A Terrible Misunderstanding (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 6)

Niall had barely taken two steps before the heavy bucket slammed him in the centre of his back. He cursed when pain lanced down his spine. Dropping Clara onto her feet, he spun around only for the bucket to hit him in the face. Blood spurted into his mouth as his lip split and pain slashed across his jaw and cheek bone. He winced but positioned himself protectively before Clara and made sure she stayed behind him as he braced himself for another fight.

Clara screamed when she heard the heavy thwack of the bucket hitting Niall in the face. Niall didn’t seem to notice. He was so swift in snatching the bucket off the attacker that Clara gasped at the speed of it. To her amazement, Niall started to use it as a weapon and began to smack the thug with it in his head, his chest, his stomach, his legs. Over and over again in rapid succession, he rammed the bucket at his opponent with all of his might. Because it was slippery the thug couldn’t take it off him.

“That’s my bucket,” she cried when she heard it crack beneath the force of Niall’s onslaught. “It’s the only one I have.”

Niall blinked at her before slamming it into the thug’s face and watching blood start to pour down his chubby features.

“I am fighting bloody attacker and all you can think about is your bucket?” he growled in disgust, shoving the edge of the bucket into his opponent’s forehead.

Clara clamped her mouth closed but placed her fists on her hips and glared at both men.

“Well, you two can stand out here and fight all you like, but I am going back inside where it is warm. Give me my bucket back, please?” she commanded.

The men continued to fight for the bucket while trying to kick each other.

“Ooh, do you never listen?” she screeched. “Give me the bucket.”

Her temper began to burn even brighter when the bucket was thrown casually across the garden but several feet away so she had to scurry after it.

“Thank you,” she sniped sarcastically.

Glaring menacingly at the men, she snorted inelegantly in disgust because she knew neither of them noticed. They seemed determined to keep pounding each other until one of them gave in and either collapsed or left. Clara suspected it wouldn’t be Niall who surrendered, not given the vicious look on his face. For a very brief moment, she almost pitied the thug, until she remembered what he was doing in her garden and how frightened she had been made to feel because of it.

Once she had retrieved her now discarded and very damaged bucket, Clara began to stomp back to the house, making sure to skirt warily around the still battling men. Suddenly, the thug slammed a fist into Niall’s head, which made Niall stagger backward before he fell to the floor. The thug didn’t waste a moment of his advantage and turned his attention on Clara.

Clara screamed and swung her bucket at him only to jolt when the heavy receptacle slammed into him. She glared up at him and winced at the sight of his battered and bruised face. Still, she knew she could have no mercy and lifted the bucket once more. As Niall had done, she slammed it under his nose. Despite the wind, she heard a loud crack and watched blood start to pour from it. Before she needed to do anything else, Niall appeared over the man’s shoulder. Clara’s eyes widened as she watched him lift a heavy rock and ram it hard on the head of the thug. The man blinked blankly at her for several moments before his eyes rolled back and he slumped soundlessly to the floor.

Clara and Niall were, albeit briefly, frozen in time. Al

l they could do was stare blankly at each other while they absorbed what had just happened. Now that Niall knew his opponent wasn’t going anywhere, he began to relax and was hit with a wild surge of relief that everything was going to be all right. It was so strong that he puffed out his cheeks and looked ruefully down at the man at their feet.

“Do you know him?” he asked. “Is he not one of Boyle’s friends?”

Clara shook her head. “He is why you are here, isn’t he?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Niall replied.

“Why won’t you just be honest with me? No stranger would fight like that. Besides, if you aren’t with the Star Elite, what are you doing lurking in my garden?” Clara swiped at the rainwater that temporarily clouded her vision. When she could see Niall again, she gasped at the vision he presented.

He looked wild, untamed, lethal, yet so stunningly handsome that all Clara could do was stare. Until her survival instincts kicked in. It took her several moments to realise that she was now the focus of that intense, predatory glare of his, and he posed just as much danger to her as her attacker had although on a different level. In contrast to his hardness, she felt delicate, feminine yet infinitely vulnerable.

“Who are you then?” she whispered, unsure if he had even heard her through the now howling wind.

“Look, it isn’t really important right now. Just get inside,” Niall growled by way of answer.

Even that husky rumble makes him sound untamed.

“I demand to know who you are,” Clara knew she needed to persist because if he disappeared she would be unlikely to ever get facts from him. She suspected that her persistence would force him to do whatever he had come to the village to do hidden from her. Even if she tried to find him again, Niall would make sure she couldn’t, if only to avoid her questions.

Niall had no intention of telling her that in the middle of her garden. “I said get inside.”

“No. Not until you tell me who you are,” she cried digging her heels in. “If my father can trust me with the facts about his position, why can’t you?”

Niall bit out a curse. “I have no idea who your bloody father is. Now, get inside!”

Niall leaned over her so menacingly that Clara’s instinctive movement was to step back. However, at the last moment, she forced herself to stand her ground. Rather than retreat as any wise person would do, she planted her fists on her hips and copied his stance. This made Niall furious because she looked like a spitting kitten. One who would most likely gouge his eyes out if he ventured too close. She could be hopelessly overpowered if he chose to be that physical with her. He suspected she knew it, but she wasn’t prepared to give in.

God, she is fierce.