Page 9 of Minotaur Bar (Minotaur Bar #1)

I watch as Tess leaves the bar to head to the customer bathrooms, my heart hammering in my chest.

Why isn’t she using our employee one? I don’t want her out of my sight right now.

The air is wrong in here.

The energy is rife with conflict.

The bulls are fucking raging tonight.

I’m fulfilling more orders as I hear a fight erupting somewhere to my right.

“Fucking hell!”

I cry out, doing a visual sweep behind the bar to see if Tess has returned. When I come up empty, I start to panic. Leaving Cash behind to handle drinks himself, I run to find red.

The hallway by the bathrooms is flooded with bulls.

There’s a group of them that are getting squirrely, facing off and yelling obscenely at one another.

I start trying to thread my way through to them when the first clash of horns happens.

And that’s when I see it.

A flash of red.

My red.

She’s pinned against the wall and trying to free herself, but the fucking brutes are going at it, and she can’t break away.

I’m scrambling as I do what I can to reach her, but the scent of copper permeates the air dishearteningly.

I see the horn slice into her side, my world shattering.

I freeze for a second as the terror on her face holds me in place.

I try to will myself to move, but I’m so fucking scared she’s dead that I seem to be broken.

She grabs her side and drops to the ground.

A few seconds later, I see the nearest bathroom door opening.

I pray it’s her that went inside. Hoping that she’s at least capable of moving and now safe allows my body to spur itself back into action.

Adrenaline floods my system. I begin to throw bulls in every direction to get to the dickheads who hurt my red.

“You’re all eighty-six’d!!”

I scream.

“You drew the blood of my bartender! You’re lucky I don’t fucking kill you myself!!”

I’m livid.

I can smell her blood in the deep recesses of my snout.

It’s a fucking nightmare in hell and I’m living it in real time.

A couple of my regulars help me haul the banned bulls out of the hallway.

My long-time friend Duke, an older bull who has been coming here since I opened my doors approaches me.

“Where’s Tess?”

he asks frantically as I point to the bathrooms. She’s got to be in there or I’ll lose it.

“She’s hurt. I’ve got to get to her. Can you help Cash hold down the bar?”

I reply quickly as he nods, pushing me towards the bathroom.

“On it, Havoc. Go make sure she’s ok!!”

I nod, turning away. My fist pounds on the door desperately as I reach it.

“Red!! Open up, babe. Please! It’s me! It’s Havoc! Red!!!”

The entire sentence flies out of my mouth in a flurry of worry.

I’m pleading to any god that has ever existed that she isn’t dead on the floor.

I have no idea the extent of her injury.

And every inhale I take is forcing the smell of her blood deeper into my snout.

I hate it. I feel like my heart is breaking. I’m berating myself for allowing her to work here when I finally hear the lock slide open.

“Stand back, babe! If you can. I’m coming in!”

I yell as I try to push through the door gently. In reality I feel like I’m barreling in. Luckily, she’s by the sink. I throw the door shut and re-lock it.

Tess is bent over the faucet, blood covering her hands as she breathes shallowly. She’s shaking and I can tell she’s out of it. “Havoc,”

she says weakly.

“I’m sorry, I tried to get back to the bar.”

“Are you seriously apologizing to me right now when you’re fucking hurt, red?”

I ask as I surge forward. Her cheeks are already wet, but I’m assuming my tone is what brings the next onslaught of tears pouring out.

“Hey, babe. Shhhh. You’re safe. I’ve got you. Shh, shh, shh.”

I hold her small head to my chest as she leans her weight against me.

I repress a groan because fuck, it feels good.

To feel her on me.

And I don’t like that she’s hurt at all, but I like that I’m the one here with her now in her time of need. Being able to provide for her.

“I can’t look at it. I’m scared,”

she cries softly as I nod above her.

“I’m going to take care of you,”

I answer soothingly as she nods her pretty head and buries her face further into my chest. My fingers grip her hair like I’m afraid she’s about to disappear and leave me standing here alone in the bathroom, covered in her blood.

“Let me look at it, babe.”

She whimpers as she looks up into my face.

I can almost taste the fear radiating off her.

She’s absolutely terrified.

It’s a side of Tess I’ve never seen before, and I hate it.

I hate this more than I can express with words.

My girl has always filled the room with her magnetic energy and right now, she looks so fucking small and human standing before me.

“Just keep watching my face, red. Don’t look down, ok?”

“Ok,”

she says almost inaudibly. My ears twitch as they pick up the sound. I remove her hand, wishing I hadn’t as blood seeps angrily from the wound. Even though the gash is deep, she hasn’t been impaled.

That was my worst fear. It sliced right through her thick waistline. There’s a large flap of skin that needs stitches.

“I need to get you to a hospital,”

I say as she immediately protests, shaking her head.

“I don’t have insurance, Havoc. It’ll be so expensive to get seen at the ER and I’ll be even more in debt!”

She sobs, collapsing into my body again.

“I can patch you up, babe. But it won’t be pretty. These bull hands were only made to finesse pussy, not stitches,”

I say, completely serious before red let’s a bubble of laughter escape her lips.

“Please, cookie,”

she says with the most adorable pleading expression on her face.

“Cookie?”

I ask, taken aback. She bites her bottom lip, her cheeks turning as red as half her hair is.

“Fuck. That’s what I call you in my head. But if I’m being truthful, I’ve wanted to say it to your face for forever,”

Tess says with an embarrassed smirk. Gods, do not get a stiffy right now Havoc. Do not, I repeat, do not get a hard-on.

“Fuck, I’m your fucking cookie then, red.”

“Yeah?”

she says breathlessly as I nod.

“But I’m a little fucked up at the moment with you bleeding all over the place. Let me take you upstairs so I can patch you up, babe.”

“Havoc, I’m scared,”

she whispers again, her fingers digging into my sides and gripping my hair.

“Me too, babe. I’m a mess seeing you like this,”

I reply. Before she can protest, I scoop her up into my arms by throwing her own around my neck and securing my forearm under her perfect ass. I use my hand behind her back to hold her injured side.

It takes some finessing, but the hand under her juicy butt is able to open the door enough for me to wedge our bodies between it and finally escape.

“Move the fuck out of the way!”

I bellow to all the bulls on the other side.

Without any hesitation or questions, the sea of minotaurs parts as I walk my girl and myself through it.

There’s an unnatural quiet that follows the stares of the bulls as we march through the crowd.

They can smell red’s blood.

The deep shameful energy that follows makes me feel somewhat satisfied.

Despite their fucking bullshit behavior most nights, I know these males hold a great affection for Tess.

They don’t want to see her hurt anymore than I do.

I can feel Tess shaking as I carry her up the set of stairs that leads to the small apartment above the bar.

She must be in a ton of pain.

I’m able to unlock the door, getting her inside to a more secluded, quiet place, even if it’s clunky as hell as I do it.

I set her down on the island in the kitchen, immediately grabbing a bottle of Jack for her.

“Drink up, red. This shit is gonna hurt.”