Redemption(23)

Tara raised her eyebrow. “Kinda hot? Girl, you need glasses. That man out there is damn fine. Did you see his fucking ass? Shit!”

I shook my head again. “I didn’t really have time to check out his ass.”

Tara nodded. “Well, you need to…just saying.” She placed her hands on the sink and shook her head. “Sorry. I’m so busy drooling over Jimmy that I failed to realize he was here. How are you holding up?”

I laughed. “Just barely…I think. He always had a way of making me forget everything. When he’s around, all I can think about is him.”

Tara closed her eyes for a moment. “Girl, if that’s the way you feel, I think you’d better think long and hard about what it is you really want. Do you want to get back with Dean?”

“No!” I said a little too quickly. “Oh, I don’t know. He confuses me. He hurt me too much, Tara.”

Tara came over and rubbed my arms. “I know. I think you just need to figure out whether you can forgive him for it. Then you can move on and find out if your heart truly lies with him. And I think you need to do it quickly…for Evan’s sake.”

I nodded with a smile. “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t want to hurt Evan, Tara. I truly don’t.”

Tara nodded and squeezed my arms. “I know you don’t. You have a good heart. You just need to listen to it every once in a while. You would never intentionally hurt anyone, I can see that, but trying to shut off how you really feel may end up hurting others. Do you see where I’m coming from?”

I nodded with a smile. “Yes, I understand. Thanks.”

She patted my arm. “Don’t mention it.” She went over to the mirror to check herself out. “Now, be honest. Would you go home with me tonight if you were Jimmy?”

I nodded with a laugh. “Totally.”

She winked into the mirror. “I thought so. Now, let’s go ruffle some feathers, shall we?”

I giggled, not knowing where in the hell she was coming from, but I nodded. “I’m as game as you.”

The minute we walked out the door, some big burly man with a beard was glaring at us. “You women need to leave.”

I frowned and looked at Tara. She looked as confused as I did. “Why?”

“Because you disrespected my customers.” He motioned down the hall towards Nick and Joe.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! They were being disrespectful to us, not the other way around. Besides, you can’t order us to leave.” I glared back at him.

He motioned towards a sign that read The owner has the right to refuse service to anyone. “Yes, I can.”

“Asshole!” Tara shouted.

The guy grabbed Tara’s wrist. “Do I have to throw you out?”

I shouted, “Don’t you fucking touch her,” before jumping on top of his back.

He tried to shake me off, but Tara bit his hand. As I put my arm around his neck, he yelled, “Fucking bitches! Get off me!”

Tara kicked him in the balls. “You call us a bitch again, I will fuck you up!”

He hunched over, clutching at his crotch. I took that moment to jump down from his back, grab Tara’s hand, and pull her out of the hallway. But he was fast. Grabbing my hair, he yanked me back, causing me to slap hard into his potbelly. I screamed and he placed his hand over my mouth. Tara came running back and jumped on his back.

“Let her go, motherfucker!”

I could hear him gurgling as his grip on me tightened. The more he tried to shake Tara off, the more we emerged further down the hall. I needed us to get further out into the public so people could see this crazy man attacking us.

Pulling my arm forward, I punched back with my elbow, hitting his side as hard as I could. Beardy guy let go of me and started pulling at Tara. I screamed at him to let her go and started pulling at his long hair.

Then all hell broke loose.

We were in the bar area now and people noticed what was going on. Nick and Joe came to try and rescue whoever this arsehole was. People were screaming and, pretty soon, Dean and Jimmy emerged, tackling beardy guy to the ground. Nick and Joe jumped Dean and Jimmy, causing us to jump on their backs.

“Rosey, get off him. I got this. I’ve been itching to throw a punch at this guy ever since I got here.”

Before I could even react, I felt my hair being yanked. I got off and looked around. Some redheaded woman with eyes like thunder was ready to punch me. I managed to dodge it as she shouted, “No one hurts Joe Hardman!”

I was totally confused. Who the fuck was Joe Hardman? Before I could even try and figure this out, she was on me like a mad woman, scratching at me and pulling my hair. All around us was chaos. Glass could be heard shattering, loud grunts and screams were filling the air. Dean was punching Joe, and Jimmy was giving Nick a damn good hiding. Tara was gritting her teeth as she virtually yanked some woman’s hair off her head.