Jasmine took the bloody cloth off her nose to speak but Holly put it back. She answered for Jasmine instead. “Her nose isn’t broken. I checked.”
“So what happened here?” Drake let the man go and turned to Alicia. “Why do I have the feeling this involves you?”
He shook his head, trying not to get frustrated. Alicia marched to her own beat but it was frustrating as hell when all you wanted to do was protect her from the assholes.
Alicia stood up angrily and poked him in the chest. “This is all your girlfriend Nancy’s fault. If you and every other man in this town wasn’t such a Romeo wannabe, we wouldn’t be dealing with this.”
“Me? I wasn’t even here tonight,” Drake spit out angrily. Her parents needed to spank her more as a child. Ray was going to flip out. “Is that a diamond hanging from your belly button, Alicia?”
“Don’t change the subject.” She sat back down, knowing she was busted.
Holly raised her hand, looking kind of frightened at all the fuss. Most of the other patrons had left, but a few stayed behind to be nosy. The bar was ready to close.
“I had fewer shots than those two.” She pointed to Jasmine and Alicia. “I can tell you what happened.”
She looked like she wanted to cry and Matt immediately went to stand by her. He patted her back hard at first then he slowed his hand down as if he remembered Jasmine’s warning about his strength. “There, there, don’t cry, sweet thing. Just tell us what happened.”
Drake took a deep breath. Jasmine was looking at him with such sorrow that it was killing him inside. He wanted to pick her up and sit her on his lap. If Holly didn’t start talking he was going to pick up Jasmine and take her to his place.
“We were sitting here having fun by ourselves when your girlfriend came up to us. She said some hurtful things to Jasmine so we started taking shots,” Holly began, shooting him her own hateful glances. How had he become the villain?
Drake rolled his eyes. He was going to kill Nancy. “She is not my girlfriend, never was.”
Jasmine glared at him for a minute then put her head on the table. “I need pain pills. I’m injured.”
“In a minute,” Drake responded.
“Go on, sweetie. Finish your story.” Matt looked at Holly with something soft in his eyes and Drake sighed. The big lug was barking up the wrong tree. Adam Blake was protective as hell when it came to Faith’s little sister Holly. Not only Adam, but Liam treated Holly like his little sister too.
Holly blinked up at him for a second and something passed between the two. She smiled shyly and blushed. She lowered her eyes and twisted a napkin nervously. He thought he heard Jasmine mutter “traitor” to Holly. Oh hell, Drake thought. Could this night get any worse?
Chapter 12
Yes it could, much worse. Drake spotted an angry-looking Ray Garcia coming in and knew it could get much worse. Ray and Alicia together were like an explosive, uncontrollable force. Chaos always followed.
“Wonderful. Did you tattle on me, you asshole?” Alicia muttered and glared at John accusingly. John was looking down at Alicia with irritation but also with interest in his brown eyes. He was young, maybe around Drake’s age, but Alicia was still very young. It would never work. John lived life in the fast lane.
John shook his head no. “I did not, little girl, but maybe I should have. Someone needs to put their foot down when it comes to you. You enjoy running wild and causing trouble.”
Alicia stood up and got in his face. She poked him in the chest. “You and what army?”
Drake looked up and put his hands on his face. This night was going to hell faster than he could even discover what happened and who did what. He was ready to grab Jasmine’s hand and make a hasty escape.
John and Alicia started bickering loudly and Ray chimed in arguing with both of them.
Drake pulled Holly to another table. He needed to get back on track. “So Nancy said some hateful things?”
Matt followed and pulled up a chair next to Holly. He was holding her hand, forgetting all about Jasmine and her injury. Drake motioned for Jasmine to come over. The bouncer followed her and Drake thought he saw an interest in the bouncer’s eyes. He watched Jasmine walk in her tight jeans. Her arms were bare and a simple bow around her neck held her top up. He was sure she was not wearing a bra and he felt his body react to that image in his head.
Well, he would soon make it clear that Jasmine belonged to him. He needed to keep his mind on business and not what Jasmine had on.
Holly nodded. “We put it behind us and we were having fun. Right, Jazz?”
Jasmine nodded silently. She gave Holly a smile. “It was fun. You and Alicia cheered me up good.”
“We were dancing, just us girls,” Holly continued. She never pulled her hand out of Matt’s. “Then that asshole came up behind Jazz and slapped her ass.”
The cowboy slunk lower in his chair and winced. Drake gave him the evil eye. He would take care of him after he took care of the bouncer. He was making a mental list of asses he would be kicking tonight.