Page 75 of Strangely Normal

It was time to do what I should have done in the first place. I raced to the diner to call the police, but before I reached the door, headlights lit up the sidewalk. I twisted back around. The scene on the sidewalk looked as if it was under the spotlight on a stage. Two of the guys had taken hold of Jude and the third one was pummeling him, seemingly ignorant of the car that had pulled up in front of the bar. I squinted into the harsh headlights, hoping it was a police car. But, oddly enough, it was a limousine.

The car door opened and a familiar figure stepped out. The guy administering the beating finally stopped and looked around at the person standing next to the limo. Then another figure stepped out of the car, and this one made the three attackers look petite. I’d seen Nicky King’s bodyguard once but the sight of him slapped the breath from me. He had to be close to seven feet tall, and I half expected the sleeves and legs of his shirt and pants to be tattered, his Hulk transformation complete.

I wandered over to the scene, wondering if I’d been knocked senseless by the fall to the sidewalk or if I was actually witnessing the sight in front of me. The two guys holding a rather bloody and limp looking Jude kept their hold on their victim, but their mouths dropped open in a perfectly suited apelike fashion.

“I don’t fucking believe it,” one of the guys muttered, “it’s Nicky King.”

“You better fucking believe it,” Nicky answered in that awesome British accent, “and that’s my kid you’re beating the shit out of.” Nicky’s bodyguard took several steps toward them, and they released Jude and stumbled back with eyes as wide as marbles. Jude sank to the ground. “Jude!” I ran to him and dropped to my knees.

“Hey,” he said weakly.

I winced at the pain in his tone. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, but everything from chin up hurts like hell and the ribs ain’t feeling great either.”

“I wish there was something I could do to help.”

He shifted his green eyes toward me with minimal movement of his face and head. “I’m sure I can think of something.”

Conveniently having missed all of the fight action, some of the bar patrons finally emerged from the dark saloon to see what was going on. Immediately phones came out of pockets and an excited murmur rolled down the line of onlookers. Never mind that a guy was slumped on the sidewalk with a swollen face and blood loss, there was a rock star standing in front of their bar.

As fast as the phones were lifted for pictures, the humongous body guard stepped in front of Nicky, shielding him like a brick wall. His voice was as impressive and frightening as his size. “Unless you want to lose those phones, you’ll put them back in your pockets now.” The group of curious spectators moved fast to follow his command.

Seconds later, and fashionably late, a police car pulled up. The officers stepped out and looked just as star struck as everyone else on the sidewalk. I half expected them to pull out their book of citations for an autograph. It was fascinating to see everyone’s reaction. Maybe my dad wasn’t that far out of the norm.

One of the officers gained his composure quicker than the other. He assessed the scene and pointed to the three jerks standing in the shadows of the building. “You three sit down right where you are with hands behind your heads.” They followed his command immediately. Nicky walked over to talk to policemen.

Jude rested against me. “You were right,” he mumbled through his swollen mouth.

“There were too many. What happened to locking the door?”

“I did lock it.”

“I meant for you to lock it once you were behind it.”

I lifted his hand and traced my fingertip over his swollen knuckles. “I did, but then Megan screamed, and after that things went to hell.” I kissed his knuckles. “This time I deserve the blame,” I said. “I ran out to help Megan, but I should have just called the police instead. Where did you come from anyway?”

He lifted a weak arm and pointed toward the trailer across the street. “I decided to stay in the construction trailer and keep an eye on you.”

“You stayed because of me?”

“Yeah, Valley, I did. Does that take me off the shit list?”

“Maybe.” I leaned over and kissed the edge of his jaw, the only spot without swelling or blood.

“I think I’m going to need a lot more first aid than that to fix everything that hurts, Doc.” He gave me his hand. “Help me up, and we’ll talk about my personalized medical treatment later.” He groaned in pain as he pressed his arm against his rib cage. It took some effort for him to stand.

“You’ve been beaten senseless and yet you’re completely focused on sex,” I said, with a certain degree of amazement.

He turned to face me. One of his eyes was swollen and there was an ugly gash above it. “Uh, yeah.” He reached up with the back of his hand and wiped away the blood from his mouth. “I’m not too proud to accept pity sex either.”

Nicky walked over with the two policemen. “Jude, do you need an ambulance. I was just telling these officers how you were jumped by these drunken bar patrons.”

“No ambulance. And yeah, that’s basically what happened. They were going after Eden, and I stepped in to help her. But how the heck did you end up here, Dad?”

Nicky looked down at me for the first time and smiled. “Finley sent me to pick someone up.”

His words took a moment to register. “She did?” I couldn’t keep the elation out of my tone.

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