Page 9 of Broken Bodyguard
She opened her mouth to say something but then nodded and hurried off.
“Why you running?” Jericho taunted, course correcting to follow her. I strode behind her, angling my path so I’d intersect Jericho before he reached my Jeep. “Just want to have a conversation with my wife, is that too much to goddamn ask?”
My steps thudded on the asphalt as I intercepted Jericho’s path. He barreled right into me, so laser-focused on Maddie that I wasn’t even sure he’d seen me yet. His green eyes snapped up to me, brows a hard line across his face. In my peripheral vision, I saw Maddie slam the door shut.Success.
“And who the fuck are you?” Jericho’s voice came out rimmed with knives. He had to tip his head back to look up at me, bless his heart, but that didn’t stop him from puffing out his chest. His friends came to a stop behind him like the good little minions they were.
“Doesn’t matter. All I know is that you’re a nuisance, and you need to step away.”
Jericho’s eyes narrowed, a bonafide creepy smirk tugging at his lips. “She’s my wife. I thinkyou’rethe one who needs to step away.” He called out toward the Jeep, “Is this who you’ve been cheating on me with? You’re probably knocked up already, aren’t you?”
The slur in his voice was subtle. But the whiskey wind coming from his mouth was not. I rolled my neck in a slow circle, sizing up my possible plans of attack.
“I’m going to ask you one more time to leave,” I said succinctly. I held his gaze, not missing the way he signaled something to one of the friends. The dark-haired one peeled off, hurrying away to a nearby SUV.
“I’m pretty sure you don’t get to decide who’s in this public parking lot,” Jericho said with a sneer.
“Maybe so. But there’s one thing I do get to decide,” my voice was nearly a growl as I stepped forward, erasing the distance between us as I used my full height on him, “and that’s whether you ever lay a hand on Maddie again.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw his friend returning to the group. But this time, he had a baseball bat in his hands.
It was cute how he thought that would be enough to scare me away.
“From here on out,” I spat out, “if you see Maddie, expect to see me too.”
A bitter laugh escaped him, but I could tell he was struggling to keep his confidence. When I stepped forward again, he stepped back.
“You don’t fucking scare me,” Jericho said. “And if you come one step closer, we’ll make sure you can’t walk out of here.”
His tone pushed me over the edge; or maybe it was the flash of remembering the fingerprint bruises I’d found up and down Maddie’s forearms. Whatever it was, I’d had enough of looking at his sorry face. I snagged Jericho by the collar of his coat, bringing him closer so that I could deliver a swift punch to his rib cage.
I moved so fast he didn’t have time to respond, but his friends reacted.
“You’re gonna regret that,” the one with the baseball bat said before he swung. He hit me in the hip, a dullthwupthat didn’t register at first but I was sure I’d feel later. For now, it only irritated me. I had inches on all these guys and the panic in their eyes told me I had far more experience in various types of combat than they did put together.
While Jericho gasped for breath, I lunged for the guy with the baseball bat. He got one more hit on me, aiming for the back of my knees but clipping my left kneecap instead.Ouch. I grabbed the bat before he could hit me again, ripping it out of his hands.
“Get the fuck out of here now before I bash all of your dumbass skulls in,” I growled, stepping forward. My knee screamed with pain, but now wasn’t the time to think about a potential injury. I towered over them. Jericho backed up, glaring at me as his friends retreated alongside him.
“Have a great night,” I called out jovially, popping on a big ol’ sarcastic smile. “Thanks for the new sporting equipment, pals.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Jericho snarled.
“It’s been a real pleasure,” I went on.
They grumbled further, piling into their SUV. I watched as they peeled out of the parking lot, only smiling and waving as they pelted me with middle fingers through the safety of their rolled up windows. I popped the baseball bat in the backseat of the Jeep, and then slid into the driver’s seat. Maddie had her face buried in her hands, her whole body shaking.
“Hey. They’re gone.” I reached across the console to wrap an arm around her shoulders. “You okay?”
She sniffed, dragging her head up. “I should be askingyouthat question! Troy, he hit you!”
“It was a love tap,” I said, though I knew that was false. My knee burned while bent, and that wasn’t a good sign.
Her shoulders hitched with a sob. “This is so messed up. I’m so sorry. I-I didn’t want for any of this to happen. I just wanted to come out for a nice meal—”
“Hey. This isn’t your fault. You’re not the one chasing dudes with a baseball bat.Heis. There’s nothing for you to apologize for.”
She looked at me with red-rimmed eyes, sadness pouring out of her. “You don’t have to be doing this.”
