“Oh,hell no!” Darlene screamed. She ran toward the end of the bar and jumped up on it like a little redheaded cheetah in blue suspenders and a white T-shirt.
Recovering her balance and wits, Cassidy ran toward Mac, stepping in front of him and grasping his punishing arm, not believing she’d seen what she’d just seen. “Mac!”
His eyes were black with rage; his nostrils flaring. When she repeated his name, he blinked twice before he looked down at her stunned and concerned face. Reaching up with his other hand, he caressed her cheek briefly with his knuckle and then took a deep breath before taking stock of his surroundings as though coming out of a trance.
Cassidy’s heart seized at the gesture, a look of gentle apology in his eyes appearing and being distinguished in a flash.
“What the fuck, Mac?” Darlene demanded from atop the bar.
The place had grown relatively quiet. The patrons had become more interested in the live show than the game on the television.
Mac stepped away from Cassidy and pointed at her, addressing the gawking crowd, “Anyone else touches her without her consent answers to me.”
Darlene, along with everyone else in the bar, turned their attention to a shell-shocked Cassidy. Murmurs broke out. Camera phones were raised, capturing the drama.
“And who the fuck are you?” someone had the nerve to call out.
Mac’s gaze swept over her as he shook out his hand. “I’m her fucking neighbor.”
“Fucking psycho,” David said from the shadows.
Mac made a move to go after him, but Cassidy rushed forward again and placed her hands on his chest, shaking her head.
“You gotta go, Mac,” Darlene ordered. For a little woman, she held all the authority in the world.
Mac nodded. He asked Cassidy, “You good?”
Her heart was thrumming from adrenaline, her thoughts were a jumble. But yes, thanks to him, she was okay. “I am.”
Mac sent another warning glare into the shadows, glanced up at Darlene, then turned and walked out of the bar, his uninjured hand massaging the back of his neck. People parted for him like Moses parting the Red Sea, camera phones following him before sweeping back to Darlene.
Darlene turned her attention to the darkened corner where David was nursing a bleeding nose and swelling eyes. “You sexually harass my staff, you deserve worse than a busted nose, you piece of shit. That goes for all of you motherfuckers in here! Recordthat,you little shits!”
Cassidy made a plea, “Dar, can I—?”
“Go, I’ll hold this shit pile here until you get back.” Addressing the remaining camera phones, she snarled, “Drama’s over, put your stupid phones away. None of you caught the good part anyway, amateurs.”
“Wait. Here,” Jemma said, filling a cloth with ice.
Cassidy waited impatiently for it, then took it and turned, running for the door. She’d seen the corner he’d come from earlier, and she ran down the block, taking the same alley to the parking lot. He was leaning against the grill of his Scout, clenching and unclenching his fist, head down, looking more like the defeated than the victor.
“Mac?” She approached him.
He jerked, startled by the sound of her voice. Noting her expression, he started shaking his head. “Nah, Day, don’t read into it. Don’t go getting ideas.”
She smiled, holding out the makeshift ice pack. “Ideas about what? That you did something redeeming?”
He accepted the ice, wrapping it around his knuckles. “I hit a guy. Nothing redeeming about it.” He looked remorseful but determined to do it again if need be; it made her feel protected and girlie.
“Let me thank you, Mac.”
He grinned. “Morning head is a fine way to say thank you.”
Cassidy threw up a hand in exasperation. “And there it is. What makes you any different from those guys grabbing my ass in there?”
Mac turned serious. “Iaskedif you wanted me to touch you.”
Her cheeks blazed, and she dropped her head. Yes, he’d asked. And when she’d admitted she did, he’d kicked her out. He wouldn’t touch her.