Page 57 of The Catcher

I started instinctively forward to try to put a stop to it and Dex elbowed me in the face.

“Get out of here, bitch.”

I stumbled back against the bar counter, tripping over my own feet and tumbling into a stool, luckily managing to slide to the ground and not hurt myself.

Then something shorted a fuse and the entire bar was plunged into darkness.

I felt a sudden horrified terror as people began madly stampeding for the exits around me, stumbling over me and stepping painfully on my toes. I backed up, curling around one of the stools, desperately trying to avoid being trampled.

My stomach clenched with fear and I thought it again.

I wish Tanner was here.

Then, with relief, I miraculously heard his voice.

“Em!” he shouted, arrogant and expecting to be obeyed.

“I’m over here,” I croaked, but my voice was so tiny and squeaky I didn’t think he could hear me.

“Tanner!”

He shoved aside several stampeding figures, sending them crashing noisily into other bars and tables, and he knelt in front of me.

My eye was already quite painful and swollen, and I gently probed where Dex had elbowed me.

“Who did this to you?” Tanner asked, the rage flashing in his eyes. They looked like chipped granite.

I started crying.

“Baby, it’s ok,” Tanner said, his hands surprisingly gentle on me, drawing me into his arms. “Just tell me what happened.”

When I did, he picked me carefully up and brought me out to the hallway, dragging Steak with him.

“Stay with her,” he ordered, then he disappeared down the hallway.

“Poor bastard,” Steak said. “He’s going to hate that he can’t pitch for the pivotal game tomorrow,” and I looked past him to see Tre on the ground, cradling his arm that seemed to hang at a sickening angle from his body. I heard sirens begin to sound in the distance.

By the time I remembered Tanner absolutely shouldn’t be left alone, he had disappeared.

I raced after him, my heart in my throat, trying doors randomly.

Shit. I couldn’t let Tanner go to jail this close to the end of the season.

One of the doors finally opened, and I looked wildly in both directions.

Nothing to the right.

I whipped my head around.

At the end of the alleyway to my left was a figure I recognize very well. I’d know those broad shoulders anywhere, that lean cocky set of his neck, and the black hair that blended into the shadows.

There were four men on him, and I raced down the alleyway, heedless of danger.

“Tanner!” I cried, grabbing a brick that had fallen off the bar.

When I got closer, I saw him slam someone against the brick wall, and realized it was Dex. Dex with a broken nose and bloody eyes. Tanner had his big fingers around Dex’s throat and it looked like he was squeezing the life out of him. There was a smear a blood on the wall behind Dex and when Tanner turned toward me there was a smear of blood across his face too, making him look even more savage and untamed.

The other players on the opposing team were slumped against the wall or on the ground.

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