“But first,” she said a little nervously, “This probably isn’t the right time but I need to get it out there so we can move on. I just have to say that… what happened was nice. I’ve never… well, just thank you for being gentle with me.”
“Wait,” I said and tried to cut through the haze in my brain from the thoughts of that night. I may have been super drunk but not enough to where I didn’t remember touching her. It was both a blessing and a curse. “Has no one done that before?”
We shouldn’t have been talking about this. Right now, I needed to forget so I could be the man she needed me to be. So I could be her friend.
It was no secret that she had been with a man before. Though she’d never come right out and said it, it was obvious that it had been forced on her. But I couldn’t help but wonder sometimes if while she was away there had been someone. Maybe a boyfriend or someone she tried things with.
My brain went haywire as I grasped what she was trying to tell me.
Nice.
She said it was nice.
And while that might sound like a bad thing, coming from her it was the truth in the best kind of way.
“I liked the kiss. It was really my first. And I would like to do it again one day,” she told me and I saw the blush hit her cheeks hard right before she ducked her head.
Yep, I was beaming with happiness and pride. I knew what she meant by one day and hell, I was ready to fight for that day.
“The fuck did you just say?!”
My eyes went wide as Ky’s voice roared in my ears.
It was a second later that I was grabbed up by the back of my cut and my feet were trying their damnedest to get under me. The chair went crashing backward and I had a good feeling I would soon be laying on the ground right next to it.
“You touched my sister?” he asked but I knew he wasn’t looking for me to answer.
The crunch rang in my ears as his fist met my face. I stumbled and tried to find my footing before the next one came. And I knew it was coming.
My head whipped back as he clipped me under the jaw. I kept my hands down by my side as he tackled me to the ground.
There were screams and shouting all around but I could barely hear them over the thumping in my ears.
“You fucking kissed my sister!” he growled in my face. “Say something, asshole.”
His fist met my face again as he yanked on my shirt to lift my torso up.
My eye watered and I knew that shit was going to swell.
“Fight me,” he said low and in my face. I wasn’t sure if it was a dare or something else. Another punch and I felt the skin burn as it split on my lower lip. “What the fuck makes you think you’re worthy to touch her?”
Something inside me snapped.
My hand wrapped around his throat as I flipped him onto his back. I released him right away only to punch him square in the nose.
I got another one into the side of his jaw before he bucked me off of him. As I tried to get to my feet, he got a good, solid punch in to my stomach. A dry cough pushed out of my throat as I dropped to one knee.
“Because I care about her more than just about anything,” I yelled as an answer to his question. I pushed up and caught him around the waist, effectively taking us both back down to the ground.
I reared my hand back to punch him again but before I swung I caught something flicker across his face that caused me to pause.
It was enough to let him get the jump on me and push me off of him.
“For fuck’s sake.” Iron’s sighed words broke through the pounding in my ears. “E-fuckin’-nough! Not this shit again.”
I was hauled up to my feet, my arms restrained at my side, while the same thing happened to Ky. By the boa constrictor grip I was in, I guessed it was Cable that had grabbed me.
I held my palms out by my side letting Iron know that I wasn’t going to try anything else. Prez stepped between us and shook his head like he was disappointed in both of us.
