Hammer's Fall (The Breakers' Bad Boys)(46)

“Hi, I’m Melissa,” David’s new girlfriend purred.

Hammer felt Kali tense as the beautiful brunette held out her hand to him, waiting for him to kiss it or something. Fuck that, she could keep waiting. Ignoring her outstretched hand, he put his arm around Kali’s shoulders, pulling her into him. Melissa looked stunned for a second, then glared at Kali as she put her arm back down. He noticed the way David’s eyes seemed to roam over Kali, and Hammer realized that even if he was confident that she loved him, he really didn’t like other men looking at his woman. Especially this man.

“David,” Kali said in a flat tone.

Hammer watched with satisfaction as David seemed to focus on his hand gently trailing up and down her arm. Wes, one of the men at the table, seemed to enjoy the byplay. “Hammer was just telling us about his gym in your hometown. Do you work out there?”

“No, I work out at a real gym.”

Hammer’s smile turned fierce. “Just as well. I have a policy against letting assholes become members of my gym.” He heard the muffled laughter coming from their dinner companions as David’s spine seemed to stiffen.

Seeing that he was getting nowhere with Hammer, David turned his ire towards Kali. “It’s nice to see that your neighbor was kind enough to be your date after I dumped you,” David said with a smile as fake as his date’s breasts.

Hammer laughed, then placed another kiss on the top of Kali’s head, never taking his eyes off her ex. “It was easy enough since she’s practically living with me now.”

David lost his smile. “I knew you were whoring around on me.”

“How dare you—”

Hammer cut off whatever Kali was going to say by squeezing her shoulder. “You’re going to want to be very careful how you speak to my woman.”

“Your woman,” David spat. “She was mine first.”

“David, come on. Let’s go,” Melissa said pulling at David’s arm. David shook her off, his anger making him too stupid to understand the danger he was in.

David glared down at Kali. “You were always panting after him like a bitch in heat. Just wait until he gets bored with you. That will serve you right.”

Hammer slowly stood up so he was towering over the other man. He could see the fear suddenly gleaming in David’s eyes, and he was glad when the smaller man took a step back. Hammer wanted to strike out at him, but the feeling of Kali’s gentle hand on his arm had him looking down into her worried eyes. “Don’t worry, baby. I won’t hurt the bastard.”

He felt his tension ease a little as her beautiful lips curved into a smile. “One hit and he’d be done anyway. There’s no fun in that.”

Hammer found himself laughing, and he looked back to see David’s face was red with anger now. Taking a step forward, he was pleased when David scuttled back from him. “Let me make this clear,” Hammer said in voice that was dangerously soft. “I know where you work and where you live. If I even catch you looking at Kali with anything less than respect I will tear you apart into bloody pieces, then boot your head so far up your stupid ass you’ll pray to God, wishing I had just killed you. In fact, don’t even look at her. If you see her in the same room as you, you’ll fucking leave, because I won’t tolerate you or anyone else upsetting her. Now get the fuck out of here before I have to disappoint her and beat the shit out of you right now.”

David turned and ran, leaving his girlfriend to follow him teetering on her high heels as Hammer sat back down at the table. Their dinner companions all stared at him, their expressions a mixture of shock and awe. He glanced at Kali, bracing himself to face her anger but found her smiling that special smile that she reserved just for him. Unable to help himself he kissed her hard before smiling at the rest of the table as if he hadn’t just made such an ominous threat against a man.

“So, do you think they’ll be cutting the cake soon?”

****

Two days later, Hammer stood in the completed fenced in area outside the gym and wiped the sweat from his brow. It felt damn good building something with his own hands, but he hadn’t had to build it alone. He’d been surprised by the number of his friends that had come to help, along with several of the members that workout out in the gym. Because of the extra hands, what would have taken him a couple days to do had been finished in the matter of a few hours.

“Looks good,” Sheriff Storm Wyatt said as he handed a bottle of water over to Hammer.

“It does. Thanks for coming by to help.”

Storm shrugged. “I had the day off. I was coming in for a workout anyway.”