“Ow, fuck!” he yells.
He tries to pull his hand out of my grip, but I press harder.
“What the fuck is your problem, dude? Let go of me.”
I glower at him. “No.”
His face twists in pain. He tries to shove my arm away with his free hand, but I smack it away.
“What the hell are you doing?” he hisses, in pain.
I lean down over him. “You don’t like it when a stranger comes up and touches you without your permission, right?”
He leans back. “N-No…”
“Then why the hell did you touch her?”
I glance over at Lucy, who’s standing away from us, her eyes wide as she looks between us.
I push my hand harder against his against the tabletop. He cries out.
“Jesus, dude. Stop.”
“Yeah, man, take it easy,” his friend says as he stares up at me. He sounds nervous. I can tell he’s sizing me up, wondering if he can help his friend by fighting me off.
But I’m bigger than both of these guys. If they wanna start shit, I won’t hesitate to throw down.
His friend stays in his chair, his eyes darting nervously between the two of us. I ignore him and focus on the handsy motherfucker.
“I asked you a question, asshole. Why’d you put your hands on her if you knew it was wrong? She clearly didn’t like it.”
“I-I just…” He groans in pain. “Okay, it was fucked up, what I did. I’m sorry.”
I lean all of my body weight on his hand. His head falls back as he grits his teeth, muffling another pained cry. “Apologize to her, dipshit. Not me.”
A sweat breaks out across his brow as he turns to her. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t ever fucking touch her again.”
I let go of him. He yelps as he cradles his hand against his chest.
“I think my hand is broken,” he whines.
He stands up from the table and starts to walk off with his friend, but I grab his shoulder, stopping him.
“Don’t you dare stiff her.”
His friend drops a bunch of cash from his wallet onto the table before the two of them run out of the strip club.
When I turn back to Lucy, she’s still standing there, her sapphire eyes big as saucers, her mouth parted open.
I step toward her. “Are you okay?” I ask gently.
She nods, then closes her mouth. “That was…um…”
I run a hand through my hair, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden.
When I saw that guy grope Lucy, I didn’t think. I just reacted. I fucking hate guys like him, who think they can touch women without their consent.