“Widow!” Izzy came up behind me and pulled at my shoulder. “You’ve gotta stop, Widow. You’re gonna kill him.”
“Motherfucker deserves it for putting his hands on you.”
I still had my hands wrapped around the guy’s throat when Country came charging into the room. As soon as he stepped through the door and saw the bloody mess beneath me, he gasped, “Holy shit, brother. You don’t fuck around.”
Seeing I was about to kill the guy, he slipped his arm under my shoulder and pulled back, forcing me to release my hold on the asshole’s throat. He immediately started gasping and clinging at his throat, trying to take in a decent breath of air. I glanced back over at Izzy, and the sight of her busted lip had me enraged all over again. Unable to stop myself, I kicked the guy in the gut and roared, “You ever come back here, I’ll finish what I started. You got that?”
He answered with a painful groan. I was tempted to kick him again, but Country had already stepped between us and was trying to get the dickhead to his feet. Once he had him standing, Country looked over to me and said, “Damn, I better get him out of here while he’s still breathing.”
“Probably not a bad idea.” I waited until Country and the guy made it out of the room before turning my attention to Izzy. “You okay?”
“Yeah, thanks to you.” Tears filled her eyes as she reached up and hugged me. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t shown up.”
“That’s what we’re here for.” I gave her a quick squeeze then said, “I’ll give Doc a call and have him come check you out.”
“No, that’s not necessary,” she argued. “I’m fine. Really.”
“I’d feel better if you’d let him check you out.”
“Well, I’d feel better if he didn’t.” Her eyes dropped to the ground as she muttered, “I just want to forget this ever happened.”
“All right, then. Get your shit and head home. You’re done for the night.”
“Wait, I’m good to...”
“Go home, Izzy.”
She nodded, then scurried out of the room. I could feel my knuckles throbbing. I knew if I didn’t do something, they’d end up killing me later, so I headed to the bar to get some ice from Marlowe. I’d barely made it out to the main floor when I heard Country roar, “Then your buddy here should’ve kept his goddamn hands off our girl! Apparently, you don’t realize how lucky he is to be walking out of here.”
“You got no idea who this is, do you?” one of his friends snarled.
“Nope, and don’t give a fuck.” Country was known in the club for his southern charm and sense humor, but he could kick ass with the best of them. I had no worries as he shoved the beaten guy into his friend’s arms and demanded, “Get his sorry ass outta here and don’t come back. Ever. You’re all banned.”
“For what?” One of the others stepped up as he shouted, “Cause he put his hands on one of your fucking whores?”
“You best watch your fucking mouth,” Country warned as he thrust his chest towards the guy. “If you don’t wanna end up like your friend here, you best do like I told ya and get the hell outta here.”
At first, none of them moved. They just stood there glaring at Country. I’d started over to back him up when one of them threatened, “You haven’t heard the last of us. You can count on that.”
“Yeah, yeah. You have me shaking in my fucking boots.” Country pointed towards the door as he demanded, “Get the fuck out of here before I shove this shaking boot right up your fucking ass.”
I’d just made my way over to Country when the group of assholes turned and started towards the front. Before making it out the door, a couple of them kicked over a few chairs and a table, but I didn’t give a fuck. They were gone. I stepped over to Country as I asked, “You okay, brother?”
“Yeah, but I’d be better if I could’ve put my fist down one of those motherfucker’s throats.” Country grumbled curses under his breath with fury. Once he’d settled down, he looked over to me and asked, “How’s Izzy?”
“Could be better. I sent her on home. We’ll need to have one of the girls call and check in on her later.”
“Sounds good. What about you?” Country looked down at my busted knuckles as he asked, “How are the hands treatin’ ya?”
“Like I put ‘em through a meat grinder, but nothing a little ice won’t fix.”
Country glanced over at the door as he asked, “You have any idea who those guys were?”
“Not a clue.”
“Wonder if we’ll get any blowback from that shit?”
“Hard to tell.” I shook my head. “Assholes like that don’t like to be wrong, and they sure as hell don’t like to have their asses kicked when they are.”