Excerpt
I took a step back from the doorway. The oaf stepped toward me. I tried to think of something to say. There was nothing. These guys had likely been drinking all day, and the time for reasoned discussion with an intruder was long gone.
I took another step backward. The oaf took another step toward me, but his step was unsteady, and he glanced at the ground like maybe it was shifting on him. Alcohol will surprise you like that.
That was my edge. It had to be.
I stepped back again, and just as the oaf lifted his foot to step toward me, I swung. My fist impacted his jaw, and he dropped to one knee. I felt a surge of premature triumph well up in my chest. In the split second where I could have acted, I did nothing, feeling somehow like I’d already won.
From one knee, he launched himself shoulder-first into my abdomen, knocking me backward. He continued the thrust, and I fell to the ground. He fell on top of me, landing with his knee just above my belt. With the pain in my stomach and the sandy ground on my back came the reality of the situation.
Things looked grim.
I rolled the guy off me. He was too unsteady to resist much. We scrambled to our feet, crouched and squared against each other, arms out low in front.
And over his shoulder, between the Mexican tag team duo, I saw the girl, still on the couch with the other oaf. We locked eyes for just a second. Her expression showed the gratitude of the princess for the fool. She was glad that I had stood up for her, but—she knew they’d ride my body out into the desert somewhere, and ride hers all over the carpet.
No. As long as there was life in my body, I’d never let that happen.
Unfortunately for both of us, that might not be much longer.
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