Page 81 of Tattered and Torn

When he lays his hand on her shoulder and tries to turn her back around to face him, she pivots and says, “If you touch me one more time, I’ll break your arm.”

He lowers his arm and takes a step back, his eyes comically wide, and then starts laughing. “Oh, sugar, I’d like to see you try.”

Maya takes a step forward, apparently intending on following through with her threat, but Hannah steps between them and holds Maya back. “Don’t waste your time, Maya. He was just leaving. Isn’t that right?” Hannah says, pointedly staring at the guy.

“Well, if she doesn’t want to dance, how about you, red?”

Now, Mr. Plaid Shirt’s attention is on me. Great. How did I get so lucky? “Um, no thanks,” I say.

He grabs my hand. “Come on, baby,” he says, slurring his words. “Just one dance.”

As he starts pulling me toward the dance floor, Maya grabs his free hand and twists his arm up high behind his back. “Let her go, moron.”

“Kenny!” Ruth shouts. “Get your hands off her. Now!”

We all turn to see Ruth heading our way. When she reaches us, she grabs the guy—Kenny—by the back of his neck and marches him toward the door. Another one of Ruth’s employees, a big, dark-skinned guy, follows them to the door. I take it he’s a bouncer, but Ruth seems to be handling Kenny just fine on her own.

The big guy runs ahead to open the door for Ruth, who shoves Kenny outside. “You sit right there and don’t move a step,” Ruth says. Then, to her bouncer, she says, “Reggie, will you drive him home?”

Once the disturbance is taken care of, Ruth comes over to check on Maya and me. “You girls all right?”

“I’m fine,” I say.

“You shoulda let me break his arm,” Maya says.

“I’m sorry about the disturbance,” Ruth says. “He’s normally harmless. Looks like he had a bit too much to drink tonight.”

When a pair of hands settle on my shoulders, I glance back and realize John’s standing right behind me.

“You okay, honey?” he asks.

When he starts rubbing the back of my neck, a shiver courses through me. “I’m fine. Just shaken a bit.”

Now I notice that all the guys from our group are standing around us—Killian, Travis, Owen, and Micah. Wow, this is a protective bunch.

A romantic slow song that even I recognize—Breathe by Faith Hill—starts playing on the jukebox. Laughing, Maggie drags a reluctant Owen out onto the dance floor. Killian takes Hannah’s hand, twirls her, and leads her onto the dance floor.

A guy I don’t know approaches Maya, and before he can get a word out, she raises her hands. “Nope.” She turns and heads back to our table, followed by the others.

I stand rooted to the spot. I’d love to dance, but I don’t want to put John on the spot. He’s already done so much for me this evening by agreeing to come out.

A low voice ruffles my hair. “Gabrielle, would you like to dance?”

When I turn to face John, he slips his arms around me. “Really?” I ask.

He nods. “Yes, really. If you want to.”

I grin guiltily. “I do.”

He takes my hand and leads me to the dance floor, then pulls me close as we merge into the crowd.

“Hey, you’re good at this,” I say, surprised at how easy this seems for him.

John wraps his right arm around my waist and takes my right hand in his left. His left hand! I drape my other arm across his shoulders. He leads me effortlessly, like he’s done this a million times.

“You know how to dance,” I say.

“I never said I didn’t.”

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