Page 2 of One More Bad Boy

“I was just having some fucking fun, okay?" His hands went up, fingers spreading. He wanted to look innocent. "Is fun not allowed?"

The tea squished in my sock when I stepped forward. "Walk out now, Murdoch, or else.”

There—the first hint of danger burned in his stare. "You're threatening me?" Laughing without humor, he stood up so that his chair scraped loudly over the floor. If everyone in the café hadn't been watching, they were now. "No little slut threatens me."

Korine went from nervous to furious. "What did you call her?"

"Look at your outfits!" He gestured at her, then me. "Haven't you ever watched any anime? Explored around on PornHub? You're wearing collars and cat ears! You girls are walking wet dreams, so yeah,sorryif I got too close to you. I couldn't help myself, take that as a compliment, sweet-cheeks."

She was as pissed as I was, but I still hoped to resolve this peacefully. I'd seen Murdoch's violent side. I knew he was a loose cannon. "Get out. Right now. I don't want you here."

His arms jerked wildly as he pointed at himself. "I don't have to go anywhere!" Stomping forward, he loomed over me, not noticing the white cat.

"Be careful!" I screamed.

Ignoring me, Murdoch kicked his foot out. The cat dodged as much as possible, but the scuffed-up boot bumped its haunches before it jumped aside. Its shocked cry cut through every layer of my fear. I didn't care if this man was bigger. I didn't care that he was unstable.

Never,ever,would I let someone hurt an innocent animal like that.

No fucking way.

His eyes went wide; he hadn't expected me to rush forward, gripping him by his hair. "What the hell?!" he shouted, losing his balance as I yanked him towards the door. Adrenaline fueled my strength, letting me wrestle a much bigger man through the front door of the shop.

I kicked him out onto the sidewalk. "Get the hell out of here!"

He landed hard, the knees of his denim jeans tearing. Despite his ballsy attitude moments ago, he sat on his ass and just gawked up at me. Sweat slid down his pale face—his tongue darted over his lips nervously.

I wished he'd looked as pitiful when I'd caught him cheating on me.

Without another word, he spun around and limped away.

The customers and my coworkers were silent. I hurried to look for the cat. It was sitting in Korine's arms, so content you wouldn't guess it'd been kicked.

"Daaaamn, girl," Korine breathed.

Her admiration brought me back to earth. Blinking, I rubbed at my pink cheeks. "Stop looking at me like that.”

In response, she started to clap. A few of the customers joined in, ignoring me as I urged them to quit. I was beyond embarrassed by the attention. It took a few minutes for everyone to calm down. Nana, another coworker, wiped up the glass and tea. Korine pulled me into the storage room, passing me the cat as she did so. "That was awesome! You kicked Murdoch's ass!"

Cuddling the cat, I rubbed between its ears. "I didn't want to, but he was being... well, an asshole. Like usual."

"I can't believe you dated him."

“I can't believe he showed up here.”

“Take that as a reminder.” She waved a glossy pink nail in my face. “No more messing around with bad boys, okay?”

I laughed with some chagrin. “I promised you before.”

“Promise me again!”

“Right, right.” I laid a palm flat over my heart. “No more bad boys.”

“No matter how sexy, or funny, or darkly intriguing they are.”

“Not even if they sweat chocolate.” Murdoch was the last in my long line of bad dating decisions, I was set on that.

She grimaced, shaking herself like there were spiders crawling on her skin. "Ugh. I'm pretty sure he was trying to flirt with me. How gross." She dug into one of the many boxes in the small space. Peeking at me over her shoulder, she lifted something long, white, and fuzzy. "Since we're back here anyway..."

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