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Still on for tonight?
I pushed the door open to Bill’s office and flopped into the leather seat in front of his massive cherry wood desk.You sure? I’m off at one, not too late?
Insomnia, remember? Unless you’re tired.
No, I’m good. What movie is on tap?
Nightmare on Elm Street. Only two more days until the Halloween movie marathon.
LOL.I pressed the ice to my face.Okay, see you in an hour.
Be safe.
Always.
It was surprising, and a little startling, how easily I’d slipped into comfortable talk with her. And she always said be safe at the end of our texting. It had to come from her inherent sense of not feeling safe. She’d not yet told me the details of what led to her agoraphobia, but from what I learned and have studied about it since meeting her, it more than likely stemmed from a violent event. Not always, but many were related to that.
I was dying to know, yet I didn’t want to. I wasn’t sure I could handle it if it was as bad as I’d imagined it. With the deep scar on her shoulder that I’d seen a glimpse of a few times, it had to have been bad.
Thunderous footfalls neared the door, and I knew I was in for it with Bill.
I glanced at my phone and at Lina’s picture on the background. I had to stay calm and take my punishment like a man. I leaned to the side and shoved the phone into my pocket and put the ice back to my eye. A twinge of pain sliced up my side.
I needed to have that looked at after the shout fest from Bill.
The door swung open and bounced off the back wall. Oh yeah, this was going to be bad.
“Damn it, Hunter.” He slammed the door and lumbered toward his desk, huffing. I’d never seen his face so red. And I swore I heard thunder rumbling from his chest. “If I have to guess, he’s got a broken jaw, possibly broken wrist, broken nose, and a concussion. What the hell were you thinking?”
“He was attacking that girl.”
“Yes. I asked her to stay back to make a statement. But damn it, Hunter, you put this bar at risk every time you do shit like this. Man, how many times do I have to tell you?” He hammered the top of his desk with his fist as he fell into his chair. “That’s the third time this month alone. I don’t know what to expect from you, Hunter.”
“Sir, I—”
“I know an anger problem when I see one. Been there, done that, kid, but you got to get a handle on it…and now.” His voice cracked he was yelling so loud. “So far we’ve been lucky you haven’t seriously hurt—or killed someone.”
I opened my mouth, but he put his hand up.
“I know. They were scum-bag assholes who’d needed lessons in manners. But Hunter, it’s not your place to offer that. You’re my best bouncer, you can tend bar, and you can pick out a troublemaker a mile away. Most of the time you handle them by the book. But…” He shook his head. “You get a little scary when you go off.”
“He pulled a knife. I was fine until he did that.” Well, mostly fine. Actually, nowhere near fine.
“What happened?”
“I was taking him out the back way. I know I screwed up starting things in house, but I was taking him out back and he pulled the knife. Got a good swipe in.” I lifted my hand to show him the cut.
My world tilted when I saw the amount of blood that’d gathered in my hand. It spilled over onto his leather seat by mistake. I gritted my teeth through the pain. I might have lost a little more blood that I’d thought.
“Hunter!” Bill pushed up from his chair with an unlikely agility. “Shit.”
“I’m okay. But like I said, he pulled a knife and it turned into self-defense.” I set my ice towel down and gripped the arm of the chair. Even though I was sitting, the room starting spinning.
“Hunter.” Bill reached for me as he rounded the corner of his desk. “Hunter. Shit.”
My mouth went dry, and everything went hazy. I remembered this feeling all too well from when my dad had hammered into me good one night, and I had nearly bled out.
This wasn’t as bad, but it wasn’t a superficial cut like I’d thought.
