The CEO and Her Driver

Chapter 29

Some people have fantasies of hot men fighting over them. I mean they make love triangle stories for a reason right? Edward versus Jacob from the Twilight Saga.  Will vs. Jem from The Infernal Devices Trilogy. Ahn Min-hyuk versus In Guk-doo in the Kdrama Strong Girl Bong-soon. That weird period where show writers thought about pairing Rachel with Joey instead of Ross in the show FRIENDS.

People feed off of that rival love triangle crap. But I had ZERO desire to be the focus of one of those brawls. Especially when I knew it was just a mind game for one of them and he was going to pummel Tate into the ground, not because he was a boxer, but because he fought dirty. And something deep inside of me was screaming at me to move. To stop them because I knew Tate wouldn't fight dirty. And I didn't want Ashton to be right. I didn't want to be the reason Tate broke.

So I moved, shoving past people, heart hammering in my chest, blood roaring in my ears as I watched Tate stand up, no longer 'nice guy.' He was utterly done. He hadn't seen me yet and I couldn't get my voice to work.

Ashton hadn't moved from his spot at the counter, looking deceivingly calm. But his posture was taught, ready to strike the moment Tate tried something. And as Tate lifted his arm, ready to clock Ashton right in the face, I reached them, yanking Ashton out of my seat by the hood of his jacket. But my timing was off. Terribly off.

Because now Ashton was on the floor and Tate's hand came hurling towards my face where Ashton's had been a moment before. And I didn't have enough time to move away.

It was the second time that day I had seen stars. The first was when I had kissed Tate. And the second was when Tate's fist hit me in the face, causing me to lose all sense of reality, crashing stars into my vision. One was the best moment ever and the other was...

THE

WORST.

"Allie!" Tate shouted as I stumbled backward and tripped over Ashton, my heel landing on his hand. Ashton howled in startled rage, which was the only bonus for having gotten hit in the face.

Landing on my butt in the middle of Ramen Mania, I had about two seconds of staring at nothing and everything in a startled daze before my brain rebooted and I took my chance, jumping on Ashton and slamming his head into the tiled floor. Rage surged through my body, wild and chaotic. Erasing all sense of right, wrong, and civil behavior.

I grabbed him by the hair, knowing that if he got a moment to think, it would all be over. He was over twice my size. I was a fighter, but he had bodyweight and professional training on his side. And unlike Tate, I had ZERO intention of fighting fair.

So I slammed his head into the ground again before ramming my arm into his stomach cutting off all oxygen. Blood poured down on him from my nose, covering him in my blood like some gory trophy.

I got a final kick into his prized jewels before I felt a pair of arms yank me off of Ashton. "Let me go!" I bellowed, angry at having my pent-up rage-pummeling session cut short.

"Allie!" Tate shouted, pulling me further back from Ashton who had just managed to sit up, eyes glaring at me from under a small puddle of blood that dripped down his face from my nose bleed.

Then Tate turned me around to face him. "I think you made your point," he said, voice steady, but eyes over my shoulder, pinned to Ashton with a clear, 'if you come over here I'll kill you,' look.

Plucking up a napkin from the counter, he pressed it gently to my nose. I winced, but took the napkin from him, avoiding his eyes... And every set of eyes in the restaurant that had watched me jump on a guy like a wild creature. You sure know how to make an entrance...