Bad Boys Do (Donovan Brothers Brewery 2)

She grabbed his shirt. “What happened?”

“You’re ruining my grand exit. Excuse me.”

The crowd backed into the building, and he managed to slide past the bodies and the hands that reached out to pat him on the back. “Good job,” some of them called. They had no idea who Victor was, but the man who served them their beers was an automatic hero, apparently.

Tessa was less biased in his favor, ironically. Her hand closed over his sleeve and when he tried to slip behind the bar, she hauled him toward the back. “Excuse us, folks. We’ll be right back.”

A small cheer of support went up from the tables, but Jamie didn’t feel encouraged. His heart was still beating hard enough to keep a small army supplied with blood. What if Victor had called the cops? What would’ve happened then?

“Jamie,” his sister growled.

“I know.” He held up his hands before he even turned to face her. “I know.”

“What the hell was that?”

“He grabbed me twice, Tessa. I tried to walk away from it, but he followed me back here.”

“Who is he?” she yelled.

“Olivia’s ex-husband.”

Tessa’s eyes went wide.

“He came in here to talk trash. Then he said something about her that set me off. I shouldn’t have hit him, but—”

“No shit!”

“Jesus, if the cops had been called… Listen, let me talk to Eric tomorrow. I’ll try to…” The words faded from his mouth when Tessa’s face shifted to guilt. “What?”

“I already called him.”

“Christ, Tessa, what are you trying to do to me?”

“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I thought you were going to be arrested or something! I just told him to get over here. I didn’t have time to explain.”

Jamie slammed his hand down on one of the tables. “Damn it! Okay, let me handle this. I’ll tell him my side of the—”

The doors swung open and Eric stepped through, his face drawn into fury.

“Eric.” Jamie sighed.

“You got into another fight?” Eric asked, the words barely making it past his clenched teeth.

Apparently he’d heard the story as soon as he’d stepped through the front door. Crap. “It wasn’t a fight,” Jamie argued. “The guy wouldn’t back off. He followed me back here and pissed me off.”

“So you punched him?”

Jamie shifted and crossed his arms.

“Do you know the guy?”

Jamie slid a look to Tessa, but he knew there was no hope for help. “He’s the ex-husband of a woman I dated.”

Surprisingly, Eric didn’t say anything. He stared at Jamie for a long moment, then jerked his head toward the door.

“Go home. I’ll take care of the bar.”

“I’m fine,” Jamie said. “I talked him out of calling the cops.”