Page 28 of Man of Honor
“I had no idea you knew each other,” I said, rubbing my face—and hitting my split lip.Smart.
Silas shrugged, setting the glass on a shelf behind the bar.“He doesn’t come here to drink.He comes to breathe. Everyone needs a place to crash when the world gets too loud.”
I got it. I’d been looking for that kind of quiet my whole life, but I hadn't found it in Silas's back room.My peaceful place was at Wyatt’s side.I used to cause trouble just for an excuse to see him, holding my breath, waiting for him to step out of his squad car whenever he rolled up.All the other kids would scatter, but not me.All I wanted was to look at him, and for him to look at me and see me.That one look always told me I’d fucked up again, but it was okay, because he was going to help me fix it.Half the stupid crap I’d done was just for that reaction.I craved it.
Silas was giving me a strange look.
I glanced away, running my tongue over my split lip with a wince.“Yeah," I muttered, staring at the floor.“Everyone needs a place.”
Mine was Wyatt—and I’d managed to screw it up.
My ribs didn’t bother me much anymore, but my chest ached like it wasshrinking.My heart was too big and achy to fit insideit.“Gonna take a breather,” I muttered, shoving away from the bar and heading for thedoor.
“Try not to get killed out there,” Silas said, watching me with something dangerously close tosympathy.“You’ve been swinging at every lowlife in the parish allweek.One of these nights, someone’s bound to swing backharder.”
Chapter Thirteen
GAGE
The door had barelyswung shut before the first blow landed—a hard fist straight to my ribs.Smack on the spot that had only just started to feel halfway healed.Lucky shot.
The pain was enough to drop me, but somehow, I stayed on my feet, stumbling and keeping my back to the wall.The men I’d just tossed from the bar ranged around me in a half-circle, like rats smelling blood, plus three more who looked even meaner.
Six-to-one. I'd had worse odds.But tonight wasn't shaping up to be one of my better nights.
I’d mostly forgotten their faces, but one look and it all came flooding back.I recognized two of the bastards who’d been dragging Ivy away, kicking and screaming.Right in the middle of the group, with beady eyes and a twitchy face that perfectly matched Ivy's description, stood Paulie Tibbs.
"Heard you were lookin' for me," he sneered, flicking his eyes down my body, slow and calculating and disdainful, before snapping them back up with a smirk."I remember you. Guess you didn't learn your lesson the first time."
I was wheezing like I'd taken a bullet, but I tried not to let it show.Forcing a grin that masked how hard that first hit landed, I spat, "Thanks for saving me the trouble of finding you.I had you pegged as the kind of coward who only gets tough on little girls."
The smug satisfaction in his eyes only deepened."That little bitch was mine for however long I wanted her, and she actually thought she could tell me no.Nobody tells me no. Not around here.She'll learn that the hard way once I get my hands on her again.Then I can take my time."
My stomach churned, but I forced my voice steady."You'll have to get through me."
His smirk widened. "Not a problem."
They were on me in a flash. The first two came in fast, one aiming for my head while the other went low, trying to take my legs out from under me.I managed to catch the strike to my face with a forearm, retaliating with a hard fist to his temple, but a kick to the back of my knee caught me off balance.Then I was on the ground—the one place I hated to be in a fight.
A well-placed kick landed in my side, damn near driving my broken rib straight into my lung.I groaned and curled in on myself, playing it up, and when he came in to repeat the move, I caught him by the foot and twisted, bringing my elbow down on the back of his knee.He crumpled like a cardboard cut-out, giving me the chance to stagger back to my feet.
“Take him down!” Paulie shouted, and suddenly they stopped trying to pretend they could take me a few at a time.They piled on all at once from every direction.My defense was shit by now.I deflected what I could, diverting strikes from my vital points, but I already knew I didn't stand much of a chance.
A fist connected with my face, again and again, while a steel-toed boot hammered at my kidneys.I caught one of them by the collar and slammed him headfirst into the wall, but the satisfying crunch was drowned out by my own cry of pain when Paulie kicked me in the face.The sickening snap of cartilage told me he’d broken my nose.Hot blood filled my mouth with salt and metal.I tried to push myself up, but a boot came down on my shoulder, pinning me in place.
“Stay down, tough guy,” a man slurred drunkenly, shoving my head into the gravel for emphasis.
I shut my eyes, barely managing to avoid catching a rock to my eyeball, and in the darkness behind my closed lids, I caught the sweep of headlights cutting through the parking lot.Every man froze.
“Move him!” Paulie hissed, jerking his head toward the cover of the nearby woods.
Rough hands grabbed me by the arms and dragged me backward through dirt and gravel.Eventually, the din of the nearby bar faded.I didn’t fight or yell for help, not even when one guy locked his arm around my neck, cutting off my air.The last thing I wanted was to draw attention.Mason would be on them like a rabid dog if he heard what was happening, and I wasn't going to drag him into this.
I refused to be their weak link.
Each bump over rough terrain was hell on my re-broken ribs, but I clenched my teeth through the pain, holding onto whatever scraps of patience I had until they'd pulled me deep into the treeline.Then I twisted, driving my elbow into the gut of the man behind me.He cursed, stumbling back, and I took advantage of the opening to go after Paulie.I’d already lost too much strength to put much force behind a straight punch, so I tackled him around the waist,driving him backward into a tree and planting my fist into his solar plexus so hard he gagged.
It was the last chance I had.They pulled me off him too soon to do any real damage, and then my world spun out in a haze of pain.All I could smell was blood, and all I could hear was the sick thump of boots striking flesh.Blood and dirt filled my mouth, gritty and foul between my teeth when I clenched them to keep my cries locked up.My whole body was screaming, but I wasn’t giving them the satisfaction of hearing it.I stayed quiet, breathing through the agony, just like I’d taught myself to do a long, long time ago.