“He won’t be a problem, if you’re worried about a lawsuit.” Mason stepped forward.
“Let him try,” I said.
“Logan.” Nate shook his head, giving me the motion to cut it out.
Fuck them. I motioned to Nate and Mason, bending down to grab the dipshit. “We’ll take care of him.”
“Wait. I mean—” The guard gave us a nervous look. “What are you going to do? Give me something here to work with.”
Mason grabbed Eric’s legs, and Nate pushed his way through the crowd, making an opening for us. When we lifted Eric in the air, I said, “We’ll take him to the hospital, make sure I didn’t do any permanent damage. How about that? Can you work with that?”
“I don’t know, man.” The guard still seemed torn.
Taylor moved next to me. “I’ll go with, if that’s okay?”
“We’ll be down a bartender then.”
“Let her go. I’ll step in.” A guy arrived and took in the scene. The name tag clipped to his shirt read Manager.
“Are you sure?” Taylor asked.
The guy waved her on. “Go. Get him out of here before he wakes up. I don’t want to deal with paperwork. As far as I’m concerned, this is a domestic problem. Not a bar problem.”
He stared at Taylor as he said the last part, and I got his message. This was on her. I was about to let him know this was on me, not her, when she nodded.
“Yes, sir.” She touched my arm. “Let’s go. Please.”
I nodded, and Mason and I carried the ex-boyfriend out of the bar. When we got outside, Taylor pointed to her car. “You can put him in the backseat.”
“No way in hell,” I said. “He’s going in my Escalade.”
“You sure?” Mason asked.
I nodded. No way was I letting this guy further hurt Taylor, not if I could prevent it.
“Taylor?” A voice came from the parking lot.
Taylor cursed, and I recognized the same friend who’d interrupted us after sociology this morning. Claire…? I think. Taylor talked about her a few times. She was the female counterpart to that dipshit Delray. Both were Taylor’s friends. Earlier she’d been on cloud nine. This time she seemed transfixed by the unconscious dude. She stopped a few feet away and pointed. “Is that…?”
Taylor nodded.
Her friend’s arm dropped. “Oh.”
Nate laughed. “He walked into Logan’s fist.”
Mason grinned and added, “Twice.”
Taylor’s friend turned to me. I flashed her a grin.
“Oh.” I could see the wheels turning, and she got stars in her eyes.
I would’ve stepped back and held up my hands, but they were occupied. I could only shake my head. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m not some knight in shining armor. The guy had it coming.”
She turned to Taylor. “I’m not disagreeing with you, but whatever. It’s all over social media that the Kades are here tonight. You weren’t answering my texts, so I figured I’d see if you were with them.”
Mason frowned. “It’s on social media?”
Nate groaned, cursing under his breath. “Uh…” He gave us an apologetic look. “I might’ve posted that we were going to Pete’s tonight.”
“Why would you do that? All these people know our hangout now.”
Nate rolled his eyes. “Because unlike the new you, I want chicks to show up.”
My eyes narrowed. “I still feel like punching someone. You could be that someone.”
“Stop.” Mason threw both of us a warning glare. “Let’s deal with this guy, then hash out whatever is going on.”
“Taylor, stay.” I nodded toward Claire. “Talk to your friend. We’ll load him up.”
And once Eric was in my backseat, Mason shut the door and rounded on us in the parking lot. “Nate, what’s your problem?”
“Nothing.” He pointed through the window to my unconscious passenger. “Let’s head out. This guy is going to wake up soon.”
Mason held back, still watching me.
I gestured for him to go. “I’ll be fine. I mean it.”
“You sure?”
I nodded. “Get the fuck out of here. I’ve got an ex to interrogate. We can figure a plan later.”
Mason grinned and lifted his hand in a wave. As the two of them left in Mason’s car, I glanced back to the bar and saw Taylor heading my way. I walked over to meet her. I didn’t want her to have to see her ex any more than necessary.
“Jason’s gone,” she said before I could speak.
Good. “Really?”
“Claire’s been trying to call him, but he wasn’t answering. So she called his roommate instead. He’s completely gone, like he packed up and everything.” She stopped and tried to clear her throat. Her voice came out hoarse. “He said there were two letters left behind. One for me and one for Claire.” She looked over to my vehicle. “What the hell are you going to do with him?”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t thinking that far ahead, to be honest.”
“Logan.”
“What?” I grinned at her. “I’m being the supportive guy. I punched your ex for you. Punching’s my thing. It’s what I do.”
“I thought you were the talker?”
“That, too. Tonight it was punching.”