I pushed up on my knees as Al stumbled back. Wynn packed a good punch, and now he aimed a second one at Alistair’s face. Al fell after that one, crashing to the ground with a pained groan. He didn’t get much reprieve though before Wynn was on him—and he pounded his fist into Al’s face again and again and—

“Wynn!” Chad was there all of a sudden, grabbing hold of Wynn’s shoulders and trying to physically force him away from Alistair.

My first thought was just let him be, let him finish him. Alistair deserved what Wynn gave him; a taste of his own damn medicine.

“Wynn, for fuck’s sake!” Chad wasn’t quite as big as Wynn, but he was pretty fit too, and he managed to force Wynn back. “You want to go back to prison?” he shouted. “Or you want to help your boyfriend?”

That last one did it. Wynn stopped fighting Chad to get to Al… and he slowly turned around to look at me.

I stared back, tears still streaming down my face, blood still trickling from my lips. “Wynn,” I choked out and then he was there, strong arms enveloping me in a gentle embrace.

“What’d he do?” he whispered against my ear. “What’d he do to you, Kasey?”

I clung to him, his shoulder, his neck, anywhere I could get a good grip on, and just cried. Cried at being cornered by Al, for being so afraid, for the pain he’d caused me, and cried in relief because Wynn was finally here and he wouldn’t let anyone hurt me anymore.

“Kasey.” My name came out on a sigh and he held me closer, tighter. “I’ve got you.”

Al was still on the ground, but he was moving and groaning. Chad stood above him, grimacing slightly before glancing at Wynn and me. I must look horrible, so I buried my face in Wynn’s neck.

“Come on, Kasey, we’ve got to go back inside.”

I nodded and let him help me up on my feet. I didn’t want to stay in the alley any more, not as long as Al was still there. Still on the ground, but now on hands and knees, refusing to look at any of us.

Wynn wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders and led me inside and straight into his office.

Chad followed behind us. “Want me to bugger off?” he asked.

After pushing me down on the desk chair, Wynn straightened and ran a hand over his face. “He’s not going back to work, so we’re short-staffed out there. On a bloody Saturday.”

I’d made a mess out of everything again. “I’m sorry.” I bowed my head in shame.

“Hey.” He ran a hand through my hair. “It’s not your fault this happened.”

I got a good look at the hand hanging loosely by his side and the knuckles… they were red and raw.

“I can watch your boytoy if you have to work,” Chad shot in, grinning cheekily. Wynn stared him down, but Chad didn’t seem to notice—or care. “I’d offer to bartend so you could stay with him, but we both know I don’t know shit about mixing drinks. I’d probably just drink all the alcohol.”

Wynn sighed heavily. The hand that had been in my hair now dragged over his face—and the knuckles on that one were sore too. Then he crouched down in front of me, putting both hands on my knees. “Do you want to go home? I can’t leave them understaffed on a Saturday, so I’ve got to stay. For a few more hours at least. Chad can follow you home and look at your lip and I’ll be there soon.”

I softly put my palms on top of his hands, not daring to put any pressure on them with how raw they were after knocking Al around. “I hate that I keep making so much trouble for you,” I whispered. “You had to take over for me on Tuesday too.”

“Like I said, it’s not your fault.” He squeezed my knees. “Go home with Chad. You’ll be safe there. And that arsehole is banned from my club as of now. He’s not getting in here ever again.”

I drew in a shaky breath. That was good to hear, at least. I nodded. “Okay, I’ll go home.”

He leant close, kissing my forehead, then drew me into another hug. “Give me a few hours, till the rush lets up. Cooper can take over from there.”

I ran my hand over my mouth as I stood up, feeling how my lower lip had swollen on one side and some coagulated blood stuck to my skin. I still had a metallic taste in my mouth too, so I probably had bitten myself when Al hit me.

“Look after him,” Wynn said to Chad, voice low and deep and threatening.

“I’ll guard him with my life.” Chad mock-saluted, then snorted. “Chill out, man, it’ll be fine.”

Wynn stopped me again as we exited his office, drawing me in close to kiss my temple. “Don’t feel bad.”

That was easier said than done.

After getting my phone and jacket from my locker, Chad and I exited the club from the main door. I couldn’t stomach going through the back, especially as I didn’t know if Alistair was still there or not.

“Is Wynn going to get in trouble?” I asked then, thinking back to how viciously he’d hit Al and how Al’s face had looked a lot worse than mine.

He blew out an annoyed breath. “I doubt it. If that fucker dares to press charges, he was hitting you first, so Wynn would counter-sue his arse so bad he won’t be able to walk.”

The mental image that brought up startled me into a laugh.

He smiled too. “So how’d Wynn bank a sweetheart like you, huh? He’s not the type to go on the pull and you’re nothing alike Madison.”

Madison… I knew I shouldn’t, but… “You knew him? Madison?” When Chad only nodded, I dared ask some more. “What was he like?”

That made him grimace and for a second I thought I’d crossed a line. “Madison… he was a freak. Mind you, he was nice and all, but… he was so fucking weird. Obsessed with death, for one; not that I think he revealed much of that to Wynn, but he said some weird-arsed shit to me at the end there.” His expression turned thoughtful. “He never minded that Wynn slept with me either, which is extremely weird, right? That you’d let your boyfriend shag someone else.”

He blinked, seemed to realise who he was talking too, and then stepped closer. “Not that Wynn’s the cheating type, mind. He isn’t. At all. He’s so loyal. But Madison was always weird about shit, like living and sex and breathing. And I know he must’ve had some horrible trauma in his life to turn out like he did, but… he wasn’t ever up for much. Like intimacy or sex or any of that. And us normal people need some of that once in a while, right? And then I got with my guys and Madison was dead… and Wynn just kept existing, but he never went out looking for other people. I thought maybe he didn’t need it anyway—maybe he only shagged me because I was manic and hypersexual and probably didn’t give him much choice in the matter… but then I walked in on you two today.” And that wicked grin was back.

I flushed at the reminder of just what he’d seen us do earlier.

“That was hot, by the way.” He bumped my shoulder gently with his. “Wynn might have been facing the door, but he was too caught up in you to even notice me. And that sure doesn’t happen often. Wynn’s got eyes like a hawk—he notices everything.”

That was… both flattering and embarrassing, as it made me blush even more. But it also made me smile. I tried to restrain it, but gave up and instead bowed my head.

“You really like him, huh?” He stretched his arms up, hooking his hands behind his neck, and stared up at the dark sky. “That’s good. Wynn deserves some happiness in his life. He hasn’t had much of it. And he seemed pretty happy with you.”

I sure hoped he seemed happy. Besides the whole drama Al had instigated anyway. “It hasn’t even been a week though,” I murmured. I didn’t know if Chad already knew or not, what Wynn had shared when they’d been cooped up in his office.

“Love at first sight?” He laughed. “Now that’s rare.”

“That doesn’t happen,” I argued meekly. “That’s a cliché that only happens in romance novels and romantic films and love songs.”

“Hey, don’t diss the love at first sight trope.” He just wouldn’t stop grinning. “It does happen to some people. Some people even make it work.”

I raised my eyebrows inquiringly. “Do you know of anyone?”

“Uhh…” He scratched the back of his neck. “Your brother was pretty quick to fall into a relationship, as far as I’ve been told.”

That surprised me as I hadn’t realised he knew Kian was my brother. Had he recognised me all this time? I couldn’t remember ever having met Chad before, though, come to think of it.

His ever-present grin was back. “Don’t worry. Kian showed me a picture of you once when we were at the pub. You were in college. Had pink hair. I guess that’s why I remember the face so well too.”

Heh, my pink hair phase. I kind of missed it. Not that I wanted to go back to it—I was a bit too old for pink hair now.

We were at Wynn’s building now, and… “Wynn forgot to give me his key.” Shit.

“Not to worry.” He brandished his own set of keys. “I’ve got one.”

I blinked. “You’ve got a key to Wynn’s flat?”

“Sure do.” He grinned cheekily as he let us in. “I’m not allowed to use it though unless in an emergency. But this one counts, right?”

Emergency? What kind of emergency would that be? Had he used it before?

I trudged after him into Wynn’s flat, toeing off my shoes in the hall. Chad disappeared into the bathroom and came back with cotton and antiseptic. We sat down and faced each other on the sofa, and I was quiet as I let him wash off the blood and clean my split lip. There wasn’t much to do with the bite on the inside of my cheek, but at least my lip got a thorough clean. It was still swollen, but there wasn’t much to do about that either.

Chad cleaned up after us. He clearly knew how anal Wynn was about cleaning too, because he only waggled his eyebrows teasingly as he left to deposit the used pads in the rubbish.

“What do you like to do to relax?” he asked once he came out of the bathroom. “And don’t say sex.”

“I wasn’t going to,” I murmured, flushing bright red again. “Um, I like to watch movies. Re-watch movies, anyway, that’s always a good way to unwind.”

He flung himself on the sofa. “All right. I can do a movie. Whatever you want.”

I knew what I wanted and I walked over to where all my DVDs were stores. I was in pain and the encounter with Al had really shaken me, and Wynn wasn’t here right now… so this called for Disney.

“What are we watching?” Chad asked, leaning over to get the remote so he could turn the TV on.

“Tangled.” I hoped he wouldn’t mind.

He seemed blank however. “Never heard of it.”

Yeah, I reckon he wouldn’t have. He was a grown man, shacked up with two other men, and so wasn’t likely to be sitting around watching Disney’s animated movies. But I loved them and they cheered me up, much more than most of my anime, though watching those always left me in a good mood too. As did dance movies, but no, this kind of shitty night was definitely a Disney night.