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There’s a roar as the crowd moves back, and I hear more shrieks and yells as Jake lays into my ex. Derek knees him, and the two shifters roll.

Girls in short dresses and heels stagger away as Jake lands on top and continues pummeling Derek. Two burly guys in black T-shirts burst through the crowd. One of them makes a grab for Jake and earns an elbow to the jaw for his trouble.

Finally, the humans manage to peel the two shifters apart. Derek is thinking clearly enough to let one of the bouncers yank him to his feet, but Jake just keeps on swinging — his face a mask of lethal rage.

Somebody screams as his fist slams into Derek again, and that sound seems to bring him to his senses. His body goes slack, though I can see a muscle working in his jaw as the bouncer marches him through the crowd.

Carmen catches my eye through the sea of people and mouths, “What the fuck?”

I shake my head, still buzzing with adrenaline. The truth is, I have no idea how things escalated so quickly.

In the six months we were together, Derek never uttered a derogatory word in my presence. He never put me down, and he was nice to my mom.

Our breakup had been amicable — or so I’d thought. I guess he was a lot saltier about me never sleeping with him than he’d let on.

It wasn’t personal. I hadn’t been that into any of the boyfriends I’d had in high school. When I went off to college, I’d dated a little, but it was never anything serious.

Derek and I had only been seeing each other for a few months when I had my accident, and I broke up with him three months into my recovery.

For six months after the wreck, I didn’t think about anything except dancing again.

The doctors were uncertain if I ever would, but there was no doubt in my mind.

Ihadto dance again, or there was no point in living.

First, though, I had to sit up. Then I had to stand. After that, I had to put one foot in front of the other and take my first step.

For months, I fought to dance. There was no room for anything other than reaching that goal. There certainly wasn’t room to think about sex, which was why I’d cut Derek loose. I couldn’t afford to have any distractions, and Derek had seemed all too happy to let me go.

I suppose I could have found time to date in the nine months I’d been in Boston, but I was stupidly holding onto my V-card. I could kill Derek for throwing that in my face.

I let out a huff and storm after the guys, if for no other reason than to make sure they don’t kill one another. The bouncers shove them into the alley, which smells like rotten meat and French fries.

The harsh orangish light from the street lamp falls across Derek’s face, and in that moment I realize that I don’t know him at all.

He wipes the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, tosses me a filthy look, and limps toward the sidewalk. Jake watches him go, shoulders tense, and I don’t know what to say.

All the defensiveness I felt on Jake’s behalf disappears, leaving an icy fury in its wake. While I hadn’t expected Derek to lash out like that, I could have dealt with his insults. In fact, him doing a complete one-eighty and making an ass of himself saved me from having to make awkward small talk at the wedding and deflect any we-should-get-back-together vibes.

But Jake attacking him made his insults more public and searing than they’d been when they were just words.

I can’t go back inside the club. It was clear to anyone watching that they were fighting about me, and it’s all the other bridesmaids will be talking about.

Carmen’s friends are nice enough, but I’m sure some of them have pigeonholed me as “Carmen’s Latina friend fromthe neighborhood.”

As if this weekend wasn’t going to be awkward enough with Derek as Rowan’s best man, now I have to interact with him after he said all those horrible thingsandgot a rise out of Jake.

I’m not sure why that last part bothers me so much. Maybe because it makes Jake seem like the thuggish hothead that Derek implied he was. But that’s not Jake, and I can’t stand for an asshole like Derek to walk away thinking he was right about him.

Grinding my back teeth together, I turn on my heel to walk around to the front of the building, pulling out my phone to call an Uber. I’ll text Carmen from the car andexplain what happened. She’ll be bummed that I had to call it a night, but she’ll understand.

“Where are yougoing?” Jake’s voice is a low growl that makes my insides quiver.

I don’t understand how Jake still has this effect on me after all these years, but right now, it just pisses me off.

“Back to the hotel,” I bite out, not turning to look at him.

I’m not sure if I want to deck him or kiss him, and that pisses me off even more.