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She was here when she wanted to be back at the restaurant. Where she could make certain Janey or Alex or, God forbid, Natches wasn’t messing with her accounting file or the reservation layout. Where she could dress in something other than denim or leather.
Where Rogue was more than the bar whore she had always allowed everyone to believe.
Damn her pride. It ran wide and deep inside her, that was for damned sure. Four years she had spent here, rubbing it in Nadine Grace’s and Dayle Mackay’s faces that they couldn’t run her out of town. Rubbing it in Zeke’s face that he couldn’t ignore her.
For what? A few one-night stands? A few hours that in the end had left her feeling stark and hollow inside. And hurt. Damn, she hated feeling hurt. It was her weakness. Make her angry and she’d explode and just get it out of her system. Hurt her and it was like her brain short-circuited. She didn’t care for people as a rule, didn’t give them the chance to hurt her because she couldn’t handle that kind of pain. Emotional pain.
Rejection. Fuck, she hated rejection.
“Rogue, get your ass behind this bar for me,” Jonesy called out as he lifted his bat from under the counter. “Jason’s got trouble near the door. ”
Rogue jumped and jerked the bat out of his grip before he could stop her.
“You man the bar,” she yelled back, adrenaline jangling through her nervous system.
“I’ll take care of the trouble. ”
She turned and moved away, slapped the bat in one hand, and grinned. She hadn’t had a good rousing fight all year long. That was all she needed to get over this. She could just get mad, get it out of her system, and then get on with her business. She could clear the emotional bullshit out of her head, then get on with getting over Zeke.
“Dammit, Rogue!” She heard Jonesy cursing behind her and flashed him a smile over her shoulder before flipping her hair back and heading for the confrontation evolving close to the bar’s entrance.
She didn’t intend to use the bat. She had never used the bat. She’d used her knee only when she had to, but the times she’d been forced into it had been noted and most men tread warily around her now.
Moving quickly through the crowd, she pushed her way into the circle of customers that surrounded the two men. Billy Joe Wingate and Luke Taylor. Two rawboned country boys with a little too much drink and a whole lot of anger.
“Don’t tell me what to do, fucker!” Billy Joe spat back at the bouncer behind him and sidestepped his grip. “I ain’t goin’ no damned where. Not till this son of a bitch apologizes. ” Billy Joe slammed his palms into Luke’s wide chest, sending the other man back several spaces and bouncing against a female customer who slammed into the man behind her.
Oh fight.
“Whoa there. Whoa there. ” Rogue jumped between Luke and the woman’s escort, her hands gripping each end of the bat and pressing it hard into the man’s chest. “Hold back. We have it. Jason, get these boys out of here. ”
She glanced over her shoulder to see
Jason and another bouncer struggling with Billy Joe and Luke.
“Take it outside, dammit,” she yelled over the din as the bouncers dragged the two men to the door. She turned around quickly to the man she was holding back. “Keep your ass in here,” she yelled, pressing against his chest with the bat for emphasis. “Don’t make me have to take your head off, too. ”
She pushed away and swung around toward the door where Jason and the other bouncer were struggling with the two young men. Both combatants were a little too drunk and a little too full of adrenaline and anger.
“I said I ain’t leaving here,” Billy Joe yelled out, his hazel eyes wild with anger as he glared at Luke. “Not till you make him apologize. ”
“I ain’t apologizing, you stupid little fucker,” Luke screamed back at him. “You want to go dumb over a little bar whore, then you better get used to the truth. ”
“She ain’t no whore. ”
Rogue was rushing to the door when Billy Joe managed to tear loose from Jason and throw a wild punch at Luke. Rogue chose that moment to push between them and went flying when that fist crashed into her cheekbone.
Stars exploded in front of her eyes as a vicious curse ripped from her throat. Turning, her foot kicked out and up, caught Billy Joe in the chest and knocked him back by maybe a foot. Dammit.
Her face felt shattered. She stumbled after the first instinctive reaction and nearly went to her knees as she shook her head and used the bat against the floor to catch herself.
Dammit. She said enough. She wasn’t here to get a ham-sized fist in her face.
“Get him out of here!” She turned, yelling at Jason as the pain reverberated through her head. Hell, her eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.
Fury surged inside her, hot and deep as she slammed the bat into Billy Joe’s chest, gripping both ends, trying to hold him back as he jerked out of Jason’s hold again. Her boots slid on the wood floor as a chorus of curses and accusations began to ring around her head.
“Billy Joe, enough!” she yelled.
