home.
Thoughts of taking a woman home only made Brackish think of Erin again, and that thought took away the smile he’d been wearing for the past hour. Dammit, he didn’t want to live in the dark place he’d been in the past few days. The more he thought of Erin, the angrier he grew. He found himself wrapping his fingers tight around his club. His jaw tightened, his muscles bulged, and his focus was all on the tiny white ball.
Brackish swung the club so fast an audible cavitation of wind could be heard in his bay. The rushing club head was too fast to see as it came back down toward the ball. A loud grunt came next as his follow-through pushed his diaphragm down. Then he toppled over in a massive heap.
Brackish popped right back up, feeling like an idiot. How in the hell was he allowing his anger to control him like this? He was better than that, he was more controlled, more alert, and far too smart to do this.
“Dude, that sucks. You looked like an idiot,” the very unwise man in the next bay said, obviously showing off for the girl still in Brackish’s bay.
“You don’t want to do this right now,” Brackish warned.
“Sorry, but I can’t stop laughing. I wish I had my camera. You looked like a gorilla swinging a toothpick.” The man continued to laugh, and Brackish felt his temper rising. He tried telling himself to calm down, the punk wasn’t worth his time or attention. But a lack of sleep and a seriously grumpy mood were a bad combo for a large man.
Brackish took measured steps up to the divider between their bays. “Keep on talking and you’re going to find out how it feels to have a large toothpick shoved right up your uptight ass.”
“Whatever, dude. Why don’t you calm down from your roid rage,” the man of about twenty-five said with a laugh. He was large, but not as big as Brackish, and he was obviously an idiot if he couldn’t read the danger of the situation.
“Brackish, is everything okay?” Eyes called. Brackish didn’t turn. Eyes wouldn’t be able to hear the conversation from where he was, but he could certainly read the body language, and Brackish was sure his body language was screaming murder.
“Do you need your buddy to come bail you out?” the punk asked. “Maybe you’re all wound up cause the steroids have shrunk your balls and you can’t get it up anymore.”
Brackish didn’t give a shit about the punk, but he wouldn’t allow him to talk this way — not yesterday, not today, and not tomorrow.
The man didn’t have a shot. Quick as lightning, Brackish reached over the plexiglass divider between them, and grabbed the man’s shirt, easily lifting him off the ground. The man’s eyes widened in fear as Brackish’s head moved forward slamming into the guy’s nose, snapping it in less than a second, causing blood to spew over the divider.
The woman who’d been flirting with both of them, screamed and ran away. Brackish didn’t acknowledge her. He dropped the man back to the ground on the other side of the barrier, then took a menacing step as he began moving toward his bay.
“Stop now!” Eyes thundered, stepping in front of Brackish. “What in the hell are you doing?” Eyes’s expression was incredulous as he stared down his friend. “Let’s go now!”
As quickly as the fury had overtaken him, it drained back out. What in the hell was he thinking, attacking some punk who was too stupid to know when and when not to smart off?
“Shit,” Brackish muttered, not liking himself too much right then. “Let’s go.”
Without saying more, Brackish turned and walked away, people moving out of his way as he strode by. Eyes was right on his heels, not saying a word as they exited the building. He’d be lucky if the cops weren’t called on him. Chad would kick his ass if that happened. This was all on him, and not anyone else. He’d had far too much training to go off the handle like that.
They reached the parking lot and Brackish turned to Eyes. “I’m sorry about that. It was uncalled for. I was having a good time, and I let that punk get under my skin. Normally I’d never allow that to happen. He’s no more important to me than a fly on the wall. I need to figure out what’s happening with Erin, and if we’re over, I’ll