two men stared each other down—one grinning smugly and the other emanating cold rage. Mia had never seen a bar fight before, but she was absolutely certain she was about to.
Wyatt appeared beside them and shouldered his way past Josh. He marched up to Aaron, getting right up in his face, and shoved him hard enough to make him stagger backward a few steps. “How about if I fucking make you, you shit-smeared pencil dick?”
Aaron spat on the ground and lunged at Wyatt. But Wyatt already had his arm cocked back. His fist shot out and slammed into Aaron’s jaw.
Mia flinched as Aaron collapsed to the ground. She’d never seen anyone get punched in the face before. Not in person and up close like this.
A few of Aaron’s friends gaped—and a few others snickered—as he moaned in pain. No one moved to help him.
“Anybody else got a smart mouth that needs a lesson in manners?” Wyatt demanded, scowling at the crowd of onlookers.
Andie materialized beside Mia with the bouncer not far behind her. As soon as he arrived on the scene, the crowd melted away in an impressive imitation of Homer Simpson backing into a hedge.
“You okay?” Andie asked, squeezing Mia’s hand, and Mia managed a nod.
“Get him out of here,” the bouncer ordered Aaron’s friends. “All of you, get the hell out.” He was stout and square with a long, scraggly beard and a bandana tied around his head. No one argued with him.
Aaron’s companions dragged their buddy upright and herded him out toward the parking lot. He seemed to be okay, if a little unsteady on his feet. Okay enough to throw a hostile look in Wyatt’s direction, anyway.
The bouncer turned on Wyatt with an angry glare. “I can’t even take a damn leak without you starting some shit.”
Wyatt held up his hands in supplication. “I didn’t start it. I just finished it.”
The bouncer shook his head, his gaze alighting on Josh briefly before he stalked back to his post by the door.
Josh hadn’t moved since Wyatt’s intervention. He was still standing stock-still with his back to Mia. She wished he would turn around so she could see his face. Her instinct was to run over and hug him, but she was afraid he might pull away from her.
“Son of a bitch.” Wyatt shook his hand out, grimacing. “That fucking hurts. I’m not gonna be able to play for like a week now.”
“Idiot.” Andie took Wyatt’s injured hand and shoved it down in the beer bucket she was holding.
“Ow! Who are you calling an idiot? Me or Aaron?”
“Both of you.”
Josh turned around finally, but his face was devoid of expression. There was nothing there but this awful, cold blankness that made Mia’s chest ache.
No one had even asked him if he was okay, which was the only thing Mia cared about. Why weren’t they asking him if he was okay?
She started to move toward him, then stopped herself, feeling more like an outsider than ever. People didn’t get into bar fights in the world she was accustomed to. They didn’t get into any sort of physical altercations anywhere. They dealt with their hostilities like civilized adults—with passive-aggressive remarks, cold silences, and talking about one another behind their backs.
“He had it coming,” Wyatt said. “Tell me he didn’t have it coming.”
Josh’s gaze flicked to Mia, and for a second the blankness was replaced by raw anguish. She started toward him again, but he turned away from her to address his sister. “Can you please Mia home?”
Andie looked over at her. Then back at Josh, giving him a nod. She thrust the ice bucket at Wyatt, brushing a quick kiss against his cheek before moving to Mia’s side.
“Come on.” She slung an arm around Mia’s shoulders. “Let’s go.”
As Andie led her away, Mia threw one last look at Josh over her shoulder, but his gaze was fixed firmly on the ground.
Andie didn’t say anything until they were in the car. “I swear to god, those fucking assholes.” She threw the SUV into gear and spun out of the gravel parking lot. “One of these days I’m going to put my foot so far up all their anuses they’ll have to shit through their noses.”
“Who were they?” Mia still had no idea what had happened. She felt like she’d missed the first part of the movie and was lacking some important chunks of exposition.
Andie’s jaw clenched. “No one. Just some local dickheads.”
“What were they even talking about? What was all that