Page 67 of Rebel

I tracked her progress while mechanically filling a beer glass from the tap.She stumbled slightly, caught herself against a chair, and continued her determined path toward my man.The possessiveness that surged through me was primal and immediate.I didn’t think -- I reacted.

“Hey.”I shoved the half-filled beer at the waiting brother and vaulted over the bar in one fluid motion.The man shouted something, but I was already moving through the crowd, shoving bodies aside without apology.

The girl reached Rebel before I could intercept her.I watched her press herself against him, one hand on his chest, the other sliding up to touch his face.Her lips moved, saying something I couldn’t hear over the music.Rebel’s expression didn’t change, but he didn’t move away either.

Red filled my vision.I grabbed the girl’s shoulder, spinning her around to face me.

“What the fuck?”she slurred, eyes struggling to focus.

I didn’t waste time with words.My fist connected with her jaw, sending her staggering backward into a table.Glasses crashed to the floor.The music kept playing but conversations around us died as heads turned toward the commotion.

The girl touched her face, shock momentarily overriding her drunkenness.“You crazy bitch!”

I grabbed her arm, my fingers digging in hard enough to bruise, and dragged her toward the exit.She tried to resist, her feet scrabbling against the sticky floor, but she was too drunk and I was too angry for her to stand a chance.

“Rio.”Rebel’s voice behind me, a question and a warning all at once.

I didn’t stop or look back.“Got this.”

No one moved to intervene as I hauled the struggling girl through the door and onto the clubhouse porch.The cool night air hit me like a slap but did nothing to dampen the rage pounding through my veins.

I slammed her against the wall, her head bouncing off it with a dullthud.She tried to claw at my face, but her movements were sluggish and uncoordinated.I stepped back just enough to give myself room, then swung again, harder this time.My knuckles crunched against her cheekbone.Her eyes rolled back, and she slid down the wall, unconscious before she hit the ground.

I stood over her, breathing hard, my hand throbbing.Part of me wanted to kick her while she was down, but I reined it in.She’d gotten the message.No need to overdo it.

I used the bottom of my shirt to wipe blood off my knuckles, unsure if it was hers or mine.Didn’t matter.What mattered was that everyone in that clubhouse was about to understand exactly where things stood.

I left her crumpled where she lay and walked back inside.The music was still playing but had been turned down a notch.Every eye tracked me as I strode through the room, past Rebel, and back behind the bar.I could feel him watching me, could sense his tension without having to look.

I grabbed a bottle of whiskey, took a long pull straight from it, then slammed it down on the bar top.The sound cracked through the relative quiet.

“Rebel is hands off,” I announced, my voice carrying easily in the hushed room.“Next bitch who touches him loses more than consciousness.We clear?”

The silence held for one beat, two.Then someone -- Gator, I think -- chuckled.It broke the tension, and the room gradually returned to normal volume as conversations resumed and attention shifted away from me.

I busied myself cleaning up the area behind the bar, not looking up when I sensed Rebel’s approach.He leaned against the counter, waiting until I finally met his eyes.

“That was interesting,” he said, his voice neutral, but his eyes dancing with something that looked suspiciously like pride.

I shrugged.“She was drunk.”

“So are half the people here.”

“She touched what’s mine.”

A slow smile spread across his face.“That right?”

“Don’t act surprised.”I reached for another bottle, needing something to do with my hands.“I don’t share.”

Rebel caught my wrist, turning it to examine my bruised knuckles.His thumb gently traced the broken skin.

“Should get some ice on this,” he said.

“It’s fine.”

“Didn’t say it wasn’t.”He released my wrist but stayed where he was.“You know you didn’t have to do that, right?”

I finally looked at him directly.“Yes, I did.”

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