Page 68 of Between Brothers

Chapter 28

Blue

We pulled up at the diner and had no idea what we would be walking into… I was real glad it was a Friday night and we’d decided to grab a bite and see our girl rather than stick around after church.

I was the first through the door and I froze, Hayley struggling in some prep school motherfucker’s arms that couldn’t have been more than nineteen or twenty by the looks of him, but was more than likely over the age of twenty-one by the smell of him and his buddies. Cell crashed into the back of me and I took a halting step forward and looked back at him.

His eyes had gone that flat dead brown that meant grievous bodily harm was in someone’s future and I didn’t even bother to yank on his leash. He whistled sharply to break up the party and looked at the four at the table.

“You’ve got less than two seconds to get your damn hands off our girl,” he grated and gave them a thousand yard stare that meant bad things were about to happen.

I could count on one hand and have fingers left over the number of times I’d seen that look and somebody didn’t die.

“Don’t kill them, but hurt them,” I commented dryly and Cell shot back, “I do what I want, little boy Blue.”

He grabbed Hayley by the hand and flung her past him into the safety of my arms. Cell was a fast motherfucker, and as he’d pulled her past him, he’d used the other hand to pick up a fork off the table. The rich mutt that’d had his hand up our girl’s skirt made a fatal mistake then. He put his hand flat on the table to get up from his seated position. Cell, savage fucker that he is, capitalized on the moment and crucified the kid’s hand, slamming the fork tines through the back of his hand into the top of the Formica table.

Hayley, face tear stained and body trembling in my own, jumped and struggled to turn her head in Cell’s direction but I held her fast, murmuring into her hair that it was alright. Cell had this shit under control. There were only four of them…

As soon as the kid screamed, Cell leaned in and clapped a hand over his mouth. He put his face less than an inch from the kid’s and said, “I said less than two seconds motherfucker, your time was up.”

The kid wasn’t so tough anymore, and the boys with him were positively ashen. One of them losing his dinner right there at the table at the sight of the blood leaking out of his leader’s hand.

“The rest of you might want to get the fuck out,” Cell said, voice low and controlled. “Now!” he barked.

The one behind red polo was the only smart one out of the four of them. He stood up, vaulted the back of the booth over into the next one, and fell all over himself to get the fuck out of there.

“I’m gonna teach you boys a valuable lesson.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” The built one in a blue and white rugby shirt demanded. He was a match for Cell in size but not in experience, or cunning.

“Never touch another man’s property.”

Cell smashed his forehead into the kid’s with the red polo and the kid dropped like a fucking stone. Hayley shrieked, and I pulled her back, away from the fight, just as a kid in a green polo threw a punch at Cell’s head.

Cell leaned to a side, the kid’s fist sailed by, and Cell lobbed a knee right into the kid’s nads. The kid crumbled and the one that might actually cause Cell a problem caught Cell right in the mouth. I shook my head. He shouldn’t have done that and the reason why was apparent. Cell’s head snapped to the side and Cell brought it back. I couldn’t see Cell’s face, but I didn’t need to. I knew the rictus grin he had going on. I also knew that it was probably bloody and therefore even more terrifying.

This kid was dumb like ox but strong like bull. He and Cell threw down, but Cell still made short work of him. It was a just and fair asswhoopin’ by Duracell’s standards. He was in control tonight, and didn’t even come close to losing it. He stopped all on his own with no need for me to interfere… that’s how I knew.

When the cops burst through the diner doors, he automatically dropped to his knees, lacing his fingers behind his head. Hayley screamed out, and pushed off of me and I let her go. She fell to her knees in front of him as the cops started to cuff him up and clung to him, her arms around his neck.

The cops backed off confused and looked at me and it was Hayley’s dad who spoke up from the kitchen.

“No, officers, you’ve got the wrong guy. He’s the one that stopped them from hurting my little girl.” Jake stabbed a finger at the kid in the red polo, “That little bastard sexually assaulted my daughter, these men stopped them.”

I stood, powerless for this part of things, adrenaline raging through my system, and made eye contact with Cell who was smirking at me over Hayley’s shoulder. He turned his head and kissed her temple and said, “It’s okay, darlin’. Go with Blue, let him look after you.”

And he was right. Cell did the heavy lifting, I did the rational explaining and emotional clean up… it was us; how we worked, and I was ready to do my part in things. I shook myself as if coming awake and put myself into action, kneeling down behind Hayley and pulling her back against me.

She was scared, and shaking. The adrenaline wearing off, her system crashing; her eyes leaking tears she couldn’t control causing her makeup to run in muddy tracks down her cheeks.

“Take her home, bro,” Cell said grimly, while Hayley’s dad stood to one side, talking in earnest with one of the Sherriff’s deputy’s.

“Alright, come over here and sit until we get this sorted out.” The deputy who’d put Cell into cuffs, led him over to the lunch counter and helped get him seated onto one of the stools.

“Ma’am, can I ask you some questions?”

Hayley looked up at the deputy from where she’d been staring at Cell and nodded finally once his words sank in.

---