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Sweetie snorted.“You been smokin’ loco weed again, Cob?My daddy has no say in who we marry.”
“Sweetie,” Cloe said.“Let it go.”She looked at Cob.“Please move, Cob.We need to get home.”
Cob’s gaze ran over Cloe.“I always thought you were the plain Jane of the sisters, but there’s something to be said for a woman who knows how to talk to a man.”He tugged Cloe into his arms.“You want this man to show you a good time, Plain Jane?”
Sweetie let out an enraged growl and went to attack Cob, but Cloe kneed him in the balls before she could get there and Cob dropped like a sack of rocks.One of his buddies took exception to that and grabbed Cloe’s arm, but he didn’t hold it for long.Rome Remington appeared out of nowhere and punched him so hard he flew into a table and fell to the floor in a crash of wood and broken beer bottles.
Then someone yelled, “Fight!”
And all hell broke loose.
ChapterTen
Decker had just gotten to sleep when he got the call from Bobby Jay.Since it wasn’t the first time alcohol and rowdy cowboys hadn’t mixed, he wasn’t surprised.
Hewassurprised when he got to the Hellhole and found it completely closed down.Bobby Jay’s bouncers usually had the troublemakers in the parking lot waiting for Decker to deal with while everyone else continued to party inside.Tonight, there was no one waiting in the parking lot.When Decker got inside, the lights were on and the band was gone and broken glass and busted chairs littered the floor.
It looked like it had been one humdinger of a bar fight.Since Cob and his cronies sat in a group of chairs surrounded by bouncers, Decker figured he knew who had started it.He couldn’t say he wasn’t thrilled about slapping a pair of handcuffs on Cob.
Just not on the two men sitting in chairs a few feet away.
Rome and Casey didn’t look any worse for wear.In fact, Casey looked as happy as a pig in mud.He was always up for a good fight.Rome, not so much.Decker couldn’t help wondering what had caused his friend to lose his cool.
“Glad you’re here, Deck,” Bobby Jay said.“It’s been one helluva night.”
Bobby was a small man.No more than five and a half feet tall.Although the white ten-gallon hat he always wore added another five inches.He was a good-natured man who took everything in stride.Which helped when you ran a rowdy bar.
“Hey, Bobby.”Decker moved over to the bar Bobby stood behind.“You want to tell me what happened?”
Bobby shrugged.“I didn’t witness it myself so I can only tell you what people told me.”He glanced over to the corner.“But from what I heard, they started it.”
Decker turned expecting to see some rough-looking cowboys.Instead, he saw three Holiday sisters ...who looked like they had been in a bar fight.Their hair was wild and their shirts and jeans were splattered with bar beverages.But their hair and clothes didn’t hold his attention as much as Sweetie’s bleeding lip.
Once again, a feral, protective feeling swelled up inside him.“Who hit her?”he growled.
“I did!”Hallie raised her hand over her head like she had been sitting there waiting to answer the question.“But I was aiming for Cob when Sweetie jumped in the way.”
Anger faded and he turned back to Bobby.“Get me some ice, Bobby.”When Bobby brought him ice wrapped in a towel, he walked it over to Sweetie and handed it to her.Their gazes locked.He expected to see annoyance.She had made it clear she didn’t like him coming to her rescue, but there was no annoyance in her clear green eyes.Just a warm, sultry look that had him swallowing hard and turning back to Bobby.
“Start from the beginning.”
While Bobby relayed the story, Decker tried to stay focused on him and not on the woman who sat there swinging a red cowboy boot.When Bobby was finished, Decker looked at Rome.
“You threw the first punch, Rome?”
Before Rome could answer, Cloe Holiday spoke.“I started the fight.I kneed Cob in the ...privates when he grabbed me.”
Decker was surprised.Growing up, Cloe had been a quiet introvert like Decker who seemed to enjoy watching more than partaking.Things would have been so much easier if Decker had had a crush on Cloe.
“Cob grabbed you?”he asked.
“He sure as hell did!”Hallie jumped to her feet.Decker couldn’t help grinning.He had always had a soft spot for Hallie’s feistiness.“Cob wouldn’t let us leave and started being insulting.”
Cob finally spoke up.“I wasn’t being insulting.I was just stating the truth.Cloe is plain and your daddy did—”
Casey got to his feet.“Shut your mouth, Cob, or I’ll shut it for you!”
Decker held up a hand.“Sit down, Casey.I got this.And exactly what part did you have in the fight?”
