The Gamble

“Enough?” Max repeated, towering over him.

Damon was coughing and he lifted one hand to his ribs then he pushed to his feet.

“Damon, boy, stay the f**k down,” a man urged.

“Come on, Maxwell,” Damon taunted stupidly, wriggling his fingers at Max.

“Be smart,” Max replied.

“Fuck that,” Damon said and lunged again, lifting a fist too slowly, Max easily deflected it then landed quick blows to Damon’s belly, both of them causing Damon to expel painful-sounding “oofs”. Then Max caught him under the chin and Damon flew back and fell down to his behind.

“Stay down!” another man shouted.

“Enough?” Max asked, standing over him.

Damon kicked at Max’s feet but Max casually stepped away.

“Dick!” Damon spat, saliva flying from his mouth, blood dripping from his lip.

“I asked if you’ve had enough?” Max said to him.

“Enough of that twat, Mindy?” Damon sneered and Max’s body, loose for the fight, got tight.

“You’re the dick!” Becca yelled and I looked to my left to see Arlene and another lady had hold of her and she was straining to get at Damon. I looked to my right to see Mindy, pale and visibly heartbroken, staring at Damon and Max.

I moved to Mindy and put my arms around her, she instantly leaned into my body, wrapped her arms around me and put her head to my shoulder.

“You’ve had enough,” Max decided on a mutter, turned away, dismissing him and his eyes came to Mindy and me and even though I knew he wasn’t mad at me the look on his face still made me shiver. “Jeep,” he clipped.

I nodded. “I’ll run and get our purses.”

“I’ll get them for you,” another lady said and took off.

Damon pushed to his feet behind Max.

“Max, he’s up,” a man informed him and Max, now two feet away from Mindy and me, turned around.

“Come back tomorrow, ass**le, get all her shit. Don’t want her back,” Damon said to Max, swiping at his lip with the back of his hand.

Mindy made a funny, sad noise and my arms got tighter.

“Her name’s only one on the lease, Damon, figure you should get your shit out. I’ll be there, you give me the keys,” Max called back.

“I ain’t f**kin’ movin’,” Damon returned.

“Then you get home from work tomorrow, your shit’ll be in the snow,” Max told him.

“Touch my shit, we got problems,” Damon threatened.

“We don’t already got problems?” Max asked the obvious.

Damon glared at him then made another threat, “This ain’t over.”

“Damon, be cool, stand down,” someone advised but Max, apparently, had had enough.

He walked back to Damon and Damon tried not to appear to cower and mostly succeeded since he didn’t retreat but he still looked a bit scared.

“You mistreated what amounts to my sister and backhanded my woman, how is it in that scenario that you’re put out?” Max asked quietly but loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Mindy and me ain’t none of your business,” Damon shot back.

“There isn’t a Mindy and you,” Max returned.

“Your woman put her hands on me,” Damon accused accurately but he was beginning to sound like he was whining.

“She’s wearin’ heels, boy, but she’s five foot seven, you got five inches and at least a hundred pounds on her,” Max replied and I figured he was being a might bit generous with the weight but I wasn’t going to correct him, mostly because he wasn’t done talking. “And, lastly, she’s a woman. You don’t ever strike a woman in anger.” Damon continued glaring and Max continued speaking. “I’m feelin’ generous since you’re bleedin’, so I’ll point out you should learn a lesson from this. A man hurts your woman, you take yours from that man. You never take it from your woman.” Damon just kept glaring at him so Max asked, “You got me?”

To which Damon muttered, “Just f**k off.”

Max’s back was to me so I couldn’t see his face but he didn’t speak and I suspected he was examining Damon to see if he was really that dumb. Deciding that Damon was indeed really that dumb, Max shook his head, turned and walked away.

“Here’s your bags.” The lady who ran to get them handed both to me.

“Thanks, um…?” I said, looking at her face.

“Jenna.”

“Thanks, Jenna,” I whispered, she nodded to me and I led Mindy to the Jeep.

The lights flashed as we walked to it and I knew Max was behind us. I helped her into the back, tossed our purses to the seat beside her, moved to the passenger side door and saw Max there.

“You okay?” I asked, looking at him but he didn’t answer.

His fingers and thumb caught my chin and he tipped my head up to look at me in the outside lights. His face, I noted, was no less scary and it got scarier when the entirety of it went hard and tight when he looked at my cheekbone.

“Max, I’m okay,” I whispered but I wasn’t. Now that the commotion was over, my cheek stung like crazy.

“Need to get ice on that soon’s we can,” he muttered.

“Mindy should stay at your place. That man is… I don’t trust him.” I was still whispering.

“Yeah.” He was still muttering. “She’ll stay with us. Get in, I’ll talk to Becca, I want her stayin’ somewhere else tonight too. I’ll be back.”

“Okay.”

He let my chin go and the backs of his fingers drifted along my jaw before he moved away and jogged to Becca.

I got in and turned to Mindy. “You’re staying at Max’s, okay, darling?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking out the window.

“Mindy, look at me, sweetheart.”

She didn’t look at me. “He hit you.”

“I’m okay.”

“He hit you. I saw it. Becca saw it. Max saw it. Everyone saw it.”

“Sweetheart, I’m okay.”HESHEHshehe

She started crying silently, I knew because her body was moving with her sobs and I crawled through the two front seats and got close beside her, pulling her into my arms.

Max got in and looked around his seat to us, his face, even in the shadows, I could see was still angry. Mindy didn’t lift her head or stop crying.

“I’m going to ride back here with Mindy, is that okay?”