Page 6 of Wicked Bite
He dragged his arrrrrr out, like they always did with that harsh Boston accent. Masshole. “I’m working my way to you, sir.”
“You’re working your way to pretty boy over there.” He shoved his way closer to the bar, knocking people out of his way. “Now do I get my drink or what?”
Dice glanced from me to him and back again. She took a step toward him, and I grabbed her arm and yanked her back. She might’ve been tiny, but she had no problems cutting a dude like this. I pulled her to me then pushed her toward the patrons in the other direction. “Go help them.”
We didn’t need a bar fight on our hands, not on a crowded night like this. Not when there was a sizzling undertone to it all. “I’ll get to you in a moment.”
Three other people glared at him, and I knew they, too, were getting annoyed with his sweaty body hovering close. “What, like you’re getting to him over there?”
“Oi, that’s hardly necessary there, mate.” Grayson took a sip of his drink and placed it on the bar. “The lady said she’d get to you. So stop acting like a stroppy cow and piss off.”
The guy’s arm whipped out and he hurled the empty beer bottle at Grayson’s face. Without blinking an eye, Grayson caught the bottle before it hit his face and a collective gasp sounded. Grayson tossed the bottle up and down, repeatedly catching it. “Have we forgotten our manners?”
The guy snatched a bottle from the woman standing next to him and chucked it toward me. Beer flew from the bottle in a circular arch, spraying everyone. Grayson’s arm shot out and he leaned across the bar, catching the bottle a moment before it hit my cheek. I froze, staring at it for barely a second before taking it from his hand. I pointed the bottle at the belligerent guy.
“You, out now!” I waved toward the door.
“Not till I get my drink.” He slammed his fist down on the bar. Patrons all turned toward the two of us, watching me go back and forth with this man, and I wasn’t going to do it.
“It’d be a pleasure to escort that out for you.” Grayson’s smile was relaxed and composed. Like taking on someone who was a good five inches taller and sixty pounds heavier wasn’t a problem.
I glanced from him to the guy and back again. “Nah, I think the bouncer would be better.”
I went up on my tiptoes trying to spot them through the crowd and couldn’t. It was madness. They were turning people away at the door now, and there wasn’t a place to stand. The hum was something out of a movie, and I felt the shift in the air. I looked to the left then to the right and couldn’t pick out one of my co-workers. Grayson followed my gaze then caught my eyes.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.” His words were so calm, so sure, like he’d done this a million times before.
“You in the habit of starting fights?” I nodded toward the guy as he banged on the bar once more.
“I’m in the habit of finishing them.”
The man snatched a glass off the countertop, and suddenly Sav was right next to him. He wrapped his hand around the man’s wrist and pulled it back. His face was deadly serious as the man lifted his other hand into a fist. Sav didn’t miss a beat. He slammed the man’s hand onto the bar, breaking the glass in his fist. Blood poured and the man hollered in pain.
Grayson clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Pity, he beat me to it. Shame that is, really.”
Sav shoved him back from the bar and the man crashed into a table, knocking several people to the ground. They fell like dominoes one after the other. Drinks spilled, and people cursed as they shoved each other away. The shoving turned into fists, and suddenly the crowd erupted into chaos. Grayson dove on the other side of the bar to stand next to me. Bottles flew toward us. He was some kind of ninja, catching them and tossing them in the trash as if it were his job. I stepped in front of the cash register. This wasn’t my first bar fight, and I knew where they went next: after the booze and after the cash.
Dice hurried to my side. “And we were going to make a killing tonight.”
“I know, right.” The sound of shattered glasses filled the air, and people ran for the door while others joined in the brawl. Chairs scraped the ground, and alcohol soaked the walls and floor. Two college-aged guys began to climb over the bar, and Grayson stepped in front of them.
“Oi, what do you lot think you’re doing?”
They kept coming. His hands shot out and he shoved them both in the chest at the same time. They tumbled off the top of the bar and fell back into the mayhem. “Piss off.”
From the corner of my eye, I spotted Sav leaning up against a table with a drink in his hand. He took a sip and watched the melee with a bemused look on his face. If anyone came toward him, he just shoved then to the side or stepped away, only to go back to the same spot.
“Your friend seems fine.”
“He’s seen some things.” Grayson turned to a girl who reached over the bar for a bottle. He gave a sharp whistle. “Don’t make me come over there.”
She dropped the bottle back into the bar rack and ducked into the crowd, disappearing. Three men hopped over the bar at the same time. One grabbed a bottle and smashed the end of it on the bar and held it as if he was going to charge Grayson.
“You might want to rethink that one, mate.” He shook his head. The guy charged, and Grayson sighed. “Or not.”
The man thrust his arm forward aiming for Grayson’s ribs. Grayson spun to the side and ducked under the man’s arm then threw his elbow back. Air whooshed from the man’s lungs, and he flew off his feet and slammed to the side of the bar. Before the second one could even move, Grayson shoved his shoulder into his ribs like a defensive end tackling a quarterback. He rammed him back then threw him over his shoulder. He turned and tossed him over the bar at two other guys trying to climb over. They all fell to the ground like bowling pins.
He was so strong and yet didn’t have the bulk of a body builder. He was sleek and muscular yet so easygoing. Like this was nothing: the alcohol flying everywhere was nothing, the fight was nothing, and another guy charging at him from behind was nothing.
