Page 45 of Beautiful Rush
With one heavy, brutal punch, Deacon knocked Tyler to the ground. Deacon turned just as the bandana guy slammed his fist into his jaw. Deacon’s head snapped back which only seemed to incense him more. He delivered an uppercut to the jaw and slammed his fist into bandana guy’s solar plexus. Tyler lunged at Deacon, getting in a sucker punch to his face.
Oh my god, what have I done?
A blood-thirsty crowd gathered around, and a few girls chanted, “Fight. Fight. Fight.”
A girl next to me cracked her gum and elbowed me in the ribs. “My money’s on the blond hottie.”
The blond hottie was mine. The blond hottie was a badass who was kicking ass and taking names. But he was also taking his fair share of blows and nobody was doing anything to stop this.
When Deacon sent Tyler flying across the parking lot and into a parked car, I saw my opportunity and I took it. Wrapping my hand around my keychain, I strode over to him as he straightened, wiping the blood off his nose with the back of his hand. Without giving him a chance to recover, I pointed my keychain at his face and pressed the button.
He howled in pain and covered his bloody face with his hands, doubling over in front of me. Pepper spray was no joke.
“Don’t you ever lay your hands on another woman or I swear, I will hunt you down and make you regret it.”
It was an idle threat, but it felt good delivering the words.
“Cops!” someone yelled from across the parking lot.
The crowd scattered, the fight abandoned. A hand tagged mine and Deacon dragged me along with him across the parking lot to his Escalade. Opening the passenger door for me, he hustled me inside. “Give me your keys.”
“But—”
“You do not want to argue with me right now.”
His jaw was clenched so tightly that I could almost hear his molars grinding. His face was a mess, his hair disheveled. Blood splattered his gray T-shirt. Yeah, I did not want to argue with him right now.
He held out his hand. “Your keys, Keira.”
I handed them over without questioning why he needed them.
“Stay here. Keep the doors locked.” Without giving me a chance to respond, he shut the door and beeped the locks.
I sagged against the seat and watched him through the window as he strode to my car and searched for something in the trunk. Seconds later, he came out with the pressure gauge.
Cars peeled out of the parking lot, tires squealing, and the lot was mostly emptied out except for a few cars. The Camaro was gone, and I didn’t see Eddie or the other guy. By the time the police cruiser circled the parking lot, Deacon had pumped air into my tires and returned to the Escalade. We sat in silence. I couldn’t think of a single thing to say and he clearly wasn’t in the mood for a chat, so I kept my mouth shut.
He flexed his hands and stared at the blood on his knuckles. My eyes met his as the police cruiser drove away while we hid out in a gangbanger car with black-tinted windows. I saw the anger and the guilt in his eyes, the defeat in the slump of his shoulders before he turned his head and stared straight ahead. He ran his tongue over his split lip, catching the blood. He was bloody andbattle-weary, trying to remind himself that he was a cop. Cops don’t beat the shit out of guys for messing with a girl’s car. They don’tget into parking lot brawls. Theydon’t hide out from their fellow officers.
He was a good cop,and he wasbreaking the rules.Because of me.
I had done this to him.I haddragged him into mymess.
“You okay?” His voice was cool. Detached. Tension rolled off him, his shoulders rigid. He was furious with me.
I nodded. “I’m fine. Are you—”
He turned the key in the ignition and the music from his car stereo effectively cut off my words. He drove me to my car and pulled into the parking space next to my driver side. “You okay to drive?”
“Yeah.”
He handed back my keys and a small black rock. “What’s this?”
“A souvenir. Found it in the plastic cap covering the air valve.”
Oh. I opened my mouth to speak, to apologize, to thank him. Anything that would make this better. Butno words came out, so I pushed the door open and climbed out of his SUV and into my Charger.
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