Page 68 of The Fallen Man

“You no call. Then I show up.”

“I don’t have to call you,” she said.

“You talk to me. You give me what I want. I’m running out of patience.”

“Whatever it is you want, I don’t have it. Leave now or I will have security throw you out.”

“You give me what I want little????or you will regret it.”

Caitlin swallowed hard, but shook her head. “Fuck off—” She hadn’t finished the words when the man grabbed her by the neck, pulling her toward him across the bar.

“Fuck!” yelled Aiden in surprise and punched the man in the face.

The man let go of Caitlin, clearly stunned, and then lunged at Aiden. Still half-way across the bar, Caitlin reached down and grabbed the first thing that came to hand—a Jack Daniels bottle and swung it at his head. It made a heavy clunk and he staggered backward, but it didn’t finish the job. Aiden stepped between her and the man, hands up, clearly ready to make her problems his. The man shook his head and looked around the ever-widening circle of horrified guests. Caitlin could see the security team pushing their way through the crowd. Apparently, so could her attacker because with one final head shake he turned and began to run for the door.

Caitlin slithered off the bar, intending land on her feet, but ended up sitting down on the floor.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Ella was around the bar crouching down to look at her. “Katie, are you OK?”

“Here,” said Aiden coming around to join her. “Let’s get her into a chair. Maybe in the back?”

“I will handle this,” snarled Vince, rounding the bar.

“No, she’s hurt,” said Aiden.

Vince ignored Aiden, half-picked her up and hustled her into the back hallway. There was a busted down chair there and he plopped her into it.

“What the fuck happened, Katie?” he asked, bending down to look her in the eye.

“Bill collector, I think,” she whispered. “I don’t really know.”

Vince stood up and took half-step away, speaking urgently into his walkie-talkie. Caitlin shook her head, feeling shaky now that everything was over. She saw Aiden and Ella come into the hall and waved weakly.

Vince took a half-step between her and Aiden and Ella as if Caitlin needed protection from them as well. Ella ignored him and went around him to hug her, then pulled Caitlin’s collar down with gentle hands to look at Caitlin’s throat.

“I’m fine,” Caitlin croaked.

“You should get ice,” said Ella. “I’ll find you ice.”

“No,” she said smiling at Ella. “No, I’m OK. Thank you.”

“Did your guys get him?” asked Aiden, still looking at Caitlin, but half-turning to Vince.

“He had a car waiting,” said Vince. “They got the plates. Katie, what do you want to do?”

“Call the cops,” said Aiden.

“Maybe she doesn’t want to,” snapped Vince.

Caitlin looked at the three of them. She knew she should, but the idea of facing one more sour-faced cop made her guts churn. “I can’t, Vince. I can’t. Please don’t make me.” She rubbed at her scalp, trying not to dig in with her fingernails. That only led to continuous anxiety ridden scratching.

“Katie,” said Aiden, “we’ll support you. We saw what he did. We’ll make statements. Whatever you need.”

She smiled at him. That was incredibly sweet. “It’s nottonight,” she said. “It’s the six months of having to deal with it and then finding out they released him anyway. And that’s if they arrest him in the first place. I just… can’t.”

Aiden was distressed and exchanged a look with Ella, who promptly hugged Katie. “Whatever you want to do,” she said.

“There’s usually a twenty-four-hour window on these things,” said Vince. “If you change your mind tomorrow, we can still call it in.”