Page 108 of Versions Of Us

Four guys emerge from the SUV. There’s a charge in the air, a noticeable tension in the atmosphere. They look like trouble, and I immediately dislike them.

The guy that stepped out of the driver’s position runs a hand through his greasy, long black hair and then reaches for the young woman, gripping her tightly by the arm.

“Well, hey there, Mackenzie. Who’s your little friend?” he taunts.

I’ve got at least a foot of height on him, so this comment makes me want to grab him by the neck. But I won’t.

Because I’m not that guy anymore.

But I’m also not the kind of guy that will stand idly by while a woman is made to feel intimidated.

I watch as the girl, Mackenzie as he’d called her, shrinks away from his touch, obviously uncomfortable in his presence.

“He was just giving me a ride,” she says softly, and I see this sarcastic overly confident girl I’ve just met melt into a puddle of insecurity.

“I’m Alex,” I say assertively, extending my hand to him.

I don’t actually want to shake this asshole’s hand. I just want him to get his hands off her. Kristen is family to me and that means Mackenzie is too. I’m suddenly protective of her, ready to do whatever it takes to get these idiots away from her.

He doesn’t accept my handshake, but he does let go of her. Instead, he snickers at me, an ugly grimace overtaking his features. His three sidekicks stand behind him, echoing his sentiment.

“Alex,” he repeats, emphasising the ‘x’ with the click of his tongue. “Why don’t you explain to me what you’re doing here with my girl?”

“Your girl?” I ask, my left eyebrow shooting upward. “She doesn’t really seem like your type.”

The way Mackenzie’s eyes widen in fear let me know that these are probably not the kind of guys I should be messing with. In all honesty, I don’t know what I’m doing. All I know is that I’m getting a bad vibe from these guys and I need to get her away from them.

“Oh really?” As soon as the words leave his mouth, he’s lunging toward me.

He shoves me in the chest. Hard.

I stumble backward toward the road. A truck horn sends panic through me as I realise how close I’d come to becoming roadkill. I manage to sidestep around him quickly so that I’m now facing the street, the girl swaying nervously on the spot beside me. All four of them snort at my reaction.

“Better watch yourself there, Alex,” the leader snarls, once again accentuating the ‘x’ in my name.

“Mackenzie. Why don’t you go inside and get us a table?” I say, gesturing to the diner behind us.

I can see her chest rising and falling with every laboured breath. She’s terrified. Her eyes shift upward slowly until they meet mine, but only for a second, because then her attention is pulled back to the driver of the SUV, a look of horror taking over her face.

I turn to see what she’s looking at, only realising my mistake as his fist meets my jaw. I stagger momentarily and then I’m diving at him. I punch him in the gut, winding him and he doubles over. At that point the three other guys move in on me too.

I hear Mackenzie scream as the next blow connects with my eye socket, the crunching sound of crushing bone filling the gaps between her screams. It hurts like hell.

But they don’t stop there.

I lose count of how many times they hit me. The pain is excruciating, until suddenly it isn’t. My body becomes numb, my vision blurred with my own blood. I can barely hear their laughter through the throbbing of my own pulse, echoing through my ears like the drumbeat in some up-tempo rock ballad.

I almost give in to unconsciousness, but then I remember the girl standing behind me. I hear her sobs carrying through the car park.

Mackenzie.

Kristen’s sister.

I need to protect her. I can’t let them win. I lift myself off the ground, my shoulders throbbing as they bear my upper body weight. I see their ringleader, hear his taunts. And then I charge.

My shoulder pummels into his chest and we fly through the air for a considerable distance before I fall forward onto the asphalt.

A second later I hear it.

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