Page 59 of Blake

Blake could easily take these pricks but had no intention of doing so with Pax in the firing line. He caught the eye of a bouncer who came over quickly and with the help of a colleague, escorted the clearly pissed off men from the bar.

“Sorry about that.” The bald bearded security guy nodded and left.

Blake glanced at Pax with a worried frown. “You okay?”

She smiled. “Contrary to common belief, I’m not a delicate wallflower.” Her head tilted as the band started playing Billy Joel’s ‘Uptown Girl’. “I love this song.” She grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the dance floor. “Dance with me.”

Blake resisted. “Babe, I don’t dance.” The pout on her full lips made his own tip up as he quickly conceded. “Fine, but no laughing,” he said as he followed her to the floor and took her in his arms.

He danced with her through that one and when Joe Cocker’s ‘You are so beautiful’ came on, he held her tight against him his lips at her ear as he swayed with her and sang every word to her. The soft look in her eyes when he pulled away nearly pierced his heart it was so beautiful.

“Wanna get out of here?” he asked her, and she nodded. Not letting go of her hand he paid the bill and pulled her through the door with his arm around her, not wanting to let go for even a second.

The moment they hit the parking lot his senses went on alert as five men stepped from the shadows.

“Well, well. If it isn’t the Brit and his pretty little girlfriend.”

It was the man who had fallen into Pax. He felt her stiffen in his arms but remained still as he assessed the situation. Five against one wasn’t great but then he wasn’t worried about himself. It was Pax he was concerned about. He moved sideways, his head down, fear on his face as the men followed him in a semi-circle formation until he had Pax between him and the car.

“Go to the car and lock the doors,” he said low as he shoved the keys in her hand.

“But…”

“Go. Now.”

He felt her move away from him. He kept his breathing calm despite the helpless vibe he was showing the men who were still clearly quite drunk.

“Listen, I don’t want any trouble from you drunk pussies. I just want to go home with my girl. Not pansy around with you assholes.” The words had the desired effect as the large man with short blonde hair and the Tweedy-Pie build of weightlifter stepped forward, anger on his face.

“What the fuck did you just say?”

Blake now had the pecking order sorted and would take this fucker out first. Not many people realised that when Jack took his men on, he had them all do a four-week course in the Russian Martial Art known as Systema, with the top instructor and a personal friend of his. The man had looked unassuming with a quiet calm about him that had fooled them all until one by one he had taken out every member of Jack’s team as Jack had stood back with a shit eating grin on his face.

It had been the best training he had ever had and at this second, he was more than grateful. Staring down the leader he straightened his stance but still maintaining a non-threatening pose and kept the other men in his peripheral. The carpark was relatively empty with no immediate weapons they could use, although he easily identified plenty of things he could use.

The leader moved, aiming a kick to his groin. Blake avoided it with a sidestep then caught the man’s leg, extending the movement and unbalancing his attacker who fell to the ground with ease. Needing to make sure he stayed there, Blake stomped on his jaw, feeling the bone break and the man pass out.

He turned and the second attacker moved in with a haymaker punch which Blake stopped at a distance with a brutal straight jab with his foot to the area between his foreleg and hip, shattering the neck of his femur as the man went down screaming in agony.

Arms came around his neck in an Indian Death Lock from behind. Blake immediately dropped and threw his attacker over his head, his elbow shattering as it hit the hard surface of the carpark. With only two men left, Blake sized them up. One stood in front and one behind him. Trying to keep moving, he let the man behind him think he had the upper hand by putting him in a shoulder lock and bending him over. Blake executed a forward roll bringing his legs into contact and knocking the attacker face down into the tarmac before neatly rolling to his feet.

The fifth and last man standing tried to run but Blake wasted no time and stalked him like a predatory cat and pinned him down and restrained him using the man’s shoelaces on his feet and thumbs. The entire encounter had taken less than twenty seconds, but it always felt more protracted in the slow moments as he assessed each attack.

With a last look to the drunken men sprawled on the ground around him, he withdrew his phone and put in an anonymous call to the police and then one to Will to get the CCTV cleared from the bar. He headed to the car to see Pax with her mouth slightly open in shock watching him. He tapped on the window to get her to unlock the car as she just stared at him. With a shake of her head she seemed to snap out of the fog she was in and opened the door allowing to climb in.

“You okay, Gracie?” he asked softly taking in her shocked expression as she seemed to look at him like she hadn’t seen him before.

“How did you…? Where did you…? Can you teach me?” she asked jumbling the three questions into one on top of the next.

He chuckled as he turned the ignition on and leaned over to fix her seatbelt then his own. “Systema. Hereford, and yes, I can,” he said answering her questions. He shifted his head to her from the road and she was watching him again. Her eyes dark glassy pools, her face flushed. His body reacted to her unhidden desire, his dick twitching from being close to her, dancing with her, and now the leftover adrenalin.

“You keep looking at me like that and we won’t make it home.”

She blushed red even in the darkness of the cab he could see it. “That was so fucking hot.”

So was her dirty fucking mouth.

Blake pressed the pedal on the accelerator and drove faster wanting to be inside this woman more than his next breath.