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I put my hat back on, blowing off his insult. “That’s rich comin’ from you.”
“At least I’m not diseased and damaged.” His gaze drops to Gemma’s marred flesh.
Fury blisters through my veins, balling my hands into fists. “Apologize.”
“In your dreams, Benson.”
Instinct demands that I punch him in the nose. But then I peek over at Gemma. Her chin is tucked to avoid another attack from this pointless pissing contest. She’s been quiet since my confession. I’ll pay for my part in this. Right after I ditch the douchebag.
“Usually I’d fight you for just about anything, but she’s all yours.” Wyatt stands and tries to push past me. “I don’t want your scarred sloppy seconds.”
Before he can take another step, I have him slammed up against the closest wall with my forearm crushing his windpipe. “That was the wrong thing to say.”
He thrashes against me, but doesn’t gain so much as an inch of freedom. “Fuck you, man.”
“No,” I seethe, close enough to douse him in spittle. “Fuck. You. Does it make you feel like a tough guy to talk shit about women? That’s my future wife you’re disrespecting. Gemma did nothing but have the decency to put up with your bullshit on this sorry excuse for a date. If you so much as look at her wrong ever again, I’ll make sure you’re unable to sit right on a horse.”
His eyes are crazed while he struggles to breathe. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s a promise.”
This time when Wyatt pushes, I release him with a shove toward the door. “You two losers belong together.”
I launch forward, pleased as spiked punch that he stumbles backward. “Do I need to knock your teeth out? Maybe then you’ll finally shut up.”
The crowd laughs when he can’t scrounge up a parting insult. All he can do is tuck tail and crawl back into the hole he escaped from. My murderous scowl follows him out.
Silence descends across the bar. It’s the calm before a completely different storm. Our fellow patrons pretend to lose interest and resume going about their evening. There’s a thrum in my pulse that demands I claim the prize. But she’s not mine to win.
Every drop of anger evaporates from me as I turn back to Gemma. Her stunning snark flares her nostrils and pinches her lips, just waiting to give me a tongue lashing. My dick is already half hard just thinking about it.
I creep toward her until our hands almost touch. Directly in her line of fire is exactly where I want to be.
“Are you okay?”
The blue flames in her gaze sizzle my flesh. “Just peachy.”
“He’s such an asshole,” I mutter.
“He’s not the only one.”
I flinch. “Probably could’ve handled that differently.”
“Why did you need to handle it at all? I’m a big girl, Chance. Guys like Wyatt don’t bother me. His reaction is expected. By tomorrow, I’ll forget about him.” Gemma massages her temples as if I’m giving her a headache. “What pisses me off is when you insert yourself into my business. Please explain what possessed you to tell the entire town that you gave me a STD?”
I wag my pointer finger. “That’s not true. I told them I have one and you’re at risk.”
“And I might’ve contracted it when we slept together. Remind me when that happened?”
A gruff chuckle quakes my already rocky footing. “I’ll admit that my method was flawed, but I had to get him away from you.”
“Why?”
“He’s not a good guy.”
“And you are?”
“Trying to be. I’m better than Wyatt Paine,” I grumble.
