Texas Size Passion (A Cowboy's Heart Book 2) (10 page)

             
Every word that dripped off of his mouth was deadly serious. There was no way he was going to let Johnathon get off scott free with attacking his boss, and putting his hand on his woman with him in the vicinity.

             
His hands lifted up from his sides, and used one to pop his knuckles before the other one would do the same thing. He watched as Emily’s ex-boyfriend glanced around the area in search of something to hit him with before his eyes found him settling in on nearby folding chair that was situated underneath the edge of a table.

             
Seriously? Does he think that a chair is going to help him out in an ass kicking against me?

             
A coy grin danced across the strong features of his face from the thought of this stupid, city slicker using a steel chair  on him in order to have an edge in the situation that he was in at the moment. Shaking his head, he motioned with his hands in his direction while his voice maintained the same intense amount of ferocity in it.

             
“Come on then, Johnathon.” John whispered at him, daring him to make the first move. “I will let you have the first swing at me to be fair with a little punk like you.”

             
His eyes could tell that he hit a nerve with him when he called him a punk. Emily’s former boyfriend’s body started to tremble and the look on his face turned into that of a blind rage at the same time his voice got louder and sounded more pissed off.

             
“I am not a punk, you stupid bastard!” Johnathon screamed out to the heavens in his direction. His hands gripped onto the legs of the folded up chair as tightly as they could as he lifted it up at his side while he continued to make his rant. “I am the man that is going to take Emily Withers away from you once…and for all!”

             
I am really going to enjoy tearing you to pieces, and feed your corpse to the crows, you little shit.

             
John stood his ground as he watched his opponent bring the chair back behind his head, and rush forward with it, aiming to hit him in the head with it. His tall frame ducked down enough to where his head would be missed. He stood up right, and looked to see Johnathon looking back at him in shock. John didn’t give him another chance with it as he wrapped his right hand around his throat tightly, and brought him close to him to hear him whisper to him.

             
“Now…It is my turn.”

*                            *                            *

              “Hang on, Granny Belle.” Emily whispered to her as she used her hands to lift her off the ground, and guide her over to a chair that would put her out of harm’s way. She eased her down onto it, and looked back to where her date and the party crasher were nestled.

             
In that second she chose to look over, John tossed Johnathon down onto the ground with enough force that it caused him to let go of the chair. One of his big boots kicked the chair away from his side before he motioned to him with one of his hands and spoke in a menacing and teasing sound.

             
“Come on now, you little shit-head…Is that all you got for me?”

             
Oh hell yes! 
Her conscience spoke with glee and excitement in its voice from what she was looking at the moment.
Johnathon is finally going to get the treatment he deserves for all of the abuse you have suffered at his hand, and also the attack that he dished out on your grandmother with no regard for her age or physical ability to withstand it.

             
Even though she knew she should be happy at that moment for what was about to happen, Emily couldn’t help but feel nervous about what was to happen before her eyes. There was an unsettling feeling that she was getting off of the scene unfolding her eyes.

             
She soon got her answer when her eyes captured sight of her ex pulling a switchblade knife out of one of his shoes, and point in the direction of where John was standing with the same fierce look of intensity upon his face. It was no ordinary switchblade knife thought that Johnathon was holding, but the very one that he had used to engrave the initials ‘SB’ onto one of her breasts.

             
The visual of the instrument that he had used on her caused her entire body to tighten up with intense and unbridled fear at what he could do with it, and also an overwhelming amount of nervousness about John not being able to get out of the way of it.

             
I can’t stand by and do nothing…I have to do something if I am to have any night left with my date.

             
Emily removed herself away from her grandmother’s sight and rushed forward to where her former companion’s back was facing her. She moved with desperation in her steps across the floor and amongst the people that were watching the fight. Breaking through, her right hand reached out, and grabbed on as tight as she could to his wrist holding the knife.

             
“No!” She shouted. Her voice dripped with a pure need to keep John from getting stabbed or worse with it. “I won’t let you hurt him, Johnathon!”

             
“Get off of me, you bitch!”

             
Despite how tight she was holding onto him, Emily found herself being slung down to the ground by him shoving her backwards. She eased herself to sit up on her side, and looked up to see the face of the man she once loved gazing upon her with nothing but unbridled fury while his hand extended the knife’s blade in her direction, and his voice showed her no sign of the person she loved by the uncaring tone it chose to speak in.

             
“When I get done with this big, dumb bastard,” Johnathon said, lethally, “I am going to engrave on your other breast the same initials that I put on your other one so that way when you look at yourself in the mirror, you will see them and know that you are nothing more than a stupid bitch!”

Chapter Sixteen

              Anger filled John’s heart the very instant that he heard this…this…this poor excuse for a human being state that not only had he put a scar on one of Emily’s breasts to show that she was a ‘stupid bitch’ but that he intended to do the same to her other one.

             
Not if he had anything to do  about it.

             
His body raced forward with the speed of a cheetah and all of the strength that he possessed in his body, and drove one of his strong shoulders deep into the abdomen of Johnathon’s slightly shorter stature, sending them both down to the ground several feet from Emily’s fallen form and causing the denim cowboy hat to fall from the top of his head, freeing his hair to fly around his face a little bit.

             
Sitting himself on top of the unfortunate soul that decided to crash the party, he grabbed him by the hair on top of his head, and forced him to look in his direction while the tone in his voice took on a very dark and sinister sound.

             
“Tell me that you are lying…” John whispered, heatedly, “Tell me that you made up what you just said if you want to live past tonight.”

             
John kept his body nestled atop Emily’s ex while he never removed his eyes away from his. The amount of hatred poured out of every pore in his body while his ears waited to hear Johnathon’s confession.

             
Instead of a heartfelt confession or a quivering, pleading one, his southern goddess’s former flame started to laugh, maniacally, towards him while his voice escaped out in a similar sounding voice.

             
“What’s wrong, John?” He asked, teasingly, “Feeling upset about what I did? No…Perhaps…You feel…jealous of me since I marked her as my ‘SB’.”

             
That was the final straw. He crossed the line with him on that statement. Anyone, male or female, that would get a sick and twisted pleasure from making someone suffer or even carve letters, numbers or symbols into their flesh to show everyone that they were their ‘property’…deserved the worst imaginable punishment.

             
John pulled his free hand back, balled it up into a tight fist, and brought it crashing down towards his face with no mercy shown towards the individual beneath him. His eyes watched as Johnathan flinched out of his pain while his ears heard him let out a disgruntled cry.

             
“You give men like me a bad name.” Every syllable that flowed out of his mouth contained an intense amount of the very anger that fueled his take down of him. “It is because of guys like you that makes it extremely hard on us good guys to show a woman we don’t plan on hurting them.”

             
“You will end up hurting Emily.”

             
“I will never hurt her…She is my whole world and everything. I would never do anything to upset her or make her doubt about being with me.”

             
“You will hurt her…and she will come crawling back to me for my attention and my love.”

             
“Oh really?”

             
“Really-“

             
Unable to control his emotions, he snapped his head forward, and brought their foreheads crashing against one another with tremendous force. He leaned his head back, and watched Johnathon’s eyes clench tightly for a moment before they relaxed with the rest of his newly limp body. John maintained his attention fully on him while his body was straddled over the top of his sprawled out frame, and spoke to him in a soft and serious whisper.

             
“Want to bet on that?”

*                            *                            *

              I have to get up…I need to make sure that John is okay, and that my ex hasn’t done anything to him.

             
With her motivation being on the new love in her life and her desire to make sure he is safe and secure, Emily softly groaned as she pressed the palms of her hands against the hard earth beneath her. She managed to make her way to her feet with the skirt of her maroon and red plaid dress swaying side to side, knocking off some of the dirt that was embedded into the fabric of it.

             
Take it easy on yourself, Emily. Don’t push yourself too hard, and end up hurting instead of helping yourself.

             
She took heed of what her conscience whispered to her, wishing to not injure herself more than she already was at the moment.

             
Her eyes moved over to where John was straddled over Johnathon’s sprawled out body a little ways away from her due to the spear that her new love did on the old one. She drew in a breath of air, and proceeded towards where he was nestled with her hands at the sides of her dress.

             
Please be okay, John…Don’t let there be anything wrong with you.

             
The fear that ravaged her system was that of the new man in her life sitting there with some sort of wound he suffered during the battle with Johnathon. She didn’t want to find him bleeding or about to pass out due to standing up for her, and keeping her from getting hurt by the party crasher.

             
She drew in a single breath of air, and moved a few more feet towards him, leaving the crowds of people there at the party behind her. Emily maintained her attention on him as her voice escaped from her mouth.

             
“John…” She said, softly. Her voice trembled out of the nervousness and dread of the secret that was causing unbridled turmoil deep inside of her body.

             
With her eyes focused on him, Emily brought her body to an abrupt stop upon capturing sight of him turning around, and looking at her with several strands of his thick, black hair hanging down in front of his face and his denim cowboy hat lying off to the side of where he was nestled.

             
The very instant that her eyes met his, a strong urge to run towards him, and wrap her arms around his muscular physique begun to eat away at her. Finding him to not be hurt eased the concern and worry far from her mind, but it didn’t stop the unbridled need she possessed inside of her body for him and only him.

             
Emily waited for him to rise up to stand up with a similar look growing in his eyes before her gaze started to tear up on the spot as a soft breath of relief slipped out of the small opening in her mouth.

             
“John…”

             
Unable to restrain herself for a few more moments, her body raced towards where his was moving to his feet, and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck before burying her face into the crook of his strong neck.