Page 69 of Things Good Girls Don't Do (Rock Canyon, Idaho 1)

Jimmy and his buddies laughed. “Why? It’s not her fault. When you hang with trash, you start to act like trash.”

Chase moved closer to the smaller man and Katie grabbed his arm, but her attention was focused on her ex. “Jimmy, I told you when you came by the shop to stay away from me and mind your own business.” She tugged on his arm and said, “Come on, Chase, he’s not worth it.”

Chase let her pull him back and he would have walked away, but the idiot had to get the last word.

“She’s too good for you, asshole, and she’s going to realize it sooner rather than later. Girls like her fuck guys like you, and then they move on to something better.”

It was like the son of a bitch could read his mind, and he had to pay. Another high- pitched wail sounded above as Chase flew at Jimmy, clocking him so forcefully the smaller man soared backwards, hitting the ground hard. In the blink of an eye, Jimmy’s buddies moved as one, grabbing his arms and punching him in the stomach. Each punch seemed to land with the boom of the exploding lights above, and it almost made the impact of each fist seem stronger. Chase threw one guy off him and dimly heard screams while he caught another guy under his chin. Jimmy was back up, tackling him, and he could hear Katie yelling his name.

Pounding footsteps and several shouting voices joined in the fray. He heard Jared tell someone to back off and assumed Justin had to be there too. Justin had told Chase at the barbecue that he always had Jared’s back.

“Uh-uh, boys, this doesn’t look like a fair fight.” Said a third voice, which Chase recognized as Eric’s.

Suddenly, Eric pulled Jimmy off Chase and shook him with a big, beefy hand. “I don’t even know why you come around here anymore. You’re a little punk-ass shithead and no one can stand you.”

Jared helped Chase up while Justin kept the cowboys back. Though darkness hadn’t fully settled around them, every time a new round of pops went off above, the lights from the fireworks made everything seem brighter, more intense.

Jimmy spit blood on the ground. “Fuck you, Eric. I grew up here, just like you.”

Chase tried to stand up straight, but his ribs hurt. He watched Katie step up to Jimmy and her hand flew through the air, landing with a hard crack as it connected with Jimmy’s face. Jimmy looked surprised, and the crowd around them fell into a hushed silence. Chase grinned.

Jimmy held his cheek and yelled, “The hell, Katie? He attacked me!”

“Because you insulted him and me! Because I tried to give you a pass and you antagonized my boyfriend into a fight. It is none of your business who I spend my time with and . . .” The sky exploded above, illuminating the scary light in her eyes as she said, “You know what? You have about thirty seconds to get in that truck of yours and go!”

Katie had called him her boyfriend. She’d said it this time.

“Or what?” Jimmy taunted, although Chase noticed his eyes had shifted to where Eric was standing.

“You’ll see what!” Three more explosions, like a short, ominous drumroll, sounded as Katie took off in the direction of her 4Runner with long strides. The crowd that had gathered watched in horror, curiosity, and titillation as she reached into her backseat. She pulled her arm out to reveal an aluminum bat and warned, “Twenty seconds or I start breaking shit on your cherry-red baby.”

Jimmy took a step back toward a big, lifted Ford and said warily, “You wouldn’t.”

Katie held up the bat. “If you don’t think so, you’re an idiot! I’ve got seven years’ worth of reasons and a few more recent ones. Twenty . . . nineteen . . .”

Jimmy scrambled to his truck and yelled, “You’re a crazy bitch, Katie! I lied; you were trash before the prick fucked you!”

Even though the cowardly little weasel had already climbed up inside his truck, Chase started forward, but Eric held him back and said, “Easy killer, she’s got this.”

Chase watched as Katie approached the truck with angry strides and took out one of Jimmy’s headlights. Jimmy’s friends scrambled forward to stop her, but Jared and Justin blocked them like a wall. Chase smiled when Justin laid the bigger cowboy out flat, while the other ran to the passenger side of the truck, throwing the door open to climb up next to Jimmy.

Katie raised the bat and brought it down hard on the hood, and Jimmy cried out like he was in physical pain. The cowboy on the ground jumped up and ran to join his buddy inside as Jimmy revved the truck backward, tires squealing out onto the road. Katie was breathing hard, her shimmery hair around her shoulders in the pink light of sunset as rockets of color exploded over her.

Chase had never seen anyone so beautiful.

She handed the bat to Jared and ran to Chase. He noticed Mrs. Andrews standing in the crowd, a look of disapproval on her face. Other people were watching Katie like they’d never seen her before and muttering in between the boom of the fireworks.

Becca and Steph were standing at the edge of the crowd, but Katie ran past them to reach him and touched his face and body, everywhere she could. “Oh my God, Chase, your poor mouth. Do your ribs hurt? Are you in a lot of pain?”

He grimaced. “I’m okay, they just got the drop on me is all.”

“What the hell is this I hear about a domestic dispute?” a voice hollered over all the noise.

Chase watched the Rock Canyon chief of police, a short, stocky man, saunter toward them, bowlegged and scowling. “What the hell happened here? Katie, are you all right?”

“Katie took a bat to Jimmy’s truck!” someone shouted.

“But Jimmy and his friends were attacking Chase first!”

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