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He paced the living room, talking really fast. And as he walked back and forth in front of me, I gave the guy a once-over - leather jacket, tattoos, but an expensive Rolex on his wrist and hair that was well-styled. He was, by most standards, a fairly attractive, well-built guy. Someone I should probably be jealous of. Competition for Hailey's attention.
“Who are you?” I asked.
He stopped and gave me the same once over I'd just given to him – likely coming to the same conclusion I had.
“I'm Leo,” he said. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Well, Leo, who do you think you are coming in here like that?” I asked. “I think you owe Mrs. Roberts here an explanation and an apology for your poor manners.”
Without a word, the man lunged at me, trying to grab me by the shirt, but I ducked just in time. As I straightened up though, I caught his balled-up fist in the side of my face. The man could hit hard. I almost literally saw stars when he clocked me. I shook my head and quickly recovered, a predatory grin crossing my face as I turned to face him.
“That the best you got, Leo?”
Mrs. Roberts, a stricken look on her face, was screaming, her tone harried and frantic.
“Frank! Frank!” she called out for her husband.
The sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs filled my ears, followed by Hailey's voice.
“Mom? What's going on –” she stopped speaking as Leo turned toward her and a look of near panic crossed her face. “Shit.”
But Hailey wasn't alone – Quinn was with her, standing protectively in front of her. He put himself between her and Leo, preventing him from rushing toward her. It wasn't anything close to the right time for it, but my first question was – what in the hell was Quinn doing there?
“Shit indeed, sweetheart,” Leo said, a cocky grin on his face. “Now tell me, who the fuck is he and why was he in your bedroom? And who is this other asshole waitin' downstairs for you? What the fuck are you doin' out here?”
Quinn walked toward Leo and I approached him from behind. He was outnumbered. He might have gotten a shot on me earlier, but this time, between me and Quinn, this prick was looking at a real beatdown.
“Leo, please, get out,” Hailey said.
Her voice cracked as she spoke, and I saw her standing there, shaking uncontrollably, with tears welling in her eyes. She backed up against the wall and seemed to collapse against it, sliding down until she sat down on the landing.
“Please, just leave,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “Please, leave me alone.”
As she slid to the ground, her shirt rode up on her body, showing on her stomach. A large bruise on her right side caught my eye, and I had to wonder – was this douchebag responsible for it? While maybe the bruise on her wrist could have been explained away, this one couldn't. It was roughly the size and shape of a fist.
Leo ignored us and walked toward Hailey, pure menace in his eyes. Seeing that bruise on her body, and feeling the pain radiating in my cheek from his cheap shot, made the anger within me boil over. There was no way in hell I was letting him get close to her.
I rushed toward the man, knocking him to the ground before he could get to her. Mrs. Roberts was standing with her back to the wall, her hand clamped over her mouth, a look of absolute terror in her eyes. As I moved on Leo, Quinn fell in beside me, helping me take the asshole down. I jumped on him and threw a few quick punches to the face, smacking him right in the side of his head.
“How does that feel, asshole?” I screamed. “Huh? Like that?”
Quinn was right there, holding his arms down as I took shot after shot on the guy. Blood poured from his mouth and nose and was smeared all over his face. Through it all though, he looked at me with eyes that were angry, defiant, and promising retribution.
The sound of sirens approaching filled the air, growing louder until they stopped right outside the door. Still, I wasn't about to let the asshole up from the floor. As cops rushed through the front door, I struggled against him, but Quinn managed to pull me off of Leo. Only when he was in cuffs did I stop fighting to knock the shit out of him.
Wiping the blood from my face he'd drawn when he sucker punched me, I glanced at the stairway. Hailey was gone. In the madness, she'd run away, and I was glad for that. She didn't need to see that. Because as he was being taken away, Leo screamed, his voice echoing through the house.
“I'll come back for you, Hailey,” he raved. “I swear to God, I'm coming back.”
Mrs. Roberts gave us both a look that said she was thankful that we'd been there to protect them. Turning, she followed the cops outside to give her statement, leaving us standing in the foyer of their home.
“God, I hope she didn't hear that,” Quinn said.
“Don't see how she couldn't have,” I said. “Where'd she go?”
He shrugged. “Probably upstairs.”
I looked over at my brother and we both shared a smile, but now that the madness was fading and the adrenaline wasn't flowing quite as much, I had to ask the question that still nagged at me.
