Page 24 of Throw Down

The unsettled murmurs of the crowd intensified, the atmosphere thickening with a potent cocktail of dread and anticipation.Briar shifted anxiously, desperate to crack a joke and somehow divert the tension.But he had no idea what was happening.Anything he said could make the situation worse.Even Aiden had lost his trademark grin.He met Briar’s eyes and gave him a small head shake.

Wade was slightly less wasted than his buddy.He grabbed Sutter's arm, trying to diffuse the situation.“C’mon, Ron. This ain’t worth it.Not tonight.”

But there was no reasoning with Sutter.He glared at Derek and snarled, spittle gathering at the corners of his mouth.“If you think for one second that I’ll back down just because I’m scared of you—”

“Ron!” Wade hissed, tugging at Sutter.But Sutter had drowned whatever better judgment he had inside a shot glass.The old man was running on pure spite and booze.

“You’re trash,” Sutter slurred, stabbing his finger so hard into Derek’s shoulder that it made a meaty sound.Briar winced. “Always have been.Gonna die in this shithole town just like the rest of us.Maybe I’ll do you a favor and take you out right here.”

Derek stood there like a stone gargoyle, unflinching beneath the assault of his breath.“Go home,” he warned.

That was all. Just that. But his voice was so deadly calm that Briar's blood ran cold.

The tavern had fallen deadsilent.Or maybe that was just how it seemed toBriar.His senses sharpened and he began to pick out isolateddetails:the neon glow turning the faces in the crowd ghostly, the music vibrating the floorboards beneath his feet even though he could no longer hearit.And then there was Derek. Stoic, silent, and drawing all the drunken rage that had been focused on his brother just a few minutesearlier.

When the tension finally snapped, Briarflinched.

Sutter lunged with an incoherent roar, swinging his arm wide in a sloppyhaymaker.

“Wait!” A bolt of fear rocked Briar into action, and he lurched forward into the wildpunch.

He wasn't thinking. If he had been, he'd have turned and run in the oppositedirection.All he knew was that Derek had been kind to him, and some animal part of his brain couldn't bear to watch that fistconnect.So, he dove between them like the world's most uselessshield.

The blow struck him like a meteor, rocking his world off itsaxis.Pain exploded through hisface.It felt like his bones had shattered uponimpact.His vision flashed, crowd stuttering and jerking like a silent movie, before goingdark.He wasfalling.

A pair of strong arms caught him before he hit theground.

The last thing he heard was Derek’s low voice rumbling in hisear.“Dumb move,kid.”

Chapter Ten

DEREK

The fight played like a looping film reel in Derek’s head.

He saw Wade’s fist moving in slow motion, directed at him—where it should be.Then Briar, coming out of nowhere and stepping right into the hit, followed by the sickening wet thud of knuckle striking flesh and bone.

Briar was so small that one single punch knocked him out cold.

That was all the provocation the Triple M's cowboys needed to swarm, and the tavern devolved into a full brawl.The crowd surged in a sickening frenzy of sweat, booze, and violence.

Briar would have been trampled if Derek hadn't scooped him into his arms and held him above the fray.He was so slim. So vulnerable.How had he managed to stay alive this long?Derek had no illusions about the world.It preyed on weakness. Wolves had been circling his family since he was old enough to remember, and the only thing that kept them at bay was being bigger and meaner than they were.Someone like Briar would never stand a chance.

He tucked Briar's head against his neck, cradling his slender frame in his arms, and then grabbed his brother by the back of the collar and dragged them both outside.

“Hey!” West shouted, digging in his heels.“What the hell do you think you're doing?”

“Keeping you out of trouble,” Derek replied, ignoring his resistance.

“Like hell!” West struggled harder, ripping out of his grasp and tearing the seams of his flannel in the process.“You're crazy if you think I'm leaving Michael alone in there!”

Derek grabbed him before he could take a single step, reeling him back in.“He'd want me to take you home,” he said flatly.

“He is my home, asshole!” West caught him in the ribs with a vicious elbow and shoved him away.His look of defiance struck Derek harder than the blow.Then he turned and headed back inside.

Derek steadied himself, ignoring the negligible pain in his ribs, and debated going after him.With a pack of cowboys at his side, West wasn't in any real danger, and he could handle himself in a fight.Derek ought to know; he was the one who'd taught him.But watching out for him was a compulsion by this point, even if West hated him for it.

A lone siren had already begun to break the quiet, and Briar's gentle breath against his throat called him back to his other purpose.

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