Her stomach clenched with excitement, and she ran back to the dressing room, stripping out of it all. Did he actually like her? Is that what he was getting at this whole time? She wanted so desperately to believe that was true, but was terrified of it not being real.
She got dressed once more, handing the various boxes to the woman and smiling at Damien shyly.
“I forgot to check the price,” she admitted softly.
“Ain’t nothin’ but a thing,” he said with a wink, touching his hand to the small of her back as he pulled out a fat stack of bills and let them drop to the counter. The kind of casual presentation of money she was not used to.
The wide-eyed clerks hurried to wrap and package the items, then sort out the change.
Damien put his arm back around Britney and walked her on out of the store. But it was then somethin’ real peculiar happened.
“Big D?” came some man’s hoarse, cracked voice, and Britney saw a rather rough lookin’ man in a leather vest come headin’ on over. “Fuckin’ hell! It is you!” he cried and laughed.
It was nobody Britney recognized, but the leather and his addressing Damien made it clear it was an acquaintance at least.
Damien didn’t say a word but gave a long hard stare at the man as he held her close by his side.
“Damien?” Britney said softly, her head tilted to the side as she clutched her gifts a little closer to her body. She didn’t know why the man gave her the creeps, but he did.
Maybe it was the scabs on his arms. Or the busted up look he had, scars both old and new. He looked like he’d b
een into more fights than she could count, and if he won ‘em, he certainly never won ‘em unscathed.
“Shit, I expected you’d be back in the city by now!” exclaimed the man, slow to notice Damien’s icy stare. “I guess you’re on the way there now huh, big night tonight and all,” he said with a grin, before his gaze went towards her, and a leer crossed his face.
With a shrill whistle the rough lookin’ man made no effort to act respectable towards her.
“Knew it had to be some pussy that pulled you away from the club, and damn it’s a fine one,” he said before Damien immediately untangled his arm about Britney and stepped forward.
“Don’t you fuckin’ talk that way about her,” Damien growled in a voice she’d never heard from the man. A voice darker and more ominous than she even imagined her brooding Damien could conjure. The fact he punctuated it with a shove to the other guy’s shoulder only made it all the worse.
“The fuck, man?!” the guy cried out, looking so terribly offended by that, as if his words and actions were completely out of nowhere. As if disrespectin’ a lady to her face weren’t a thing worthy of mention let alone offense.
Britney felt frozen in place, too afraid to even move. All she could do was cling to her goods as if they’d somehow shield her from the terrifying man, and the fear of what was to come. She’d never felt so afraid of someone before, especially not just seconds after meeting them.
“Damien, let’s go,” she said, her voice still meek.
Her words were lost amid the testosterone fueled confrontation though, and as rough as this new guy looked, Damien weren’t cowed and certainly weren’t backin’ down.
“I don’t fuckin’ repeat myself,” Damien growled, shoulders wide as he edged closer to the man. He had a nice bit of height on the rough fella, but as big and strong as Damien was, this scarred man was bulky and built himself.
“You need to fuckin’ calm yourself down, man,” the guy said through clenched teeth. “You wanna be nice to the guys who might have a gun at your back someday. And it’s just pussy after all,” he said, jabbing a finger at Damien’s chest.
But Damien was havin’ none of it. He grabbed the man’s finger before he could jab twice and a loud, bone-breaking sound filled the air. It was enough to make Britney squeak in empathetic pain. But soon after, the new guy cried out and then punched Damien back in retaliation.
It was too late then, it was on.
“Nobody talks about her that fuckin’ way, you hear me?!” Damien bellowed, unfazed by the punch to the face he just took, still holdin’ the man’s broken finger.
Damien head-butted the man, and another sick crunch filled the air. Another punch came at him, but Damien was quicker, jabbing his fist into the other guy’s kidney. It wasn’t enough to stop him from punching Damien, but it was enough to distract the blow.
Britney had never seen anythin’ like it. Not even when that out-of-towner started a fight in the parking lot. These were two huge, ripped men, pounding into each other, and Damien never even flinched from the blows despite how much they must’ve hurt.
She didn’t know what to do. Even if there were a sheriff or deputy around, she didn’t wanna get Damien in any trouble.
“Damien!” she cried out, moving towards the scuffle, hoping that maybe she could break it up or at least distract them from their powerful punches.
There was little she could do though but cry out for a return to reason once the two were slugging each other. Though she noticed across the parking lot a couple other big, brawny bikers were making their way over towards them.