A Real Bad Boy
Kaylee Song
Chapter One
Zach
I'd never been very good at keeping my ass out of trouble.
Tonight wasn't any different.
I knew that the moment I saw her hands go up and push that man away that I was going to be in for a rough one. My body reacted before my brain did and I was up out of my seat, marching towards them, my fist already balled.
I just wanted a fucking scotch.
I barreled towards the jukebox where he had her pinned and grabbed the piece of shit by the collar, flinging him back. I didn't know either of them, but that didn't matter. I'd never let a man hurt a woman in my presence.
Never.
"She told you to fucking lay off," I growled as I looked him over. I could take him easily and I knew it. I just didn't want it to get to that. I never wanted it to get to that. But it always did.
"Fuck you, man. This is between us." The man puffed up his chest and tried to look like he was big and tough, but I could see right through that bullshit.
He was a slime ball if I'd ever seen one. Greasy hair, muscular, sunken cheeks. A fucking user at that. I could tell by the look in his eyes. He looked like an athlete gone belly up. And he was taking it out on this poor woman.
Not anymore.
"Like fuck it is, you prick. You fucking back the hell off or I'll make you." It was the closest thing I could give to a warning, and I knew the reality-I was so close to snapping and this was the last chance to hold me back.
"Fuck you." He pushed me and I knew it was over. All I saw was a flash of bright white light as I grabbed the son of a bitch and slammed him down to the ground. It was so all so easy. He was nothing compared to me. I was trained for it. Each movement, each connecting slam of my fists into his flesh. It was what I was born to do.
I didn't know how much time had elapsed, and I didn't care. I just wanted to end him.
I'd forgotten all about the woman I was protecting, the one who was screaming in my ear as blood spilled from the man's face out onto the wood floor of the bar.
It wasn't until Mick pulled me off him that I even realized where I was. That the white receded and my vision was restored.
The man on the ground was writhing in pain, his face covered in blood, his lip slit, eye already swelling shut. He'd be fine. I didn't do that much damage. Nothing was broken.
At least he was alive. I spit on the floor and looked around, no guilt clouding my mind. I'd warned his ass.
"You all right?" I asked the woman, but as soon as I took a step towards her, she shrank away. "Don't come near me," she warned.
"I was just trying to help." I blinked then looked at Mick.
"I think you'd better leave, Zach. Come back tomorrow. Go cool off and get your drink somewhere else." Mick was always there for me, knew exactly what I needed, so I just nodded to him and walked away.
I didn't fucking need this shit.
I walked down the alley and across the street to my second favorite bar in town. Dillion's. It was always there to soothe me when I had a hard day, and especially after I got booted from Mick's.
I threw myself down onto a bar stool and waved to the bartender. I didn't even have to tell him what I wanted; the man poured the drink and handed it over to me.
"Thanks, Dan." I took a sip, top shelf shit, not that cheap stuff. Exactly what I needed. My knuckles were bloody, but that was it. I'd gotten so good at it that I didn't need a damn change of clothing anymore.
"What'll it be tonight, Zach? A girl or a fight?" he asked as he leaned across the bar. He knew my style.
I didn't say anything at first, I just looked around. It was then that I saw her. She was just standing there at a pub table, a drink in her hand. Alone.
Willow Ford. I'd know that flaming red hair anywhere I went. I thought she'd moved away. But she was back and looking so much more grown up than I remembered her. Her dress molded to her curves, and I could tell what she was here for. What she wanted. Me.
She just didn't know it yet.
"Both." I grabbed my drink and made my way towards her. She was alone. I could tell by the look in her eyes. I'd seduced so many women right here in this bar. With that look. The one that said they were desperate for company. Desperate for love.
Or my touch.
My touch would have to do.
"You look like you could use a friend," I said as stared her down. "Hello, Willow."
"Zach?" She blinked as she said it, and I knew exactly what was going to come next. "I thought you were overseas."
Almost everyone said that.
"I am, from time to time. Been working for an independent contractor." It was the line I gave them all. The truth was, I was a mercenary. A hired soldier, and I did whatever needed to be done.
But contractor sounded so much less violent.
Her eyes narrowed, and she looked at me with that stone-cold glare I remembered. It always turned me on, just a little bit, and tonight was no exception. She was going to be hard to crack, but that was where I excelled. I liked a good challenge. This was the one girl who I couldn't have, the one who got away. I wanted her now more than ever.
So I smiled at her.
"Something wrong, Willow?"
"I'm not sure," she said. At least she was honest. "I'm not sure I should be talking to you. You going to pick on me some more?" There was just a hint of mischief in her tone, and I took it as a good sign.
I'd teased her since we were kids, and when we were teens it was all I could do to keep from letting her know that I was crushing on her. I was three years older than her; it just wasn't appropriate when we were teens. Besides, as soon as I hit seventeen, I knew I was ditching this place for the Army. It was my lifeline. I didn't want any reason to stay.
"I won't tease you, at least not like that." There it was, the line. I found the right line, the right time, and I delivered it. It worked every damn time.
But the look on her face didn't change.
"So what are you doing back home? I thought you said you never wanted to step foot into this city again?" She hated Atlanta so much that she swore she'd never come back. I heard she left for Nashville the first chance she got. Vanderbilt on a full scholarship, then over to Duke for her PhD. Yeah, I kept track. It was easy when her best friend was my cousin.
"Didn't have anywhere else to go." The stark honesty hung over us. "Got a good job at Gwinnett Community College. Ruby set me up. I'm teaching art history."
"I always knew you would do something with your life. Didn't need to hang around here for that, did you?" I asked. For the first time, I saw her smile.
Fuck. It was stunning. My cock pressed against the prison of my pants as I looked her over. I wanted her. I needed to have her. Just once. Just to prove I could.
For all the pain and frustration she'd caused me.
"Come with me," I said as I reached for her hand. I didn't know if she would take it, but I had to do something. I had to pull her into my world somehow. "I want to show you something."
Willow
Zachary Fucking Murdock. He was awful to me in high school. Always teasing me or getting into some kind of trouble. Every girl in the damn school thought he was hot. Even me. But I wasn't blind to the truth. He was a Grade-A asshole and a bad boy to boot. Always getting into some kind of trouble.
He'd tease me and pull me into his little web just to push me away. He did it over and over again. I never could resist either. I'd been in love with him since forever. And he knew that. And he used it.
Just like he was using it tonight to pull me out from Dillion's. I should've known better. I was experienced with men like him. Men who used women to hurt them. But I couldn't stop walking.
I couldn't stop myself from following him out to the parking lot. Out to his car.
"What do you want to show me?" I asked.
"What I've wanted to do for almost a decade," he said as he grabbed me and shoved me up against his big black muscle car.
Fuck.
He was stronger than I imagined, even with the bulging tattooed muscles all over him. I looked up into his eyes and saw exactly what he intended to do, exactly what he wanted.
I couldn't say no to that. I wanted to be touched. Needed it. Craved it. Even if it was him.
Especially if it was him. My breath hitched in my throat as I closed my eyes and braced myself for what I knew was coming.
But it didn't make the contact of his lips against mine any less electric. I wrapped my arms around his neck and took him in, deepening the kiss until my body was completely plastered against his car.
"What are we doing?" I asked as I looked up, searching through his eyes.
"I'm getting you out of my fucking system," he said, his voice husky. "You've been in my head for so long, Willow. It's time you get the hell out of it."