Page 100 of Succeeding Love

“What?” I frowned at the hostility on Vin’s face. “Nothing! He’s just drunk.”

“Drunk excuses following you into the bathroom?!”

“Vin! Stop! If you’re going to just get mad, then go back to the table, and I’ll figure this out.” He was making this situation more hostile than I expected. I didn’t want to make a scene. I just wanted to discreetly get Nick out of here.

“You want me to leave you alone with him? No!”

Nick laughed drunkenly, shaking his head, which was leaning back against the wall from side to side. “That’s right, asshole. Go back to where you came from. We don’t want you here.”

“Fucking prick,” Vin nearly shouted, his giant body moving towards Nick’s.

I placed my hands on his chest to stop him. I suddenly wished I had grabbed Al instead. Vin was staring at Nick like he was going to kill him, and the look Nick was giving him in return wasn’t much better.

In a drunken slur, Nick said, “Get your hands off my wife, asshole.”

“I’m going to beat the word ‘ex’ into your mother fucking skull, you piece of trash,” Vin sneered, clenching his fists.

“Stop!” I begged, feeling like I had just made the biggest mistake of asking Vin to help me with this.

“You’re choosing somethuglike him over me,” Nick egged him on.

“I’ll show youthug, motherfucker,” Vin moved around me.

I pulled at Vin’s arms as I yelled for him to stop, but it fell on deaf ears. It alerted the guard in the main foyer, who rushed over.

“Wh-what?” Nick tried to get up from the bench, but was too drunk to stand on his own. “You gonna hit me now, asshole?”

“You’re begging for it,” Vin went to swing, but I put all my weight into holding his arm back.

The security guard got there just in time to help yank Vin a few feet back, lessening the threat of my ex getting killed by Vin’s fist. I got tossed to the ground in the process and heard my dress rip a little, but was too high on adrenaline to notice where.

Another guard came and helped me up from the ground before going to help his friend. The two put more distance between Vin and Nick, but it caused enough of a commotion that people filtered out of the event hall to look.

Mr. Stevens was one of those people, and when his eyes landed on Nick, he didn’t look surprised.

Vin was talking in loud whispers to the two security guards. They must be security sourced from city hall, because it seemed like Vin knew them. One even called him Mr. Trude a few times.

Could this have gotten anymore out of hand? Vin and Nick’s careers may be affected by this.

“You’re such an idiot, Feighlynn,” I whispered to myself. Why didn’t I get someone else to help me?

“I can take care of him from here, Miss Feighlynn,” Mr. Stevens approached me, pulling out a couple of bills from his wallet and waving over the attendant for the event. “Find his valet ticket and have someone drive him home,” he instructedthe young attendant dressed in black slacks and a bright red vest. “This should cover the taxi back.”

“Um, where does he live, sir?” The young man looked nervously at Mr. Stevens, who was exuding arrogance and annoyance.

Mr. Stevens looked at me expectantly.

“Pacific Kress. It’s right across from the library downtown. I can have my son outside waiting.”

Mr. Stevens gave the attendant a look that had him scurrying off to accomplish the task. He paused beside Nick, looking awkwardly down at him like he was trying to figure out where to find the ticket.

“Nick, hand him the ticket for your car, please,” I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling like his mother and not his ex-wife like I should.

“Come and get it yourself.” Nick gave me a teasing look that had Vin muttering obscenities again as the guards held him back.

I was done with this. All of it. I marched over to Nick, kicking his legs so he would sit up.

“Give me your wallet,” I demanded, holding out my hand.