Chapter 25
North
I only called Roland’s name to get his attention so that my fist would land right where I want it to. It works perfectly. I feel three knuckles get buried in his eye socket, and he covers up right away like the little bitch he is. Colton’s with me, and now we have ourselves a fair fight. Roland goes to grab for my leg, and I smash my elbow down into his shoulder, and he yells out in pain. I don’t say anything else to him.
I let my fists do the talking.
Colton is dealing with KL pretty handily, so he doesn’t need my help there. Roland won’t be getting up any time soon, so I turn my attention to the sound of Rowan yelling again. Johnathan is holding her from behind and it looks like he has a weapon in his hand. I just stand there—the death look coming out of my eyes. He’s lucky he’s holding onto her, because I’d kill that motherfucker with my bare hands if he wasn’t. As long as he has her he’s safe from me. But when she gets away? It’s over for poor old Johnathan.
“Stay back, North. Stay the fuck back!”
He looks panicked. Johnathan’s always been the follower in the group—the quiet one who may have been a nice guy once, but he’s just too impressionable and fell in with the wrong group of individuals. It’s a damn shame. That isn’t going to save him right now, but at least I know the psychology I’m dealing with.
“You don’t want to do this, Johnathan. I promise you that. I know you’re not like the other two. Right now this is just a fight between men. But if you go and do something stupid it’s going to escalate into something none of us want to happen. Put the knife down.”
“Fuck you. Fuck all of you. You treat us like shit, all of you. Making fun of us, thinking your shit doesn’t stink. Thinking you’re the only good romance writers around. We’re sick of it.”
“And this is your solution? Holding a knife to a defenseless woman? Johnathan, listen to yourself. You don’t like how your career is going, so you become a criminal? Stop with the bullshit. Maybe I’m wrong about you, after all. Maybe you are just like those pathetic pieces of shit you call friends. You might be worse.”
He holds the knife to her throat tighter when I say that, and she gasps. I’m hiding my fear, but I’ve seen shit like this before. Johnathan’s a coward, I can see it in his eyes. He’s a coward and a follower, but sometimes cowards are the most dangerous people in the world. He’s desperate, and he’d do anything to save face and feel like the tough guy. I decide to back off a little.
“If you really believe all that, why don’t we settle this— just you and I. You’re not a killer, Johnathan, I can see that. You’re better than all that. Let her go. She’s got nothing to do with this beef of yours.” I’m just stalling now. Johnathan is facing me, and he can’t see what’s going on behind him. Slowly and quietly Grayson is crawling his way up. I make it a point not to look so that I won’t give him away. I keep my stare intensely on Johnathan and keep trying to talk him down so that he’ll let his guard down. “Is this really how you want this to go down? Come on, John, you’re better than this.”
My taking is doing something, because he lowers his right hand—the knife hand—just enough to give Grayson the opening he needs. Gray grabs that arm with both of his and pulls it around so that Johnathan’s whole body spins. The knife falls to the floor in the process, and I run over and kick it aside. Rowan looks shaken so I run up to her and hold on to her while she cries. Grayson has Johnathan on the ground now, and he’s making him pay for everything. He’s on top of him, punches raining down one after the other. Johnathan is trying to defend himself but he doesn’t know how to fight. I let it go on for about ten seconds until I fear that Grayson might actually kill him.
“Are you alright?” I ask Rowan, still holding her as tightly as my arms will allow. She’s trembling.
“Yeah.” She says, so I let go of her and grab Grayson before he does too much damage. Once he feels me pulling him off he stops and falls to the side. Johnathan is covering up. There’s blood everywhere. Colton left KL pretty messed up also. He runs over to help Grayson.
“Gray, are you okay?” He asks.
“Been better. Nice timing, though. You saved my ass.”
“Not me, dude. It was North. I was in the bathroom and I left my phone on the table. North saw your text and practically ripped me away from the urinal to come here.”
“It was nothing,” I say. “I thought we could avoid something like this, but there was a reckoning coming with these guys. Too bad.”
“I called the cops.” Colt says.
“Shit, why’d you go and do that?” I ask. It isn’t that I don’t like the police. I have nothing but respect for those who do such a tough job, but my relationship with law enforcement is complicated at best. I spent some time in jail for a crime that I didn’t commit, so I’m always having to answer for a bullshit criminal record. On top of that I don’t exactly look like everyone else. With the shaved head, the tattoos, and the general look of ‘fuck you’ on my face at all times, I scream criminal to most cops.
“Not the regular cops. My cops.”
“Huh?” I ask.
“I called Calem—he’s a detective I know, long story. But he called his ex partner, Jesse, who’s still on the job. He’s headed over here with some cops who already know the situation. We don’t have to worry.”
“Alright, Colt, I trust you. Cause this shit looks bad.”
“It is,” Gray says. “What the fuck? I got jumped while I was taking a piss.”
“Did you at least get to put your dick away before they got you?”
Leave it to Colton to go there. “Yeah, man, dick’s all secure. Where’s. . .”
Gray jumps up and runs to Rowan. They grab onto each other give each other a kiss before they both start crying. She must have been terrified. He’s a good man—Grayson. For few people in this world will I put up my hands anymore. He’s one of them. Him, Knight, and Colton. I hear the sirens in the distance. Colton’s friends are on their way. What a strange turn of events. I just hope we can get this all cleared up before tomorrow’s signing. The sounds of sirens are getting closer, so before the cops show up I have one more message for our friends on the floor. I go over, individually, and whisper sweet nothings in each of their ears.
When I’m done Colton comes to stand next to me and wait. Grayson and Rowan are still embracing. I don’t blame them. If someone held a knife to my wife’s throat I’d. . .well, come to think of it, I guess I did that one time. Story for another day. As the sirens get louder and louder Colton looks at me. “Thanks for helping.”
“Don’t thank me, Colt. That’s what family does. We protect one another. You’d do the same for me and mine.”
“Absolutely. You know I would. Hey, what’d you say to them just now?”
I smile my smart-ass, punk rock smile. “Who them?” I ask coyly. “Eh, just a friendly reminder that if they get out of jail, eventually, to never come anywhere near you guys again.”
“A friendly reminder?”
“Yeah. I told them that if I ever saw any of their ugly asses again, that I’d rip their teeth out, one by one, with my rustiest pair of pliers, and then I’d let all the boys in my MC take turns skull fucking them, while I put a hot iron to their balls. Friendly reminder.”
“Shit,” Colton says. I can see that I shocked him a little. “Remind me never to get on your bad side, North.”
“Never, Colton. Never.”
The sirens are here. It’s time to put this incident behind us.