Page 125 of The Other Guy

“If the foolish shoe fits. Yes, I did.”

He stands up abruptly, knocking his chair over. “I didn’t come here to be insulted. I came to find you, get Toby, and get back home.”

“Well, you wasted your time.”

“I found you, didn’t I?” Suddenly he’s growing agitated once again. He’s balling his fists at his sides and he takes a step toward me. “I was able to find you once. Don’t you think I’ll be able to do it again? Like when you’re out walking Toby without your little boyfriend or your old ass uncle.”

“You been watching me?”

“Like I care enough to watch you. I just know you. Lived together for a while, remember? And I know you like to take him on walks, play fetch at the park for a bit before going back home. Figure you’re living with your uncle because you’re too childish to be able to live on your own. Always having to mooch off others.”

I stand, too, and now we’re nose to nose. “If you’ll remember, I paid my own way with my own money. Have proof of it, too, because I paid you with checks and have those records. So don’t even act all high and mighty about that.”

He pokes a finger at my chest and growls, “Think what you want, darling, but you know as well as I do that you’ll be crawling back to me soon enough. So do us both a favor, stop throwing a fit, and get over this pilgrimage to find yourself so we can get the hell out of this shithole.”

“Did you just poke me?” I ask angrily, grabbing his finger and pushing him away but he yanks me back to him, squeezing my biceps tightly and glaring at me as he shakes me a bit.

“What are you going to do about it?”

“She might not do anything, but I will.” I watch in awe as a woman with short blonde hair jerks Jeff around and promptly kicks him in the balls.

“Holy shit!”

Jeff says something as he curls onto the floor but I can’t make it out.

As he’s writhing on the floor, Jack steps between us, pushing me gently behind him.

“And I will, too.” With a finger pointed in Jeff’s direction, Jack leans close and says menacingly, “Touch her again and you’ll not only answer to Melody, you’ll have to answer to me. And I promise you’ll regret it if you don’t get the fuck out of here. Now.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Jeff asks, groaning.

“I’m the man who understands what he has and won’t let her go. I’m the man you couldn’t or wouldn’t be. Most importantly?” Jack bends down on one knee and grips Jeff by the shirt before he angrily spits out, “I’m the man who will rip your fucking throat out if you touch the woman I love again. Don’t even think about coming near her or contacting her again, you piece of shit.”

“Holy shit,” I breathe out as Jack stands back up and pulls me into his arms.

“You okay?”

I nod. “I’m okay. Did you see that lady? She just took him out! I was about to do the same but she beat me to it.”

He smiles. “That’s my student for self-defense classes. Melody. She walked into the bar just as I stood up to step in. I was letting you do your thing because it looked like you had it handled and it was good for you to do that. But when I saw him poke you, I was done. I took a step forward and she flew past me, pushed me out of the way, and said ‘allow me’ and… well, you see how that turned out.”

“That was awesome.” I turn to where Melody is still standing over Jeff, reading him the riot act. When she seems finished and walks away, I introduce myself. “Hi, Melody, I’m Sierra. What you did? Thank you.”

“Hi, Sierra. Sorry if I took your fun from ya, but I couldn’t stand there and watch Jeff do that to you. He’s a jerk with a capital J.”

“You know him?”

“Unfortunately.”

She goes on to tell us how they met in a bar a few months ago and he gave her the wrong number, she texted some guy who apologized and told her that it’d been happening to a lot of people lately.

I stand with my jaw dropped, Jack looking similar to me.

He chuckles, shaking his head in disbelief. “Holy shit. Karma, man. What a bitch it is.”

“Sorry?” Melody asks.

We step over Jeff and I resist the urge to kick him in the gut for good measure. Kyle comes out of the back room. He looks at us and smiles, down to the floor and back to us. “What the heck happened?”

“Oh, Uncle Kyle… you’d never guess.”

“I’m still a little confused myself,” Melody admits.

“We need to order more drinks for this story,” Jack says, leading us to the table as Kyle drags Jeff off the floor.

“You tell me the story after I take the trash out.” Kyle takes Jeff by the arm and pushes him through the door.

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