Page 55 of Heartbreak Kings
“What?”
I heard heavy, throaty huffing outside and then a squealing grunt of effort a second before the heavy thud sounded again. “You whore!” came Carmody’s hysterical yelling. “What did you do? My mother’s cut me off. She’s not paying for a lawyer this time. I’ll kill you!”
I backed away from the door, bumping into Jude, who was texting again. “He’s finally lost it,” I breathed. “Where the hell are the cops?”
“Security’s minutes away if someone’s already called it in. But our guys are already on their way. They’ll drive him off.” Jude didn’t sound scared. He sounded pissed. “If I don’t kick his ass for interrupting us!”
“Get in line,” I demanded, just as furious, but for a million reasons besides that one. It sounded like Carmody was wearing himself out—and that was fine. When I got out there, his balls were going up between his teeth on the tip of my boot, and I didn’t want to deal with grappling with his smelly ass first.
I heard Carmody’s whining gasps for air. Then he shouted at someone, “Kick the door in!”
I froze as two smaller forms started pounding on the door instead. “Fuck, he’s not alone.”
Jude didn’t even stop to say anything before shoving his body between me and the door. “Go hide in the bathroom, baby. I’ll deal with them if they break through.”
I hesitated before backing away as he walked up to the door. The pounding on the other side got louder and louder—and then suddenly, before I could even step into the bathroom, it stopped.
Shouting. A deep-voiced bellow. Someone swearing in German at the top of his lungs. Daniel had arrived. And that meant the others had too.
“Hey, ow!” yelled a strange guy’s voice. “You don’t have to grab me by the hair.”
“We were just joking. We’re just having fun. We didn’t mean—ow! Stop hitting me.” A thud, and the second stranger’s voice went quiet.
The first one’s voice went high with panic. “Okay, okay! I’m sorry! This wasn’t even our idea.”
“Get against the goddamned wall and wait for security,” I heard Blake growl.
“No!” Carmody yelled, behaving like a gigantic baby. “No, no, no! You can’t let them win. This can’t be allowed. That whore doesn’t belong here.”
I heard the sharp crack of a fist connecting—and then a thud. There was a loud sob—probably Carmody, because it sounded like a toddler whose tantrum had gotten him nowhere.
Jude unlocked the door and pulled it open to peer out at the aftermath of a four-on-four beatdown. Three guys I barely remembered from one of the many pranks and attacks stood back against the wall, staring nervously at Blake and the others, who were looming over them. And kneeling in the middle of the hallway, sweaty, red-faced, rumpled, his face wet with snot and tears, was Carmody, defeated.
He stared up at me with miserable little eyes. “You’ve ruined everything!” he sobbed.
“No,” I argued, standing over him with my hands on my hips, ignoring that my shirt was untucked. “You have. Your actions fucked up your own life. You’re just too much of a spoiled, irrational baby to take responsibility for it.”
I heard running feet, and then four security officers and a cop were hurrying toward us. One of them exclaimed in astonishment as he saw Carmody. “This fucker again? Why isn’t he still in jail?”
“Rich parents,” the cop sighed. “His mommy posted bail in like ten minutes, so now here I am, picking him up again.” He eyed me. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah, my guys here handled it. Thanks for coming.”
I turned a brilliant smile on my five boyfriends as they gathered around me protectively. The security guys and the cop looked a little confused as they gathered up the other assholes and then moved forward to drag Carmody to his feet.
Carmody blubbered as they put the cuffs on him. “We should arrest her. She forced my hand. It’s all her fault, not mine. Not mine! She’s the one who doesn’t belong here.”
“I already told you,” I informed him as he glared at me through a glaze of tears. “That’s not your call. It’s theirs.” I glanced around at the Gentlemen. “And mine.”
Carmody cried and whined all the way down the hall. I sighed, leaning against the wall.It’s done. It’s over.
Someone put a bottle of sports drink in my hand, and I took a grateful swallow. “I’m so glad you guys were here,” I whispered. “Still got to figure out what I’m telling Mama about all this.”Maybe I would start with the rescue, and that I was okay.But that would just open up a whole can of questions. All of which would need explanations.
“That’s fine,” Blake sighed, flicking lint off the sleeve of his immaculate jacket. “It comes with the territory now that you’re ours.”
“I just hope they have a good therapist at Rikers Island,” I muttered as I watched them shove Carmody and the others into the elevator.
“They do.” Marcus smirked. “It’s called ‘getting his ass kicked repeatedly by short-tempered cons until he grows up and learns to keep his damn mouth shut and stop being a giant pain in the ass.’”
