Page 2 of Only The Strong

Sophie sighs, shaking her head, “No, he’s working tonight. Besides, last time he drove me home he ended up staying the night and that’s not really helping the whole breakup thing.” I nod along to her story even though I don't completely agree with them taking a break when they’re both so obviously in love with one another. “Don’t give me that, Re. We both need to grow and heal before we can figure our shit out.” She sighs, exasperatedly, sitting down on the arm of the chair she just vacated.

I instantly feel bad seeing her tired eyes and hearing the worn out tone of her voice. She's had to defend her decision to break up with Logan to everyone in her life since she did it. She shouldn’t have to either; if it wasn't working then it wasn't working, and no one but them know everything that happened in their relationship. When they were together the world just seemed to disappear around them until only they existed; it looked like real love. “I know, I’m sorry.”

“You need to stop worrying about my love life and get yourself laid, it's been way too long girl!” Sophie laughs and just like that the somber mood is lifted and I have my carefree best friend back.

I groan, closing my eyes. “Get out of here. I’m gonna finish my drink upstairs and check on the hoe bags one last time.” She shrugs as she stands to leave, and I laugh and peer into the main bar for said hoe bags.

Tonight has been pretty quiet, the university’s baseball team played, and won, today so most of the students are at house parties celebrating; I mean the college slogan isn't “win or lose, we still booze” for no reason. I make my way up to the rooftop bar and notice that there are more people up here than usual. Avoiding everyone, I walk over to the railing and look out over the mountains, sipping on the remainder of my drink. I love this view. The mountains in the distance are bathed in the beautiful pinks and purples of the setting sun, the breeze is light, barely ruffling my hair. I stare at the view while I bring my drink to my lips, the cranberry juice staying on my lips and the Chase Atlantic song fading into the background. The smell of Axe body spray envelopes me, making me choke, and a man with a square jaw and bald head steps up to the railing, his arm pressed into mine.

Stepping away from him, he laughs and turns to face me. “You looked like you could use a refill, so I got you a drink.” His smile doesn't reach his golden eyes.

“Oh. Uh, no thank you.” I turn back to the mountains, hoping he’ll take the hit and leave.

He takes another step toward me. “It’s just a beer.”

Another step back. “Sorry, I don't accept drinks from people I don't know.” He steps toward me again. This time his chest pressing into my arm.

“Come on, it’s rude not to accept.” He places a hand on my arm, my eyes widen in alarm, and I snatch it away from him.

“No,” I snap, my voice raising.

He grabs my arm again and yanks me into his chest. My mostly empty drink sloshes over onto my hand. Yelling behind me pulls my focus and I watch a tall man stomp toward us. His light eyes are burning and his nostrils flare. He’s slightly taller than the prick squeezing my arm, probably 6’2”, and his blonde hair blows slightly in the wind, the hair on top of his head longer than on the sides. He stalks closer, and I can feel the anger radiate from him. He’s stunning.

2

CALLUM

I don’t usually goout drinking in The District, but my buddy, Finn, is currently crushing on a shot girl at Mickey’s, so here we are. At least I was able to talk him into chilling under the outdoor heaters on the rooftop part of the bar. The upstairs is usually less busy and you can have conversations up here without having to yell over the music to be heard. It’s getting close to the time that this place picks up speed and turns into a full blown club, and Finn is getting seriously close to getting Hannah or Heather or whatever her name is to agree to go out with him sometime, so my wingman duty is almost over. Finn is drooling over the blonde waitress getting more shots at the small bar while I people watch. A short little redhead saunters over to the railing in front of us. She's wearing a baggy band tee but it’s big enough on her to be a dress, despite the loose fit I can still see her supple ass as she sways past us.

“Damn, I’ve never seen a girl wear a tee shirt and look so damn good,” Finn says, looking the redhead over.

“You better look back down at your drink before Hannah catches you and dumps her shots all over you.” I nudge my beer bottle with his, not taking my eyes off of the redhead.

“You mean Huntley?” Finn laughs and takes a pull of his drink.

Just as I’m about to respond, a guy walks up to Red and starts talking to her. Huntley sits down on Finn’s lap and he continues to put his charm on thick, I’m not paying them much attention though because I’m watching this goofy-looking jock keep getting closer and closer to Red as she keeps sliding away from him; every time he takes one step closer to her side, she slides one step away. She’s not even facing him and you can tell how uninterested she is, but the big dumbass is either socially inept or he doesn’t give a fuck. I should not be watching them like a fucking stalker, but honestly, I don’t like the way this douche is looking at her; it’s unnerving. He grabs her arm and she pulls it away, but he grabs her again and this time he pulls her into him. Nope, fuck that. I’m going over there. I slam my beer bottle on the small table between us and stalk over to the railing where Red and douchefuck are.

Huntley stops mid-sentence. “Cale, where the fuck are you going?” Finn yells after me.

The bouncer by the stairs sees me get up to charge toward the guy and Red, so he’s hot on my heels. What does he think he’s going to be able to do? I have no idea. The cops turn a mostly blind eye on the club and our members because we keep our shit out of the city. Murdering this pathetic piece of shit in front of everyone in the bar would definitely land me in jail, but assault? I’d be let go before I even made it to the back of the cop car. It also helps that a lot of the police force is on club payroll.

“I hate to break it to you asshole, but I don't think she’s interested,” I bark at the jock.

“Fuck off.” The dipfuck doesn't even look at me. He lets Red out of his embrace but grabs ahold of her arm again.

“You’d better take your hand off of her arm before I fucking break it.” He's a couple of inches shorter than me, and almost just as big. I don't really want to get into a fight in this bar, but I will if I have to.

He turns with his mouth open, ready to tell me to go fuck myself I’m sure. I can see when his eyes fall on my leather cut and things start to click together about who I am and what he’s gotten himself into. He’s lucky honestly, in most cases I would have already had him laid out, but I didn't want to take the chance of dragging the little redhead into this. Then his eyes shift behind me and fall on Finn. I heard his footsteps following me when he saw I was heading toward the jerk. Most guys tuck tail and run when they’re confronted with my brothers and me, but some dumbfucks still try to measure their dicks to ours and come back castrated. Not literally. Well… Okay it's happened once or twice.

“Sorry, man,” the asshat mutters as he looks to the floor and rushes away. I guess this guy was smarter than he looked.

“Are you okay?” I ask as our little crowd has wandered away. I lean my head down a little to make better eye contact with her; she’s even tinier up close!

“Yeah, thank you for that. He wasn't taking no for an answer.” She rubs her arm where red finger marks are starting to appear. Damn her voice is so sweet.

I lean against the railing in front of her. “It’s no problem at all, I couldn't stand by while a man was disrespecting a woman.”

She smiles a small warm smile, “Well, I really appreciate it.” She pauses, waiting for my name.

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