Page 124 of On Merit Alone
“She’s a little over buzzed, man, and she has five girls watching her back right now.Chill.”
It took a second, but I realized they were right. Merit did have friends around, on the dance floor, at the bar, and here at this table. She was safe. But that didn't mean I liked her being chatted up by some guys who were clearly into her.
They tried to get me to settle back into my spot, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off the bar. The guy had noticeably stepped closer to her. She was sitting, but he stayed on his feet. To hear somethingshe said, he leaned his big head down into her space, way too close to her if you asked me, letting her talk into his ear. It was when his hand dropped to her bare arm that I moved.
Fuck this.
Behind me, I could hear the sound of my friends' laughter. They joked how I’d barely lasted fifteen minutes. I didn’t care. They could call me pathetic or whipped if they wanted, but what was not going to happen was some other guy touching all over her. Nope, no way in hell.
“—name is Nick. Nice to meet you, honey,” I caught him saying as I slid up behind Merit in her seat.
She didn’t notice me, which made my jaw ache as I clenched it tighter.
To him she said, “I’m?—”
“Taken,” I interrupted. “That's all you need to know.”
Two eyes lifted up to me, but I didn’t pay them any mind. Instead, I removed the drink from Merit’s fingers and set it along the bar. I was ready to physically remove Merit if I had to at this point, but the sound of an astonished guffaw caught my attention before I had a chance to.
“Holy shit!” the guy sputtered. “Y-you’re Ira King!”
Just then I noticed that he was still touching her arm and my nose flared. I took a step forward and pointed to the hand he apparently wanted to lose. “Yeah, and this is my girl your hands are all over,as I just said. So maybe, get the fuck off now?”
“Oh,” the guy said, hands raising in the air suddenly like he just touched something hot. “Sorry man, didn't know.”
“Now you do.”
“Can I—can I get an autograph?”
“No.”
“Ira,” a slow voice said from the seat in front of my chest. I looked down at her head, but she hadn’t looked at me since I appeared. She had to be fucking kidding. “Be nice.”
“I don’t have a pen,” I said dryly, still glaring at the guy. He seemed to catch on, his eyes flicking from Merit to me, before he winced.
“Never mind, I’m just going to—yeah.” And then he was scampering away, only looking back over his shoulder once before disappearing into the crowd.
A soft giggling noise tore my attention away from staring down the guy and I reached down to turn Merit around in her seat. She was laughing with her eyes closed lightly, her smile lazy and drugged.
I raised my eyebrows at her. “Oh, you think this is funny?”
Still laughing, she nodded. I raised my hand to tip her face toward me. This was a beautiful thing—her smiling, laughing,happy—and it instantly melted away all my frustration from earlier.
“How drunk are you right now?” I asked.
Another giggle. I swear I’d never heard so many since I met her, which was honestly answer enough. “I’m having fun.”
I couldn’t help the smirk that pulled at one corner of my mouth as I leaned in, inspecting her face. “Yeah, I bet you are. Where’s your phone, baby?”
Popping up, she stood unsteady on her feet and I used my grip on her elbow to steady her. As she patted around her person, I slapped some bills on the bar and ordered a water real quick.
Merit turned to face me. “I think Em took it.”
“Em, huh?” I said, as I grabbed the water while keeping a steadying hand on her. “Introduce me?”
Her eyes lit up. She looked so excited before something else crossed over her face. “But aren’t we fighting?”
Behind her I placed a kiss to the side of her head and said, “You can fight me as long as you want, baby. But I want to meet whoever took care of my girl, alright?”
