Looking directly at James, she points and shouts.
"Don't ever assume that you can just grab me in a public place, or any place for that matter, and lay one on me like that again. You hear me?"
As an afterthought, she adds something.
"You two motherfuckers don't own me. I am not some piece of property that either one of you can just take at will."
She stomps back to the chair and sits down across from us again. I don't look at James and I know he isn't looking at me either. She crosses her arms and pouts, sitting back with a huff, shaking her head at us.
"If I hadn't gone to a powder room that was secluded, this could have been way worse."
No comments from us apes. We’re still grunting in our perspective corners of the sofa.
Fighting for what we perceived was right, licking our wounds in stride.
She leaves us momentarily and goes to the kitchen cupboard. I can hear her open a cabinet and shuffle through some things. Some glasses clink as they come together. She slams a cabinet shut and I can hear her pouring something liquid.
When she returns, she hands each of us a couple of aspirin and a shot of bourbon. Grateful for her mild compassion, I place the aspirin in my mouth and chase them down with the bourbon.
I’m guessing James does the same as I hear him sigh and set the glass on the coffee table. Alexa takes the glasses and goes back to the kitchen.
Returning to the both of us, she sits on the coffee table with her arms on a first aid kit. Her chin comes to rest on her hands.
“This can't happen again, boys,” she says flatly.
Not fully understanding what she intended that statement to mean, I try to settle my breathing down.
She opens the kit and removes some alcohol and swabs. Kneeling down, she applies alcohol to the cut on my jaw and the scratches on my hands. It stings and I grimace with the pain.
Turning to James, she gets a clean swab and douses his eyebrow and his lip. He winces and grunts.
"You two boys need to figure out how to get along."
"You both want my business, but by the looks of things, the real issue is me. Who is going to get me in the end?"
She giggles a little and I wonder what dirty thought entertains her mind at that moment. She continues dressing our wounds.
But inside, I know that she’s right. Somehow, I’m going to have to make amends with that ape over there, and he with me.
For her sake.