Little did she know that fighters often joked with their fists. And seriously, Armie wouldn’t shy away from a little one-on-one practice with Cannon, but he really wasn’t up for it if he could avoid it without losing face.
Yvette was barely out of hearing distance when Cannon said, “What the hell happened to you?”
Pretending not to understand, Armie asked, “What?”
“Someone—maybe a small crowd by the looks of it—beat the shit out of you.”
Giving up, on at least that small bit, Armie admitted, “There were four of them.”
Disbelief narrowed Cannon’s eyes. “Only four, huh?”
“I got blindsided by the first one. Before I realized it, they were on me.”
“I hope you sent them limping away.”
“Pretty much.” But not before taking a good dose of punishment, which maybe he’d had coming. “Now let’s talk about you.”
Cannon shook his head. “I’m not done with you yet.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Who and why?”
Damn it, he didn’t want to get into this. He couldn’t get into it. “I was snooping, if you have to know.”
“Snooping where?”
Near your house. “Let’s just say I suspected a lady was being used by a scumbag prick who isn’t good enough for her.”
Snorting, Cannon said, “Using, as in the way you use—”
“Hey, I’m always up front about avoiding monogamy.” Bragging a little, he added, “And we both know the ladies use me in return.”
Since he couldn’t deny that, Cannon said only, “Go on.”
“This lady is different.”
One of Cannon’s brows went up. “Meaning?”
Yeah, dumbass. Explain that one. Armie took a minute to swab his face again with the towel. “You know what I’m saying.”
“She’s a nice girl?”
Real nice. The nicest. Too damn nice to get used. “Something like that.”
The other brow joined the first as Cannon studied him. “Since when do you concern yourself over nice girls?”
“Hey, I don’t sleep with them, but doesn’t mean I want them abused.”
Cannon kept staring at him.
“What, damn it?”
“I’m trying to picture you as a white knight, but the image isn’t coming together. Too much rust in the metal.”
“Fuck you.” Disgruntled over the interruption, Armie huffed. “You want to hear it or not?”
“I’m all ears.”
Lying ass**le. He was all grins and harassment. “So I was doing some surveillance—”
“Alone?”
He worked his jaw. “Interrupt one more time and I swear to God—”
Cannon gestured for him to continue.
“I was alone, checking up on things, and I guess the bastard saw me. Only instead of facing me man to man, he sent his buddies after me. One of them hit me in the back of the head hard enough that I f**king saw stars and—”
Cannon grabbed his ear, using it to twist him so he could investigate.
“Goddamn it, Cannon.” Flinching, Armie tensed all over. His head still felt like it might fracture into pieces and his temples pulsed. “Lighten up.”
“Stop whining.” Cannon searched through his hair, pressed, whistled low and let him go. “You sure you don’t have a concussion?”
“I might after you manhandling me!” Smoothing his hair back over the massive goose egg, Armie grimaced again. “I don’t know what they hit me with, but it left me stunned long enough for them to knock me to the ground.” Amid a bunch of heavy boots and bad intentions.
“They didn’t kill you,” Cannon said, “so I assume you caught your wind?”
More like instincts had taken over and he’d done what had to be done to survive. Muscle memory could often be a lifesaver. “Yeah. I kicked out a knee.” That guy would be limping for a good long while. “Nutted the other f**k.”
“Good for you.”
“The third nearly stove in my ribs before I caught his foot and got him down on the ground with me.” And then Armie had made him regret the error of his ways.
Remembering brought him a little satisfaction. He cracked his aching knuckles.
“Give me some names.”
Oh, shit, Cannon sounded calmly furious—which boded well for no one. “Let it go. It’s my business.”
That perked him up. “Personal?” And then with more disbelief, “Over a woman?”
Armie gave him a dead stare. “Yeah, imagine that.”
Shaking his head, Cannon said, “Can’t.”
The antagonism cracked, and Armie ended up laughing. Seriously, he did not get that involved, had no interest in a relationship and avoided nice ladies as though they had thorns. “Yeah, me either. Let’s just say I felt like busting some heads and almost got caught up in more than I could handle.”
“Four against one sucks.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
Cannon did that damned annoying quiet perusal of his, dragging it out until Armie felt like stomping away.
Finally he said, “I wouldn’t mind busting some heads, too.”
Dressed and showered after his workout, headed for the front door, Stack heard Cannon and paused beside them. “Whose heads are we busting?”
Cannon nodded at Armie. “The ones that did that to him.”