Page 38 of In the Pursuit of Haven
Somehow the crowd had grown thicker; so had the snow outside. Digging through my purse to find my hat, I tugged it down over my hair and got my umbrella ready. A new group of rowdies entered the same time I tried to make my escape. A shot of cold air blew inside with them. I stepped behind the door, out of the way. These were big muscular men, and by the looks of them, more drifters! Odd, since this wasn’t the season for strangers.
They headed for Jessie.
I stilled and spun around, my tears freezing to my cheeks. There were four of them, and one should definitely be a body builder. He pushed the smaller, normal-sized patrons out of their way to make room for a mouthier guy, wearing a heavy black coat.
The man was already talking a mile a minute as he approached Jessie. “You think you’re going to worm your way out of this?” he asked.
Jessie scowled at him. “What a pleasant surprise. You haven’t been following me, have you, Hunter?”
“No, just that pretty little girl of yours.”
I stiffened, my eyes straying to Jessie’s newest model. Divine didn’t seem nervous. She rolled her eyes.
Hunter straddled the nearest chair. He was tan, with light brown hair and a week’s growth of beard. The athletic man also didn’t look like he was a stranger to bar fights. “You sending her to do your dirty work?” The three men with him blocked Jessie from me as they argued.
I stepped closer to the fortress of milling patrons, trying to figure out what they were saying. My hand tightened over my umbrella. Were they fighting over Divine? I caught sight of Jessie past the lumbering giant’s elbow.
“You got what you want,” Jessie snarled, before he lowered his voice, “I’m—”
The rest was lost, but not to Hunter. Whatever Jessie said made the other guy’s face go red. He shoved his finger into Jessie’s chest. “Not a chance. You’re going to…”
The big guy shifted, blocking whatever Hunter said next, though I heard “map” and “witch.” My frustration mingled with my fear and confusion. This didn’t sound like a fight over some woman, and when I caught sight of Divine’s smug expression, I knew in an instant that she was in on this too.
Coworker nothing. Loving mistress? No, notthatexactly, either.
I was unprepared for my rush of relief, though it was short lived when Divine’s hand snaked to Jessie’s arm like she was trying to calm him down. “Now, now, not here.” Her beautiful big brown eyes found Hunter. “Archer, do you mind?”
Archer? How many tough guy names did this chatty jerk own?
“We’re causing a scene,” Divine told him. She turned to Jessie, her fingers gripping him more firmly. “Let’s go somewhere more private…”
He jerked away from her.
I listened to Archer Hunter’s low mocking laughter. “You don’t want this getting out to…” Was that my name? Did he just say my name? Yeah, he did. My heart sank.
Jessiedidhave secrets he was hiding from me—maybe even worse! An indiscretion possibly? That’s what this sounded like.
“I own you,” Hunter said, then hissed something out of my hearing range.
Jessie’s chair scraped back. “You leave”—inaudible—“out of this.”
“Too late,” Hunter mocked. “She’s”—I couldn’t catch that—“over her head. What do you think? Should I go after…?”
I didn’t catch the rest, but Jessie sure did. He shot to his feet and punched the mouthy Hunter across the jaw.
Hunter’s oversized flunkies lunged at Jessie, thrilled at the opportunity for a fight.
“No, no!” I realized I was shouting as I ran forward.
Jessie spun around at the sight of me. A fist landed into his side.
I screamed. Twisting, I tried to find Zak at the bar. He was fighting his way through the crowd. “Call the police!” I called out to him.
The weeping runaway I’d become at facing Jessie with a mistress evaporated when he faced down the worst scum this side of the wharf. He fought them back, but they were fully trained—maybe even former military. Dropping the umbrella, I picked up a chair and had it ripped away from me by one of their biggest brutes. He caught me by the waist. I clawed at his fingers. “Let me go!”
“Hunter!” he called out. “What am I supposed to…?” Now that the guy had me, it didn’t seem like he knew what to do with me.
“Gideon!” Hunter waved him away like an annoying fly. “Just—”
