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And then there was me, in the middle of it all, on the ground.
I tried to stand up but Tad kicked me in the hip.
“Stay down, Saylor,” Tad ordered.
That was when I lost my shit.
Literally, lost my shit.
I didn’t stay down.
Nobody could keep me down.
Not my ex-boyfriend who always wanted more than I was willing to give. Not my ex-employer who found it fun to ruin my career because I wouldn’t sleep with him.
And definitely not motherfuckin’ Tad who was a boil and didn’t deserve a single thing—let alone for me to listen to him.
I sat up so quickly that he hadn’t even had time to pull his leg back to deliver another vicious kick to my thigh. Once on my ass, I went up onto my knees just as his kick landed on my knee.
Pain burst through my lower limb, but I didn’t think about what I did next.
I only reared back my fist, then launched it forward into his testicles and dick so hard that pain shot up my arm in an aftershock of impact.
The knife fell from Tad’s grip and landed near my feet.
But, saying that, Tad might’ve gotten hit in the nuts so hard he’d be singing soprano for the next six months, but that didn’t count him out of the fight.
I saw the fist flying at my face but could do nothing about it.
Lock, on the other hand, could.
He yanked me back by the collar of my shirt, once again throwing me to the ground.
This time, I at least understood and went with the flow.
Ares helped me to stand just as Lock took a fist to the face for his troubles.
I gasped at the sickening impact and went to launch myself back into the fray only to have a security guard push me back even farther.
Security guards from the other side of the row started filing in, and it all of a sudden got really, really crowded.
The knife was kicked backward, Lock got one more good hit in, and Tad was put into handcuffs.
“Sorry.” Lock held up his hands. “But the fucker deserved it.”
I agreed with Lock’s explanation to the security guard.
“He might’ve,” the guard agreed. “But that doesn’t mean that you should’ve taken it, Lock. You know the chief is going to have something to say about this. Look at all the fuckin’ cameras out right now.”
I looked around at the cameras in question and realized that not only was the big one that the game was being televised with aiming our way but so were about two thousand cell phones.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
For someone that was trying to find a job like I was, negative attention wasn’t a good thing.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I said to no one in particular.
“Hey, Ares.”
I looked over to see a player for the other team staring at Ares like she was a ghost.
“Fuck off, Ryan,” Ares said as she pressed closer to her brother, turning her back on the man.
“You can stay as long as you stay out of trouble,” the security guard that’d lectured Lock said, eyes hitting me and Lock before leaving.
Lock turned to me, his eyes assessing.
“Would you rather be on a deserted island with a stranger or someone you hated but knew?” I blurted.
He wiped the blood off his lip and asked, “Is it you? The stranger?”
I shrugged. “Sure.”
“Then you.” He narrowed his eyes.
I felt things inside my belly tighten.
“I’d choose you, too,” Tad snarled. “So I could have something to eat.”
I looked at him wide-eyed as the security staff hauled his ass away.
Lock turned as Tad was dragged out of the stadium, kicking and screaming, by no less than six security guards.
Then I looked at all the people that were staring wide-eyed around me.
Gathering my things, I looked at the man that had just practically saved my life.
“Thank you,” I said softly.
And before he could say another word, I hauled ass out of there, not once looking back, but also taking the other exit, being sure to stay as far away from Tad being hauled off as I could.
Lucky for me, I knew where Tad parked.
Also lucky for me, I’d known how to hot-wire a car since I was ten.
Another lucky for me, Tad lived fairly close to me, so I could park his truck in his driveway and hoof it the rest of the way to my apartment.
All the while, the sexiest redhead in history stayed on my mind.
***
Lock
“I’m sorry, but with that fight, we won’t be able to use you in public relations.” Luke sighed. “I know it wasn’t intentional. And I realize that you did what you had to do. Unfortunately, life’s a bitch.”
I closed my eyes.
“Does he still have a job?”
That was my dad. Lachlan Downy, Senior.
Always trying to protect me.
I looked over at my father and said, “Why are you here?”
