pushing and shoving, trying to throw their opponent off balance while keeping their hands in their opponent’s hair.
***
Whiteshirt began to slide out of the booth to go break it up, but Ironside put his hand on his friend’s arm to still him. “Let it play,” he said softly. Honey had been running her mouth pretty hard for the last month, and he wanted to see if she had the tits to back it up. She was a pretty good fuck, but regardless of what she thought, she didn’t own him. Right now it was just some hair pulling, pushing, and threats.
***
“Bitch!” Honey snarled. She’d been a club girl one place or another for more than ten years, and she knew how to handle herself, but she was normally bigger and stronger than her opponent. This chick was going to be a handful.
Peyton had enough. She took a half-step back, bending at the waist slightly to open some distance between them, then fired her knee into the crotch of Honey. Honey saw it coming, and twisted, blocking most of it, but grunting in pain as the blow reverberated through her body. As Honey moved to block the blow, she loosened her grip on Peyton’s hair and she was able to jerk her head free. She released her grip on Honey’s hair, took another half step back and fired a jab into her face.
***
Ironside saw Honey’s knees wobble, then she sat down hard. “Go break it up,” he ordered.
Whiteshirt slid out of the booth as Peyton took a step to stand over Honey. “You want me to bring you anything else?” she sneered.
The larger woman didn’t appear to want to go in for the kill, so Whiteshirt only took her by the arm to restrain her. “That’s enough!”
“No!” Honey said, rolling to her feet while wiping at her bloody lip. “That damn sure isn’t enough! I’m going to take that bitch apart!”
Whiteshirt stepped between the two women and pushed Honey back. “Knock it off!”
Honey tried to do an end-around on Whiteshirt to get at Peyton, but he pushed her back again. She couldn’t leave it getting knocked on her ass like that! Not in front of Ironside! She turned to her lover.
“Babe! She got in a lucky shot, that’s all! I can take her! Don’t stop me! Let me finish it!”
Ironside eyes flicked between the two women. The new woman must have a punch like a gorilla, and she stood cool and relaxed, her eyes never leaving Honey. She wasn’t bragging or egging her on, just waiting, her hands still clenched into fists.
“If she wants to finish it, let them,” he ordered.
Whiteshirt looked at him a moment then turned the woman loose and stepped out from between them.
“I guess I’ll have to bring you the full service ass-whipping,” Peyton said as she took a step back and put her hands up in a fighting stance.
The moment the Saracen bitch took a step back and settled into her stance, Ironside knew it probably wasn’t going to go well for Honey, but she wanted it, so he was going to let take her shot.
“Don’t interfere,” Honey said with more bravado than she felt. The bigger woman had hit her harder than any other woman she’d ever faced. She punched like a goddamned man, and she was going to have to get inside and get dirty.
Ironside nodded. “You heard her,” he told Whiteshirt.
Whiteshirt took another step back to get out of their way. Like Ironside, he suspected Honey had bitten off more than she could chew, and now she was going to choke on it.
***
Honey charged in, slamming into Peyton and they went to the floor in a tangle, knocking over chairs and scattering tables. She might not be able to punch like the Saracens’ bitch, but she had a few skills of her own.
Peyton fired an explosive left at Honey as she charged in, but it glanced harmlessly off her head. She wanted to stand off and punch, using her greater reach and skill to her advantage, but as they crashed to the floor she knew it was going to be a