Half Blood Read Free Page B

slamming into his neck, just under his ear. Most people didn’t know about the bundle of nerves there. The asshole’s eyes rolled back in his skull before he passed out; his face colliding with his coffee and the table top with a loud, fleshy slap.
    *
    Jerry launched himself over the counter and ran to the back of the café where Indi’s customer had just slumped over in his chair. Dark coffee dribbled down from the top of the table and onto the carpet beneath.
    ‘Indi? What the hell?’ he demanded. She was holding her knife against her leg, her expression gone past reasonable. He could practically see the rage coming off her body. Jerry looked down at the table, expecting to see a huge pool of blood, but was relieved to see none. Looking back at Indi, he asked, ‘Well?’
    Movement in his peripheral vision caught his eye. Turning his head, he saw Rhett moving towards them, slipping his huge frame in between him and his sister. He bristled, but didn’t understand why. He looked into the warm colours of his heterochromous eyes and waited.
    ‘It was my fault,’ Rhett said calmly. ‘I accidently elbowed him in the face as I was trying to take her away.’
    Over Rhett’s shoulder, Jerry could see Indi’s shocked expression at what he’d said. Rhett had just lied for her, but why? He didn’t owe her anything. With Indi still fixed in his gaze, he asked, ‘Is that true?’
    Her haunting eyes were glowing slightly and she nodded. ‘I was resisting him. I tried to elbow him and he elbowed the customer. Sorry,’ she replied just as calmly.
    A low moan escaped from behind them. They all turned to see the customer coming to. Jerry pushed them both aside and went to the man. He had to get him out the back and cleaned up as quickly as he could. Sliding the man’s arm around his neck and taking his weight around his waist, Jerry lifted him and started moving towards the storeroom. The customer’s head lolled about as he shuffled them both towards the door. Looking at his profile, Jerry took stock of his injuries; noting the swelling and the cut to the bridge of his nose. Blood trickled out of one nostril; one bright, red drop threatening to take a nose dive from his chin and onto his ridiculously expensive suit.
    He shoved the door closed behind him with his hip, placing the guy down onto an upturned milk crate. As he leaned him against the wall, the bastard suddenly came back to life again, pushing Jerry away and pitching wildly to his feet. Jerry took a few steps back with his hands outspread before him until his butt hit the edge of the sink.
    ‘I’d sit down if I were you,’ Jerry told the man in a flat voice.
    The guy’s charcoal eyes fixed on his, and there was nothing friendly in them. He now had a death grip on his nose, trying to stop anymore blood from ruining his Tom Ford suit and silk tie.
    ‘Sit down,’ Jerry repeated, giving him his back to look for the first aid kit that was supposed to be under the sink. When Jerry turned around again, the bastard had sat down, but didn’t look at all happy about it.
    The guy had his head tipped back now, trying to stem the faster flowing tide of blood from his nose. ‘You should fire that girl,’ he growled; the sound coming out with a nasal cadence.
    ‘Thanks for the suggestion,’ Jerry replied indignantly, pulling on a pair of surgical gloves and cutting the top of the saline tube off with a pair of scissors from the kit. With a clean square of gauze, he squirted the solution onto it and held it out for the man to take. ‘Dab this against the cut on the bridge of your nose.’
    After an unfriendly look, the man took it and held it to his face.
    ‘Has your nose stopped bleeding yet?’ Jerry asked after a long minute of absolutely stifling silence. The man released his index finger and thumb from his nose carefully and breathed in deeply; his eyes starting to water with the effort.
    ‘You should go to the hospital. I think it’s broken,’ Jerry said