She started toward the door and AJ stopped her. “You’re right. We are just passing through. But you’re still someone I care about, Teresa.”
“You walked away easily enough ten years ago, didn’t you?”
She wanted to bite it back as soon as she’d said it, but it was too late. The words were out and she couldn’t take them back.
“Ten years ago I was a messed-up kid who didn’t know what he wanted.”
She laid her hands on her hips. “And now you do?”
“I didn’t say that.”
She laughed. “I need to go back inside.” She pushed past both of them and toward the back door, but Pax moved in front of her.
“Hey. I don’t know you at all, but I know trouble when I see it. If you need help, we’re here for you.”
His body was so . . . big, covering the door frame. He should have intimidated her, frightened her. Reminded her of things all too unpleasant.
But he didn’t, because he had his hand on the doorknob, turning it to open it for her, not to stop her.
She gave him a curt nod. “I’ve got a handle on it.”
The air-conditioning inside cooled her off. She felt bad for going off on them, but she didn’t need their concern. She didn’t need them at all. She didn’t want a man looking out for her. It was bad enough Joey practically shadowed her every move. She didn’t need AJ and Pax worrying over her, too.
Pax and AJ came in a few minutes after she did. Instead of coming back to the bar, they moved off to find Joey and Russ. They huddled around one of the tables at the back, whispering together, no doubt about the Fists and what had happened. Teresa went back to work, relieved that it was all over.
She expected Pax and AJ to hit the road as it got later in the evening, but they didn’t. Weren’t they headed off somewhere? Why hadn’t they left yet? They’d stayed, played more pool with Joey and Russ, left only long enough to run out to grab something to eat with Joey and a few of the other guys, but then they had come back and now seemed to be having a great time hanging out.
She didn’t want them here. Having AJ around . . . and Pax, too . . . made her uncomfortable.
But not uncomfortable in the usual way guys made her uncomfortable.
This was different. AJ was part of her past, the part when she was still interested in men . . . that way. And Pax was just way too much testosterone for her to handle.
They needed to go.
She wasn’t ready to dredge up old history . . . or start new.
She just wanted everything in her life to remain as it was right now. She was content, if not happy. And considering how bad things had been a few years ago, content was a damned decent place to be.
A quick glance at the clock told her it was about fifteen minutes to closing time, which suited her just fine. Time to get everyone out of here so she and the girls could clean up and she could close and get home, lock herself in, take a shower and climb into bed, where she could pass out and hopefully fall into a dreamless sleep.
Tomorrow AJ and Pax would be gone and life would be back to normal.
She liked normal.
Aside from AJ and Pax, there were only a handful of people left, all Joey’s guys. She knew she could shuffle them out easily enough, so she sent Heather and Shelley home. Hopefully by two she’d be out of there, too.
She had her back turned to the bar and had just finished drying the last glass, about to tell Joey to move his guys out the door, when the front door opened.
“Hey, we’re closing,” she hollered as she turned around, hitting the main switch to shut off the music.
Dread sent her body into instant tense mode. It was Larks walking through the door, with more than a dozen of his guys.
“We’re closed,” she said again.
Larks ignored her, making a beeline for Joey, his intention clear on his determined face. He was smiling, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. The last guy through the door flipped the lock closed.
Shit.
Her gaze riveted on Joey and Larks, she reached for the phone, intending to dial 911. She yelped when someone grabbed her wrist and jerked the phone from her hand, tossing it across the room.
“No calling the cops, sweet tits. This is private business.”
As he moved away with her phone in his hand, Teresa swallowed past the terror threatening to squeeze her throat closed.
This was not going to happen. Not in her bar.
But as Larks jumped on Joey and all hell broke loose, she knew it already had.
FOUR
AJ AND PAX HAD BEEN IN BAR BRAWLS BEFORE. AJ KNEW THEY could handle themselves. Biker gangs often got into tiffs over territory. This wouldn’t be a first. And since they were here, they were going to get into the middle of it.
The middle of it happened fast, because Larks’s guys were in the door throwing the first punches before any of Joey’s guys could even blink. Joey and Russ and the others pushed right back. It didn’t take but a fraction of a second before Joey and Larks went at each other. Suddenly the shit was going down. There’d be no talking them out of it now. There was no way AJ and Pax could stay out of it, either, and it was a given they were going to take Joey’s side, especially since the Thorns were outnumbered two to one, since most of Joey’s gang had already left for the night.
AJ pulled a guy off Joey’s back so he could be free to fight Larks.
Man, he didn’t want to be doing this, but they had no choice. Bringing the cops in would just put the Thorns in trouble, too, and AJ didn’t want that—not if they could put an end to this fast. He threw a punch and ducked as one came flying his way. He missed seeing a fist flying from his left, though, and took one to the chin. He winced and shook his head to clear the pounding. Son of a bitch, that hurt.
But he had to admit, fighting exhilarated him. It had been a long time since he’d gotten into a fistfight, and it felt damn good. AJ caught sight of Pax, who had hold of two guys. Pax was good with martial arts. When they’d learned it at Wild Riders, Pax dove in and earned his black belt, which he was putting to good use here by kicking the shit out of a guy. He swiveled and knocked the dude behind him in the back with a hard shove from his boot. The guy crumpled, the wind knocked out of him. Pax knew not to give a lethal kick unless his or someone else’s life was threatened. The idea was to defuse the situation.
AJ knew Pax could take care of himself.
But the Thorns were outnumbered and the situation was not anywhere close to being defused. If anything it was getting worse. Bodies were everywhere in tight piles, fists flying.