Page 124 of Always Be an Us

"What the fuck does he have to talk to you about?"

"What’s all this commotion?" The door to the Tiki Bar suddenly bursts open and Rick appears at the doorway. He frowns at me and then his gaze travels to the bastard on the ground.

"What the devil is going on here?"

"Rick." Emma's voice sounds strained.

I realize then that she’s trying to pull my arm back even though I barely feel it. "Help me."

Help with what?

I only wonder briefly because Rick takes another look at me and shakes his head. "No can do, kiddo. That one looks like he might take my head off if I try. He’s got the muscles to do it too, and the money to make it look like an accident."

"Why is he beating on that little wiener?" The older lady I met at the hospital appears behind him. Poppy, I remember Emma calling her.

From her look of disgust, she still doesn't like me, but she apparently doesn't like the guy on the floor either. "I think he's going to piss himself any moment from now."

"They're fighting because he’s Emma’s ex-boyfriend," Rick says in a conspiratorial loud whisper.

"Ah." Poppy nods. "Damn. The girl sure does like them pretty."

Somehow something about her mentioning the guys’ looks makes my mood sour mood further.

Especially when the bastard shoots a crooked grin that I’m sure he’s convinced is charming, puts his hands up, and says, "I come in peace."

"Shut up," I growl and the smile disappears from his face.

A door opens from across the restaurant street, and I hear another woman shouting out, "Hey! No fighting on the street. You're going to scare my customers."

"Please, Lou." The other woman says. "Like your customers don’t pay good money to watch chickens go at it in Pastor Allan's basement."

"This is different from the chickens," Rick points out.

"How? One of them has chicken legs."

"Declan." Emma’s voice is a mixture of exasperation and pleading, her eyes shutting and opening slowly. "Please. Let’s talk."

I consider her plea, mostly because it doesn't look like anyone is going to let me beat up on the guy, and contrary to what Rick said, it's hard to make a crime like that disappear with so many eyes on us.

So, I simply point at Emma's ex and say, "If you know what’s good for you, you’re going to get out of here now and not come back."

Probably bolstered by the crowd around us, the weasel finds it in him to respond, "That’s not your call to make."

"Excuse me?"

"Only Emma can say she doesn’t want to see me again, and we already decided that we’re going to be friends. Right, Emma?"

"What?" My eyes flare open, and I turn to regard her. She avoids my eyes briefly.

"Well maybe not the friends," she says, rubbing the back of her neck. "But I decided to forgive him."

"Why the hell would you do that?"

"Yeah, Emma, why?" Rick pipes up. When I glare at him he holds both hands up and says, "sorry". Thought this was a communal effort."

"Because I can’t walk around harboring a grudge forever," Emma responds to answer the question. "It’s exhausting and feels like shit. I would much rather forgive him and move on with my life."

"That makes sense," Poppy says.

---