Misguided Truths: Part Two (Misjudged #4) (12 page)

“It’s my last weekend as a single woman!” the redhead shouts as she leans over the bar. I throw her a smile
and wait for her to place her order. “Tequila! Lots of tequila!”
Gee, that helps narrow it down.

“How much did you want exactly?” I rest my elbows on top of the bar while a mischievous smile etches over her lips.

“That all depends on how much you’re offering, big boy!”

Her words have me immediately looking down to make sure my fly isn’t open.
Huh
. It isn’t. I suppose she just got lucky with her assumptions. Yep. Put a group of women together, especially for this type of occasion, and they always have to lower the tone.

“Do you want singles or doubles?” I glance around the group before my eyes land back on the ringleader, the bride-to-be, nonetheless.

“How about a threesome?” She raises her eyebrows up high, and reaches over to grab a hold of my hand.
Huh
. I clear my throat and take a step back, resting my hands on my waist. I’d usually find this type of humor funny, really I would, but she’s not joking. Damn, I think she would even manage to eat me alive. Not that I would want her to, of course.

“Do you need a hand?” I hear Layla come up beside me.

“Tequila! Lots of tequila!” I say straight away, lift my hands up in retreat, and see that Layla’s starting to laugh as she pats me on the shoulder. I hurry away from the man hungry ladies, and just as I’m about to go and serve somebody else, I still when I see Alexis standing on the other side of the bar, directly ahead of me. At least, I think it’s Alexis. Yep, no. It’s definitely her. I guess I just didn’t recognize her under all the makeup she’s wearing. My eyes roam over her, and I’ve gotta say, I don’t like the way she looks one bit. Okay, that’s a lie. She looks hot. Smoking hot.
Dammit.

I shoul
d’ve mentally prepared myself for this. It was an inevitability that she was gonna show because of course she was always gonna be here to watch the guys play their set. Nope, I can’t keep my eyes off of her, but if you could see her for yourself then you’d understand why.

The shirt she’s wearing is leaving little to the imagination, and her breasts are practically spilling over the material.
Wow
. Her legs are …
wow.
That’s gotta be one of the shortest skirts I think I’ve ever seen. And, now I’m staring. And, yep, she just caught me.
Way to go, Brandon. Way to go.

I ball my fists
down by my sides when I see some guy introducing himself to her.
Don’t accept. Don’t accept. Shit
. She accepted his hand. The wry smile that’s etching over his lips just proves to me that he thinks she’s up for something. Her whole outfit screams sex, and his eyes haven’t left her cleavage once the whole time he’s been standing with her. My fists clench even tighter, and it’s taking me all of my will not to say something. I want to, but I can’t. It’s not my place. She sees me, I know she does, but why would she listen to a goddamn word that I have to say? She won’t, and I can’t stop her from talking to some creep. She not mine. She’s not my girl to protect.
Damn, I wish she were my something.

Phew. Alright. Go
od. They just parted ways. She walks over toward the stage, and that’s when I see Alyssa standing to the side. Well, at least she didn’t come to watch the guys on her own. Somebody grabs my attention, waving their hands around and holding their empty glass up in the air, bringing my gaze away from her.

Corey’s just spoken over the mic, introducing the band, and I already know they’re gonna be really great. I glance over when they start to play, and yes, my eyes also just landed o
ver in Alexis’ direction. But, not only hers. There’s something about that guy I don’t trust, so I’ve been keeping a close eye on him. From when I saw them talking by the bar, I haven’t seen them together since, so I’m taking this as a good sign, and I’m hoping he proves me wrong with my assumptions. She needs to be respected and taken a good care of. She’s not just some chick you can mess around with only to forget about her the morning afterward. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience here.

The band
play a few of their old songs, and before I know it, it’s over. They’re saying goodnight to the crowd, and the dance floor is already starting to thin out, “Your friends are really good!” Layla smiles when she comes to stand beside me. “I’m going back through to my office. Could you start clearing some tables up front?” She asks, and I place the cloth I was holding down as I make my way out from behind the bar. I see Alexis taking a seat on one of the barstools closest to the stage, but she doesn’t look my way. She hasn’t since I first saw her earlier, but I guess this was to be expected. After the way I spoke to her this morning, why would she? As far as she’s concerned, I have a girlfriend, and I cheated on her with her. Yeah, somehow I don’t think she’ll be seeing me as a respectable guy any time soon.

I clear a few of the tables
over in the pool table area, and then go to take the empties back to the bar, but my jaw instantly tenses and my blood runs cold. Yep. Yeah, he did. He just slipped something into a drink, and he’s heading right over to …
hell, no
. That guy talking to Alexis earlier? Yeah. Him. I knew there was a perfectly good reason why I didn’t like the look of him. It had absolutely nothing to do with me being jealous at all. Nope. I’m just a great judge of character. No motherfucking way am I gonna let this happen. I slam the tray of bottles down on the closest table, and start to push my way through the crowd. I’m sure I just knocked some guy clean onto his ass, but there’s no way I’ve got the time to go back and help him back onto his feet, “Alexis!” I shout out when I see him offering her the drink, but she doesn’t hear me.
No. Don’t take it from him. Don’t accept it from him! Fuck!
She just did.

There are way too many people blocking my path
, and it’s making it impossible for me to get a clear view of them.
Get outta the fucking way!
I try and look over and around the crowd, bumping shoulders with a few more on my way through. When I’m able to see her again, I look straight down at the drink beside her.
Shit! Is she fucking insane?
There’s nowhere near as much in there as there was. Not by half. My head’s pounding; my gut twisting. A growl from deep within my chest rumbles its way out when I see her lifting it closer to her mouth.

Charging forward, I knock it clean away before she has a chance to drink any more. The glass shatters into tiny pieces over the floor, and my breaths are hard and
heavy, my whole being filling with pure rage.

“Hey!” S
he snaps, and I keep my eyes firmly on her until she turns around to face me. Is she really that naive to accept a drink from a fucking stranger? I see the guy trying to sidestep away from us, but that’s not gonna happen. He can’t seriously think for one single second that he’s gotten away with this? No. He needs to be taught a fucking lesson. Without taking my eyes off of Alexis, I reach out and grab his shirt with my right hand, and shake my head at Alexis one more time before dragging that motherfucker toward the exit doors.

“What the fuck?” Did he just what the fuck me?
Huh
. Then I think it’s time to give some of the fuck back. I slam him headfirst through the doors, and watch as he stumbles down to the ground. He’s a lot bigger than I am, but I think I’ve got this. “You’re gonna regret—”

“I’m gonna what? I’m gonna regret kicking the shit outta you?” I growl out, grabbing him by the hair this time. When he’s just about able to stand, I pull him down a small alleyway that leads toward the back of the building. “You see, buddy. I’m not gonna regret this for one single moment.” I grind out, and p
ush him hard up against the brick wall.

“We could’ve shared her!”
Oh, he didn’t. Tell me he didn’t just fucking say that?
I grab a fistful of his shirt, and wrap it around one of my hands while my other fist connects with his lower abdomen. “Argh!”

An uppercut across the chin and a couple of head-butts later,
he’s rolling around on the ground, clutching his face. He thinks I’m done? Not a chance. I bring my leg back, but just as I’m about to kick him hard in the stomach, I feel hands grabbing my shoulders from behind me.

“Fuck, that’s enough man! Come on, I said enough!” Rye. Enough? No. I’ve only just fucking started here. That red stuff? Yeah, t
hat’ll be his blood. I shrug Rye’s hands off of me and go to finish what I set out to do.

The guy rolls around some more once I’ve kicked him hard, and I lean down to bring him back onto his feet. I don’t even wanna think
about what he was gonna do to her if he’d have gotten her outside. Asshole. Motherfucking— “Please! Stop!” Yeah, and what are the chances he would’ve fully ignored those exact words if they’d been said by Alexis or some other unsuspecting girl? Yeah, nice guy, huh?

Another few punches to the face, and I think I’ve finally managed to break his nose. That’s a shame because what I really wanna break is his fucking peni—“Shit, you’re gonna fucking kill him if you don’t stop! I think he’s got the message, now let’s go!” Four hands are on me now, dragging me out from the dark alleyway and back onto the sidewalk, restraining me. I keep my focus on the dark space ahead. They’ll let go of me soon enough
, and then I’m going back in. I’m not done yet. Not by a long shot.

I can hear him writhing around in pain
, and you know what? I’m glad. He’s lucky Rye and Neil showed up when they did or he could’ve been a hell of a lot worse.

A buzzing noise is ringing through my ears from knowing that she could’ve been next.
Shit.
What if …? My eyes start to glaze over, and I’m barely able to focus on anything but the visions of Holly that are now engulfing my thoughts. But, it’s not Holly. It’s— “What the fuck!” I can barely see her standing in front of me, but she doesn’t sound happy. The whirling sounds are making it too hard to focus on anything she’s saying to me. Wait. Is she talking to me at all? I blink a couple of times and my vision becomes clearer. I shake my head, trying to eliminate the images of Holly’s limp body resting in my arms. No.
Alexis' pale, lifeless body.
“Are you fucking happy now?” Yeah, I can hear her now. She is. She’s talking to me.

“How much did you drink, Alexis?” I lean closer
, and my voice sounds strangled. Hell, I feel like someone’s just tied a rope or something around my neck and they’re pulling it tighter and tighter. She’s not answering me.
Shit. I was too late. I was too fucking late.
“HOW MUCH DID YOU FUCKING HAVE?” I grab a hold of her by the shoulders, but when she doesn’t respond, I grip her harder. No. She’s gotta tell me. She needs to be able to tell me.
What if I was too late?

“Who? But ...”
Fuck!
I let out a growl, and shake her hard, then harder still. She needs to see me.
I need her to hear me!

“Brandon, you’re hurting her!” Neil grabs a hold of my arm, and he’s trying to pull me away from her. I don’t wanna be away. He doesn’t understand.
Nobody fucking understands!
“LET HER GO!” He’s shouting now, his voice more demanding. They don’t seem worried about her.
Why? Why aren’t they worried?

I bring my gaze
to hers, and see she’s staring wide eyed at me. Is she scared? No. She shouldn’t be scared of me. It was him. I didn’t do anything. I … I drop my hands, and take a couple of steps away, falling to my knees and raking my hands through my hair. I need this to stop. I can’t handle seeing her like this anymore She … she was calling my name. She was asking for me. She looked so scared; so afraid. She needed me to help her. I tried to help, but I couldn’t. She was begging me. I could see it in her eyes, right before she faded. Before she …“Fuuuucckkkkk!” I stand, and stare into the night sky. She asked me to help her. I couldn’t save her. It hurts, just like it did that day. The pain I’m feeling right in this second is the same I felt right after she took her last breath.
Stop! Stop! Stop!
I grab my hair and pull it tight, hoping that doing this is somehow gonna rip the images and dark thoughts from out of my head. I can’t live like this. I don’t wanna see what I witnessed that day. I don’t ever wanna see it again.

That fucker back there almost made it happen again. I ball my fists by my sides
, and pace the ground, back and forth, until I know what I need to do. There’s only one way to solve this, “I’m gonna kill that motherfucker!” I growl through my clenched teeth, and charge straight toward the alleyway.

“What the fuck has gotten into you, man?” Rye is pushing me back, and he’s right up in my face. If only he knew. If he'd seen everything that I saw then he’d understand.
They’d all understand.

“Step
aside, Ryan, or I swear to God, I’ll beat the fucking shit out of you too!” I lurch forward while trying to get out from his grasp, but then I hear her voice. She’s talking? Wait. She’s not …? I turn my head to the side, and see that she’s aiming her question right at me.

Before I can understand what she’s trying
to ask, I hear sirens, and that sound alone has me standing frozen to the spot, “Shit! It’s the cops!” I hear Neil shout, and lift my gaze to him as he stands, helping Alexis onto her feet.