Charity's Warrior (28 page)

"Holy shit!" I gasped.

"I know, right?" she said proudly. "It was gorgeous. He did such a great job. The first time we made love we were floating on the river under the stars."

I am so happy for her. She is walking about six inches off the ground, floating on her emotions. "Trisha, that sounds wonderful. I'm glad you had such a good time; you really deserve it."

"Thank you," she said. "I can't believe how much fun we had. It's got to be the best date I've ever been on, and he was so sweet to me. He remembered my favorite desert, my favorite song. It was wonderful."

"He sounds like a keeper," I said, impressed.

"So far, absolutely," she agreed, setting the bottle of wine down on my table, and excusing herself.

As she had to, Trisha left me to take care of her other tables. I took out my phone and texted Justin, letting him know I was here at my favorite table for whenever he arrived. I was surprised he texted back so quickly. He was coming, five or ten minutes away at most. That made me impatient and giddy.

For a few moments, I watched Trisha at work checking on her guests and bringing new drinks from the bar. Her energy was impressive. A few of the guys look familiar, and I realize I am not the only regular at the Grill. Those same four men piled onto the stools had been in here several times before.

The front door suddenly burst open and someone came storming through. At first I didn't pay attention, until I noticed they were heading right for me. It took me a moment to understand that it was Steve, his feet stomping, nostrils flaring. He didn't look like the same guy that was with me at breakfast on Saturday, this guy looked crazy and desperate.

"Steve, what are you doing here," I snapped, already defensive. "I thought you left?"

He came right to my table and stopped next to me, looking at the empty glass across from mine through two very wild eyes. "Who's that for?" he demanded, stabbing his finger at it. "Who the fuck are you waiting for?"

"Excuse me?" I said. I’m acting tuff, but inside I am already terrified.

"I came to get you and bring you with me, and you're on a fucking date!" he barked.

I was mortified. People at the surrounding tables are turning to stare. The men at the bar are completely spun around to watch us. Everyone is looking.

"Steve, I already told you, I'm not going with you, and who I'm with is none of your
God damn
business!
You need to turn around and get the hell away from me," I said.

This was the Steve I had expected Saturday, the one that had flipped out when I broke up with him. He is an emotional rollercoaster, and it’s exhausting. More than that—he’s scaring me this time!

Trisha is at my side in an instant. "Charity, are you okay?" she asks.

"I'll be fine when he leaves," I snapped, motioning toward Steve.

"I'm not going anywhere without you," Steve said. "Now let’s go!"

I stood up as Trisha motioned to the manager. "Steve you need to leave now, before this goes bad." I wasn't so much worried about the manager as I was Justin, who was going to come through those doors any second, who I know will go crazy trying to protect me.

Another unexpected thing happened next; Steve reached out and grabbed my arm and pulled me from around the table.
I don’t fucking believe it!
I struggled to get free, my feet sliding on the floor, and Trisha grabbed me back.

"Have you lost your fucking mind?" I screamed. I could not believe he's actually put his hands on me. The flesh of my arm is stinging sharply.

The moment is surreal. My heart is pounding. Steve is pulling me in one direction, and Trisha pulling in the other in a macabre tug of war. Her manager comes over, his eyes wide with trepidation, and tries to push him off, but Steve sensed his fear and shoves him back easily with one hand.

"She's mine!" he shouted. "She's always been mine!"

Behind him, I see the front door closing as if someone had come in. Then Steve is lifting off the floor and spinning in the air as if by magic. His hand lets go of me in instinctive surprise. Behind him, Justin has him by his hair and the top of his pants and he literally tosses Steve effortlessly across the room. He wobbles through the air like a ragdoll. Steve lands about six feet away on his face and stomach and slides another few feet toward the door. When he stops, he looks back at us with his face full of shock. He looks like a scorned child.

Justin shakes a large wad of Steve’s hair out of his hand and begins to go after him, moving like a bull, but Trisha and I both jumped in front of him. The manager grabs him as well, but he is blind with anger and seeing right through us, as if we aren't here trying to help him. He advanced a step despite our efforts while we are pleading with him to stop.

Behind us, Steve is scrambling to his feet.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you!" Justin growls, advancing two more steps with the three of us hanging on and pushing him back.

"Justin, it's just my ex, just let him go! He didn't hurt me. Please!" I said quietly but aggressively.

Steve turns white as a sheet; he knows he is no match for Justin. He gropes at the door handle, jerks the door open and runs out. Justin moves to follow him, but the bar tender and the four guys from the bar jump in to help, everyone shouting to Justin that it wasn't worth it, to stop before he goes too far.

Justin stopped for a moment, seeming to calm down. It wasn't worth it, not being arrested, not when I was fine.

Then he saw the glowing red hand mark Steve had left on my forearm and he charged again. Seven people on him, and he still managed to gain ground. "No one touches you," he growled so wickedly that I got chills. It was ferocious, even animalistic.

And I have never felt so protected in my life!

The men all dug in and pushed until we finally stopped him. My back is almost to the door. He was in a rage and I can't imagine what he would be like if I had been hurt.

"Don't get in trouble, Justin, not over him!" I begged.

"It's not over him, it's over you!" he barked.

"If it's about me, then give me what I want. Remember why we were meeting here tonight," I said. "I don't want you in trouble—I want you with me. I want you to know how I feel about you."

That seemed to bring Justin out of his trance-like fury. His eyes found mine and he stopped pushing against everyone, so we let him go.

"Why we came here? I know exactly why we came here," he said in a voice that filled me with lust.

His hands came up to my face, holding me steady as he brought his mouth to mine. The kiss he gave me is the most intense, most romantic kiss of my life. I completely melted, my knees turning into rubber poles not really capable of holding me up. He doesn't have to tell me he loves me, this kiss says it all. His father never gave up on love, and now he was going to give into it as well.

After a moment of being the only two people in the universe, I suddenly hear people applauding. Our kiss ended, and everyone that had helped is slowly going back to their seats with big grins on their faces and clapping hands.

Justin is still only paying attention to me. "Wow," he whispers. "I felt that everywhere."

"Me too," I said, completely out of breath and trying to catch my heart.

"I'm sorry I made us wait so long before doing that," he replies, letting his hands fall from my cheeks.

The clapping ends and I smile at them, embarrassed, and thank them for helping. Trisha and her manager ushered us back toward our table, insisting we sit down. Trisha fills Justin's glass and sits it next to mine on the small tabletop. She left us alone for a few so that we could talk and calm down.

"So that was your ex-boyfriend?" Justin said, his voice littered with disdain as he sat in his chair.

"Unfortunately it was," I replied. "He came to the city this weekend—uninvited—to check on me and asked if I wanted to go with him."

"This weekend?" he asks.

"Saturday morning he called to see if I could meet him. He promised it was nothing bad, but I still didn't want him anywhere near my apartment. You can see why, now. Everyone back home was looking for him, though, afraid he might have hurt himself, so I felt I had to meet him, to help. His family deserved to know how he was," I explained.

Justin nodded that he understood as he lifted his glass and took a huge swig.

"Honestly, he was great on Saturday," I said. "A whole different person than the asshole we just saw. We had breakfast, and he told me he was heading out to get a new start on life. Steve said he just couldn't do it without at least asking me one time if I would go with him. I turned him down, expecting the worst, but he took it great. We were able to finish eating and talking, saying goodbye. I was very impressed with him since he was never one for self-control."

"Was he supposed to leave then?" Justin asked.

I shrugged my shoulders slightly and said, "I'm not sure exactly. He was considering seeing some of the sights in the city since he didn't think he would ever be here again, but I definitely thought he would be gone by now."

Justin showed another glimpse of anger, his jaw clenching. "Was he like
that
when you were dating him, putting his hands on you?"

"No!" I answered quickly. "He's never done that. I would never have put up with it, and both our families would have killed him if he had. His mother would be in agony if she knew what he just did."

Justin relaxed a little. "Good. I couldn't handle it if you had been hurt in the past, even if I couldn't have stopped it. I just don't have the strength to think of you in pain."

I reached across the table and grabbed his hand, caressing my thumb over his knuckles while his fingers accepted mine and wrapped around them. The love I could feel coming from him is incredible, like nothing I was capable of imagining on my own. There are no words needed.

Trisha had been settling her other tables. She came back after a bit with a couple of menus in her hand. "I'm just going to leave these here for whenever you want to look at them. And I wanted to tell you that the table of ladies in the corner has insisted on paying for your wine. They said every woman should have a hero like Justin, and it was wonderful to see."

Justin turned completely red, but I quickly raise my glass and agree with them. I thanked them for their generosity. Justin managed to tip his glass and thank them as well. It all made him smile, and that was a good thing.

The tension was drifting away.

Trisha left us alone again, and we turned our attention back to each other. Justin grabbed the Shiraz and topped both of our glasses off.

I raised mine to him again. "This one is for you, for rescuing me once again, and to remind us why we were meeting here in the first place tonight."

His whole demeanor changed instantly as he remembered. He clinked his glass against mine. "You're right; we have better reasons for getting together. Actually," he said, "this was part of it, of what I wanted to explain."

"How's that?" I ask.

"Because it's a perfect example of how I'm feeling," he said. "I'm so protective over you. If someone hurts you, Charity, I think I'd go insane. I just can't imagine you in pain or danger without losing my mind. I've never had emotions like this for anyone and I'm standing on new ground. I've gone out of my way to never feel this way, and now that it's here I don't want it to end. What I had convinced myself were the worst things in life to feel are now all I want. You changed me the first time you came into this bar. We didn't know it then, but you changed everything."

"So, we have a road in front of us?" I ask.

Justin smiles. "Yes."

"I'm glad," I said. "I'm looking forward to going down it with you."

We were quiet for a second until Justin grabbed his menu. "Let's order, we should be celebrating."

His smile was infectious. My eagerness for the night was recharged. Trisha saw me picking up my menu too and she winked at me as she mouthed, "You go girl."

While we were eating, a new thought occurred to me. Until now, when we were having sex, Justin had been holding back a portion of himself. Now that he is unleashed, and he can
make love
using the skills he has in the bedroom, instead of just fucking, what did I have in store?