Page 129 of Nemesis

I grip Kade’s knee under the bar.

“If you don’t know…” Kade purses his lips, easily taking over the conversation. “I’ll just go smash up his car while we wait.”

Saint grabs my arm and pulls me from the stool. He drags me into his side just as someone throws a bottle. It sails through the space I just occupied, smashing into the glass behind the bar.

“Oye,” the bartender yells. “Not here!”

Kade swivels around slowly, not even shoving to his feet until someone is right up in his space. The guy punches, and Kade easily evades it by leaning back. He grabs the front of the guy’s shirt and yanks him forward.

Kade’s forehead cracks into the guy’s nose, and he takes the moment of his opponent being stunned to draw him farther forward. And down. The guy’s head rebounds off the lip of the bar, and he falls to Kade’s feet.

“Anyone else?”

There are seven of them.

Big, burly assholes.

They share looks, seeming to get on the same page, and my gut twists.

Saint slowly uncurls his fingers from my arm. He puts some space between us, edging toward the door. I’m not concerned with him leaving us high and dry—I’m not running. I wouldn’t do that to Kade.

And I’m not drawing my gun until he does.

All at once, they charge. One comes for me, two for Saint and two at Kade. Two hang back, but I ignore them as soon as the guy in front of me throws the first punch.

My blood roars to life at the challenge.

I duck, and his arm sails through empty air over my head. I leap forward, into his space, and slam my fist into his gut. He’s one of the younger ones fighting, barely a trace of facial hair on his chin. And he pickedmeto fight.

He thought he could get off easy, maybe?

Defeat a girl?

I hammer two more punches into his stomach before he manages to shove me away. I dance back and grin at him.

I miss fighting.

It’s been too long since I’ve fought at Olympus. Since before the war, I think… I didn’t want to fight for fun after all the fighting that was for survival.

“Come on, then,” I goad.

He lunges. He’s not a natural fighter, which makes his movements a little hard to predict. He catches me on the jaw once, and my head snaps to the side. That’s all I need to really wake up, and we collide again. Pain echoes down my arm with each hit I drive into his face, and it isn’t until hands grab my arms and haul me up that I realize I’ve been punching an unconscious man.

His face is a bloody mess, barely recognizable anymore.

Saint and Kade have similarly dispatched theirs, and the other two are long gone.

As is the bartender.

Kade grimaces, touching my jaw. “He hit you.”

I lick my lower lip and taste blood. “Only twice.”

He growls. Before I can stop him, Kade pulls his gun and shoots the unconscious man in the head. The bar goes deathly quiet in the wake of the gunshot, and my mouth opens and closes.

Did he seriously just do that?

“You didn’t?—”

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