“Yeah, Brayden,” sneers the first guy, feeling emboldened by the presence of his friend. “You should really go. But, leave her here. We'll make sure she has a good time.”
I start to raise my fist but feel Holly's hand on mine. I turn and take a quick glance over my shoulder, seeing her shake her head at me, a fearful look in her beautiful green eyes. The rage in me is boiling over and I just want to beat these two idiots to a pulp. I somehow get the impression though, that if I do, I'll be breaking something between Holly and I. Breaking some sort of a trust or something. And there is nothing I want to avoid more than disappointing her.
I give her a small nod and force my hands to relax. She loosens her grip, showing me that she's trusting me. I turn back to the two idiots standing in front of me.
“Walk away now,” I hiss. “If you don't, you're going to regret it.”
“Please,” the first guy spits. “Why don't you walk away?”
I turn and look at Holly. “Please go get hotel security.”
She turns and runs off to find security while I continue to stand there. The first guy sneers at me.
“Security?” he asks. “What a fucking pussy.”
“Can't even fight his own battles,” the second guy chuckles.
When I look back and see that Holly has disappeared into the hotel, I turn and give them both a look and feel a predatory smile cross my face.
“Now that we have a couple of moments alone,” I say.
“What –”
The first guy never finishes his statement as I drive my fist straight into his stomach with all the rage and fury within me. The crowd around us gasps in unison – a few people even applaud. The guy lets out a strangled grunt as he doubles over, clutching his gut and wheezing as he tries to catch his breath. I don't give the second guy a chance to react, delivering my second shot straight into his gut, causing him to double over as well.
The two men, clutching their bellies, fall to their knees, gasping and wheezing like a pair of seventy-year-olds on oxygen tanks. Shit talkers, they are, fighters they are not. They're guys who puff up and throw out all kinds of bluster and bravado, hoping to intimidate lesser men. Unfortunately for them, I'm not one of those men, nor am I intimidated by false bravado. I know empty posturing when I see it. Chuckling low, I squat down beside them.
“And if I hear you disrespecting a woman again,” I say, “especially the woman I'm taking out, you're going to get it ten times worse than what I just gave you. Do you understand me?”
Both men continue to wheeze, grasping their stomachs, neither of them responding to me.
“Tell me you understand, or I'm going to kick you in the balls,” I say. “And I swear to God, that’s going to hurt you a lot worse than right now. Just moan if you understand.”
Both men moan in unison. The first guy attempts to nod his head, but only manages to look like he's having a seizure.
“Good lads,” I say.
I stand up as Holly and the two security guards walk over to the three of us. Holly looks at me, her eyes wide and filled with concern. I just shrug.
“I don't know what happened,” I say. “One minute we were standing here chatting, the next, these two are on the ground trying to catch their breath. It’s probably from all the alcohol and cigarettes.”
Holly looks at me, pursing her lips, clearly not buying what I'm half-heartedly selling. She turns and faces the security guards.
“These are the two men who were harassing me,” she says. “They were making some very lewd and unwelcome comments.”
“I want them thrown off your property,” I say. “Now. I want you to march them both back upstairs, watch them pack, and then send them on their way.”
The security guard looks at me. “We'll take a report,” he says. “After that –”
I round on the guard, my jaw clenching, eyes narrowed. “No, you will file your report after you escort these two off your property,” I say, my voice low and menacing. “These two were one step away from sexually assaulting a woman that I care about. If they are still here when we return, I'm going to have your jobs. And believe me, if you knew who I was, you wouldn't doubt my ability to do it with a snap of my goddamn fingers. I want them both gone. Do you understand me?”
The two guards exchange a glance with one another, shell-shocked. They finally look at me again and nod slowly, looking dumbstruck. I hold their gaze for a long while before giving a small nod and turning to Holly, only to find her staring at me with an inscrutable look on her face.
“Let's go,” I say, holding my arm out for her.
Holly links her arm through mine without hesitation as I escort her to the waiting car. The driver holds the door open and she slides inside. I follow her in and let the driver close the door as we get settled in the back.
I've already given the driver our itinerary for the night, so when he climbs behind the wheel, he immediately pulls away from the Rio. I can feel a strange tension radiating off Holly like heat from the sun. I look over at her and she's looking straight ahead at the partition separating us from the driver.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she says. “Fine.”
I take her hand and feel how stiff her body is. Finally, she turns and looks at me, her eyes wide, her face shadowed with fear. Fear of what? Me?
“Talk to me,” I say softly. “What's wrong?”
Her lower lip trembles and her eyes begin to shimmer. Holly looks like she's on the verge of tears and I feel a stabbing pain in my chest. I never want to cause her pain. More than that, I never want her to feel fear because of me.
“Y – you just looked so different,” she says, her voice quivering. “You looked like a completely different man. You were so – angry. It scared me.”
A soft, regretful laugh passes my lips. “Yeah, I probably should have warned you about the famous Anderson temper,” I say. “Or maybe it’s infamous. Either way, my family is Irish, and we have that old-fashioned Irish temper.”
“I didn't even recognize you when you were confronting those two men,” she says. “You looked like a totally different person than who I got to know last night. You were – scary.”
Still holding her hand, I raise it to my lips, planting a soft kiss on the back of it. “I'm sorry,” I say. “I just heard what they were saying to you and I was afraid for you. And sometimes, when I'm afraid, I let myself give in to that anger. It's a fault of mine that I've known about for a while. It's something I'm trying to work on.”
An uneasy smile pulls at her lips. “I'd say you still have some work to do.”
I nod. “I don't disagree,” I say. “My older brother Liam tells me that all the time.”
“The one thing that I can promise you is that I will never hurt you,” I say. “Men who hit women are the lowest forms of life on this planet, Holly. I'd shoot myself before ever raising a hand to a woman.”
She looks at me and some of the tension disappears from her face. Just a little though. I can tell that she's a woman who doesn't condone violence at all. And knowing my temper, that worries me. Knowing that I sometimes have trouble controlling it. What I said though, is true – I'd never, in a million years – hit Holly or any other woman. I really would shoot myself before I did that. But, given how much we know each other, I guess there's really no way for her to truly believe that. Not yet, anyway.
“I'm sorry I scared you,” I say. “I just couldn't stand by and do nothing while those creeps verbally assaulted you. I couldn’t. And if trying to protect you and keep you safe, is wrong - then I'm going to be wrong a lot, because I'm never going to let any harm come to you.”
She looks at me curiously for a moment and then leans over and plants a soft, gentle kiss on my cheek. When she pulls away, I see that her face is completely drained of the tension from before, and is replaced by a soft smile on her lips.