I try so hard to focus, but my vision is blurred and doubled. But I know the voice, having heard it less than an hour ago, warning me about how my mouth could get me into trouble if I weren’t careful.
Dylan rushes forward, clocking the dickhead with an upper cut to the chin, and jumps on him as they both tumble to the ground.
“Well, fuck me,” Luna whispers, watching Dylan as he beats the living hell out of the asshole for laying his hands on me. “That’s hot.”
“Luna,” I warn because now isn’t the time, and while part of me thinks it’s hot, I’m embarrassed and pissed that I needed the rescue, and from none other than Dylan Walsh.
Not only am I going to have a bruise on my face, my ego won’t quickly recover from this evening either.
8
DYLAN
“You. Do. Not. Put. Your. Hands. On. Women.” After each word, I land another blow to the asshole on the ground as he tries to block my shots but loses.
“Walsh, you’re going to kill the guy.”
“Dylan, stop.”
People all around me, many of whom I don’t know or remember, are yelling and pawing at my back, but I’m so in the zone, they barely register.
“Dylan, please…stop!” Rosie’s voice is clear as day as her face comes into focus, kneeling near the top of the guy’s head before I can land another punch.
I glance up, and my gaze meets hers, conveying hurt, anger, and fear in her blue eyes.
Her fear strikes me square in the gut as hard as the beating I’ve given the guy trapped under my body weight.
“Don’t do this,” she says, reaching out and placing her hand on my face the moment I stop the assault. “You’re going to kill him.”
“Good,” I tell her between labored breaths, anger coursing through me like hot lava. “He deserves—”
“I know,” she interrupts me. “But I think he’s paid enough for now. Let the law deal with him. I mean, look at him.” She waves her hand toward him.
I rest back on my heels, taking in her already-bruised face where the dickhead landed the blow.
“Look at him, Dylan. Really look,” she repeats the order.
I peer down, seeing blood dripping from his nose and mouth and his face battered to the point that he won’t be recognizable soon. Bastard deserves every bit of what I’ve given him so far and so much more. “He’s looking pretty damn good to me.”
She frowns and swipes her finger across my skin in a calming motion, something that’s never worked on me before. “Come on. You’ve done enough. He’ll think twice before he touches another woman.”
“Men like him don’t learn as long as they’re breathing,” I tell her, all too familiar with his type.
“Please,” she begs me, sliding her hand down my arm to my wrist and giving me a slight tug. “Take me home. I need ice or something for my face.”
Take her home? I know she’s using it as a ruse to get me out of here and away from him, and it’s working.
My eyes wander over her soft features and the discoloration that’ll temporarily mar her beauty. I lift my hand, cupping her jaw gently, and slide my finger along the underside of her cheek.
She hisses, quickly biting down on her lip to stop herself from crying out at the lightest touch.
“I’m sorry, baby. He just… I just…”
“I know,” she says, her eyes filled with tears, making my chest tighten and my anger start to build once more.
“Cops are coming,” someone yells, and Rosie’s eyes immediately widen, somehow becoming even more afraid than before.
“We have to go,” she pleads, pulling on my arm harder as she tries to get me to move.
The world around us slowly comes back into focus.
The noise. The fire. The crowd.
People are scattering, running toward their vehicles, wanting to be nowhere around when the cops get here.
“Please,” she begs again when I don’t move right away.
I’ve been so consumed by my rage, I stopped thinking about anyone and anything else except making the guy bleed. But looking at Rosie’s face, seeing the fear and pain that not only he put there, but I’m keeping there, has my ass up and off the ground a split second later.
I interlock our hands as we move toward the line of cars and bikes, all jammed in the same small stretch of gravel road.
Luna’s with us, hustling on Rosie’s other side through the darkness and chaos. “Go with him!” she yells at Rosie as our feet finally touch rock. “Meet me at home.”
“What? No,” Rosie replies. “I want…”
Luna and Rosie halt, but I take a few steps before my feet stop moving, and I turn to watch them.
Luna grabs on to Rosie’s hands and stares at her mirrored reflection in her sister’s face. “Go with him, Ro. He needs you more than me, and you need him.”
I don’t argue about who needs whom. There’s no time. And if I’m honest, I want her with me and nowhere else. Although I don’t know Luna from the next broad, she’s at least talking sense.
They stare at each other for a few seconds, no more words passing between them, but they’re still communicating in some weird staredown.
“Fine,” Rosie finally concedes. “I’ll go with him.” She pushes her sister away, releasing her hands, and glances toward the horizon as it lights up in red and blue.
I don’t say anything as I latch back on to Rosie’s hand, hauling her ass toward my bike. Spending the night in jail isn’t on my wish list for tonight. I’m not going to stick around to file a report and tell the cops why I bashed the guy’s face in. With no one else here and him unconscious and bleeding, he isn’t going to be talking anytime soon either.
I’ll deal with the consequences later. It wouldn’t be my first time getting fingerprinted and probably wouldn’t be my last, but it isn’t happening tonight if I can do anything about it.
We pick up the pace, making it to my bike a few seconds later, and I climb on, pulling Rosie’s arm and helping her onto the back. She slides in behind me, the warmth of her body enveloping me as her thighs and arms tighten around me.
I turn the key in the ignition and give her hand a quick pat, followed by a squeeze from her before I take off, leaving a trail of dirt and gravel flying through the air where we’d once been.
I don’t even know where I’m going, but I don’t care. I’m only focused on getting as far away from the Caves and the cops as humanly possible while keeping Rosie safe and on the back of my bike.
She isn’t fazed by my speed as everything melts away besides her body molded around mine. I don’t relax until her uninjured cheek touches my back, resting against my T-shirt.
Luna pulls up beside us, motioning for me to follow her, and I do without any hesitation. It’s as if I’m in a tunnel with one purpose…get Rosie home.
The only things I feel are the wind on my face and the weighted warmth of her pressed against me. The world around us ceases to exist, and nothing else matters except this moment.
In what feels like a blink of an eye, we’re in their apartment, with Rosie on the couch, barely speaking and staring at the carpet as if it holds some key to the mysteries of life.