His Tattooed Virgin(Divine Creek Ranch 12)(44)
At the edge of the dance floor, Teresa patted her friend’s back. “Gwen, are you all right?”
Gwen smiled her thanks to him and replied, “What’s a Friday night without a good, old-fashioned brawl, right?” She tested her ankle and seemed to have little difficulty with it.
The furor settled as the bouncers, Mike and Rogelio, took control of the dance floor and located the original combatants. Ben Lawrence and Ethan Grant, co-owners of The Dancing Pony, confronted them as the rest of the nightclub patrons cleared the area. Seth rejoined Jayne and their group as the DJ started the music again. Three men were ejected from the club, none of whom were familiar to him or his friends.
Jack Warner and Justin Connors arrived with Jayne’s cousins, Grace and Charity, from the other side of the club near the bar, where they’d been directed to keep them safe while their men had helped. Ethan joined them, and he wrapped his arms around Grace, relief obvious on his face. He looked around to check the other women as though making sure they were all there and all right. The brotherly bond Seth felt toward Ethan increased at the visible sign of his concern for all the women and not just his own.
Ethan spotted Jayne and asked, “Are you and your mom all right?”
“Yes, we’re fine. What happened?”
Ethan let out a deep breath, consternation obvious on his face. “A gal brought her date over from Morehead to have a good time. The problem was that the other two men she was also secretly dating happened to show up here as well. Two of them are best friends, or were. She must’ve thought she’d be less likely to get caught in here. None of those guys were the sharing kind.”
Seth stroked Jayne’s arm and asked if she wanted a refill on her Coke. Her cheeks were still pink from exertion, but he was glad the fear he’d seen when the fight had broken out was gone. He never wanted to see fear in a woman’s eyes again as long as he lived. The memory of his last night in Europe welled up, but he quashed it down, planning to live this night in the here and now. He kissed her and then walked over to the bar, which had grown crowded.
The head bartender, Quinten Parks, filled orders, working busily beside Camilla O’Neal, the nightclub’s assistant manager, who also had her hands full, when Ben rejoined them and helped out.
As the crowd at the bar thinned, Seth placed his order. After working the cash register for a second, Camilla turned to Ben and placed her palm against his back and peered up at him. Her voice was soft, but her concern was clear. She seemed unprepared for it, and Seth was frankly a little surprised when the normally easygoing Ben lashed out at her.
“I knew this would happen. It was just a matter of time.” Camilla’s jaw dropped at his show of temper, and hurt entered her eyes, but he kept up the tirade as she stepped back. “This is why I hate it when you go out there with them. You don’t realize how worked up some of the men get when y’all are out there dancing. One of these days someone’s going to get seriously hurt. We’re damn lucky we were able to get it under control before an ambulance and the sheriff needed to be called.”
Quinten made a move to interject something, but Camilla put up her hand to stop him then bunched her hands into fists on her hips. “Wait just a minute, buster. That gal wasn’t even from here, and the fight didn’t start because the girls were dancing. Those guys started a fight on the other side of the club that spread to the dance floor. I’ve seen much worse nightclub brawls than this one—”
“To know that does not help me one iota, Cami. From now on, you’re staying back here, where it’s safe—” Camilla gasped, and her jaw jutted as Ethan made his presence known at the bar.
In a firm but low voice, he said, “Ben. Stop.”
“Yeah, Ben. Stop,” Camilla said, angrily glaring at her boss. “Don’t let your alligator mouth write checks your hummingbird ass can’t cash. I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself, damn it!”
Ben’s eyebrows were a dark, furrowed slash as he frowned and was about to reply when Quinten placed a hand on his shoulder. He clenched his jaw as he held back whatever he was about to say. Patrons standing at the bar stared in amazement as Ben trudged through his office door behind the bar and slammed it.
Quinten walked past Camilla to fill Seth’s order for a frozen margarita without saying a word to her. The petite, but shapely, strawberry blonde frowned when he walked back to his side of the bar without acknowledging her again. Seth recognized the tension in the angles of Quinten’s face. He knew from past conversations that Ben, Quinten, and Camilla had worked together for the last two years. Judging by the tension simmering between them now, he’d be willing to bet that both men had been in love with her for a while and had never told her.