“I wasn’t—”
“You were jealous.” Connor goes on like he didn’t hear me, still giving me that weird smirk. “It’s okay. That’s the little game we’re playing here.” He hiccups.
“I wasn’t jealous.” My voice comes out sharp. I’m gripping the crutches harder than I need to, nails digging into the foam. “I don’t care if you have a girlfriend.” I gesture with my crutch for him to get out of the way. “Move.”
He steps closer and I shrink back, but there’s nowhere to go. I’m backed against the counter. My pulse skyrockets, pounding in my ears. I search for Rory but Connor’s in my way, moving in front of me, mouth on mine—
A horrified, revolted sound falls out of me and I flinch back, every cell in my body recoiling. Commotion explodes in the bar—noise and movement and energy. On instinct, I lift a crutch and swing it at his ankle. It connects with the bone and I feel the impact up the length of the crutch.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” I bite out just as Rory hauls Connor off me with a murderous expression.
“Motherfuck.” Connor hisses in pain as Jamie and Hayden pull him back. “She hit me.”
“Get him the fuck away from her,” Rory thunders, searching my eyes with a frantic look. His chest is rising and falling fast and a muscle ticks in his jaw. “Are you okay, baby?” His hands come to my jaw, tilting it up as I nod.
“He kissed me,” I say, almost to myself, and I can feel my lip curling with disgust as I replay the gross beer smell, the feel of his lips mashing against mine. I swallow, pulse still racing. Behind Rory, Connor tries to shove Hayden off, but Hayden holds tight. For once, Hayden isn’t smiling. He wears the same furious, stony expression as Jamie.
“I know.” Rory’s voice is sharp like a knife but his gaze stays locked on mine. “I’ll fucking kill him.”
CHAPTER 54
RORY
Protective rage burns through me.
We never should have come here. We should have gone straight to Hazel’s place so I could tuck her into bed and keep her safe.
I take in the angry flush coloring her cheeks and the way her nostrils flare, and the urge to make it better fires through me like a bullet.
I was supposed to prevent stuff like this. That was the whole point of our agreement.
“I’m okay,” she says. Her throat works again. “Pissed off, but fine.”
Everyone in the bar is either staring at us as I help her to her seat or at McKinnon, still trying to shove Owens and Streicher off as they hold him like sentinels. They’re almost as furious as I am, and beneath the jealous rage, a pulse of gratitude hits me. Even if I wasn’t here, they’d stick up for Hazel. They know what she means to me, even if I’ve never told them explicitly, and they care about her.
When she’s seated, I give her a kiss on the top of the head. “You okay here for a moment?”
She nods, and I give her another kiss before straightening up and stalking over to McKinnon.
“Wrong move, McKinnon,” I call as I approach, shaking my head, feeling wild and out of control.
He hurt my Hazel. My Hazel. He thought he could help himself to her. He sent her lingerie.
This ends now.
He shakes his head, wearing a stupid grin that makes me want to break every bone in his body. “She’s got you fucking whipped.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Streicher growls. “She’s your physio, and he’s your captain.”
McKinnon burps. He’s fucking wasted. “Whatever.”
I grab the front of McKinnon’s shirt, hauling him up straight so I can look him in the eye. Everyone in the bar is silent, listening and watching as tinny Christmas music plays.
“You don’t fucking touch her,” I tell him in a deadly calm, lethal voice as my pulse races. “You don’t go near her. You don’t look at her. You’re nothing to us. This stuff?” I gesture at the bar. “You don’t show up for these things anymore. You’re going to pull that shit? You’re not part of the team.”
He’s breathing hard with the ugliest, most resentful expression.
“I can’t kick your sorry ass off the team but I can make sure you never bother Hartley again,” I continue. “Ask for a new physio or I’ll do it for you.”
Silence stretches between us, and in McKinnon’s eyes, I see something settle. Defeat, I think.
“Understand?” I give him a shake, and he stumbles.
“Fuck you,” he spits.