby never looked away from the guy. "This is all her fault!" Steve yelled, pointing at me.