Page 13 of Dove
Just as he wades into the crowd of bikers and starts swinging his fists.
Sammy
It doesn't take me long to start to think we've made a mistake.
I might be tough, and Cameron might be one of the biggest guys in town, but there are more bikers than I realized, and they're all roughly twice as tall as I am.
Of course, that doesn't stop me.
Cam and I move through the crowd, swinging madly as we go. He hits high, catching faces and necks, while I aim much lower, using my feet and knees to take out the ankles around us. When I see a biker turn and swing for Cameron, I rush his midsection, grabbing on and refusing to let go even as he flails around, roaring at me. I tighten my hold on him and bare my teeth, ready to bite him right in the stomach, but he twists and shoves me before I can, and I go flying.
Only to be caught by someone else.
"Samantha, what the fuck are you doing in here, girl?" a familiar voice asks.
I look up to see Mars, his rough-hewn good looks focused on the men around us, and squirm, trying to get down.
"Helping. Obviously," I mutter as I turn back toward the fight. Now that I'm looking, I can see our own men sprinkledthrough the crowd. Dutch and Orion are taking on three men, their knives out and their expressions angry, and beyond that I can see Casino holding another man in a headlock.
What the fuck is going on here? Our bikers never brawl in town like this, and I don't even know the men they're fighting with. These are strangers and they're... attacking our gang of bikers?
Why?
I'm about to ask Mars, but when I turn and look for him again, he's disappeared.
I guess he decided he had more important things to do than questioning me about what I'm doing here.
I grin at that and turn back to the fight, ready to wade back in, but then catch sight of Bear and remember why we got out of the truck in the first place.
He's on his own, of course, and three men are taking turns hitting him. He's got a black eye already and his hat has disappeared, ground into the dirt somewhere. He keeps reaching for his gun but not getting to it, and as I watch, another man hits him in the face.
Shit.
He's getting his ass kicked and none of Mars' gang are paying enough attention to save him.
I don't like the guy and would happily send him packing–especially after he showed up acting like he had a right to tell us how to live our lives, after having been gone for years–but I don't want to watch himdie.
If he's dead, it'll be a lot harder to kick him out of town. And I really want to be there when he's forced to leave. The man has barely been home three months and has been nothing but trouble since he arrived. He started trying to arrest Cameron and me on his first day in town.
Of course, he's failed. Because this town likes us better than it likes him.
"Cameron!" I shout over my shoulder. I don't know where he is or whether he's still in the fight, but one of the only things I can count on in life is him always hearing me when I call. No matter how much distance lies between us.
Sure enough, he appears seconds later, his chest heaving and his face flushed, and when I look up at him I see that he's escaped almost unscathed. He's got one long scratch down his cheek and a slightly puffy lip, but nothing else mars his clean-cut features and his tall, lithe frame is still straight and true.
When he turns to me, his eyes are laughing.
"Oh my God, are youenjoyingthis?" I snap, shocked. Cameron has spent most of our life the shyest kid in the class and twice as artsy as anyone else. Yeah he's tall and strongly built, but he doesn't like violence.
Or so I thought.
He tries to clear his face, but fails miserably. "No," he lies.
"Liar."
This catches a grin from him, and despite myself, I grin back. I don't want to be in this fucking fight–don't even know why we're fighting–but seeing Cameron free and laughing, his adrenaline rushing and his color so high...
I will never stop loving that.
