Bad Seed

Instinct taking over completely, I set my beer down on the bar and went striding to the dance floor. I grabbed the back of the guy’s shirt and yanked him away from Theresa. I heard Jane calling out to me and telling me to stop, but I was in a blind rage. No one touched Theresa that way, and she was too drunk to tell what was happening to her.

I stepped in front of the guy still hanging onto her and glared down at him. He was a measly little punk compared to me, and the moment he saw our size difference he backed off. I heard Theresa’s heels stumbling behind me, clicking along the ground before her hands planted onto my back.

I whipped around and glared down at her, taking in her drunken state.

“What the hell?” she asked. “What was that for?”

“Come on,” I said as I slipped my arm around her waist. “You’re making a fool of yourself.”

I scooted her off the dance floor as Jane continued to entertain the guys around her. I saw Hollis eye me carefully before he went to save Jane from the same damn fate. Jim was pulling guys off her as Hollis helped her off to the side, and I watched as he craned his gaze back to check on his sister.

I gave him a thumbs up and yelled at Jim that I’d catch up with him later. He waved me off before his attention turned back to Hollis, and I sighed with relief when he dragged Jane off into a corner to sober up. People were staring, and not in a good way. And the guys that were dancing on the floor were getting restless because we’d broken up their fun. They were all standing around with blue balls and it was about to get ugly. I pulled Theresa out of the bar and dragged her to my car, then helped her stumbling body fall into the passenger seat.

She was sulking as I slammed the door, her head falling into the glass.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” I asked as I got into the car.

“I was having fun,” Theresa said.

“Yeah, because assault is fun. You were real close in there, and you didn’t even know it.”

“Not assault if you enjoy the attention,” she said.

“Seriously, Theresa? This is your idea of taking care of yourself?”

“I had the situation under control, Bigfoot.”

“Name-calling. Real grown-up.”

“Hey, I didn’t ask you to intervene in the situation. I was enjoying the attention. I was out having a good time. Having some drinks with my best friend.”

“And what was your end goal, huh? Taking one of those assholes home?”

“As a matter of fact, yes!”

I whipped my head around to her and found her eyes hooked onto mine. She was fucking serious. She was going to take one of those pathetic idiots back to her place and do what? Fuck them? Give herself over to them? Is that what she meant by reckless? Inviting some stranger into her home and let him have his way with her or worse?

What the hell was she thinking?

“I’m taking you home,” I said as I cranked up the car.

“You gonna just drop me off or are you gonna fuck me this time, too?” Theresa asked.

My nostrils flared at the angry heat of her words. What was the actual issue here?

“You were two seconds away from one of those men dragging you off that floor and raping you in the damn bathroom,” I said. “And you clearly aren’t sober enough to protect yourself.”

“I’m just fine by myself,” she said. “I don’t need you or anyone else worrying about me.”

“Well, if you and your best friend are going to do dumb shit like this, then yes you do.”

“No, I don’t. I hate the fact that you worry. I hate that everyone fucking worries about poor feeble little Theresa. I’m not feeble. I’m a strong, independent woman. I always have been. But none of you assholes will give me a chance to spread my damn wings and fly like I know I can.”

“I don’t think you’re feeble, Theresa, I never have. I just haven’t seen you make the best choices lately,” I said.

She curled herself as tightly against the door as she could and watched as the world passed us by. The rest of the car ride back to her place was silent. Her breathing was evening out, and I could tell the rhythmic cruising of my Jaguar was forcing her to fall asleep. Good. She needed to sleep the damn alcohol off in her system. But fuck, she looked incredible in her outfit.

Too incredible.