She tried to walk away but the taller guy grabbed her by her wrist. “I don’t want any trouble. I just was looking for my friends…”
I called to her, “Looking for your friends? I’m guessing you don’t know these guys then.”
“No!”
With that, the guy in front of me attempted a left hook. But I caught his punch in my hand. I squeezed and heard the crackle of his bones breaking in his hand as he screamed out in agony. I took his hand and pulled around it back and walked him over to the wall. His friend hadn’t decided what to do yet. I would make the choice easy for him. My right hand was still attached to his left behind his back when I took my left hand and pushed his skull into the brick. “If you touch her,” I said looking pointedly at his friend, “your friend’s hand? Well his head will feel a lot like that. Now I suggest you two assholes clear out of here. Before I end you.”
The big guy started to run, and as soon as I released the other jackass he followed him. I was glad; I didn’t really want to have to kill someone in an alley.
I walked back to the door and grabbed my bag before slowly walking over to Berkley. “You okay?”
She looked like she was checking her arms for scrapes and bruises. “I think so. What the hell did those guys want with me?”
I shrugged. “A piece of ass?”
She looked at me and took a deep breath. “Thanks for your help. I should really go find my friend. Somehow I left my phone with her and now I can’t find them.”
I didn’t want to let her walk away from me. I wanted her to stay, so I could keep her safe.
“You look pretty shaken up.” It was true, she had mascara running down her cheeks, and as much as she had tried to look brave both in front of them and me, almost getting assaulted would shake any girl up. No matter how strong she was. “There’s a really good pizza place across the street. How about we go in there and grab a slice? We can watch for your friends from the window. If they don’t show up soon, I’ll take you home.”
She looked at me, confused. “You would do that? I mean, you don’t even know me.”
“I don’t have to.” I paused, thinking about it for a minute. “But I’d like to.” I think it was those little-too-full lips that pulled me into her. Something that made me desperately want to get involved. I was
n’t the type of guy that liked to attach myself to things, but she was different. And I needed to know why.
A smile played on her lips before she nodded. “I’m paying. They might’ve grabbed my cell phone, but I still have my wristlet. And you just won a huge fight. So pizza and beer, to celebrate.”
I was never a guy who turned down a free meal. “After you.”
I followed her across the street, my eyes focused on her walk as her hips swiveled back-and-forth on her small frame. The girl had an ass on her, and I wasn’t denying that it turned me on even more.
She ordered a pepperoni pizza and brought two beers over the table where I sat. We were directly in front of the windows so she could see her friends if they passed by.
By the time the pizza had been delivered, I was worried her friends were never coming. “This is so not like her.”
“Who?”
“My best friend and roommate. We always take care of each other when we go out. It just doesn’t make sense that she would abandon me. I guess I’m going have to take a cab home. She must be really wasted.”
I took another bite of pizza. “Who is she with?”
She clutched the beer in the plastic cup between her small hands. I could tell she was nervous. “These two guys. She was trying to set me up on a date.” She took a swig, liquid confidence. “I haven’t been out in a while. My last boyfriend was kind of a douche.”
“Did he treat you badly?” I couldn’t imagine anyone treating Berkley any way besides perfect. A girl like her deserved to be treated well.
“He was great at the beginning. But this last year had been rough, and in the end he broke up with me in a voicemail. Four years down the drain, all for nothing.” She sighed heavily looking back out through the window into the night, I could tell she was lost in her own thoughts and I gave her a moment of space. I ate the rest of my pizza until she spoke again, “What about you? I saw a lot of girls throw themselves at you tonight, but it didn’t seem like you paid any attention to them. What’s that all about?”
“I’m focused on the fight, not the shit that goes with it. Girls always throw themselves at fighters, I guess there’s something in the dangerousness of it all. But they want the fighter. They’re not really interested in me.”
She studied me carefully, her blue eyes sparkling under the fluorescent light. “I know all about that. But tell me what is interesting about you? What should a girl know?”
I smiled mostly to myself. A girl should know how beautiful she is and how she shouldn’t waste her time with anyone who treated her less than a princess. A girl should also know how sexy she looked in those tight jeans and how much I wanted to get her out of them. But I couldn’t say that to her, no matter how much I wanted to. “There’s not much to know about me. I spend most of my days at the gym, my nights in the cage, and I don’t even have a dog.”
She laughed, “Why would you have a dog?”
“I don’t know. Big guy like me, it seems like I would have a soft spot for like a rescued pit bull or something. But I don’t have time for a dog. I don’t have time for anyone.” She flinched a little like the last part stung her, but it was the truth. It was the reason that I couldn’t tell her that I thought that she was beautiful. I didn’t have time to waste on a girl like her, not when every goal in my career was finally within my grasp. I was too focused on my job for love. Not that I loved this girl—I hardly knew her—but she seemed like the type that I could fall in love with, if I was able.