Page 64 of Jesse's Girl

The guy laughs, the sound ugly and disdainful, and holds her gaze as he dumps the dregs of his beer onto the bar, clearly knowing she’ll have to clean it up.

Such a dick move.

The fucking nerve of this guy. I look away for a moment, my lips tight as I suppress the urge to tell him where he can shove that pint glass.

Ada crosses her arms and regards him coolly—not taking the bait. She’s fucking good at this. I hate that she has to be.

“Time to go. You’re done,” is all she says, lifting her chin at the door.

“Okay, but I wanna watch you lick that up first,” he sneers as he leans toward her. “I bet you’re good with your tongue.”

I stand, moving toward him. “Hey. You heard her. Time to head the fuck home.”

The guy turns, taking a moment to focus on me. “Or what? Mind your own fucking business, asshole.”

“Can’t do that.”

“Why not? Hoping she’ll suck your cock instead? ’Cause I got first dibs.”

My fist connects with his face before I even realize what I’ve done. He crumples to the floor on his back, groaning.

“Jesus!” Ada’s voice enters my awareness and she shouts across the bar for some guy named Theo. “Jesse, what the fuck?”

My hand throbs from the impact and I shake it out. Clenching and unclenching my fingers, I reassure myself nothing’s broken. I got lucky.

A big guy dressed in a white kitchen uniform appears beside me, seeming to quickly assess the situation. My ears buzz from the adrenaline but I’m vaguely aware of Ada explaining what just went down. He moves around me and picks the guy up off the floor, propping him up.

“I should fucking sue your ass,” the asshole slurs through an obvious fog of boozed-up confusion and pain.

A look passes between Ada and Theo, and she shakes her head.

“Too bad no one saw what happened,” Theo says. “As far as I’m concerned, you fell and hit your face on the barstool. So clumsy.” Grasping handfuls of the guy’s shirt, Theo muscles him toward the front door.

“Holy shit,” Ada says as she watches the dirtbag get dragged outside. “That was fucked up.”

“Yeah,” is all I can think to say.

Her attention snaps to me. “What the hell was that?”

I open my mouth to answer but find I don’t know what to say. I rub my hand, which is starting to swell a bit.

“Are you…” She looks down. “Shit. Is your hand okay?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fine,” I say, glancing at the door. Ada turns to follow my gaze, and we watch Theo exchange a few stern words with the guy as he dumps him outside. A string of muffled expletives cuts to silence as the door swings shut and Theo tromps back into the restaurant.

“You good?” he asks Ada. When she nods, he heads back to the kitchen.

The drunk tool outside staggers a few steps down the road and I sigh with relief that he’s actually leaving. I turn back to Ada.

“I’d uh… grab you some ice, but I just drained the tray.”

“It’s fine,” I say quickly. “Wanna head home? Like, can you leave yet?” I want to get her somewhere safe in case the sleazebag comes back.

“Yeah, just…” she trails off, taking stock of what’s left to do around the bar area. “Gimme five minutes to cash out.” She turns, almost flustered, then goes through the motions on the touch screen.

As she finishes up the last of her tasks, I grab the bar cloth with my good hand and wipe up the dumped beer. She gives me a grateful look as I pass her the cloth to rinse out, but I catch her hands shaking slightly when she takes it from me.

Our walk home is quiet. It’s clear neither of us knows what to say about what just happened.

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