Harrison looked on as the cue ball moved, trying to run the numbers in his head about how it was going to go. But he also knew that if he ahd been any good at that kind of crap, he'd have been an engineer, not a lawyer. So when it tapped the five in, he blew out a sympathetic sigh for her misfortune. He looked back up at her as she protested that she tried, and he did believe her.
"It happens sometimes. But a shame. That favour could have done a lot. Legal help, a phone call to your school to let them know that you're incapacitated and need Monday or Tuesday off so you could extend your vacation for the days, anything I could do, it would have been avaialable to you. But now, I get a question. And you know...I think I'll hold onto it for now. Ask my grand question later. So on that note, I think I should show you the gardens." Harrison swept forward, his way of walking seemed a bit looser, like he was letting his tension out completely. And it felt amazing.
"You only say that because we haven't made you queen yet. Just you wait babe. You'll thank us. Grab her, let's put her up on the bartop." Darien drawled out. He heard someone rattling at the door, and shook his head. Some fucking people just didn't get the idea of a closed bar.
Hrothgar had been all over town, hitting every one of Mallory's haunts, and checking in after her. A bartender had explained that a drunk mallory had left with two men, and these had proved to be the key in finding her. He was standing at the door to the bar, a dive if he ever saw one, and he had most certainly seen more than one. He looked around. The street was empty. And the door was locked. He pulled his jacket off, and rolled his shoulders to loosen them up. He could hear more than a few voices inside and it was never a good diea to go into a place like this, the way he planned, without being ready. He stepped forward, and slammed his foot into the door.
The door din't open like he'd planned, it was bolted to the frame secured with specially tmepered hinges to prevent it from popping out ot eh fram. Intead the door, frame and all, collapsed inwards, a boot print on it larger than most would have thought possible on a man. Hrothgar lumbered into the room, every ounce of him oozing barely restrained menace and violence.
"Who the fuck are you?" Dale shouted, doing up his pants, and stepping in front of him. "You'll be paying for that door you know."
"Move little man. I'm here for the woman. This is your only chance to get out of the way." Hrothgar warned.
"The fuck you gonna do to move me?" Dale asked, spreading his arms in a bring it on fashion. The next movement was too fast to be easily tracked by the naked eye, and it was far too fast to be anything besides apalling on a man the size of Hrothgar. Teh bar chair was a heavy thing, twenty pounds of wood and nails, but it broke like balsa wood across Dale's shoudlers, sending the man staggering, Hrothgar impressed he'd stayed on his feet. When a fist like a cinder block being pushed forward like a pile driver hit his face, Dale felt more than one thing break in his face, adn he was flying through the air. he'd been hit by a car once. It hadn't hurt as much as this.
Hrothgar got a good look at Mallory, and the state she was in. He actually growled, a low sound in his throat that seemed to make him even larger and more threatening. The rest of the gang stood, and lifted things like stools, and pool cues to fight off Hrothgar. The huge man felt his anger, his rage pushing on the bounds of the iron control he'd cultivated. Before he'd learned to reign it in, people had suffered for his rage. And right now, that was what he wanted. He let go of his rage.
With a bellow that seemed almost a physical blow, it had so much force and volume, hrothgar cahrged in. Phil swung a stool at his head. The seat burst apart from a backhand blow from hrothgar's fist, before coming around in a hold that engulfed Phil's entire face. Hrothgar lifted, and swung the man around, letting him go as his back his a support pillar. Phil bent around it, and then dropped, curling into a ball of insensate pain. Terrance lunged in, landing a punch to hrothgar's face that made the man shift under teh blow. Hrothgar grabbed the offending arm, and wrenched. Terrance screamed in pain as his elbow and shoulder both popped out of their sockets, before hrothgar slammed his forehead into Terrance. Head snaping back, mouth bloody and nose broken, Terrance slumped into the bar. A pool cue cracked across his back, and another aimed for his knee. Hrothgar did not worry about his back. He was a professional bodyguard, there was body armour there rated to take bullets. He bulled his way forward, an uppercut lifting James off of the floor, fouling the cue at the knee, but Hrothgar kept th force going, James actually bouncing his head off of the celieng, and coming down to catch a savage punch to the chest that broke most of the ribs in his body. He fell in a heap, five feet distant. Darien lunged in with a punch that would have connected had Hrothgar not seen it coming, and shifted away. he grabbed Darien, adn the two locked eyes for a moment.
"You last." Hrothgar growled, and tossed the man away, sending his back through a table.
he swung around, one arm trailing, beofre coming around in a backhand of huge force, catching Larry in the arm, shattering the bone completely, and still having enough force to send him bouncing off of a pillar, landing beside Phil. Larry looked like he might try to rise, so Hrothgar stomped down, crushing larry's ankle under his boot. The shriek filled the air, adn set Hrothgar's teeth on edge. Gavin had drawn a knife, a long one and he took a stance that said he knew what he was doing. While Hothgar was looking at the knife, Will jumped up, and wrapped arms around Hrothgar's neck, trying to drag him back. Hrothgar reached up, and grabbed Will, hauling him forward. He kept going, drivng the top of his head into teh floor, dazing him, and likely straing his neck. Hrothgar let go, but then grabbed Will's feet, and swung him around, using the man as a living club to smash into Gavin, sending both men into a heap. Hrothgar stepped forward as Gavin pushed Will of of him, and kicked out, the blow sliding the pile of person hard into a set of stools, breaking rib filling the air. Eric threw a bottle at Hrothgar, who let it hit his chest, and then charged. Another bottle was thrown, but it was like trying to turn a freight train aside with a pellet gun. Hrothgar caught him in both hands, and lifted him, carrying Eric to the wall, and slamming him into it with all his strength. The poorly made wall broke, and the man was stuck halfway through it. Turning back around, he saw Darien getting up. And he had a gun.
A shot rang out, hitting Hrothgar in the stomach. He grabbed a table, adn launched it at Darien, making the man move to duck, but the motion made him lose his gun. Hrothgar was right there, and Darined grabbed a broken bottle. He stabbed at the much bigger man. Hrothgar, so intent on putting Darien down, didn't slow as the glass stabbed into his hand, emerging on the other side. That huge hand closed on Darien's own, and squeezed, the crackle of breaking fingers and glass came to both men as Darien tried to pry the iron grip off of his hand. Hrothgar tossed him to the bar itself, and advanced. He cast teh broken glass aside, not bothering to remove the large shard from his hand, but grabbing Darien, adn launching his head at the bartop. The crunch that came showed the bar top was only wood with a veneer on stone on it, and that was all that saved Darien's life, as his head cracked off of it, deforming the wood rather than his skull, and dropping to the floor, one pupil dilated in an unhealthy fashion.
Hrothgar snarled as he looked around for another foe, but none were present. His anger fading to horror, and pity, he quickly went back outside, adn got his discarded jacket. he wrapped Mallory in it, and lifted her. She was not a tiny woman, but she looked no more than a child bundled in his arms.
"You're safe Mallory. You're safe now with me. I've got you. And I'll take care of you." He promised her, carrying her to his car.
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