Page 59 of Brother In Arms

Chapter 21

Rush

I almost turned around and went back down the porch steps when I saw them through the fucking window. It hit me in the center of the chest like a blow from a hammer. My first instinct was fuck she’s been playing you all along but then I saw her hands, pressed against the wood, palms down as she tried to push away from him. He put one hand in the center of her chest, between her breasts and went for his belt as she tried to get away and I’d seen enough.

I tried the front door but it was locked, like that was going to keep me from getting to her. I hauled back and kicked that fucker clean off its hinges, the doorframe exploding into slivers and shards of wood. I moved in and I brought the fires of hell with me. Dude put up his hands to fend me off. Aw yeah, it was a lot fuckin’ different when you weren’t the biggest dog in the fuckin’ yard anymore, wasn’t it?

I let fly and put my fist right into the bastard’s face. Then I did it again, and I was going to keep doing it, if Bailey hadn’t stopped me. I stood up, chest heaving and spit on his unconscious fuckin’ ass before I turned to my girl. She stared at me, skin ashen, brown eyes way too wide and her sweet mouth slightly agape.

“You alright?” I demanded.

“Are you?” she demanded back.

“Yeah.” I pulled my piece out of the back of my pants and pointed it at him.

“Say the word and I’ll pull the trigger, baby.”

She stared at me, the wheels and gears clicking and whirring. She shook her head and I put up my gun and pulled out my burner phone instead.

“Who are you calling, the police?” she asked.

I snorted, “Fuck no, I’m calling the cavalry,” I said. Dragon picked up on the first ring and without preamble I said, “Dragon, its Rush, we got a situation. Bring the crash truck.”

“Dead body?” he asked and didn’t sound the least bit grim more like he was asking the status of the weather out here.

“Not yet, gonna be though.”

“Bailey alright?”

I looked her over and said, “Shocky, but yeah, she’s a tough cookie.”

“On our way.”

“Thanks, man.”

I hung up the old school flip phone and shoved it back in my pocket. Bailey was pouring a bourbon, her hand shaking so bad she slopped half of it on the counter. She lifted the glass and downed what she managed to get in it in one shot.

She was staring at the douchebag’s unconscious body and I stepped over it. I went to her and pulled her into my arms, tucking her head under my chin. I pressed her into my chest and her arms went around my waist. She trembled against me and I sighed.

“It’s okay, baby. You ain’t got to be strong over this one. You do what you need to do. I’m here, let me be the strong one this time.”

It was like she needed permission or something and once granted she sagged against my chest and just lost her shit. As far as girls losing their shit went, I would take Bailey over just any broad any day. It started with a broken sob at first as she turned her face away from the mess I made on her dining room floor. She buried it into the front of my tee shirt and clung to me.

She cried, sure, but they were these tiny, heart wrenching, hiccupping sobs, not the great bawling mess I was accustomed to out of most women. No screaming, no theatrics, she just clung to me and wept as quietly as she could. It felt as if her heart had been shattered in a million fuckin’ pieces and I couldn’t be sure it hadn’t. I didn’t know who the guy was, I didn’t care. He really was a dead man, you didn’t put hands on Sacred Hearts property like that and live, and make no mistake; Bailey was mine. I think this shit just clinched it.

By the time Dray stepped through the ruin of the front door the storm had passed and Bailey just stared mutely, dispassionately at the groaning pretty boy on her floor who wasn’t so fuckin’ pretty anymore. She wouldn’t let me go, and I was okay with that, her arms tight around my waist, her smaller figure pressed tight into the protection of my larger frame.

“Who is this guy and what the fuck happened?” Dray demanded.

“Ken Sias, my brother’s best friend; I thought one of my friends…” she shut her mouth and bit her lips together, taking in a deep breath through her nose and letting it out slowly.

Dragon who’d come in after Dray stared down at the dude, face neutral and asked, “What’d he do to deserve this treatment?”

Bailey didn’t answer so I did for her, “Put his hands on her.” Dragon’s mouth turned down and he surveyed the damage, finally giving a little nod.

“Good work,” he said dryly.

“What do you want to do with him?” Dray asked.

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