Despite the cold, a tiny layer of sweet started to form above Lucy’s eyebrows. The rest of her, however, was starting to shake with cold and adrenaline. She wasn’t sure what was going on any more or why Justice was trying to get all the attention. The bar tender could have gone for help. Lucy wished she had. She didn’t want to see any of her friends hurt. She hadn’t missed the way the wingman had a hand in his pocket. Sure Justice could take care of herself, but these were four guys, and at least that one was probably armed. All it took was for one to get in a lucky shot. Why was Justice taking that risk? It might only be half-assed security here, but there was security. She didn’t understand why her friend hadn’t just gone and alerted them.
All the same, she wanted this slimy jerk’s hands off her. She’d ditched him as a dance partner for a reason. She generally liked being touched while dancing, but this one had abused the privilege. As long as there’d been music, she hadn’t bothered to notice how he’d taken his summary dismissal. Apparently, it hadn’t gone over well. With his eyes trained on Justice, it was hard not to try to pull away again; but she knew she needed to bide her time. Moving would draw his attention back to her and maybe throw off whatever it was Justice was trying to do.
But he took the bait when invited to play. This cocky bitch thought she was so badass. He’d knock her down a peg or two. He gave Lou’s hip one last, bruising squeeze and told her, “Stay,” as though she were a dog he could order around. Fucking bastard. She seethed to herself, but at least it got his hands off her.
He was the last to move towards Justice. In the time Lucy’d been distracted, the two fore-runners had moved within range to attack her friend. The wingman had pulled a switchblade from his pocket. It was the kind of thing that glinted and was used to intimidate people with no experience fighting with weapons. It would have terrified Lou. It did terrify her when she saw it in his hand. With the four of them turned away from her, she could have made a run for it to security. Even The Experience would have had to have done something about this. But, something in her cried out against leaving her friend even for a few minutes.
When the big one in front moved to either take a swing at Justice or grab her, Lou took a silent step forward and kicked the one who’d been pawing her in the back of the kneecap, hopping it’d at least take him out of the fight for now. She tried to make the kick count. She didn’t want him getting up again any time soon.