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“We don’t need to drag this out. We both know it wasn’t working anymore.” Putting distance between us, I stepped towards the alley and away from the crowd waiting to be let into Luminescence.
I’d just wanted a fun night dancing. A day to feel single and free again. But he’d tracked me down. Insisted we talk.
“I’m not mad. I gave you back the ring. There’s nothing left to say.”
My heart ached to have another failed relationship. It wasn’t really about him. It was me. I was demanding. I was particular about things. And I craved attention.
Not in the clingy stalker way, but I knew I was difficult to live with. Even harder to sleep with.
I learned a long time ago if I was going to get what I needed out of men; I had to be the one in control. At first, Brad was fine with that, but then it changed. Maybe that’s why he’d cheated.
But even before I’d discovered the pictures on his laptop, things weren’t right. He’d started to make demands on my life. It was so subtle, the way he forced and shifted my perspective. Knowing he was a cheater only opened my eyes to what he’d made me change about myself. How I tried to accommodate him. It was last week when I found myself in a job I didn’t like that I realized how much I’d given over to his opinion.
Because I wanted to make it work. I wanted someone to want me. But he didn’t. Not really.
He wanted a pretty girl with the right last name. Even better that I was Hispanic because he could play the diversity card to business colleagues.
My fingers pinched between my eyes. I was being unfair to him. It wasn’t all his fault. I’d picked him for similar reasons. He was a good-looking with money who would impress my parents. Because none of my accomplishments ever had.
His cheating was inevitable when we got together for all the wrong reasons.
“Why don’t we take some time?” He smiled, but unlike the beginning of our relationship, it did nothing to my insides. No flutter or heat from his handsome looks. “We can talk again before the fundraiser.”
“I—.” But before I could refuse, a hard body slammed into me, cutting me off. My back collided with the brick as this stranger pinned me to it. All the air whooshed from my lungs, stopping the scream.
“Fuck.” Brad cursed and jumped away, not even attempting to save me from the wall of muscle that had me trapped to the building.
I was too shocked to feel fear. Instead, I was pissed. Pissed Brad ruined my night. Angry, this asshole thought he could touch me.
“Get off me,” I growled when I could finally breathe. But it was like trying to push a steel pillar. The muscles in his back rippled as he kept me trapped behind him. My nails clawed at his shirt in a fruitless attempt to move him away. I reached up, intending to pull at his light brown hair. I was not a weak girl. Or willing to go down without a fight.
As suddenly as it happened, he was gone, lunging forward. I blinked as he rushed towards a dark figure. He wrapped his arms around the other man’s waist. His muscles bulged under his dress shirt as he shoved the second man back.
It was when he pushed him into the ground under the streetlight that I saw it. A knife in the second man’s hand. It was long and smooth. Not like a kitchen knife or pocket knife. I’d seen enough wounds to know the damage it could do.
Realization slammed into me as harsh as the bricks. That man came out of the alley. The one I’d foolishly had my back to. The first guy wasn’t trying to hurt me. He was protecting me. And now he was in a fight… for me.
My eyes widened. My heart smacked my ribs as I watched. Although I wasn’t helpless, it would be stupid for me to jump into the middle of a fight with two guys twice my size, not even considering one of them was armed.
The crowd near the club was reluctant to intervene. Some had rushed off, others moved against the building; more ran inside, blocking the bouncers from getting through. The sickening crunch of bones breaking filled the air. It was a blur of fists and blood as more punches landed. I couldn’t tell if my savior or attacker was winning.
They rolled and grappled until the first man kicked hard, sending the second rolling along the pavement. They both hopped up, crimson dripping from various cuts. But it wasn’t over. They stood staring at each other, chest straining, fists clenched.
In that brief moment, my rescuer flicked his gaze to me. I gasped as blue eyes met mine. Even in a fight, they were serene. Calm. Like a lake, but I saw something working under the surface.
Our gazes locked in a trance. My heart stilled. My body hummed. It was like I was stuck in a trance. Unable to look away. Until it was broken for us.
That instant was enough for the second man to get the edge. He was the one lunging now with the knife in his hand. It flashed in the dim light before sliding through my rescuer like butter. It came away coated in red as those blue eyes rounded in shock and pain.
I didn’t know either man. And it wasn’t the first time I’d seen a little blood. So I couldn’t explain the way my heart sank to my knees. Or the agony whipping across my chest.
“No!” Without thinking, I moved. I tried to rush forward, but an arm banded around my waist, keeping me pinned. “Let me go! He’s hurt.”
Brad held my struggling, smaller body as the attacker stared at us. He took a step closer. His glared pierced me in place. His fingers flexed around the knife, but the screams and shouts from the nearby crowd drew his attention. He fled; running away from the people and the man he’d just stabbed.
I should’ve been studying his features. Trying to remember what he looked like to tell the police, not that they’d believe me. But I couldn’t. My focus was onto the blood dripping on the pavement.
As soon as the attacker disappeared, Brad’s arm went slack. I slapped it away, closing the distance between the injured man and myself. His hand pressed into his wound, and he swayed on his feet.
