had to guess. His dark hair was slicked back against his head, and his suit probably cost more than my mortgage payment. His mustache looked like something had died on his upper lip. One hand was clamped around Traci’s wrist, and I was pretty sure the hand I couldn’t see was planted firmly on the girl’s behind. She was obviously not happy about the situation, trying in vain to free herself without causing a scene.
“Hey, Traci?” Arriving at the table, I butted in like I had any right to. “Gretchen was wanting another drink, do you think you could…?”
The guy let her go when I approached, and she gave me a grateful look, gathering up her tray quickly. “Tell her I’ll be right there.” She vanished into the crowd.
Then I turned my gaze on Douche Bag, simply staring until he finally realized I wasn’t going anywhere. He raised a challenging brow at me. “What?”
“Do you have children?” I could see him blink, his mind trying to process a question he’d never expected.
“Do I what?”
“Do you have children? Y’know, kids? Offspring?” He was alone, I thought. There didn’t seem to be any menacing figures lurking in the background, waiting to jump to his defense. Alone and out trolling for a little piece of tail.
“Yeah, I do actually. And what the hell does that have to do with anything?”
“Did you teach them about the Golden Rule?” I could tell this was getting nowhere fast. Not a rocket scientist, our Douche Bag. “Did you teach them to treat people the way they want to be treated?”
“What the f—” He bit off his words when I leaned down right in his face. I wanted to make sure he heard what I had to say.
“And—following the Golden Rule—since you can’t seem to keep your hands to yourself, I assume that you also want some random stranger slapping their hands onto intimate parts of you?”
Ah, now he was following where I was going. His lip curled up in a snarl. “Do you know who I am?”
“Nope. Now ask me if I care.” I smiled. It’s a smile I practice, sometimes. It says “You’re about seven seconds away from learning about the afterlife.” “Don’t touch her again. Clear?”
I knew it was coming. I’d deliberately provoked it, after all. A guy like this, he couldn’t let some other dude come slap him down like a bad puppy. It’s hard on the reputation and even harder on the ego.
“Listen, asshole…” He raised both hands to shove me out of his face and I caught one before it could even touch me. With a small twist, his wrist was facing the wrong way, his fingertips touching the inside of his forearm, and whatever else he was going to say was lost in the surprised cry of pain. I held him there like that, pinned to his chair by a light grip on one hand. A bit more pressure, and I could snap it. I didn’t.
“You’re leaving now. I’ll cover your tab. Have a good night.” There were bouncers moving in on my flanks. I could see them from the corners of my vision. When they didn’t immediately jump in to break it up, I decided they were at least nominally on my side.
Douche Bag’s face was pale under his fake tan, sweat beading on his forehead as he debated his options, but finally he nodded his acquiescence. I released the hold on his arm and he rubbed his sore wrist as he fled, glaring at me every step of the way.
“You didn’t have to do that.” Traci appeared at my elbow, wiping the table down quickly.
“Somebody did.” I passed her Axel’s credit card. “Pay his tab. Add a good tip onto this for yourself, too.” Funny how easy money was to spend when it wasn’t mine.
Traci shrugged and swiped the card through the reader on her belt and handed it back. “Whatever the man wants.”
When the hand landed on my shoulder, only one thing kept me from ripping it off. Tai’s innate magic jolted me even through my T-shirt as he leaned in to speak. “Gretchen says we need to blow, before they connect you with her.”
Letting the bigger man break us a path through the room, we caught up to Bobby and Gretchen near the door. The starlet gave me an irritated roll of her eyes, but Bobby grinned. At least, I think it was a grin. It could have been a snarl. It showed the same amount of teeth.
“That dude about pissed himself. That was awesome.” I bumped the offered knuckles, but now that my righteous indignation was wearing off, I felt a bit sheepish. Starting fights in public really wasn’t cool, no matter how right I was.
The rabid crowd was still outside, and the limo was not. “We didn’t have time to call for the car,” Bobby explained. “Leaving in a bit of a rush.”
The look Gretchen slung my way let me know just who she was holding responsible for that inconvenience. “Just clear me a damn path.”
The limo was parked about two blocks down, and we set out at a swift march. I had to admit, I was impressed at her ability to not fracture something in those shoes.
Luckily, most of the teeming throng held their positions near the club, waiting for the next celebrity to pass within their line of sight. We were in the clear fairly quickly.
“You wanna tell me what the hell that was back there?” Every syllable was punctuated by the sharp click of her stilettos.
“Which part?”
“The part where you attacked one of the most prominent producers in the
“He was a douche.” I wasn’t going to apologize for that. It was true.
“Yes, he’s a douche. Everyone knows that. But he’s also powerful. And over a waitress? Really?” Gretchen
