Page 86 of The Skeikh's Games

He got up, his pool cue in hand and walked over to the bar.

"Is there a problem here gentlemen?" He asked nonchalantly, watching for signs of aggression.

"Go away prissy boy, she's ours." The short man told him and reached out to grab the woman's breast through her dress and making her squeak and try to back away from him.

"It doesn't appear the little lady is willing, and I'd wager since there's plenty of willing ladies around here, you should probably let her go and find meat that wants to be caught." He said, his voice going hard when the man reached for a knife in his pocket.

The man flicked his little pocket knife open and Ethan resisted the urge to laugh. His black-ops training would come in handy in a fight, he might be ex military, but he still practiced and didn't let himself get rusty. You never knew when you'd need to fight for your life.

Like in a bar. With drunken fools.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, I'd hate to hurt you," Ethan warned him, and watched as the other two men pulled similar type weapons from their back pocket and turned away from the woman, letting her arms go.

She grabbed her purse and ran to the woman's bathroom, leaving him alone with the three men, not even bothering to say thank you.

"You ass! You scared her off!" The man with the beard yelled at him.

The man with the pocket knife lunged at him, and Ethan danced out of the way, and grabbed the man's wrist and twisted, forcing him to drop the knife.

"Keep fighting and your wrist will break from the pressure. I'd rather not break your wrist. Let's settle this like gentlemen, shall we? You walk away, and no one gets hurt." Ethan told him, the adrenaline from the fight hitting his system and making him hyper focus on the three men in front of him.

"Fuck you man," The short man said as he came to kick him between the legs.

Ethan let go of the man's wrist and jumped out of the way of the kick, stumbling backwards.

The bartender looked at the four of them and shook his head. "Take this outside, or I'll call the cops. Now."

The men froze at the mention of the cops and Ethan took the opportunity to take a few steps back and try to get out of kicking or hitting reach. He bent down and swiped up the pocket knife and closed it.

"I believe this is yours?" He held it out to the man whose wrist he'd bent painfully to make him let go of the knife.

The man didn't say a word but took it from him his eyes slightly averted, not wanting to meet his gaze.

"Are we good now, or do we need to finish this in the parking lot?" Ethan asked the three men who exchanged glances and then the bearded man spoke up.

"No, were cool. Our beef really wasn't with you anyways. We'll just wait for the little lady to come out of the bathroom." The bearded man told Ethan, flashing his yellow, broken teeth.

"Well, I can't let you do that, I claim her as mine. I'll fight for her." Ethan announced and stared them down until all three of the men dropped their gaze from his face.

"Fine. She's not worth it." The short man said and turned to the bar and pounded his fist to get the bartender's attention and ordered a beer.

Ethan walked over to the girls’ bathroom and knocked on the door.

"It's safe to come out, let me walk you out to your car though." He called through the door, crossing his arms like a bouncer, he waited for her to come out.

Nyla had her fingers painfully tight gripping the sink as she leaned on it and was hyperventilating in the bathroom, she'd been sure she just abandoned the poor man to his death, she didn't think a man could take on three, burly bikers by himself.

When she heard him yell through the door to her she almost had a heart attack, she'd been scared to come out of the bathroom and hadn't been able to figure out how she was going to get to her car to get home.

Coming here was stupid on her part, she realized that now.

Walking over to the door, she opened it and looked around outside, seeing the men drinking at the bar with their backs turned to the rest of the bar.

"How did you do that?" She whispered to him in awe.

"I just reasoned with them, and the bartender threatened to call the cops on them if they didn't stop fighting in the middle of his bar." He shrugged, "I'm Ethan."

"Nyla, I'd say it's nice to meet you, but I'd have rather it been under different circumstances. I don't normally need rescued." She told him, and then glanced down at the ground, looking embarrassed.

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