“Is he bothering you?” I asked Fallon, purposefully not meeting the guy’s face. Fallon took her lip in between her teeth, not answering me.
I took that as a yes.
“It’s time for you to go,” I grunted out, now glaring at Flannel-Boy.
“It’s a free country,” he retaliated.
I felt the anger slithering its way down my arms, all the way to my clenched fists. My heart started to thump in my chest, beating off my ribcage in the fiercest of ways. I looked over at Fallon again, wondering if I should proceed with my jackass ways or back off a little. She was staring at me with wide eyes, still biting that pink-tinted lip.
“I’m only going to say it one more time… move. I can tell you’ve been bothering her, and guess what? She’s not interested.”
The guy glanced over at Fallon again, but she wouldn’t meet his eye. She kept her eyes trained on me and only me.
“Is that right? She’s not interested? Well, she took that drink with a smile on her face, so I’d say you’re wrong, buddy.”
Buddy.
He. Called. Me. Buddy.
I clenched my jaw tightly and took a deep breath. My entire body went hot, and I knew what was coming.
“I’d listen to him, if I were you,” Fallon piped up, flicking her gaze to the fucktard.
He flicked his eyes up to hers and grimaced. She raised both of her eyebrows next and tilted her head for him to leave. “Your choice, but I’ve seen him hit someone before, and I’m telling you right now that you don’t want to be on the other side of his fist.”
I almost laughed because Fallon was flat out lying, and on a scale of one to ten, consisting of satisfaction and only satisfaction, I was falling under a solid nine.
“Fuck it, you’re not that hot anyway… bitch.”
And that did it.
As soon as he stood up, I reared my fist back and pounded it right into his face. The hit stung, but it released that little bit of anger that was beginning to strangle me. I heard Fallon gasp for air, but I didn’t look at her. I stood over top of the idiot holding his bloody nose and snarled at him. “That’s not a way to treat a lady, bro. Remember that.”
“Goddamnit, Emmett! I told you no more hitting in here.” Guy popped up from behind the bar.
I shrugged, looking back at him over my shoulder. “Sorry. He wasn’t being very… gentleman-like.”
Guy looked at me and shook his head. He peered down at Flannel-Boy who was wiping his nose on his sleeve. Whoops, looks like Flannel-Boy will need a new flannel.
“Get out of here before he does any more damage.”
The guy slowly got up to his feet, looking more pissed off than I felt seconds ago, and huffed. He turned on his heel and stalked out the door. Some people were staring at us – Dawson being one of them. He shook his head at me and then smirked. I didn’t smirk back. My body was still feeling the heat. I was beginning to shake. I took a deep breath and then stalked to the hallway. My eyes automatically found the spot I’d pushed Fallon up against a few nights ago, but I brushed past it and went into the restroom.
I ran my fist under cool water to ease the sting in my knuckles, and that seemed to even out my breathing.
It’d been a while since I’d sucker punched someone, and I hated tapping into that anger that sometimes resided in my body. But he called her a bitch. That made my entire body go still.
I glared at myself in the mirror.
Fallon had my nuts in her hands, and she didn’t even know it.
Part of me felt like I needed to stay away from her because I was becoming too consumed.
She told me it wasn’t worth it, so why did it feel like my world had stopped when I saw her at the bar?
As I turned the water off, the door swung open behind me. I glanced up in the mirror, and all the air occupying my lungs evaporated. Fallon’s wide eyes sucked me in, and the tiny smile on her face punched me in the gut.
“Are you okay?” Her voice was like watching the sunrise after a night full of darkness.