too similar to Lola's—rolling to Colt, then to Porter, before falling back on me. “You're acting like it's weird for me to be nice to you.”
I took another bite of my burger, my silence a good enough answer.
He continued staring me down. I half expected him to throw a punch. This guy, I wasn't convinced he didn't hate my guts. He had a few good reasons to.
I finished my meal before he finally spoke again. That was good; I'd have choked otherwise. “Listen,” he mumbled, looking away awkwardly. “Lola won't answer my calls. Okay? I just want to talk to her. Could you get her out of the bus for me?”
The food felt like it was caught low in my throat. “She won't answer your calls, either?”
Sean jerked his head around, shock openly glistening in his eyes. It unnerved me, again, how similar they were to the girl I was obsessed with. “Lola isn't with you?”
“She went with Brenda to grab us some supplies earlier,” Porter said, stepping forward. “They probably just got caught up in something. I'm sure they're fine.”
Sean coiled his fingers in my bassist's shirt, yanking him so they were nose to nose. It was quick, too quick for anyone to react to. “How the hell would you know if they're fine? Tell me where they fucking went!”
The guy had some muscle on him, but I didn't think he was a threat to Porter.
I still didn't like him touching my fucking friend.
Guided by the anxiousness that had plagued me since Lola left this morning, I snatched Sean's wrist, yanking him off the bassist as my fingers dug into his skin. “Back the fuck off, man. You don't want to get physical here.”
“Aren't you even worried about her?” he spat, trying to wrench himself free from me. To his credit, Sean was strong.
I was just stronger.
Pulling him towards me in one smooth motion, I shoved him down onto the pavement. He landed hard on his hands and knees. “Of course I'm fucking worried!” Sean had given me a place to aim my rapidly growing delusions about what had happened to Lola. My body heated with the familiar tingle of adrenaline fueled fight-or-flight.
The scar on my lower back burned.
Sean started to get up; the big blonde guy moved closer. I thought he was going to help his band-mate, but instead, he swung one meaty fist at my skull. Desperately, I started to dodge. It wasn't necessary.
Colt slammed into the guy's blindside, his arms tangling around his waist as they hit the rough parking lot. All sinew and grunts, they rolled into a violent knot of punches and kicks.
Sean was still on his knees, his fingers burying in his scalp while he yelled frantically at the wrestling men. “Shark! Back the hell off, man! Stay out of this!”
Both of them ignored the shouts, the big guy—Shark, I guess—pushing his bicep against Colt's throat. I started to close in, unable to resist any longer, especially not when my friend's face was turning purple.
Porter and the last, unnamed member of Barbed Fire beat me. Together, they pulled the guys apart. The fight could have ended there. I knew it could be done with.
But I was done standing around.
Reaching down, I grabbed Sean Cooper by the hair and squeezed. His hiss of surprised pain was intoxicating. “Listen,” I growled into his ear. “If this is your idea of what being nice means, then I can get right fucking behind it.”
His fingers dug into my forearm; I didn't feel the skin break. “Let me the fuck go!”
In my chest, my lungs rattled with my hunger for chaos. I had Sean at my mercy. I knew I could slam him into the ground, break his jaw, make him taste his own rusty blood. My hands became claws, my desire to hear his nose cartilage crumble as I drove it into my knee and—
“I'm just looking for my sister!”
Inside, the beast retreated. Crouched there, hovering over Sean with my own heart throbbing in my ears, I felt the eyes on me. Everyone was watching. Waiting. No one had the guts to try and get between me and Sean.
In my skull, his shout bounced around and never ended. That's right. He's right. He's just trying to find Lola.
Just like I am.
There was a soreness in my hand when I released his hair. Those muscles felt too tight, like they weren't meant to be opened. We stood up simultaneously, the pressure around us fading. Colt and Shark huddled