a sorority sweatshirt. You expect me to believe you’ve never pissed in front of strangers before?”
Her eyebrows pinched together in a well-groomed pout. “Not sober.”
“You expect me to believe you’re sober?”
The girl giggled and swayed. “Don’t listen.”
Mack covered his ears, squeezed his eyes shut, and faced the corner as the girl shut herself in the stall. This would go down as one of the ten weirdest moments of his life. When he heard the toilet flush, he let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. A moment later, the girl walked to the door. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”
Mack winked. “I don’t piss and tell.”
The girl giggled and walked out.
He turned around to find Liv glaring up at him. “Is there anyone you don’t flirt with?”
“Jealous?”
“You wish.”
“We gonna talk about that kiss?”
She gave him her back. “Nope.”
“Coward.”
“What’s there to talk about? It was a fake kiss, and now it’s over.”
He bent until his mouth brushed her ear. “It was a good kiss, and you’re a horrible liar if you expect me to believe that you were unaffected by it.”
She elbowed him. “You’ve read too many romance novels.”
“And you haven’t read enough.”
Someone knocked again. Liv whipped around and slapped her hand over his mouth.
But it was just the girl again. “They just left, in case you were wondering,” she said.
“Let’s go,” Liv said, throwing open the door.
Mack stopped her at the end of the hallway. “Let me look just to be sure.”
He peeked around the corner again. More people had arrived, making the small room seem a lot smaller. But there was no sign of the hulking men. Liv walked up behind him. “Well?”
“I think it’s safe.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her beside him. Adrenaline settled, and he finally voiced the nagging question hanging in the air. “How the hell did they know we’d be here?”
“Maybe they weren’t looking for us. Maybe they can see Jessica’s Facebook too.”
“Why would they follow Jessica?”
“I don’t know. Royce is unhinged.”
Mack tried to duck around a group of drunken assholes that had date rape written all over them. “Excuse me,” he said to one of them.
The asshole swung around, all belligerent and wasted. “Excuse you.”
For fuck’s sake. “Just trying to get around you, pal.”
“Yeah, well, find another way, pal.”
One of Asshole’s friends noticed Liv. “Hey, darlin’,” he slurred as he swayed into her personal space. “Want to party with ush?”
“Back it up,” Mack ordered, blood pressure rising.
“Fuck off, man. I’m talking to her.”
Liv stepped forward. “And now I’m telling you to back it up.”
“Ignore my friend,” another of the guys said. “He’s just drunk.”
“You don’t say,” Liv deadpanned.
“Come on, now,” he said. “Why so mad?”
“Maybe because we’re just trying to get out of here and a group of walking Tinder fuckboys decides to be assholes.”
Asshole Number One sneered. “God, what a cunt.”
Mack saw red. He grabbed the guy’s arm, twisted it, and had him chest-to-bar in one second flat in a move he’d learned as a young bouncer. The guy let out a bellow of pain, and the crowd around them gasped and jostled to watch or get out of the way.
“Apologize. Now.”
“Get the fuck off me, man.”
Liv tugged on his arm. “He’s not worth it, Mack. Let’s go.”
Mack gave him another shove and stood. Asshole swung his arm around, missed Mack, and instead hit a pitcher of beer, sending it sloshing onto the floor and all over a woman standing nearby.
She swore and smacked him.
And hell officially broke loose.
“Mack! Watch out!”
Mack looked up to find Liv crawling over the bar. She pointed, but it wasn’t in time. He felt the bash of a fist against his jaw, and lights exploded behind his right eye. Mack stumbled back but righted himself quickly enough to ward off another blow from one of Asshole’s friends.
The next thing he knew, Liv was standing on the bar, yelling at the cowering bartenders to call the cops.
“Get down!” he yelled at her.
Asshole Number One took another swing, and Mack hit him in the gut. He doubled over and went down on one knee. People screamed and ran. Jesus Christ, what a fucking nightmare. He’d never had a fight in one of his own clubs. Never. Two bouncers shoved people out of the way and ran into the fray. Just in time to hold back one of Asshole’s friends from going after Mack again. But not fast enough to stop the two women who were still fighting off to the side from knocking over a barstool