does nothing to stop Gabe. Fists flying, he beats Trevor to the ground. Even amid the shouting around us, I can hear Gabe repeating, “Men don’t fuck with girls. Men don’t fuck with girls. Men don’t fuck with girls.”
Strangely—or maybe not so strangely since it’s obvious that Gabe is in a rage—both Justin and I work at dragging him off Trevor. After nearly getting pulverized by Gabe’s elbows, we finally have him standing between us. He’s breathing hard, eyes still murderously trained on Trevor, who’s rolling across the floor and covering his face.
Gabe tears from our hold and lunges again, but Justin yanks him back by the waist. “Whoa, he’s down. Leave him be.”
The music in the bar is suddenly cut off.
Romeo breaks through the crowd. “What the hell is going on?”
“He”—Gabe points a shaky finger at Trevor, who’s sluggishly pushing himself up off the floor—“pushed her into a table.”
With rage etching his features, Romeo is obviously about to lay into Gabe with an embarrassing reprimand, but some guy dressed in a button-up shirt and pressed slacks breaks through the crowd around us. A nametag on his chest and the ring of keys on his belt loop signifies he works here. He holds a hand out to help Trevor up. “Back off, people!” Supporting Trevor, who’s swaying as if drunk and cupping his bloody nose, the guy yells, “Get away or get out!”
People start dispersing. Justin tugs Gabe away from the scene.
The man helping Trevor points to us. “You two, stay put. The cops are on their way.”
“The cops?” Gabe gasps, finally pulling his rage-filled gaze from Trevor and struggling to get out of our grip.
Romeo is instantly in Gabe’s face. “Don’t even think of taking off,” he says from behind clenched teeth.
Gabe visibly deflates, and Justin lets him go and wraps his arms around me.
“Tell me you’re okay?” he whispers in my ear.
“I’m all right,” I say into the skin of his neck, breathing in his earthy, comforting scent. “Your jaw?”
“A little sore, but forget me. When I saw that prick push you I feared the worst.”
“I’m all right,” I repeat, though the side of my thigh is throbbing where it hit the table. A bruise will definitely be there in the morning. “Just shook up and shocked. He’s never been like this.” I can’t tell if Justin believes me, but it’s true. Sure, Trevor has always been a jerk, but he’s never gotten physical with me. Something was off about him tonight, though, and I’d been close enough to him to know he wasn’t drunk.
Justin’s arms tighten around me. “I almost wish we’d let Gabe continue.”
Shaking my head, I hold on to him and let his embrace calm me down. Holly is suddenly next to us. “I can’t believe this. He pushed you?”
I can only nod at her.
She sneers at Trevor, who still appears out of it.
Behind us, we can hear Romeo lecturing Gabe. “Three years of playing and this is the first time this type of shit has happened. This shit is never happening again, do you hear me?”
As Justin turns and holds me close by one arm, Gabe mutters something under his breath but keeps his head lowered. I notice the group from our back room table standing at a distance and watching the aftermath unfold. A few tables over, the man I assume is the manager has Trevor in a chair and is crouched in front of him, holding a towelful of ice to his bloody nose. The sight irritates me. Even though Gabe went overboard, Trevor is not the victim here.
Romeo keeps bitching at Gabe. Now he’s talking about losing the club.
Justin shoots Romeo a cold look and says, “Honestly? This isn’t the time to be an asshole.”
Romeo stares at Justin with eyes that flash daggers.
I’m starting to feel awful. If I hadn’t come, none of this would have happened. I’m aware the guilt isn’t entirely mine, but I can imagine the rumors that will spread over the next week:
As the guys continue to argue around me, my gaze finds the instigator of the evening’s fiasco. The manager tries to help Trevor up, but he brushes off the man’s hands and heads toward the bathroom. The manager then comes to stand by us, probably hoping to stop anything else from erupting, Trevor turns back and his hostile gaze finds me. I don’t flinch. Instead, I stare right back until he disappears into the bathroom.
A few minutes later, the police arrive. My shock over the fight escalates when, after talking with the manager and several bystanders, the two policemen cuff and arrest both Justin and Gabe. Justin looks shocked too. Gabe’s face is impassive. Startled, I’m at the policeman’s side in an instant.
“They didn’t start it.” I’ve already told them this, but I have to do something before they haul off Justin. “My ex-husband was the first one to throw a punch.”
The cop glances at me. “This isn’t elementary school, miss. If someone hits you, it doesn’t give you the right to beat them senseless.”
My hands clench at my sides. “He kept the fight going, after he shoved me into a table and almost knocking it over.” I’ve already told him this too.
The cop directs Justin toward the door. “You can post his bail tomorrow morning. After that, it’s for the judge to determine who, if anyone, was in the right.”
Justin glances at me over his shoulder as he’s dragged out of the building, and I have to stop myself from following them.
The least shocking thing of the night? Trevor is nowhere to be found.
Between the three of us, Romeo, Sam, and I managed to collect the seven hundred dollars for Gabe’s bail. It turns out this isn’t Gabe’s first run-in with the law. All Justin has to do for his release is sign a personal recognizance bond—something about promising to return and appear in court. Justin will pay us back on Gabe’s behalf once he gets out, but I’m not too worried about money at the moment.
We arrive with the money at the police station at dawn, and while Romeo and Sam go inside to pay, I sit in my car. I’m looking forward to putting this sleepless night behind me. I’ve been consumed by guilt while also wishing I’d punched Trevor myself. I really don’t understand why he came last night. Sure, he’s been hinting at getting back together with me since he returned but he hasn’t been persistent. And he showed no signs of being completely freakin’ nuts about me with Justin until last night.
I’ve been waiting in my car for over half an hour when Romeo and Justin finally come out of the building, with Gabe and Sam following behind them through the revolving door.
Even though this is stupidest—I’m blaming it on lack of sleep—time to be obsessing about appearances, I’m kind of wowed by the four men coming at me. Of course, with his dimples, green eyes, and swoop of dark blond hair, Justin’s brand of hotness is the most devastating. But Romeo, who’s as tall as Justin’s six foot two, has this dark, sensual thing going on. Then there’s Gabe. Tall too, maybe just over six foot. He’s all wiry muscle, with piercing eyes and a jaw so hard it’s like someone cut it from marble. Last is Sam, who is all energy and handsome cuteness with his buzzed dark hair and muscles bulging, even at seven thirty in the morning. Geez. You’d think they were models instead of bandmates.
After a few fist bumps, Justin, Sam, and Gabe come over to my car. Romeo has to get to work at the family center where he volunteers, so I offered to drive everyone else home when he and Sam and I met up this morning. Up close, the two who got sprung appear the worse for wear, with red eyes and exhausted expressions.
“Hey,” I say as Justin gets into the passenger seat. “You all right?”
He reaches for my hand and smiles softly. “Seeing you, I’m doing a shitload better.”
When Gabe and Sam get in the back, my car is overloaded with testosterone.
After a few minutes of arguing—everyone wants to help everyone else on this bleary Sunday morning—it’s decided that I’ll take Gabe home first, and then he’ll take Sam home. Really, I could take them all home, but it’s obvious they’re trying to leave Justin and me alone.
Gabe’s directions land us in one of the few seedy areas in town. The houses are rundown. Yards are overgrown, and junk covers almost every porch. As I pull in front of Gabe’s house, an older man opens the broken door and wobbles out onto the first step. Between the wobble and the beer can in his hand, he appears half-
