He was smiling, showing off the gold grillwork that covered his front teeth.
I could feel Chloe behind me. Over my shoulder, I said to her, "Baby, go back to the table. I'll meet you there in a minute."
Behind me, I heard another drink hit the floor, followed the sound of a girl saying, "Oh my God. Is that Lawton Rastor?"
Shit.
In front of me, Creed glared at the crowd. "Hey, everyone!" he bellowed out. "It's fucking Lawton Rastor! And his fucking squeeze! Aren't we so fucking lucky?"
All of a sudden, the music stopped. At my back, I felt a distinct drop in temperature as if the crowd behind me was backing away. That was fine by me, as long as Chloe was part of that crowd.
From the corner of my eye, I caught sudden movement, a fist flying toward me. On instinct, I snapped my head back and watched that same fist fly past my face, missing by nose by just a couple of inches. Behind me, I heard a gasp. Chloe. Damn it.
Shoving aside the distraction, I looked to my side and spotted the guy who went with the fist. I'd seen him before, hanging out with Creed. He went by the name of Snake, and he was a big muscle-bound guy with complicated facial hair. Without turning toward him I reached out and slammed my fist into his ear.
"Motherfucker!" he yelled, staggering backward like I'd knocked his marbles loose. Behind me, I sensed that Chloe was still there. I don't know how, but I just knew.
"Chloe," I said, trying to keep my voice even, "you'd better not still be there."
I heard footsteps, like maybe she was backing up. She'd better be, because I'd be a dumb-ass to turn around and look.
Creed took a swing at me. I swatted his fist aside, and then jabbed him in the nose with my other fist.
He staggered backward, and his hands flew to his nose. A river of blood poured between his fingers. "My nose! You fuckin' broke it, you asshole!"
Funny that he felt the need to announce it. If someone brokemynose, I sure as hell wouldn’t be telling everyone.
Again, I caught movement off to my right – Snake charging me. Without changing direction, I gave him an elbow to the neck. He dropped to the ground, wheezing. Looking to keep him down, I kicked him in the side, sending him rolling onto his back.
Already, Creed, with his face a bloody mess, was plowing toward me, head-first. I hit him in the gut and watched him double-over and drop to his knees.
About damn time.
Through the crowd, I spotted a couple of bouncers heading toward us. One was Terrell, a friend of mine who I'd introduced to Chloe on the way in. The other I didn't know. Terrell looked down at Snake, who was still lying on his back. "Snake, you dumb-ass. Not again."
With something like a sigh, Terrell grabbed one of Snake's booted feet in each hand and started dragging him toward the exit.
Creed, now on his hands and knees, raised his head and muttered, "That son-of-a-bitch broke my nose!" He glared at me. "Third fuckin' time. You cock-sucker."
I took a step toward him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. In a low voice, meant for his ears only, I said, "You wanna fuck with me? Fine. Fuck with me all you want. But if you ever fuck with my girl again–"
I leaned closer to his ear and said, "I know where you live. The next time? It won't be your nose. It'll be your neck."
Creed glanced at Chloe but said nothing. With a shove, I let him go. The place was dead quiet. Creed looked around the crowd and muttered, "What the fuck are you lookin' at?" before getting to his feet and stumbling toward the exit.
And then, somewhere behind me, I heard a girl's voice, a different one from the first, say, "Holy shit, was that Lawton Rastor?"
Chapter 34
Chloe was laughing.
I wasn't.
I closed the passenger's side door and headed for the driver's side. I was pissed off and trying, for her sake, not to show it.
None of this shit was supposed to happen. Five minutes – that's how long I'd left her alone in that place. The way it turned out, it was five minutes too long.
I should've paid better attention to who was around. Creed was six-and-a-half feet tall. He had neck tattoos and gold teeth. How in the hell had I missed him?
