“Who’s this? The Law?” Ladies Man was joking.
“Yeah,” Luke answered.
Ladies Man’s eyes cut to me and the forced joviality faded from his face. I could tell he didn’t know what to make of me.
I kept quiet.
“She on the payroll now or what? I heard she took down Warren last night,” Ladies Man asked.
“We’re not here to talk about Law,” Luke said.
Ladies Man’s attention returned to Luke. “Hey man, I don’t know what this is all about. When I got the message, I was f**kin’ stunned. Seems a lot of trouble over nothin’.”
For some reason Luke said, “Stop,” and I didn’t think he was telling him to stop talking.
Ladies Man kept on smiling his good ole boy smile. “What?”
“Stop,” Luke repeated.
“I know you’re a man of few words but what? Is this the message? Give me a clue.” He turned to me. “Law? Do you know? How many syllables? Sounds like?”
Over the past few days Luke and I had shared a lot or at least I guessed in the World of Luke it was a lot. So I felt pretty safe in thinking that Luke would not take to this guy being a smartass very well.
I wasn’t wrong.
Luke lifted up in a squat, leaned across the table and, I kid you not, grabbed on to Ladies Man’s collar and pulled him clean out of his seat. He put his other hand on him then twisted.
I reared back and just barely was missed when Ladies Man’s body went flying by me and into the booth behind us.
Oh… my… God.
I got the keen sensation that Luke had been holding back in our training sessions.
Like.
A lot.
Luke slid out of our booth and stalked to the other one.
I followed.
By the time I made it to him Luke had Ladies Man by the collar. He’d pulled him out of that thankfully empty booth and whirled, slamming him against a wall.
There was music playing in the bar but the hum of conversation died as everyone watched Luke.
Luke yanked Ladies Man forward and then slammed him against the wall again. I could hear the crack of Ladies Man’s skull against the wall.
Yikes.
Luke held him pressed there, his legs dangling beneath him a foot off the floor, his hands wrapped around Luke’s wrist and forearm. Just like in the movies, Luke held him aloft one-handed. I didn’t even know people could do that in real life.
It was a sight to see. It gave me a belly flutter and a heart flutter and I was jealous as all hell.
Luke wasn’t just kickass. He was kickass.
“Stop,” Luke repeated the same word.
Ladies Man wasn’t feeling like being a smartass anymore. He looked scared shitless.