Page 274 of Devil’s Disciples

I didn’t know much, but I knew those were fighting words. But, there was never a fight. Not to speak of, anyway. It was more of a show of speed versus stupidity, I guess. The word asshole no more than cleared Luke’s lips, and Porter stepped in front of me.

The rest, I didn’t see. I mean, I was there, and I was watching, but seeing it would have required recording it and playing it back in slow motion. Hearing it was enough to cause me to cringe. I mentally jumped for joy later, but the cringing came first.

Porter’s hands became a blur. A series of horrid crunching sounds followed. Luke’s legs turned to noodles, and he crumbled into a three-hundred-pound wad of useless flesh at Porter’s feet.

“Did you kill him?” I gasped.

“I hope so.” Porter chuckled. “He was an irritating prick.”

A crowd began to gather between us and the ticket counter. “Holy shit,” I heard someone say. “Did you see that?”

A man stepped through the crowd and looked at Luke, who was attempting – unsuccessfully – to rise to his feet.

“That’s Luke Westham,” the man said excitedly. “You knocked out Luke Westham.”

“He needed knocked out,” Porter replied.

Porter looked at me. “Who the fuck’s Luke Westham?”

“He’s a running back for the LA Chargers,” I responded. “And, he’s some weirdo that was stalking me. I almost got a restraining order against him. I swear, I only met him for a cup of coffee a few years ago, that’s it.”

“He was a fucking weirdo, that’s for sure,” he said with a laugh.

I’m sure women exist who would have been appalled by what happened. I wasn’t one of them. The fact that Porter knocked out a pro football player because he had acted disrespectfully made me swoon.

As I proudly took a position at Porter’s side, a few of the people who gathered helped Luke to his feet.

“Shit,” Porter said, looking at his watch. “The movie started already.”

I looked at the crowd that had gathered and realized it would only be a matter of time before the movie theater’s security arrived. “Can we just do something else?”

“You sure you’re okay with that?” he asked. “I know you wanted to see that movie.”

“We can do anything,” I said. “As long as we’re together.”

It didn’t matter what we were doing, I’d be doing it with the man of my dreams. Simply knowing he was willing to stand up for me was enough to make me weak in the knees.

Not as weak in the knees as Luke Westham, but close.

* * *

“Where’d you learn to fight like that?” I sucked a mouthful of chocolate malt through the oversized straw. “Chuck Norris hasn’t got anything on you.”

He pressed the heels of his palms to his temples. “I can’t drink any more of that thing.”

I paused from drinking, but left the straw in my mouth, just in case I wanted more. “Ice cream headache?”

He nodded.

“So,” I raised my eyebrows. “Are you going to answer me?”

“I’m thinking.”

I sucked another ounce of cold deliciousness from the cup. “About whether or not you want to answer me?”

He no more than lowered his hands and winced from the pain. “Something like that.”

“Are you okay?”