Page 2 of Bullet

“Lynette.” I’m so tired of correcting her. I’m so tired of all of this.

“‘Kay,Linny. But he’s not the bad guy. It was this other guy.”

“There were two this time?” Awesome. It’s always worse when two or three get involved. It’s her alluring curves, sweet babyface, and innocent damsel in distress vibe that attracts all the wrong kind of attention.

“They were there together, but this guy looked more college preppy. Office-y. Like you.”

“Hold on, I’m searching for the compliment in there somewhere.”

She’s oblivious to my sarcasm. “He had a dress shirt and slacks on. I know they were there together because they were talking to each other for a while before I got brave enough to walk over.”

“And long story short, someone got handsy.”

Her eyes flash. “Don’t you dare say that I asked for it.”

Hot shame unspools in my gut. I prop myself up on my elbow and stare down at her. “That’s not what I’m saying. I wouldn’t ever think that. I’m saying that I told you not to go to Balmerano’sbecause it’s the kind of place where assholes and creeps like to go, everyone gets way too drunk, and violence often breaks out.”

“How do you even know that?” she snaps. “Do you have, like, this big master list of approved and nonapproved clubs in your head?”

“I did some research after the last time you were there and told me about somebody pulling a knife on some other guy. Someone nearly slashing another person open should be a fairly clear deterrent.”

“You’re such a hard-ass.”

“A hard-ass who wants to keep you safe.”

“You think I’m not capable of using common sense.”

When Willa doesn’t get her way, she pouts. It can last for days and days. My mother used to be on the receiving end of her temper, and even as a little kid, she was capable of holding a grudge for time immemorial. I guess that’s another thing we have in common. I don’t let loose with the sharp edge of my temper often. I find that ice is so much more effective than fire.

I sigh, stroking her hair. It’s soft, despite the constant dyeing. She spends a fortune on salon fees. Or rather, I do. “I think when you’re young, you tend to believe you’re invincible. If something happened to you, it would kill me.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me.” Her light blue eyes flood with tears that crystallize in the ambient light before streaking down the side of her face, running over her nose, and sparkling over her top lip. “I-I’m sorry. You’re right, it was stupid.”

I keep stroking her hair, just like the way our mom used to do for me, long before Willa ever came into the world, and it was just us. I was thrilled to be a big sister, even though at ten, it was a shock. I’ve always done everything for her, long before I promised my mom that I would.

“Tell me everything. I promise I won’t interrupt this time. I want to hear what happened.” I get into immediate lawyer mode. I can’t help it. My whole body is primed for a fight, stiffening, my brain racing.

“I let the preppy guy buy me a drink, and we talked for, like, fifteen minutes, but then he said I owed him a dance. He was dragging me into the crowd when the other guy—he was getting another round for us—came back and saw the whole thing. Hepitched the drinks like it was slow motion, just threw them right to the ground, and took the guy’s hand off my arm.”

I don’t interrupt, but it takes everything in me not to. I want to blurt out the ending, because I already know exactly what it’s going to be, but by sheer force of will, I stay quiet.

“The preppy guy swung at him first. Bullet, that’s the guy in leather, ducked.”

Of course the guy’s name is motherfuckingBullet.

“The guy swung again. Bullet tackled the preppy one to the floor. I think he was just trying to get him to stop fighting and see reason, but the preppy guy got a hand free and smashed it right into Bullet’s face. Bullet locked his hands above his head, then headbutted him. Hard. I think he broke his own nose doing it. They were so close together, it was hard to tell. The bouncers came to pull them apart, and there was all this blood.” Willa nearly gags. If there’s anything she hates, it’s the sight of blood. “The preppy guy was such a mess. His nose was completely smashed, his lip split open, and his eyebrow was busted so wide that it was pretty much hanging off his face. I was so shocked that I didn’t freak out like I normally would. I guess I’d had a few drinks too, so that kept me from fainting.”

It wouldn’t have been the first time Willa literally passed out at the sight of a few drops of blood. The first time it happened, she was four and badly skinned her knee falling off her bike. She’d fainted dead away at the sight of the blood rolling down her leg when she’d sat up and looked, scaring me and our mom out of our minds.

“They got kicked out, and I got my coat from coat check and followed them. I wanted to apologize to Bullet for trying to defend my honor—”

“Are we living in an age where your honor has to be defended?”

Her lips thin out. I wish I hadn’t said anything, though it was gently done and not an attack. “I would have been fine. I would have just danced with him and shaken the guy off and left. I swear. I didn’t need him to defend me, and things weren’t that dire. The other guy was just way too drunk and lost his mind. But outside, this guy was screaming that he was going to kill Bullet for wrecking his face, and that his dad was going to make sure he ended up in jail. He was going to press charges, and Bullet was so fucked. He said that his dad was Bullet’s last line of defense, so when that was taken away, what would he do?”

“What does that mean?” I have an idea. I don’t like it one bit.

“I walked up to Bullet. He was just standing there after the other guy got in a cab and left. I thanked him for what he did. He said it was no problem, even though it was clearly a big fucking problem. He was there as a babysitter and the asshole proved that he needed it. They’d stopped for the night, and he got stuck watching the preppy guy as a favor to his club and the guy’s dad.”

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