Page 32 of Forgiveness
“You need to leave her the fuck alone. What you did to her last night will never happen again. Do you fuckin’ understand that?”
Chet’s brows popped up and he blinked a few times. It seemed like the asshole didn’t think Maggie would confide in Flux about what he’d pulled. Then, Chet ran his gaze over Flux as if he was sizing him up again. Chet’s fists tightened and he moved from foot to foot with a curl of his lip.
“You can have the slut,” Chet snarled.
That was it. Without Flux uttering a word, his fist sank into Chet’s belly, and the cowboy bowled over gasping for breath.
“No one calls my girl a slut,” Flux said through gritted teeth.
Flux’s knee came up and slammed into the fucker’s chin.
Chet cried out in pain.
“Maggie’s done with you, asswipe. Grow some fuckin’ balls and move on.” Flux delivered the final blow—a karate chop to the back of the jerk’s neck. Chet crumpled down on the checkered linoleum floor. He was out like a light.
Pappy, the owner, rushed toward them, wiping his hands over and over on a dish rag. “Did you kill him?”
“Nah, he’s just unconscious. Throw a bucket of cold water on him and he’ll come to.” Flux stalked back to the table, ignoring the stares from the diners. When he reached the booth, he stopped short when he saw the look on Maggie’s face: eyes wide, mouth open, face blanched. She leaned back against the booth like she was ready to bolt out of her seat and flee from him.
“You can be pissed at me all you want, but there’s no way I was gonna just stand there and let him fuckin’ trash you. The asshole got what he had coming.” Flux picked up his glass and gulped down the rest of the Coke. “Let’s get outta here.”
Maggie slid out of the booth and he tucked her hand in his and walked over to the cashier. They stepped over the sprawled out cowboy, and Flux noticed the asshole had started to regain consciousness. If Flux had been in the alley with the fucker, the fight might have escalated to where Chet would’ve been lying dead instead of knocked out. Years of studying karate had given Flux the upper hand in most fights, and he knew the exact amount of pressure to use to either kill a man or knock him out with a blow to the neck.
Flux paid the bill and Maggie didn’t even protest; she was still in a daze. He didn’t want to fight in front of her, but Chet left him no choice. No man acted like that with Flux and didn’t get a few or more punches thrown at him. No one fucking messed with him or the people he cared about.
When they arrived at the truck, Flux jumped into the passenger’s seat and waited for Maggie to turn on the ignition. She moved sideways to face him, and her brows drew together as her mouth turned grim.
“What the fuck did you expect me to do back there?”
“Since when am Iyour girl?”
Flux’s stomach hardened and he grimaced.
Ahh, Fuck!
