I dodged him – but I was busy watching his right hand, the one with the knife.
Not his left hand, which connected with my jaw.
God dammit!
It wasn’t much of a punch – he threw it with no wind-up, no power, basically just a love-tap – but it was enough to hurt. Enough to distract me.
And now I was caught between the horns of a bull.
If I went for the knife, he would use his left hand to grab my gun from the back of my jeans.
If I went for his left hand, he’d stab me. Same thing if I tried to pull my gun – he’d have a brief second to attack.
So instead, I did what any good street fighter would do:
I stepped in close and head-butted the motherfucker.
Lou staggered backwards, stunned.
I had one second before he recovered.
I used it.
The most powerful punch I had, right to the asshole’s nose.
BAM!
Lou staggered backwards in a shower of blood.
I grabbed his knife-hand and brought his forearm down as I kicked up with my knee – just like I was breaking a branch over my thigh.
Sounded like one, too.
SNAP!
Lou screamed and dropped the knife.
One more punch to the jaw and he went down.
I dropped on top of him, knees on either side of his chest, and just started pounding his face. Punch after punch, hard as I could throw them.
WHAM
“THAT’S for threatening my woman, you motherfucker!” I roared at him.
WHAM.
“And THAT’S for Kade!”
WHAM.
“And THAT’S for Ali!”
WHAM.
That was when I lost control. Something inside me snapped.
My vision went hazy and red. There was a ringing in my ears.