Page 34 of Big D!ck Energy

“Wouldn't dream of it,” I muttered, watching her weave through the crowded casino floor toward the roulette tables.

I signaled the bartender for another drink when I heard the commotion. Over the symphony of slot machines, Brooke's startled yelp cut through like a knife.

My head snapped toward the sound just in time to see her stumbling backward, pink cosmopolitan arcing through the air in slow motion. She'd been shoved by some guy backing away from a blackjack table without looking. Brooke careened directly into a short, stocky man in a suit.

“What the hell!” he barked, his face flushing crimson as Cosmopolitan splashed across his polyester jacket. “Watch where you're going, fat-ass!”

Oh, absolutely not.

I was off my barstool before my brain fully caught up with my body, my heels clicking sharply against the patterned carpet as I closed the distance between us. The whiskey in my system made me braver than I probably should have been, but the fury burning in my chest would've been enough without the liquid courage.

“That’s enough,” I shouted as he opened his mouth to insult her again. “It was an accident.”

Being a plus-size girl most of my life, I’d dealt with my fair share of people like this guy. People who base my entire worth on my weight.

“Oh, look,” he smirked to his friends. “It’s fat-ass number two.”

A small crowd was starting to gather, sensing drama more entertaining than the craps table. The casino lights reflected off the man's sweaty forehead as he puffed up his chest.

“Look, rumple-short-skin,” I sneered, stepping between him and Brooke. “She already apologized. Now, how about you toddle back to whatever rock you crawled out from under?”

His face turned an impressive shade of purple. “What did you just call me?”

“Oh, I'm sorry. Did the big words confuse you?” I tilted my head. “Let me use smaller ones: You. Rude. Go. Away.”

One of his buddies snickered, which only made him angrier. He stepped closer, his bourbon breath washing over me. “You've got a smart mouth for someone who should be watching what she eats.”

I heard Brooke's sharp intake of breath behind me, but I just smiled sweetly. “And you've got a lot of confidence for someone whose personality is as cheap as that suit. What is that, polyester? Did it come with the free buffet coupon?”

“Listen here, you little…”

“No, you listen, you discount Danny DeVito wannabe,” I cut him off, my voice sharp enough to cut glass. “The only thing more tragic than your fashion choices is your complete lack of basic human decency. My friend said she was sorry. That should've been the end of it. But you just had to open that mouth and let all that ugly spill out, didn't you?”

The crowd around us had grown larger. Someone whistled. The man's face was now approaching eggplant territory, veins bulging at his temples.

“You think you're funny?” he snarled, taking another step forward. “You think you can just…”

That's when I felt it.

Heat.

A heat that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and every nerve ending in my body suddenly snapped to attention. A presence directly behind me.

The man's eyes flickered up, his words dying mid-sentence. His expression shifted from rage to confusion, then rapidly settled into something that looked suspiciously like fear. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, taking an involuntary step backward.

I didn't need to turn around to know who was standing there.

“Is there a problem here?” Dallas's voice boomed from behind me.

The man's gaze was locked somewhere above my head, tracking up, up, up until it reached Dallas's face. His mouth opened and closed.

“Holy shit,” one of his friends whispered. “That's... that's The Dominator.”

“I asked you a question.” Dallas's voice was calm, but there was steel underneath it.

“N-no, I…” the man stammered.

“Really?” Dallas moved, stepping to my side. His jaw was set and eyes fixed on the drunk with an intensity that made me glad I wasn't on the receiving end of it. “Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you were being an asshole to these ladies, and I really don't like that.”