Page 73 of Good at Being Bad (Rock Canyon, Idaho 8)

Since when did those assholes hang out with anyone but each other?

“What the fuck did you just say to me?”

“Come on, Mike,” Travis said.

Forrest was grinning from ear to ear. “I think you heard me. It must kill you to know I had her first.”

Mike knew deep down that Ellie hadn’t slept with the douche, but it didn’t stop his booze-infused temper from flaring.

“Or maybe it kills you to know that she made her choice and it wasn’t you.”

Forrest grabbed Mike’s shirt and dragged him off the stool. Shouts erupted around them, but Mike was focused on Forrest, the man who had been making Ellie’s life miserable. It had to be him, and he needed to pay.

Despite the alcohol making his movements slower, Mike was still able to break Forrest’s hold and taking his arm, twist it up behind his back until he had him bent over and yelling in pain.

“I’m going to kill you, motherfucker!”

“I warned you to stay away from her, and you didn’t listen,” Mike said coldly.

“I didn’t do shit to that little bitch.”

Mike pulled Forrest’s arm back until he crumpled to the ground, but it was a ploy. Suddenly, Mike’s legs were knocked out from under him, and he was on his back with Forrest laying blows. Lifting his arms up to protect his head, he tried to throw Forrest off and finally got enough leverage to toss the bigger man over his head until their positions were reversed. As he slammed his fists into Forrest’s face, all he could see was red as he laid blow after blow. He didn’t even realize that Forrest had stopped fighting back until someone put him in a headlock and dragged him off of him.

“Fuck, Mike, what the hell did you do?” Eric Henderson hissed in his ear, relaxing the chokehold he had on Mike.

Mike stared in horror at Forrest’s bloody nose, his face already starting to swell. The other man groaned in pain, and rolled over onto his side, coughing blood onto the floor along with one of his teeth.

“Get him out of here,” Eric growled, and Mike realized he was talking about Forrest. The Coulters picked Forrest up and carried him out of the bar.

Finally, Eric released Mike. “You need to go home and sleep it off.”

“I’m fine,” Mike snapped, then winced. His jaw was sore where Forrest had caught him with a right hook.

“Come on, I’ll drive you home.” Travis didn’t touch him, but Mike followed him out of the bar, ignoring the stares. He was surprised no one had called the cops, which wasn’t unusual occurrence at Buck’s on a busy night.

“I don’t want to go home. I want to talk to Ellie,” Mike grumbled as he climbed into Travis’s truck.

“As your friend, I am going to ignore your wants and take you home to sober up.”

Mike leaned his forehead against the cold window and closed his eyes, feeling like hell.

No wonder you have trouble with women. Grow up, Stevens. You know who gets drunk and starts a fight? Teenagers and frat boys.

Mike grimaced. “How bad did I fuck up?”

“We all do stupid shit where our women are involved, man,” Travis said.

The engine thundered to life and as the truck pulled out of Buck’s, Mike felt his stomach turn.

“Shit, I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Fair warning. If you puke in my truck, I’ll kick your ass,” Travis said.

Mike rolled down the window and held his head out the window as he lost his dignity and the contents of his stomach.

Ellie, Caroline, and Jenny were just finishing up How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days when Caroline’s phone chirped.

“Hey, we said no phones!” Jenny cried, throwing a chip at her. Over the course of Ellie and Jenny living together, she’d grown close to Caroline and Ellie often though Caroline looked at her as another little sister.

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