Charlie shoved her behind him, making her stumble and fall onto the couch. “Oh good.”
They launched themselves at each other. “Stop it!” she yelled, but she might as well have been a mosquito for all the attention they paid her. Fists connected with flesh, skin broke, blood oozed. Her first impression of Alex had been right. The veneer of civilization was exactly that: a façade. He was savage in his violence, and she flinched as he landed blow after blow on Charlie’s body.
Charlie kneed Alex’s thigh, and she suddenly remembered that Charlie had studied Muay Thai for over ten years. Alex landed a retaliatory elbow on Charlie’s jaw.
Out of options, she tried to get between them. “I said stop!”
Something hit her in the temple, and she pitched forward. A large hand caught her before she fell to the floor. Stars flashed before her eyes; she felt like a truck had run into her.
“Good God, Nat! Why did you get in the way?” Charlie said, his voice hoarse.
Alex’s body shook. “You moth—!”
She moaned and tightened her grip on the hand, which she now realized was Alex’s. “Just stop,” she whispered.
“Are you okay?” Alex said.
“I…think so.”
That was a lie. She felt nauseous, shaken. Why hadn’t she let the
se two testosterone-laden idiots bash each other to a pulp?
“Charlie…leave,” she said. “Please.”
He hesitated but walked out when she gestured weakly at the door. She sagged against Alex.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Alex said harshly. “You almost got yourself killed.”
She tried to laugh, but she ended up sounding like a moaning hyena instead. “I don’t think a punch is going to kill me. Anyway, at least my furniture’s safe now.” Her upper lip was swollen, and she touched it lightly. Then she looked at Alex, inspecting his damage. “You’re bleeding.”
“Yeah, but Rodale’s going to have a hell of a shiner tomorrow.” Alex looked pleased with himself.
She rolled her eyes and tried to stand straight, but her legs wouldn’t support her. Alex carried her to the couch and laid her there.
“If he touches you again, I’ll kill him, and no one’s going to stop me. Not even you.”
“Yes, Og,” she muttered. “What are you doing back so early? I thought you weren’t coming until dinner.”
“I thought we’d spend some time together before going out. What was he doing here?”
Natalie didn’t want to talk about her conversations with Emily or Charlie with anyone, most especially Alex. In his current mood, he would probably go after Charlie if she told him everything. She didn’t want to think about the consequences.
“He was in the neighborhood.”
“Obviously. My question is why.”
“It’s not important.”
“Isn’t it?” He shook his head, his eyes hard. “I don’t want you seeing the Rodales anymore.”
“What?” Natalie jackknifed into a sitting position, then immediately put a hand to her temple and moaned. “Of all the foolish, arrogant…” Her lips tightened. “In case you don’t know, Emily’s my godmother, and Charlie’s a good friend of mine.”
“Funny way of showing his friendship.”
“That was a mistake.”
Her stubborn defense of Charlie Rodale was irritating enough, but Alex went cold as Ethan’s words came back to him: If I’m wrong, I’ll resign.