FIVE
DILLON
I slung my bag over my shoulder and made my way out the back door. I didn’t like all the photo ops with the paparazzi waiting out front, so I tried my best to avoid them. When I emerged into the dim light of the streetlamp, I immediately dropped my bag. The girl I had seen earlier, Berkley I think it was, had her back against a wall with two thugs talking to her. She looked terrified.
My hands immediately curled into fists as I walked over to them. “Do we have a problem here?”
Both the guys turned around and looked at me. The one was taller than me, but the other was about my height. The one who is my height sauntered over to me like nothing was going on. “No of course not, man. She was just looking for a good time is all. We’re just about to show it to her.”
She tried to walk away but the taller guy grabbed her by her wrist. “I don’t want any trouble. I just was looking for my friends…”
I called to her, “Looking for your friends? I’m guessing you don’t know these guys then.”
“No!”
With that, the guy in front of me attempted a left hook. But I caught his punch in my hand. I squeezed and heard the crackle of his bones breaking in his hand as he screamed out in agony. I took his hand and pulled around it back and walked him over to the wall. His friend hadn’t decided what to do yet. I would make the choice easy for him. My right hand was still attached to his left behind his back when I took my left hand and pushed his skull into the brick. “If you touch her,” I said looking pointedly at his friend, “your friend’s hand? Well his head will feel a lot like that. Now I suggest you two assholes clear out of here. Before I end you.”
The big guy started to run, and as soon as I released the other jackass he followed him. I was glad; I didn’t really want to have to kill someone in an alley.
I walked back to the door and grabbed my bag before slowly walking over to Berkley. “You okay?”
She looked like she was checking her arms for scrapes and bruises. “I think so. What the hell did those guys want with me?”
I shrugged. “A piece of ass?”
She looked at me and took a deep breath. “Thanks for your help. I should really go find my friend. Somehow I left my phone with her and now I can’t find them.”
I didn’t want to let her walk away from me. I wanted her to stay, so I could keep her safe.
“You look pretty shaken up.” It was true, she had mascara running down her cheeks, and as much as she had tried to look brave both in front of them and me, almost getting assaulted would shake any girl up. No matter how strong she was. “There’s a really good pizza place across the street. How about we go in there and grab a slice? We can watch for your friends from the window. If they don’t show up soon, I’ll take you home.”
She looked at me, confused. “You would do that? I mean, you don’t even know me.”
“I don’t have to.” I paused, thinking about it for a minute. “But I’d like to.” I think it was those little-too-full lips that pulled me into her. Something that made me desperately want to get involved. I wasn’t the type of guy that liked to attach myself to things, but she was different. And I needed to know why.
A smile played on her lips before she nodded. “I’m paying. They might’ve grabbed my cell phone, but I still have my wristlet. And you just won a huge fight. So pizza and beer, to celebrate.”
I was never a guy who turned down a free meal. “After you.”
I followed her across the street, my eyes focused on her walk as her hips swiveled back-and-forth on her small frame. The girl had an ass on her, and I wasn’t denying that it turned me on even more.
She ordered a pepperoni pizza and brought two beers over the table where I sat. We were directly in front of the windows so she could see her friends if they passed by.
By the time the pizza had been delivered, I was worried her friends were never coming. “This is so not like her.”
“Who?”
“My best friend and roommate. We always take care of each other when we go out. It just doesn’t make sense that she would abandon me. I guess I’m going have to take a cab home. She must be really wasted.”
I took another bite of pizza. “Who is she with?”
She clutched the beer in the plastic cup between her small hands. I could tell she was nervous. “These two guys. She was trying to set me up on a date.” She took a swig, liquid confidence. “I haven’t been out in a while. My last boyfriend was kind of a douche.”
“Did he treat you badly?” I couldn’t imagine anyone treating Berkley any way besides perfect. A girl like her deserved to be treated well.
“He was great at the beginning. But this last year had been rough, and in the end he broke up with me in a voicemail. Four years down the drain, all for nothing.” She sighed heavily looking back out through the window into the night, I could tell she was lost in her own thoughts and I gave her a moment of space. I ate the rest of my pizza until she spoke again, “What about you? I saw a lot of girls throw themselves at you tonight, but it didn’t seem like you paid any attention to them. What’s that all about?”
“I’m focused on the fight, not the shit that goes with it. Girls always throw themselves at fighters, I guess there’s something in the dangerousness of it all. But they want the fighter. They’re not really interested in me.”
She studied me carefully, her blue eyes sparkling under the fluorescent light. “I know all about that. But tell me what is interesting about you? What should a girl know?”
I smiled mostly to myself. A girl should know how beautiful she is and how she shouldn’t waste her time with anyone who treated her less than a princess. A girl should also know how sexy she looked in those tight jeans and how much I wanted to get her out of them. But I couldn’t say that to her, no matter how much I wanted to. “There’s not much to know about me. I spend most of my days at the gym, my nights in the cage, and I don’t even have a dog.”
She laughed, “Why would you have a dog?”
“I don’t know. Big guy like me, it seems like I would have a soft spot for like a rescued pit bull or something. But I don’t have time for a dog. I don’t have time for anyone.” She flinched a little like the last part stung her, but it was the truth. It was the reason that I couldn’t tell her that I thought that she was beautiful. I didn’t have time to waste on a girl like her, not when every goal in my career was finally within my grasp. I was too focused on my job for love. Not that I loved this girl—I hardly knew her—but she seemed like the type that I could fall in love with, if I was able.
But love was out of the question, regardless of any feelings I would ever have.
“Now tell me something interesting about you.”
She shrugged, “I go to BU, and my dad was a governor. That’s about it.”
“You are a college girl?”
“Yeah, why?”
I laughed, “Let me guess, sorority?”
“How did you know?”
“Just a lucky guess. So do you have pillow fights in skimpy underwear?” I built the mental image in my mind. Berkley in sexy pink undies, her bouncing breasts as she messed around with her sisters.
“No!” She protested. “That’s not how it is. I have a roommate, Naomi, and that’s it. No underwear parties, sorry.”
“I can’t say I’m not disappointed.”
“Why’s that?” She countered seductively.
“I would have liked to see you like that.” I paused. “You’d probably be good with a pillow.”
“Rude.” She gave me a playful scowl.
Suddenly I heard a banging on the window next to me. A girl with brightly colored hair had her face smashed up against the glass and was pointing at Berkley. I looked across the table to see her smile and wave back.
“Those are my friends. I have to go, but it was nice meeting you, Dillon. Thanks for the company.”
I waved at her as she grabbed her wristlet and bolted out the door, hugging the girl that had just been pounding on the window. At least she was reunited with her friend. I watched as they put their arms around each other and walked away out the night. She turned around and looked at me once, those blue eyes catching my gaze immediately. But then she turned away and I knew I would never see her again. I sat and ate the rest of the pizza alone. I was the last one in the shop when they announced it was closing time. I grabbed my belongings and walked out into the night. I had twenty five hundred dollars sitting in my pocket, a wad of cash that could get me mugged on the streets.
But I wasn’t worried.
Only one thing plagued my mind: I hoped that Berkley got home okay.
For some reason she was my only worry now.