Angel clearly feels my anxiety. He steps forward but I pull him back. The last thing I want is to cause a scene. I’m sure it’s the last thing Angel wants, too, but I can already tell that there are some things he can’t ignore, no matter how much it might fuck this up.
“Cyrus,” Angel barks through the crowd to his old friend. The massive Irishman is halfway through chugging down a pint of beer. When he’s finished, he slams the glass down on the nearest table and the crowd cheers.
“Yo!” C
yrus shouts back to Angel.
Angel gestures for his friend to come to us. Cyrus obliges.
“What’s up?” he asks, his speech slightly slurred from his drinking games.
Angel gestures towards the table of undesirables. “Are those your men?” he growls.
Cyrus blinks and leans forward, trying to see through his beer-goggles. “No, no, those are just some local shmucks. Villagers... or maybe they’re travellers passing through. Probably harmless. My men vet everyone before allowing them to enter. Why? They bothering you?”
Angel sneers and shifts in his spot. “Not yet.”
Cyrus wipes his lip. “Well, if they do, let me know. I could go for a little barroom brawl.”
Angel grunts and turns his back to the guilty table. I linger on them for a second longer. They don’t seem particularly disturbed. Must be because they’re drunk... or just stupid.
Angel grabs the drink the men sent over, spilling the contents on the floor before crushing the glass in his fist.
The night is cool but I’m warm and content as I stumble out of the bar on Angel’s arm. I didn’t drink much more than the couple of shots of whiskey I had at the beginning of the night, and I don’t think he did either, but I feel tipsy nonetheless.
A light rain drizzles down over us as Cyrus and a few of his men stretch in the street before us. “Let’s head home, boys. I think we’ve had enough.”
Angel’s hand wraps around my back and he pulls me in close. “You guys go ahead. We’ll catch up.”
“Alright,” Cyrus smirks, his eyes slyly darting back and forth between me and Angel. “We’ll just be up the road, don’t you lovebirds take too long.”
Their inebriated laughs echo down the dirt road as they disappear into the darkness. The moment they’re out of sight, Angel dips me over and plants a hard kiss on my wet lips. I let him hold me in the soft rain and an easiness comes over me that makes it hard to think of anything else.
His hardness pushes up against my leg. “Let’s go back to the castle,” I whisper, when he pulls back. I’m just as hot and heavy as he is, but why fuck in a dirty street when we have a big cozy bed waiting for us?
“I can’t wait,” he growls, his hand wandering down to my ass.
“Get a room!” the unexpected shout comes from nearby just as Angel palms my cheeks. It’s followed by a chorus of similar jeers.
We immediately separate. Angel turns around, ready for a fight. I post up against his back and peak out from behind his shoulder to see what all the noise is about.
Out of the darkness of a nearby alleyway comes a familiar looking face...
It’s the man who sent me the drink earlier in the night.
He’s zipping up the fly on his trousers, like he just took a long hard piss that’s given him way too much confidence.
“Looking pretty there, ya’ little Mot. Where ya from? Cuz it sure ain’t from around here...” Behind him, five other men appear. They’re all beefy, like heavyweight boxers, and have the prerequisite missing teeth, but they swagger on their feet like fools looking for a fight.
I have a bad feeling Angel’s going to give it to them.
“Keep moving,” Angel growls.
“I never stop,” the big Irishman taunts back. He’s wearing a black newsboy cap, but he pulls it off as he approaches, revealing a shaggy head of red hair.
“I’d be happy to help you,” Angel announces. He pushes me backwards and takes an authoritative step forward. For a split second, I can see the red-headed Irishman reconsider his approach. Angel’s no pushover, and while the stranger is big and battle-hardened, there’s something different about my man.
That second thought doesn’t seem to last long, though, especially not when the combative stranger feels his buddies at his back. “How about you let me take that little lass off your hands, huh? A foreigner like you doesn’t deserve such a golden spice...”