A series of shouts followed by a big, loud thud had Sierra twisting around. Over by the jukebox, a woman, whose long red hairlooked vaguely familiar, was slumping slowly down the wall. And a big man stood over her with a threatening scowl. But notstill. No, he jittered a little, head to toe. Sierra had seen that before, too many times, at both her colleges. The man washigh on something. Which made him dangerous, volatile, and probably not willing or even able to listen to reason.
“Flynn—”
“On it.” As he rushed out from behind the bar, Sierra half stood on the stool to yell down the hallway for Carlos. To herhorror, the burly man in leather pants and the matching vest that she’d seen motorcyclists wear bent down to lift the womanjust by her arm. It looked horribly painful. Then he pulled back his other arm as if about to smack her across the face.
Sierra gasped and held her breath. It sounded like everyone else in the Gorse did, too, because the crowded bar went extraordinarilysilent. She could actually hear the crack of pool balls coming from the back room.
But before the man’s hand connected, Flynn was there. He grabbed the wrist and gave it a twist that instantly unfisted hishand. “Let her go.” It wasn’t a low, scary growl. It was a simple command. Like Flynn was so certain of a response that hedidn’t need to put any threat behind it.
Leather Guy was the same height as Flynn, but with easily thirty pounds on him, mostly paunch. It scared her, how much biggerhe was. What if Carlos didn’t come out in time with his trusty baseball bat to help? The surrounding tables were mostly full,but no one was standing up to help. Admittedly, they were all pretty well toasted by this time of night.
He did let go of the woman, and Flynn dropped his hold. She immediately cradled one arm in the other. From her position, Sierraguessed that she’d cracked it hard on the jukebox when he’d thrown her into the wall.
Slowly, he shifted to face Flynn. “Who are you to tell me how to handle my woman?” A threat rolled off of him in waves, likeheat coming off asphalt on a hot day. He shifted constantly from one foot to the other. And one hand sort of shook. Definitely drugs. Probably got dragged here by friends for the fishing tournament, because this was not the usual clientele of the Gorseat all.
Ignoring him, Flynn looked at the redhead. “Are you hurt, Rosalie?”
“Not really. I mean, I think my arm is broken.” At that, Mariana, who’d at some point joined Sierra and held on to her handfor dear life, whipped her phone out of her apron and dialed 911. After a brief sniff, Rosalie shook her head. “But don’tmake a fuss.”
“No fuss.” He smiled. Kindly at Rosalie, and then it transformed into more of an ugly, threatening sneer as he turned backto Leather Guy. “Just a reminder of a very simple rule here at the Gorse.”
The bigger man crowded in on Flynn, shaking out his hands. “I don’t have to follow your stupid bar’s rules.”
Carlos was on the other side of Sierra now. He held what he called his Bouncer Bat in both hands, but didn’t move to joinFlynn.
“Aren’t you going to help him?” she whispered.
“Flynn doesn’t need any help.”
“I don’t care who you are or where you come from. You walk in this door, you respect women. Period.” As he said the last word,Flynn’s arm shot out and up to punch Leather Guy in the chin. “You don’t ever, ever raise a hand to them.”
Sierra gasped again. He’d moved so fast. Leather Guy hadn’t even had time to flinch or try to move out of the way. The deadquiet in the bar continued, so she could hear his embarrassingly high whimper.
Another lightning-fast punch, this time to the man’s considerable gut. He staggered backward toward the door. Blood trickleddown his face from a split lip. “If you don’t treat the women of Bandon right, you’ll answer to me.” Then he grabbed the jerk’sarm and half dragged him to the door. One kick opened it, and he flung the big man outside.
The whole room erupted in applause and cheers. Don and Jeremy, half of the band just packing up, hurried over with their extensioncords. “Way to go, Flynn. We’ll tie him up for you. Keep an eye on him until the police get here.” A handful of other mencrowded outside with him, echoing offers to keep him contained.
It didn’t escape Sierra’s notice that it looked like it was taking half a dozen men to clean up what Flynn had tidily handledall by himself.
Over his shoulder, Flynn called out, “Sierra, put some ice in a towel and come help Rosalie.”
Sierra’s hands now shook—just a little—as she filled a white bar towel with ice cubes. Seeing that kind of violence up closetook her right back to the horrible events that sent her running across country.
But she couldn’t get bogged down in the memory. That would just be letting Rick ruin her life more than he already had.
As she neared Flynn and the growing circle around Rosalie, she heard Carlos say, “Nice job.” Sierra handed the ice off toa woman she knew was a nurse, and already fastening a sling. Then she stood next to Flynn. She needed the nearness. Neededto reassure herself that he was okay after that fight.
Even though he’d totally won it, hands down.
Flynn looked at his fingers and Sierra noticed the streak of blood across the knuckles. After wiping it on his jeans, he benthis fingers, and then shook them out. “I didn’t pull my punches to teach the drugged-out piece of trash a lesson. Hopefullyit’ll stick.”
“You’re one
