I didn’t even meet Lana until you guys were separated and living apart.” She said it louder than she probably should have. Whiskey.
He stood up. “Bullshit. You’re a damn liar. You’re probably ruining this girl’s life right now.”
“Settle down, bro,” Heather said, straightening. “This has nothing to do with you.”
He approached, on unsure footing. Ryan looked away, refusing to engage with someone drunk, irrational, and just mean. She knew she’d never trod on anyone’s marriage ever, and that was all that mattered. “Why are you ignoring me?” She could feel him standing behind her stool. Heather took a small step back but otherwise held her ground. Ryan had to give her credit. She was scrappier than she’d have guessed. “Hey, bitch. I’m talking to you.” Scott was getting louder now, but no one seemed to notice because the music still topped him.
She took another swallow of her drink and regarded him over her shoulder. “You’re drunk. Go home and sleep it off.”
“What did you just say to me? Who the hell are you? You don’t tell me what to do.” He grabbed her shoulder gruffly and turned her around on her stool. She stared at his hand still holding on to her and shoved it off.
“Knock it off,” Heather said. Her hand was trembling, but she held out her arm anyway to warn him away. “You just need to calm down is all. I think this is just a misunderstanding.”
“Get your hand out of my face,” Scott slurred, swiping at it. He grabbed Heather by the wrist and yanked her out of the way, causing her to stumble. Heads began to swivel toward them. When he continued to move in Heather’s direction, Ryan got concerned. She stood and placed herself between the two of them, catching Scott and shoving him away. She was angry and felt like she had nothing to lose. If this asshole was going to play this way, she’d play smarter.
Scott steadied himself and glared at her with bloodshot, angry eyes. “A couple of stupid bitches,” he shouted.
“I guess that’s how your ex-wife likes ’em.” It was a cheap shot, and she should have kept her mouth closed, but she was drunk and pissed off. Scott lunged for her, but she was ready. She hadn’t thrown a right hook since kickboxing class years ago, but she threw one now and nailed him straight in the eye. He stumbled, stunned, just in time for a couple of guys to intervene, grabbing Scott’s arms and holding him back when he lunged forward. He continued to shout at her with his eye scrunched closed. She was corralled away by Patsy and her bartenders but could hear Scott yelling over the music from the front as she apologized to Patsy.
“Completely fine,” Heather said. “Thanks for that. I didn’t know what he was going to do.”
Ryan smiled warily. “I could say the same to you.”
Patsy shook her head. “He’s been looking for a fight. Not the first time he’s caused trouble in here lately. I think his divorce is kicking his ass.”
Ryan could identify with his pain, though she’d never take it out on someone else. She craned her head to check on his status and caught red and blue lights peeking through the open door. Fuck her life.
“Ryan?” the approaching officer asked five minutes later. Only it wasn’t just any officer, it was Tuna Terry from high school because that’s all he ever brought for lunch. “Can we chat about what happened?”
She exchanged a look with Patsy and followed Terry out of the place to see another officer talking with Scott. Fantastic.
“Start at the beginning,” Terry said.
“I was sitting at the bar and he started yelling from three stools down.”
Terry sighed and nodded, attempting a little bit of sympathy.
She finished the story while Terry took notes. The problem? There were enough witnesses that saw her deck him without seeing all the threatening behavior that came first. Whether it was fair or not, she was starting to see how this was all going to play out, and it wasn’t good.
“Really sorry about this, Ryan, but you threw that punch in front of half the town.” It wasn’t entirely a surprise when her hands were cuffed behind her back. Luckily, she saw that, across the parking lot, Scott’s were, too.
“You’d have done the same,” she told him.
“Just between us? Probably,” Tuna said.
Phones came out from the gathered crowd as she was placed in a squad car for the first time in her life.