Bad Company (Seven Deadly Sins #1) ✅ Completed

Chapter Thirty-Five: Throwdown Show-Me Style

Throwdown Show-Me Style

Chase and Brady rolled across the shop floor, punching and kicking each other like something out of an Ultimate Fighter episode. I was too stunned to do more than just watch in frozen horror as Brady rolled on top of Chase and punched him in the face. The sound of his fist making contact with Chase’s face was sickening, but no worse than the sound of Brady’s head cracking against the base of one of the display tables as Chase tossed him off. Then he was back on him like some kind of crazed spider monkey.

Part of me wondered what the best course of action was at this particular moment in time. Stepping in to break them apart was out of the question as I valued all my body parts in the unbroken and fully non-bruised position. Calling the cops would likely invite more trouble than I was willing to entertain. Plus it wasn’t like I could explain why they were fighting, the condition of the store, or even Aunt Celeste’s whereabouts.

I was in a real pickle at the moment.

Dante appeared beside me like the hot, evil ninja he usually was. “Where did the extra jockstrap come from?”  

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. It was like he’d just turned up like a bad penny or something. “What’s his problem with Chase anyway? It looks kind of serious.”

Dante was quiet for a moment. When he answered me, I knew he’d done something altogether weird and mojo-y to get the information. “Looks lilke your boyfriend attacked Brady’s girl.”

“Kara?” I asked horrified. “No way! Is she…you know, ok?” I asked fearing the worse. What if we’d been too late? What if he’d already hurt someone else enough to seal his fate with Asher? Poor Kara. It wasn’t like she’d done anything to deserve that. Well…at least I didn’t think she had.

Dante didn’t look worried. “She managed to escape relatively unharmed. Just scared mostly. I bet she doesn’t try that whole bikini stunt with any other guy for a while though.

“Thank God.” Then the second half of that commentary registered. “Wait…what kind of stunt now?”

Another loud hit brought my attention back to the two guys going at it in my great aunt’s store. As we watched, Chase hit Brady a few more times until he was thoroughly down for the count. He rose off him slowly and turned around to face us. 

“I would back up now if I were you,” Dante said like he was ordering a taco. I was about to ask why when it became crystal clear why he just warned me to step back.

The second Chase saw Dante next to me it was like he totally snapped. He roared and launched himself right at Dante. I screamed and scurried backwards, watching as Dante easily deflected Chase’s wild blows. After a few of these, Dante delivered a strong chop to the neck.

I sucked in my breath, hardly breathing as I watched Chase grab his own throat, turning a horrific shade of purple. He opened his mouth but it didn’t look like he was getting enough air into his windpipe and down into his lungs.

“Dante, don’t kill him! He can’t breathe!” I screeched.

“Calm yourself. He’s just stunned. It’s only temporary.” And as I watched, his color slowly returned back to normal andI let out a breath in relief.

It was short-lived.

Moving faster than I thought possible, Chase went after Dante again. This time screaming and cursing like a madman, “I saw her kill you! You were dead! I saw her kill you, you freak!”

Ok, that didn’t seem like normal trash talk to me. That sounded more like some deep-seeded issues.

Dante seemed to be done playing with Chase now because he grabbed him, turned him roughly around and put him in some kind of rear-naked choke hold. Chase struggled, reaching behind him trying to grab hold of Dante, but he stayed easily out of reach. Squeezing tighter, he pressed on Chase’s neck until his arms dipped a little before dropping down to his sides. He fought one last time, before passing out cold.

When he was sure he was out, Dante dropped him unceremoniously to the floor. I looked around at the latest layer of destruction in the small shop. If I’d thought the place looked bad before, it was absolutely nothing compared to round two.

My eyes fell on Brady’s prone body. “Think he’s ok?”

“He’s breathing with no internal injuries so I’d say he’ll live.” Dante shrugged.

He was all heart that one. “What are we going to do with him? I bet Kara or someone else will be looking for him here.”

“I’ll take care of him. You just watch lover boy over there.”

I looked worriedly at Chase. He seemed nonthreatening all passed out like that, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to risk staying here alone with him for even a second. “What if he wakes up?”

“He won’t,” Dante answered simply.

“How can you be sure?” I persisted. Usually I wasn’t this big of a weenie, but Chase’s hulk mode was scary. I wasn’t interested in any of that fury being directed at my annoyingly necessary internal organs and highly functional, yet ridiculously breakable bones.  

Dante only rolled his eyes at me as he walked over to Brady. He grabbed the large jock and threw him over his shoulder without so much as a grunt. If I’d tried to pick him up…well, that was just stupid because that could never happen in the real world.

He turned to me, the quarterback on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, “I’ll be right back. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“What? Like accidentally waking up my psychotic boyfriend so he can take out all his pent up frustration on me while no one’s around to protect me or find the remains?”

“Exactly,” Dante replied without so much as another backwards glance as he left with Brady. I heard the sound of a car peeling away and figured Dante was taking Brady and his car somewhere less suspicious.

After he was gone and I’d had a few minutes to calm my jangled nerves, I walked over to where Chase was still lying on the floor. He hadn’t twitched so much as a muscle since passing out. He looked so peaceful now – like he was in a deep sleep. Well, only if he normally slept face down among broken bric-a-brac in a creepy old lady's store.

I bent down to make sure he was still breathing when his eyes snapped opened.

I didn’t even have time to scream before Chase was on me.