Page 40 of Back To You

“Seriously?” the guy says to her as I approach. “You really have to show your mediocre tits to get some attention?”

“I’m not showing them off, Jett,” Ava answers, and her eyes dart to me. Her voice is small as if she is embarrassed that I heard the exchange.

“Ava?” I politely interject, “I need you back behind the bar.”And away from this guy, I think to myself.

“Fuck off, man. We’re in the middle of a conversation.” I don’t know how many beers Ava served him, or if he was drinking before he got here, but I can hear the slight slur in his words. He turns back to Ava. “Seriously, why are you dressed like such a slut?”

“Hey,” I say, my voice taking on a harder tone. “Don’t talk to her like that.” Whether she was covered from head to toe or dressed how she is now in her Lenny’s tank top and jeans, I think this dick would find any excuse to insult the girl.

“I said, ‘fuck off’. This is between me and my girlfriend.” He pushes his arm out towards me, and I let him push me back a foot or two. I’ve handled worse drunken spats at the bar during my time at Lenny’s, and I don’t care to play “who's more macho” in these types of scenarios.

I hold my hands up, and try one more time. “I think it’s time for you to go. Ava, I need you back behind the bar.”

It’s like my words went in one ear and out the other. Ava looks like she’s about to cry, yet her boyfriend just doesn’t let up.

“Is this fuck the reason you’re dressed like that?”

I’m two seconds away from throwing my hands up and letting the cops deal with this when a voice from behind me chimes in, and it doesn’t look like we’re getting out of this the easy way.

“So you’re mad your girlfriend hastits?” I hear the familiar voice behind me, and she doesn’t sound happy. “Your hot-ass girlfriend can’t wear a shirt that, god-forbid, shows an inch of cleavage? You’rethatinsecure?”

“Annie,” I say, and she shoots me a look. I hold my hands up in surrender and would wish mercy on Jett if he wasn’t such an asshole.

Jett looks Annie up and down, and I know he just signed his own death warrant.

He shrugs his shoulders, a nasty smirk on his face. “Takes a slut to know a slut.”

Annie’s head falls back as she puts a hand on her stomach to dramatize a cackle that our boy, Jett, was not expecting. Ava is soft-spoken, quiet. She kind of reminds me how Annie used to be. Jett is used to being able to say whatever he wants to a girl who will just take it.

He’s in for a wild ride.

“Good one. I’ve never heard a ‘slut’ comeback before. What’s next? I’m fat? Ugly?”

“You look like you hear those a lot already,” he retorts, a slimy, satisfied grin on his face. Jett has to be in thirties, and Ava is, at the most, my age. The look on his face shows his age at the same time it shows his true colors, and I hope Ava sees them.

“Ooo, burn,” Annie teases. “You proud of that one? It must have taken a lot of brainpower.”

I have to mask my chuckle with a cough in my fist, as Jett stands up, only having a few inches on Annie but absolutely none on me. I know Annie doesn’t want me stepping in, but I’m here if she changes her mind.

He leans a few inches from her face, his fully-poured beer in his hand. “Watch your mouth. Wouldn’t wanna see you get hurt.”

Annie doesn’t back away, her voice hard. “Is that a threat?”

“Why don’t you keep talking, and we’ll find out.” Jett’s grin only widens as if he’s enjoying all of this. He doesn’t say anything else, but I see his arm move before I can pull Annie out of the way.

The prick fucking throws his drink all over Annie, beer coating her white tank top and trousers she wore to work today.

Her mouth is open, forming an “O”. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this mad—and that is saying something.Jett’s face twists to mine, and he utters his famous last words. “Control your girl.”

This time it’s my turn to laugh. “Dude, you have no idea what you just did.” And before he can look back at where Annie is standing, she’s gone.

Annie is passing by the booth of college kids, grabbing one of their bats from their bags and storming out the front door.

Realization must hit Jett at the same time it hits the rest of us because it turns into a race to get out the door. Mia and Eddie are the first ones out the door behind Annie, me, Jett, and Ava right behind them. Emmett, with a protective arm around Drew and Lennon, catches up with us by the time we get outside—along with the rest of the bar.

And what a sight we find.

Annie is already at theonlywhite truck in the parking lot, swinging the bat in her hands. The first crack of the windshield sends a shiver up my spine, and we all watch as she continues, a devious smile on her face as she destroys Jett’s prized possession.

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