Tell Me

Chapter Twenty-Four

There were times when having a backstage pass was very convenient. This would be one of those times. No one seemed to care that Gabe’s pass was for a different event or that he was a drummer, not a cage fighter. He had free run over the backstage area and with unbridled fury coursing through his veins, he was searching for one man.

The lowlife could not get off without punishment; Gabe wouldn’t allow it. He was about to inflict some Texas-sized justice on his ass, if only he could find the prick.

After asking around, he found Dick Bailey sitting on a bench, taping his knuckles. He was already dressed for his fight, and Gabe wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but this huge hulk of a man was more than he had bargained for. That, however, didn’t stop him from sucker-punching the fighter in the mouth and knocking him from the bench.

Dick climbed from the floor, pressing the back of his hand to his bleeding lip.

“What the hell?” he said in an impossibly deep voice. “Who the fuck are you?”

Gabe was several inches over six feet, but this guy towered over him and outweighed him by a good fifty pounds of solid muscle. Gabe supposed if he’d retained a shred of intelligence, he’d have been terrified of such a massive dude, but he was too pissed off to think clearly. And the idea that this beast had used all that muscle to rape a woman, and not just any woman, but someone who Melanie loved dearly, caused Gabe to lose his mind entirely.

He advanced on the massive fighter, just wanting to hit him and hit him and never stop hitting him. A sense of satisfaction suffused Gabe as his fist connected with Dick Bailey’s gut.

For some stupid reason, Gabe wasn’t expecting the guy to hit back. Or for the force behind the blow to knock the wind out of him.

“I don’t know who the fuck you are—”

“The cops might have let you go, but I’m a whole ’nother story,” Gabe said.

“The cops? Of course they let me go. I didn’t do anything.”

Gabe managed to hit him in the face this time. The return blow felt as if it dislocated Gabe’s jaw, but damned if he cared.

“You don’t think raping a defenseless woman is wrong?” Gabe yelled.

“Is she your sister or something?” He sidestepped Gabe’s next punch. “Look, dude, I don’t know what she told you, but I did not rape her. We got a little rough maybe, but she said she wanted it that way.”

Gabe might have believed him—God knew Nikki was a master of manipulation—but he’d seen how emotionally torn up she was. That wasn’t an act. Even if this jackass didn’t think what he’d done to Nikki was rape, she’d been violated body and soul. She was a victim. Gabe believed that from the depths of his soul and he was done talking. He’d come here to kick some ass, and he wasn’t leaving until he was satisfied that he’d done the job properly.

After he’d been pounded on a couple times himself, however, he decided that perhaps a job mediocrely done was sufficient. He got in his licks, but the retaliating blows soon had his head swimming and his body protesting its punishment.

Perhaps he should have challenged this guy to a match of wits instead of fists.

“Had enough?” Bailey asked after several minutes of bruising give and take.

Gabe was happy to see that the big guy was breathing hard. He personally felt as if his lungs had collapsed, but he was not giving up. He refused to give Dick Bailey the satisfaction of rendering him unconscious or defeated.

Gabe was somewhat relieved when security came to break up the fight. He wished he’d been able to beat the guy down, but at least he himself was still standing. Someone grabbed him by the back of the shirt and hauled him toward the exit. By the time he found himself face down in the parking lot, his shirt had been ripped clean off.

“Get out of here, punk. Before we call the cops.”

He knew they wouldn’t let him back inside to finish the job. He climbed to his feet and spat gravel out of his mouth. Or maybe it was teeth. Gabe tipped his head back to send the flow of blood down the back of his throat as he considered his options. He wouldn’t mind getting arrested. What he did mind was that Dick Bailey was only going to have one black eye while he was pretty sure he’d be sporting two.