Page 52 of Midnight’s Captive (Stroke of Midnight #2)

Taryn walked through the door to the bar and into the middle of a brawl.

Someone took a swing before she was halfway through.

She grabbed the door with her free hand and shoved it into his face. With the power of her cyberarm behind it, she knocked him out cold.

Taryn looked down as she stepped over him. One of the pimp’s buddies.

Sonofabitch. The whole place was chaos.

Jed and a few other old timers sat at a high table at the edge of the action. He saw her and raised his glass in a salute.

Taryn would’ve smiled if she hadn’t needed to duck.

Another fist flew at her.

This time she raised her left forearm deflect the blow.

Tiny keys scattered all over the floor as the keyboard caught the punch.

Fuck!

Taryn dropped the keyboard frame. She’d find another for Ash later.

Right now, she had to end this motherfucking brawl in her goddamn bar.

Broken keyboard guy came at Taryn again. This time she was ready for him.

A right cross shattered his jaw. A knee to the balls dropped him to the floor.

He curled into a fetal position, easy to step over as she advanced toward the bar.

Another black-clad figure charged her.

She sidestepped and he rammed into a table.

Idiot.

Taryn dodged, punched, and kicked her way to the center of the brawl.

Like the eye of a hurricane, nothing was happening there. The pimp stood in the middle, Giselle’s beautiful dark hair wrapped around his hand.

He watched the chaos around him, a smirk on his face.

“Let her go.”

He turned a quarter way around to look at Taryn. The movement put Giselle’s head at a sharp angle and she cried out in pain.

The sound amped up Taryn’s rage, but she couldn’t let concern for Giselle distract her. All her attention had to be on the monster hurting the girl. “Let her go,” she repeated, her voice soft and cold.

“No. She’s mine,” he said with a sneer.

His words took Taryn back to a time and place she thought she’d escaped. The previous Jack had done the same to her. Claimed her like a piece of property.

She’d broken free. Now she helped others. It was that sense of rightness, of purpose that shook her free of the memories.

“Wrong answer. She’s mine.” Taryn imbued the word with all her feelings—rage, protectiveness, love. The pimp would never understand the difference in their world views. Giselle was Taryn’s to protect, not to own and abuse.

Taryn reached for the hand he’d speared through Giselle’s hair.

The fine motor controls of her arm had been the best she could afford at the time. Since then, she got them upgraded regularly for occasions just like this. She grabbed his hand and exerted pressure.

Controlled pressure, carefully calibrated to squeeze until his fingers opened. He hissed in pain.

“Can you get free?” she asked Giselle.

The tiniest of nods.

Taryn could tell she was afraid of getting hurt, but the fighting spirit Giselle had shown from the beginning was still there.

Giselle tilted her head and tried to free her hair without moving her body.

Nothing happened.

“I need you to hurry up, honey.” Taryn could hold him for a while, but she hated having her back exposed like this.

“You’re going to pa?—”

She exerted more pressure on his knuckles and the pimp’s threat cut off.

His grip loosened some more and Giselle freed herself. She scrambled backward like a crab to get out of his reach.

Taryn continued to hold his hand while she pondered what to do with him. He kept turning up. She couldn’t allow that any longer.

He struggled in her grip. “I’m coming for both you bitches! You’re gonna regret this!”

“Shut up, asshole.” Taryn twisted his arm until he whimpered and hunched over.

Giselle took advantage of his position and slammed her fist against his jaw.

Bone crunched and Taryn winced. That didn’t sound good. Not that he didn’t deserve it.

Giselle’s exclamation of pain was drowned out by the pimp’s wail.

“Shit, that hurt!” Giselle didn’t let the discomfort stop her. She cradled her right hand for a moment and then kicked him in the balls.

“Nice!” Taryn said with a nod. She approved of kicking assholes when they were down.

He squealed in pain and sagged to the ground. One hand cupped his balls and he tried to tug his other hand free.

Taryn let go because she didn’t want her hand anywhere near his balls.

He moaned and rolled on the floor.

Giselle slammed her foot down on his hip, holding him in place.

Damn, Taryn was proud of her.

“Behind you!”

Giselle’s warning gave Taryn the time she needed to duck. She spun on her heel and slammed an elbow into her attacker’s throat.

He dropped too.

Fists at the ready, confident Giselle would keep the pimp down and warn her if anyone else approached, Taryn turned a slow circle.

The pimp’s crew were all sprawled on the floor in pain.

“Anyone else got a problem?”

The room fell silent.

Someone clapped.

What the hell?

Taryn surveyed the room again. It was Jed. His clap was uneven and obviously caused him pain, but he kept going.

Then more and more people joined in.

Dani, Giselle.

Other patrons.

Her bouncers.

What was going on?

“Stop it.” The applause got louder. “No, really, stop it.” Taryn pitched her voice above the applause and put her meanest tone into it.

This time it worked.

The clapping slowed. Got quieter.

Then sputtered until it was only a few of her employees.

“That was amazing,” Dani said.

Giselle wrapped Taryn in a hug.

Taryn didn’t know what to do with her hands, so she awkwardly patted the girl on the back. Hugging would definitely ruin her rep.

Taryn disentangled from Giselle.

Jed stood next to them. Taryn really hoped he didn’t want a hug too.

“That was pretty badass, Jack,” he said.

Taryn looked around the room. Most people were getting back to the business of drinking. A lot of them were on their phones.

Ugh. That couldn’t be good.

“Are you sure? I think the Jack’s reputation is going to take a hit.”

Jed barked out a laugh. “Oh no. Your rep will skyrocket if it hasn’t already. You kicked his ass, girl. Plowed right through the crowd, knocked out all comers, and kicked his ass. People are going to be talking about it for days, how you protected your own.” He pierced her with a shrewd look. “You’re going to get more business out of this, not less.”

“Probably lookie-loos who just want to walk on the wild side.”

“Lookie-loo credits spend just as well as everyone else’s.” He looked skeptical. “I think you’ll be surprised, though. They’ll come and they’ll want to be a part of this. They’ll want to be part of the Jack’s, too.”

Credits were a bright side. The rest...

“I don’t know, Jed. That sounds like I’m weak. None of the other Jacks worried about protecting anything but the bar and themselves.”

“Look where it got them,” he said quietly. “Dead and alone. You’re definitely not dead, and even before this you weren’t alone.”

He was right. Even before the bar was hers, people had helped her. Sometimes just a little, but it had kept her going. That was what she tried to bring to the girls and to the regulars.

“Are you one of mine?”

“Damn straight! As long as you don’t give away my seat at the bar to any of the newcomers.”

“Never,” she promised.

Taryn felt better after talking to Jed. Who’d have guessed?

She’d built a family. A reputation. And now it looked like those two worlds were colliding.

She didn’t know how to feel about that.

She couldn’t dwell on it because Dani chose that moment to give her another hug.

“That was amazing. I’m so glad you’re not dead.”

Taryn held the hug another second, then stepped back. “Sounds like you didn’t have much faith in me.”

“I did! Compete faith. But I figured the pimp and his guys would cheat.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Dani looked at her in surprise.

Taryn had surprised herself. “Can you handle the cleanup?”

Dani looked around the bar and nodded. “What do you want to do with the trash?”

“Tie them up—tight. And put them in the basement cells. We’ll have to come up with a more permanent solution later.”

“Where are you going?”

“I need to finish this thing with Ash.” She hoped he was still fighting.

Dani’s face fell.

Taryn added, “In a good way.”

If Taryn could have her reputation and her family, maybe she could find a place for Ash and Hope in that mix. A way to use her reputation to make them hers.

Taryn patted Dani on the shoulder then retraced her steps. The keys were scattered all over the floor. Some had been crunched under feet. Others were probably lost. She didn’t have time to pick them up. Fortunately, she had an idea that didn’t require the keys.