Caleb's Blessing(52)

The incongruity of the situation wasn’t lost on me. “So what will it be?” Cora was back with pad and pencil at the ready.

“Bring us guys orange juice and the lady will have cranberry, in the bottle please, and don’t open them, with straws.”

She looked a little disgruntled that we weren’t ordering anything more, but the tip at the end should take care of that. Speaking of which.

I removed some bills from my wallet and placed them on the table because chances are I’d forget after.

I knew the second the asshole came into my orbit. The whole place felt oppressively stifled all of a sudden.

Chairs were scraped back against the wooden floor as people with children got up to leave. It was so much like the old Oaters dad use to watch when we were kids, that I almost laughed out loud.

“Steady.” I put my hand on her knee that had begun to shake and she covered it with hers, digging her nails into me.

I didn’t lift my head to search him out and no one at our table even looked anywhere but at each other as we carried on with our conversation.

Cora looked a little apologetic as she placed our juices down in front of us.

“Here baby.” I opened her juice and slipped a straw inside just as two men came up to the table.

“What’s all this? You think you can just slip back into town like nothing happened with this motely crew of old broken down cowboys?”

“Adrian.” I had to snap him out of it before he kicked the ass that had my name on it.

A slow perusal showed that the boy had brought along his dad. “Two for one sale, I like it.” My boys knew what I was getting at and grinned.

“What the hell is this idiot talking about two for one? Did you really think you could come into my town, and do what?”

I ignored him and turned to her. “Do you see him? Take a long hard look at your monster baby.” She forced herself to look and I saw the fear that was there.

Leaning over I whispered in her ear. “Doesn’t he look small and pathetic next to your man?”

Her eyes flew to mine and I saw the beginnings of a smile touch the corners of her lips.

“Look at that soft face and those girly hands, what the fuck did you say he does again?”

“He looks like a pansy ass daddy’s boy to me.” Well shit Alex. Of course he said it loud enough for the jackass and his old man to hear.

Her eyes went to Alex and the others who were all staring at the snake with disgust.

“I’m sorry Ms. Amanda but, that one was a mistake, chalk it up to experience. At least you’ve gone and done better for yourself this time around.”

Okay, so we didn’t rehearse what we were gonna say, but these fools were really gearing up for it.

“Amanda get up from there right now.”

“Oh you’re one of those.” I finally addressed him and he puffed up his chest like a rooster. The boy really was soft, I felt almost sorry for him because I knew what I was gonna do to his ass in about five minutes.

“One of what?”

“A clueless asshole who don’t know when he’s beat, and I didn’t give you leave to address my woman so don’t.”

I turned away from him to her again. “What are you feeling right now baby?” my words were soft and for her ears only. I left it to my boys to stare fear into the boy and his potbellied daddy. Two less likely villains I’ve yet to meet.

I guess she was getting the idea too herself since she seemed to be making the comparisons and coming to the same conclusion.

“I want to knock his lights out.” I grinned wide at her and lifted her hand to my mouth so I could kiss her knuckles.

“Okay champ.” I nudged Mikey to scoot out of the booth so we could get out.

The clueless wonder that was her ex only took a step back when we got up, like he thought we were gonna ask him to dance.

I made a point of showing her how to fold her fist. Meanwhile the place was as silent as a tomb.

“Wait, was there anything you wanted to say to this jackass first?” Well now, she got a sure fire mean as a rattlesnake look on her face.

“Yes.” She looked him dead in the eye as I stood beside her trembling body with my hand in the small of her back for support.

“I don’t hate you anymore, in fact I haven’t given you a second thought since I met my Caleb and saw what a real man was supposed to be. It was easy to forget the boy that tried to destroy me after that.”

Damn, that’s cold, he was obviously older than I am but I think she nailed it all the same.

Then my little warrior put that fist to good use and punched the fuck in his face.

My arm came up and blocked his swing, because just like the piece of shit that he was he actually tried to hit her.