“I don’t read much,” I said, “But I have seen picture-book copies of the Kama Sutra …”
She giggled. “Oh my. This sounds promising.”
“Got this one position I’ve been wanting to try out with you…”
She pushed me away. “Go, before I jump you right here.”
Michael was on his feet at this point, massaging his throat and watching Dru and me with hate and confusion in his eyes.
“Got one thing I gotta do first, though, yeah?” I met Dru’s eyes, and she saw the anger there. “Gotta prove a point real quick.”
She stepped aside, and her jaw clenched, her eyes going hard. “Only one point, yes?”
I took two long strides across the floor, swung my fist, once, as hard as I could. People on the receiving end of my right hook have compared it to being hit by a twenty-pound sledgehammer…and those people are usually my brothers who I’m not really trying to hurt, so I’m always holding back. I didn’t hold back, this time.
If his jaw wasn’t broken, then he’d be missing a few teeth at the least. I didn’t stop to check, though, just shook the sting out of my fist, kissed Dru as I brushed past her toward the stairs.
15
Dru
Holy shit—Sebastian hit Michael so hard he went back down to the floor like a log. Michael just…dropped. Contrary to what TV and movies show, you have to hit someone very hard to drop them with a single shot to the jaw.
It was several long moments before Michael stirred again, and when he did it was with a lot of agonized groaning. More groaning and writhing, and he finally sat up, gingerly, slowly…and spat out a molar.
“Jesus,” Michael slurred. “What a barbarian.”
“Keep talking like that and I’ll call him back down here, Michael,” I said. “That was Sebastian restraining himself for my sake, so I’d watch what you say if I were you.”
I circled around behind the bar and poured myself a scotch on the rocks, leaned against the counter and waited for Michael to gather himself. He stood up, collected his tooth, examined it, and then tossed it in the trashcan standing beneath the service bar.
He indicated the bar. “Can I sit?”
I shrugged. “Go ahead. You won’t be sitting for long, though.”
Pulling out one of the high-backed bar chairs, he sat down and massaged his jaw. “How’d you get involved with that guy, anyway?” He frowned at me. “Or are you involved with all of them?”
I set my scotch down and leaned forward to get in Michael’s face. “Have you forgotten who you’re talking to, Michael? Keep talking shit, see where you get yourself. I don’t need them to wreck your world.”
He rubbed his temples with his index and middle fingers. “Goddammit, this isn’t how I envisioned things going.”
“I don’t know what you expected, but you’d better get any ideas about me forgiving you out of your head.”
He peered at me, brow furrowed, sorrow in his eyes. “I had hoped, yes.”
“Well, that’s not happening. Not in a million years.” I felt my eyes prickle, but refused to let it show. “It was our wedding day, Michael.”
He hung his head backward on his neck. “I know, I know. I just…” He trailed off.
“You just what? This is what I’m waiting to hear. You what? And why?”
A shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t know, Dru. I fucked up.”
“Nooooooo,” I drawled, “you fucked Tawny Howard.”
“I know, but—”
“On our wedding day. Less than ten minutes before I was going to walk down the aisle.” I felt my rage and hurt boiling back up with each word. “A wedding I paid for—” That got my brain going, and I halted mid-sentence. “Wait a second. I thought you took Tawny to Hawaii with you…on my honeymoon, which I paid for, by the way.”
“Actually, I paid for that, remember? That was the deal: you paid for the venue and catering, and I paid for the honeymoon. The airfare was included in the package.” He waved a hand. “And I did. I mean, she’s there now, but I hopped a flight here. I had to find you. I couldn’t leave things like that.”
“How did you find me, anyway?”
“Wasn’t hard to narrow down which flight you stowed away on, and once I had the tail number, it was a simple matter of getting the pilot’s number and asking a few questions. Wasn’t hard.”
“Whatever, I don’t really care. So you left Tawny in Hawaii to come here and…what? Nothing about this makes sense.” I picked up my scotch and took a drink to fortify my nerves. “Like, I really, really don’t get it. Four years. Four years, Michael. You proposed to me, and it wasn’t like I was dropping hints about it. I wasn’t even sure I was ready to get engaged, but you—you went to so much trouble making it romantic, and everyone in the restaurant was watching, and I…I didn’t feel like I had a choice but to say yes.”