Page 3 of Awakening the Sheriff
Holding his right wrist, I took his left and snapped handcuffs on. There. One more drunken idiot contained.
Meanwhile, Marcus had grabbed the other troublemaker by the collar and hauled him away from the fray. “You’re coming with us as well.”
“Why?” asked the other man, swaying on his feet as he stared at us with bloodshot eyes. He was possibly even drunker than his friend. What a pair.
“‘Cause you’re just as drunk and disorderly as your friend,” Marcus told him, handcuffing him in a smooth movement. He turned to me. “I’ll put this one in the car and come back for his friend.”
I nodded and looked around at the patrons, who were all watching the scene unfold. I knew most of them, though I spotted a few unfamiliar faces. “Show’s over, folks. Go back to celebrating.”
In the time it took for Marcus to come back for our second inebriated agitator, conversations had resumed, and a couple of locals walked over to Jack to ask him how they could help. I gently nudged them aside, needing to ask Jack some questions first.
He stood with the bat resting on the floor, his face a mix of anger and distress as he surveyed the damage. Broken glass glittered like frost on the floor and overturned chairs lay scattered around the room.
“Jack, wanna tell me what happened?”
He flinched but then sighed, running his left hand through his disheveled hair. “Gimme a second. I thought I’d seen it all by now, but I wasn’t expecting this.”
“Nobody ever does. Doreen’s already searching for the broom, so it’ll be spic and span in no time.”
“Thanks.” He inhaled deeply, then blew out his breath. “Jess Compton came in with her girlfriend, and those two asshats objected to the two of them dancing and sharing a kiss. A pretty chaste kiss, I might add. I’ve seen far worse.”
I made a face. We both had, and some memories would be etched into my brain forever, sadly. Like the sight of that half-naked grandma searching for her dentures after a blowjob gone wrong. Lord almighty, if I’d been able to bleach my brain, I would’ve done it.
“Objected, how?”
“They made derogatory remarks, which Jess didn’t appreciate.”
No, she wouldn’t. She had a mouth on her, which came in handy in her job as a lawyer.
“I stepped in and made it clear that homophobic behavior wouldn’t be tolerated, but they wouldn’t back down.”
“Who threw the first punch?”
“The big guy. His target was Fir, who was trying to defuse hot tempers, but he hit Ennio instead. That’s when I called your office.”
“Ennio? My brother was hit?”
Jack put a hand on my arm. “He’s fine. The blow only sideswiped him.”
“Is he still here?”
“He’s upstairs, icing his cheek. Fir’s with him.”
If I’d known that asshole had hit my brother, I would’ve been a little less gentle with him. Ennio was half his size, for fuck’s sake. At least he was in good hands since Fir was a doctor.
“Anyway, after that, the whole situation exploded, and a lot of punches were thrown.”
“Did anyone other than Ennio get hurt?”
Jack shook his head. “Some bruises, probably, but nothing serious. Those two were pretty drunk, so their coordination left a lot to be desired.”
Thank god for small favors. “The big one was trying to remedy that by hitting Joost over the head with a barstool.”
“Good thing Joost ducked.”
“Wanna give me an estimate of the damage?”
Jack looked around. “Two broken barstools, a dozen or so glasses, and they threw something at the big mirror behind the bar, which is cracked again.” He sighed. “I oughta put something else there. That mirror doesn’t seem to bring me much luck.”