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She yanked Katie’s head to the side and the girl was forced to let go of Paige’s waist. Paige swung her back around the other way and then just let go. Katie’s momentum sent her flying to the floor and she slid almost completely under the pool table.
Paige turned just in time to see Parker take a punch to the jaw. It was a wild throw, Ronnie obviously didn’t fight very often and the punch didn’t have much power behind it, but it was enough to throw Parker off balance for a second. Ronnie took the opportunity to throw another punch – it went wide and completely missed Parker’s jaw and landed somewhere on the side of his head, knocking his hat off. This one was stronger, and while Parker was dazed, Ronnie grabbed him by the back of the neck and slammed him face first onto the pool table.
“You don’t mess with Texas!” he shouted, and Paige had to resist the urge to laugh.
Instead, she rushed over and gripped Ronnie’s arm and pulled, but it was no good. She could barely get a good grip, it was like a toddler pulling at a grizzly bear. He grunted and simply shoved her with his shoulder. She stumbled and fell to her butt, but quickly got up again.
Things had gotten out of hand, she knew that. She'd been in fights, but she'd never been in an all-out bar brawl; girls fighting guys, foreign objects, all of that type of stuff. She didn’t know how to stop it, or how to even slow it down, but she knew Parker probably wouldn’t be happy about getting his face broken by a pool table.
So she decided to just go with the crazy flow.
She picked up the abandoned pool stick, and with a crazy shout that she didn’t even recognize as coming from herself, she swung it down on Ronnie’s back as hard as she could. The stick broke in two immediately, the broken half flying across the room. It was enough to make Ronnie stagger a little and loosen his grip. He immediately turned to glare at her.
“What the fuck are you thinking, girl!?” he yelled, facing her completely. Paige swallowed thickly and gripped her remaining half of a pool stick, not sure what she was supposed to do next.
She didn’t need to worry, though, because apparently Parker already had a plan. He twisted around, swinging his arm, getting a lot of torque behind it. Paige had barely a second to realize he was gripping the cue ball, right before his fist crashed across Ronnie’s cheek in a back hand. Ronnie howled and threw his head back, stumbling away. Parker took the opportunity to stand upright and this time he punched Ronnie directly in the middle of the sternum, holding his hand palm out, so it was the cue ball making contact. The wind rushed out of Ronnie like a bellows and his eyes bugged out as he dropped to his knees. Paige stared at him, rooted to the spot.
“C’MON!” Parker shouted, grabbing her hand and yanking her into motion.
Paige dropped the broken pool stick and ran behind him. He held her hand tightly as he dragged her through the crowd. Their fight had started off a much bigger fight amongst a different group of people, and there was a mass of people in the center of the room, all crowding together and yelling.
Parker pushed his way around the outskirts of the crowd. A guy grabbed Paige at one point and she shrieked, causing Parker to whirl around with a fist raised. There was a minor shoving match, which Parker easily won – all while still clinging to her hand.
A bunch of bouncers were spilling through the front doors and one tried to detain them as they ran through, but Parker slipped past them and then pulled Paige from their grasp. They ran sideways across the parking lot and then Parker yanked her down the alley next to the bar.They came into another alley that ran along the back wall of the bar, and Parker continued to pound the pavement. When they finally skidded to stop at the end of that alley, they were back on a street, right behind where his car was parked.
He dropped her hand and bent over at the waist, his hands on his knees. They were both breathing hard, like they'd just finished running a marathon. Luckily, the rain had softened to a light drizzle. The thunder was still around, though, and a crash of lightning lit up the street. A breeze blew down the alley, cooling Paige’s overheated skin.
“I can’t fucking believe I did that,” Parker whispered, still bent over, his face hidden from view. “I can’t fucking believe I did that.”
Paige chewed on the side of her thumbnail as he continued to repeat the sentence over and over. Now that the adrenalin was leaving her body, she felt shaky, like she was coming down off a bad high. She was very aware that the pandemonium that had just occurred was largely her fault. Parker getting punched in the face was her fault. He was probably very upset with her. Hell, she was upset with herself.
He slowly stood upright, clearing his throat as he did so. He spit on the ground next to them, and it was mostly blood. Paige swallowed thickly. He was just staring at her, breathing heavily, his eyes almost a dark jade color. She stared back, scared to say anything. Scared of what he was going to say.
He reached out and grabbed her purse, pulling her close, his eyes still focused on hers. She couldn’t figure out what he was doing at first, his hand rooting around in her bag. Then he pulled out her water – she always carried a water bottle with her. He unscrewed the cap and poured the water in his mouth, swished it around, then spit it out. It was tinted a pink color. He repeated the act and this time the water was clear.
Paige cracked.
“I’m sorry, Parker,” she breathed quickly. “I’mso sorry. Please don’t be mad at me.”
He was still staring at her, his chest heaving with each breath. He reached back for her purse again and slowly dropped the bottle back into it. But he didn’t let go. His hand held onto the purse, holding it away from her body, keeping the strap taut. And he just stared down into her eyes. He had a look on his face she'd never seen before, she couldn't figure out what it meant.
Say something, please.
She was prepared to be told to get lost; that she was too much trouble. She started mentally packing her bags. She wondered if it would stop raining long enough for her to pick up a ride and get the hell out of Galveston. Away from Texas. Away from him. She swallowed thickly, past a tightening in her throat that felt suspiciously like the beginning of tears, and she gasped softy.
She never cried,never.
He couldn't let her go, he just couldn't.
Lightning and thunder crashed directly overhead.
“I’m sorry, Parker,I’m sorry. Please. Please, say something!” she whispered.
He yanked hard on her purse, forcing her to stumble even closer, and before she had time to wonder what he was doing, his hands were on either side of her face and his mouth was on hers, shocking her more than any lightning ever could.
He kissed her like he needed her to breathe. She squealed in surprise, but he didn’t let go. His fingers raked into her hair, holding her mouth pinned to his, his body pressed against hers. He walked her backwards and she felt her backside suddenly press up against the car.
She'd been so shocked at first, she'd barely realized what was going on. But then as electricity zapped between their lips, she moaned and brought her hands to either side of his face, kissing him back.
