Rogelio will watch over you both.” After kissing Grace gently, he turned and stalked purposefully toward the back of the club.
Rachel tilted forward and looked at Grace, who sat distractedly
watching as Ethan disappeared into the dim hallway that led to the emergency exit. “You okay, Grace?”
Grace shrugged. “Yeah, this is not the first time something like this has happened. They have a very strong need to defend me from people like that.”
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“Does it bother you that they feel the need to do that?”
She looked at Rachel and shook her head with a soft smile. “No, they can take care of themselves, and it’s a fact of life for us that not everyone appreciates our choices. That doesn’t bother me so much. People can think whatever they want, but it’s when people begin to say or do things to offend me that they take matters into their hands. It is what it is,” Grace said matter-of-factly. She told Rachel the short version of her confrontation with a busboy in Rudy’s restaurant, the day Jack, Ethan, and Adam proposed marriage to her back in June.
“Is it worth it?” Rachel asked, grinning at the thought of not one, but three men defending Grace’s honor.
Grace smile warmly. “To be with them? Totally.”
Her Gentle Giant, Part 1: No Regrets
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Chapter Nine
Eli held one of the men by the back of his collar as the black SUV
pulled to a halt by the backdoor of the club. Jack and Adam climbed from the vehicle and walked over to Ethan, who quietly gave them the synopsis of what happened. Eli and Mike stoically held both men as one cursed the other for getting him into this mess. He didn’t even know who Jack was, for crying out loud.
Jack and Adam reacted predictably to Ethan’s words, simmering with anger. Ethan spoke a few more words, and Jack nodded before he and Adam walked over to the two men. Eli and Mike released them and stepped away, crossing their arms over their chests.
“Adulterous whore? ” Jack quoted to the unlucky bastard who’d been dumb enough to utter the words and then applied his fist to the man’s jaw.
Adam took the other man by his shirt collar and yanked him forward and up to eye level. “You insulted the sweetest, gentlest woman on this planet, and now you’re gonna to regret it. Brace yourselves. This might hurt a little,” he grated as he applied his fist to the other man’s face.
“But she—”
Jack cut the man off, shaking him by his shirt collar. “She what? What?
Danced with a man who has been my best friend my whole life? She dances with Adam, too, with my approval. Dancing with us makes her happy. We love to see her happy. Right now she’s not happy, and if she ain’t happy, we ain’t happy. You caused that unhappiness, and now you’re going to regret it.
No one. Insults. My. Wife,” he ground out before he dropped the man on the ground.
“Sorry, Jack, I didn’t know—”
Ethan dropped a Ziploc bag filled with ice on each of their chests.
“You’ll be a damn sight sorrier if you ever insult her or come near her
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again. Don’t judge people you don’t know, Jim, Roy. You might want to ice that.”
“Can we apologize?” Jim offered. “We don’t want to get banned.” The Dancing Pony was the only decent nightclub for miles.
“What do you think, Jack?” Ethan asked. “Should we ban them? Or let them sacrifice what’s left of their self-esteem for the evening to avoid getting banned?”
Jack replied, “Yes, but only if they march their asses back through the club and make it a public apology. And then they’ll need to leave for the evening.”
Judging by the change in his expression, Jim had been hoping for a less public apology, which would have been a little easier on his ego, but he’d offered, so now he’d have to man up.
The noise level in the bar dropped a little when the men re-entered through the backdoor, minus their dignity. Ice packs to their faces, they cautiously approached Grace after Jack nodded to them to say their piece.
“I’m very sorry to have insulted you, Mrs. Warner. I spoke out of turn, and I hope somehow you can forgive me,” Jim said as clearly as he could around his swelling sinuses.
“I accept your apology,” Grace replied softly.
The other man offered a similar plea for forgiveness, and after she accepted, they both made their way to the traditional exit of the club, the front door. As if on cue, the DJ started another song, and club patrons left their tables and headed for the dance floor as Grace and her men excused themselves and made their way back to their table on the other side of the bar.