“She’s right.” Chase reached out, drew her to his side. “I know how you feel, but she’s right.”
“She’s damn right.” It took all Bodine’s willpower not to simply explode. “If Rory didn’t have more sense than I’ve ever given him credit for, you’d be dead or close enough. He’s not just an asshole, he’s a crazy asshole. He’s not just a coward, he’s a murdering—”
Because he heard touches of hysteria, Callen moved to her, took her arms. “Okay. Okay. You probably want to take a breath or two.”
“Don’t tell me to take a breath.”
“Or two.” He kissed her, said, “Shit,” when the contact stung, then leaned in to whisper. “Don’t cry. You’ll hate yourself.”
“I’m fine.”
“Drinks all around,” Callen told the bartender while he kept his eyes on Bodine’s. “I’m good for it.”
“You’d better be.” With a last look at Clintok, the bartender slapped his bat against his palm again. “He got what was coming to him.”
*
Maybe so, but clearly Tate didn’t look pleased when he pulled up some twenty minutes later.
He looked at Clintok, sitting on the ground, his hands secured behind his back with a zip tie, his face bloody. Looked over at Callen, leaning against the wall of the bar, sipping a beer along with Bodine, her brothers, and the other women.
He crouched down beside Clintok. “I told you to steer clear.”
“I was having a drink, and he busted in with his goddamn posse and started it.”
“And you decided to finish it by pulling a gun?”
“Wouldn’t have had to if you’d done your job and locked that murdering bastard up.”
“I’ve done my job right along, just like I’m going to do it now. You busted your bail carrying a gun in the first damn place. Curtis, lock him up in the back, and we’ll take some statements, see what the hell’s what here.”
He walked over to Callen. “Told you to steer clear, too, didn’t I?”
“We all decided to go out and have a drink,” Bodine said. “We wanted to show Jessica some more of the local color.”
After a long stare, Tate scrubbed his face with his hand. “Bodine, that’s just insulting.”
“It’s not altogether untrue,” Callen put in. “But it’s also true I knew Clintok would probably be here, and it was surely true I planned to knock him on his ass.”
“I could toss you in the back with him, charge you with assault.”
“Well now, you could.” Studying his beer, Chase spoke thoughtfully. “It’s not going to stick real well seeing as Clintok threw the first punch, then went for his gun. You can ask the bunch in there if that’s how it went down, and when you talk to Sandy Rhimes, he’ll be sure to tell you he pulled Clintok’s gun—the one he had on him—away from him before he could use it.”
“Miss Baazov said Clintok had a gun aimed at Callen outside.”
“He got that one out of his truck after Callen beat him in a fair fight. I unloaded that one,” Rory added. “I had to figure he had one in his truck, and since he’d already shot Callen once, tried to do the same again inside, it seemed prudent to take that precaution.”
Now Tate used both hands to scrub at his face. “Jesus suffering Christ.”
“You forgot about the broken glass. He smashed a bottle,” Chelsea continued, “charged at Cal with it. He didn’t fight fair till he had to, and even then.”
“Does your ma know you’re out here, getting in bar fights?” Tate demanded.
“She knows I’m with Rory. Or I expect she does. I live in the Village, but I talk to her most every day.”
“A bunch of sass, that’s what I get. Curtis, you go in, start with Sandy Rhimes. Get his statement. Miss Baazov—”
“Jessica.”
“Jessica, we’re going to take a walk over to the vending machine, since I can’t have a good shot of whisky as I want. I’m going to assume you’re the one standing here with the most sense. So you’re going to tell me every step of what happened.”
“I’d be glad to.”
Callen took another pull on his beer as they crossed the lot. “He’s going to be pissed awhile.”
“He’ll get over it.” Bodine shrugged. “He knew you’d hunt Clintok down, and he knew he’d have done the same himself given the circumstances. What he’ll be longer than pissed off is disappointed. Not in you, but in Clintok.”
*
It took more than an hour, and by the end of it Callen felt every bruise and scrape. He thought fondly of the bag of peas Bodine had tossed in his freezer—and only wished she’d tossed in a half dozen.
Still, he considered every twinge, throb, and ache well worth it. Garrett Clintok would look through bars for a very long time. He supposed Jessica’s comment before they’d all gone their separate ways hit the mark, too.
Clintok needed some serious head shrinking.
If he gritted his teeth against the banging in his ribs when he got out of the truck, he could remind himself Clintok had worse.
“Do you want to go tell Sundown he’s been avenged?”
“I’ll tell him in the morning.”
With some sympathy, Bodine put an arm around his waist. “You can lean on me.” And looking up, she sighed at the moon. “I have to say this ranks as the prettiest night in my experience for a fight. Jessica got some strange and arty-type pictures of the Step Up and some of the patrons while Tate gave you the final lecture.”
She opened the door, took off his hat, tossed it aside. Then brushed her fingers over his face as she surveyed the damage. “You won’t look pretty for a few days, but you broke his nose.”
“I thought so.”
“Don’t ever shove me aside like that again.”
Now he arched his eyebrows—even that hurt. “I can guarantee you, should some fuckheaded asshole ever wave a gun around in your direction, I’ll shove you aside again.”
“Then next time I’ll be ready, and shove you first.” She gave him a little one, tugged him back to unbutton his shirt. “Let’s have a look at the rest of you.”
He gripped her hands. “It stopped my heart, shut it right down, the idea of you getting hit.”
“It didn’t do mine any good, either, when you stepped aside and gave him a clear shot at you. Damn Gary Coopering.”
“Clint Eastwooding. Chase is more Gary Cooper.”
He grabbed her face, kissed her hard so pain and lust and pleasure all burst and tangled.
Hot, so instantly hot, she gripped his shoulders, struggled to gentle her hold. “You’re in no shape to get me revved up tonight, Skinner.”
“I’ve got to get this done.” Fast, he pulled off her shirt, shoved her back against the door. “I’ve got to have you. Just let me have you.” He flicked open the catch of her bra, dragged it aside, filled his hands with her breasts. “Let me have you.”
“I wanted to tear your clothes off since you threw the first punch.” So she did, starting with his shirt. “Don’t complain later when I hurt you.”