Saks bent over, trying to recover from the shock of Chrissy’s accidental shot to his groin.
“I’m fine,” she said as Marcus came into view. “He’s not.”
Saks shot her an angry glare. “Excuse me, princess,” he said. “Had I known you felt so strongly about the matter, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
“You keep your mouth shut, shithead,” Marcus growled.
Saks straightened, though he winced in pain, and stared at Marcus. They both stood there, though Saks’ shoulders were slightly scrunched. They squared off, taking the measure of the other.
Chrissy was terrified this would turn out to be a serious knocking of heads. A stupid pissing contest.
“Saks,” another voice said.
Chrissy watched another person emerge from the darkness, a man who had stood with Saks in the bar.
“How you doin’, buddy?” the man asked. He wore a leather jacket like Saks, only his name patch said ‘Spade’.
“Okay, Luke. Just saying goodbye to the lady here.” Saks tipped an imaginary hat. “Good night to you, princess.”
Saks limped away, and Chrissy heard Luke say, “Let me help you back to the bar.”
Marcus and Chrissy slowly followed behind.
Gloria trotted up to her the minute she spotted them. “What happened? How’d it go with tall, dark, and handsome?”
“You mean Saks? Awful.” Chrissy could feel the burn spreading across her face and down her neck. Did her hair look mussed and her lips look kissed? What had she been thinking? Or not thinking was the better way to look at it.
“Why? What happened?”
“I did something horrible.”
“What,” Gloria broke out laughing. She jabbed in the direction of Saks holding his crotch, “did you do?”
She hadn’t meant to hurt Saks. Marcus stared at both women like they were crazy. “Shut up. I kneed him in the family jewels.”
Gloria fo
und the news even more hilarious, and she shook with laughter. “Now that’s a story to tell the grandchildren.” Gloria broke out into another chorus of hiccupping laughter.
“Gloria!” Chrissy hissed. “It’s not funny. Not one bit.”
“Chrissy—” Marcus started in a warning voice, but Gloria elbowed him.
“Marcus,” Gloria said with a grin, “don’t spoil my fun now. I don’t often get juicy bits like this to use against my big sister.”
Chrissy glared at Gloria. “You’re an evil witch.”
“Hah, hah,” Gloria said, unconcerned with Chrissy’s insult. And Gloria was right. A story like this was bad. Chrissy had no business going off with a man she wasn’t there to meet. That Chrissy accidentally kneed him in the nuts might redeem her in a small manner, but the original offense was damning. Her sister’s enjoyment at having a bit of blackmail to use against her was just one more humiliation in a dreadful situation.
Marcus grabbed Gloria around the shoulders and steered her toward exit. “You go home, Chrissy,” he said over his shoulder. “I don’t know what I’m going to tell the old man. Minga, you fucked things up good.”
Chrissy watched them go. Could this day get any worse?
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SAKS HUNG BETWEEN LUKE and Spider while his stomach clenched in pain. The beer he’d drunk suddenly didn’t sit well, and he felt like barfing. Luke and Spider hauled him inside through the back entrance.
“What the fuck happened?” Spider growled.