musesandlyrics | 5.1 HG Wells Quote
5.1. "Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo."
H. G. Wells
[co-written with notskywalker & tacticalmind]
It was a weeknight, so The Bondi wasn't very busy except for a steady trickle of musicians coming into jam with others, and a few people having some casual drinks after work. Luke was up in New York for a few days to get the paperwork done, so while he wasn't technically working, he was there behind the bar because he couldn't help himself. Leila technically was on shift, but she didn't actually need to be there because there was plenty of staff to cover the patrons. She had come, though, and brought Rob along with her, mostly so she could catch up with Luke for a little while. After chatting on and off about their Part Three's issues with not getting any newlywed sex, Luke paused in his polishing of a tray of glasses and pointed with one to Rob who had struck up a conversation with a small bunch of sailors at one of the booths across the bar.
"Should I be worried about the quality of my booze? I've offered him freebies all night and he keeps sticking to orange juice. Saving his mojo to pound you into the mattress later?" he asked in amusement, shaking his small towel out and putting the clean glass into the tray. "You know what they say, a guy's cock stops working properly when he's pissed."
"Is that what say?" Leila asked as she smirked at him. "I could have sworn it was more like a guy's cock doesn't get a chance to start working once he's passed out. You experienced some issues with the wife?" She leaned on the bar, and watched Rob. Her expression shifted as her eyebrows drew together. "He went out on the piss with Mike. Needed to get hammered after his appointment with some blokes on the base. The ones that decide if he's fit enough to go back to duty, or not."
Luke watched the military posse for a few moments and then shot Leila a wry look. "Bad news, then? I mean, don't get me wrong, he's looking better than he has since you brought him back, but I got a feeling he was a little off his game. Still friendly enough, though. He doesn't seem to have any trouble striking up a conversation. How have things been going for you since he got back?" He watched the scene for a few more moments and then smirked at Leila. "I think there's a chick asking him to dance."
Leila shrugged a shoulder as she pulled her mouth to the side before lifting her glasses to rub tiredly at her eyes. "It wasn't the greatest, but I have yet to needle much information out of him. Mike just said that he's got to wait about six months, and they offered him a training position. Apparently that's military speak for 'we think you're fucked, here's a desk job'. He wouldn't see combat again. He will be feeling like he's let himself, his country, and everyone else down." Leila sighed. "Can't blame him for wanting to get drunk. He really was pissed as a fucking skunk, though. I even got dirty voicemails, and texts. Mike thought I'd want his testicles as payment for getting Rob drunk." Leila had been laughing a little, but it stopped as she straightened up, eyes fixing on the chick talking to Rob as she watched. "That better be all she's asking him."
Luke nodded. "Fuck, yeah. That's some friggen huge cross to bear. What, does he just feel like he's turfed out now, used goods? Doesn't it even matter that he was hurt doing what he does? Isn't he a Sergeant now? What the fuck does a desk job mean in Sergeant realms? But then, he'd stay in the country then, wouldn't he? You wouldn't have to worry about him getting sent away or blown up again. Is he really that fucked up?" He smirked, though, raising an eyebrow at her. "How dirty? If he made sense, I'm as jealous as all fuck of him. Every time I try it, it looks like I'm speaking in tongues. How much do you want to kill her right now?" The woman was leaning on the table in front of Rob, clearly trying to give him a view right down her top. Rob held his left hand up, indicating his wedding ring and then pointed in the direction of the bar with a laugh. Still, the woman wasn't that deterred.
"Yeah, pretty much. He feels like he's worth shit now. At least, that's what Mike got out of his drunken ramblings. I don't think it much matters that he got hurt right now. He's just feeling like he's been dumped out with the trash." Leila gave a small shake of her head. "I don't know. Training other soldiers to do what he can? Yeah, he'd stay. And no, I wouldn't... for six months at least. They seem to think he is, and Mike's worried about what he's starting to remember." Leila snorted. "No, you're safe. I think I could just tell he was meaning them in a very dirty way. I'm sure Tab still appreciates your tongue." Leila's teeth bared a little when she realised the stupid bimbo wasn't letting up. "A lot. Fucking whore needs to work out how to stick to single guys."
"Am I allowed to ask him about it or hasn't he spoken a lot to you yet? I don't want to piss him off if he's still trying to wrap his head around. Even six months out of action is a hell of a long time for someone who is usually like top in the action game. Does he seem fucked up to you? I mean, you're with him the most, you share his bed. What about fucking? Please tell me you're still fucking, because I would go out of my mind trying to figure out how to help you and Andy in that capacity." Luke started to take some bottles out from under the bar to restock the spirits. "You are so jealous. Your jealous streak can be fucking scary. I still want to know how he would react if someone tried cracking onto you. I say he's got a streak of temper in there somewhere. Have you ever seen it?"
Leila turned enough to reach out and tug on Luke's hair before ruffling it affectionately. Then her eyes were back on the stupid cow trying to get into her husband's pants. She picked up a wedge of lemon from the container behind the bar and sucked on it before she took aim, and tossed it at the bitch. "You can ask him if you want, it's fine. I'm hardly going to make you wait for him to talk to me. I'm just taking it easy on him at the moment. He had a killer hangover that lasted a while, and he's still... a little tender. He's trying not to seem different, but he is. We're still fucking, so you're safe there. Rob's very keen now he can move properly. Or as close to. Shit, I still don't know how to help Andy. I tried, and failed." She raised her hand to blow a kiss to Rob when he turned to find out where the lemon had come from. "Scary? Me? Don't be silly. I'm an angel. Rob told Mike as much. I say he's got one too, but I haven't seen it. You're just evil."
"An angel?" Luke snorted with a laugh, but he was looking at her with a far from innocent look in his own eyes. He scanned the length of his bar and then without a word, moved to the end of it, leaning over to have a brief conversation with a guy sitting there on his own. Luke kept his back to Leila so she couldn't see what he was saying or what he was doing. When he returned to her, he flashed her an innocent, butter wouldn't melt, smile and reached up to drop a fresh bottle of vodka into the holder, shaking it to get the bubbles to the top. "Why haven't you talked to him? Because he was hungover? I guess he was boozing to drown his sorrows, he was a write off but at least Mike was with him. Did he make sure Rob didn't hump a bar stool or something? What's your plan of action, just leave him to brood on it, hope he'll say something when he might not if he really has a buggered head right now? Andy's a lost cause right now. I was over there earlier and Sex and the City reruns were giving him a boner."
Leila narrowed her eyes as she watched her cousin, but it wasn't as if she could accuse him of doing anything. For all she knew he was just serving someone. Only no drinks were poured, and she didn't even know if he knew the guy. "I tried, but he really was just in a lot of post binge pain. He drunk nearly a whole bottle of whiskey on his own. I'm glad Mike was with him, even if my other soldier's wound up with a guilt complex. Poor boy needs a decent shag." Leila tilted her head. "Seriously? Fuck... I knew it was bad, but that is bad." Leila noticed the man Luke had spoken to start to move up the bar, and she followed him, something not feeling right. "Lulu, what did you do?"
"It's bad. He needs to talk to her, but she's doing a good avoidance job. I get a feeling he's right, she's scared he'll knock her up again, then she'll have another miscarriage." Luke poured two drinks, scotch and soda, placing them on the bar in front of Leila. "It's not easy to talk with your head in the shitter, either. That much booze and he had to be barfing up a few vital organs. No wonder he's been sticking to juice all night. His stomach probably isn't attached to his GI tract anymore." He was smirking at her deviously by now, but didn't say anything in response to her question. In fact, he was interrupted when the guy he had been talking to came up beside Leila with a smile. Luke took the opportunity to purposefully knock an empty glass tray onto the floor behind the bar, causing a loud crash when it hit the ground and, as hoped, it caught the attention of Leila's soldier.
The guy leaned in close to Leila. "Hey, I hear you work here," he said to her, smiling. It wasn't sleazy. In fact, Luke deliberately picked a guy Leila couldn't just thump in the face by default. The guy was a lawyer, and cashed up. That's why Luke picked him for his evil deed. Luckily he did let the guy in on what he was doing and offered him free drinks for the night.
Leila had looked for Luke to thump him in the face instead, but her cousin was hiding, so now she was stuck with the suit. She was all too aware of her husband being metres away, and she hoped like hell he was looking elsewhere. "That's right. Please don't tell me you're going to try and ask me to do my Coyote Ugly impression. I might have to knock myself out."
The guy tilted his head with a small smirk. "Was never much a fan of that movie. I prefer my drinks served off a bar without boot prints all over it," he told her with a laugh. He leaned in even closer so their shoulders were touching. "I have a confession to make. Your boss offered me free drinks for the rest of the night to make it look like I was hitting on you. Something about testing your other half's loyalty."
Rob's eyes hadn't left Leila since the tray was knocked behind the bar. At first, nothing looking amissed. Luke was behind the bar, Leila was sitting in front of him where she had been most of the night. But then some asshole was walking up to her and talking to her, which was enough to get Rob shifting in his seat, though he had hesitated when one of the sailors asked him where he was going. Maybe the guy just thought Leila was someone else. But when he touched her, it was not fucking on! He was out of his seat, swooping over to the guy and banging his hand down on the bar loud enough to set the glasses in the vicinity jumping. "What do you think you're doing, pal?" he demanded, leaning close into the guy's personal space. Up the bar, Luke just stood there, smirking but had the decency to try and hide it.
Leila had actually jumped when Rob slammed his hand down, and looked between him and the stranger that her allegedly loyal cousin had apparently made an arrangement with. "Rob, it's fine," she told him. "We were just talking." She tried to give the guy a look, and then just cleared her throat. He really was stupid for accepting free drinks off Luke when her other half was an Army guy. But then Rob wasn't in uniform, so it wasn't completely obvious. She now had him permanently ruffled and the top button of his shirt undone, unlike the first time he had walked into Luke's.
"That's right, mate. Talking. I don't see anyone else keeping her company," the guy returned with a smug smirk. "Gorgeous girl like this should have someone to snuggle up to, keep her nice and warm at night."
Rob just looked at the guy for a few beats, his face expressionless at first and his stillness giving out an air that he wasn't going to react further. It was only long enough to lull the guy into a false sense of security before he swung back and belted the guy firmly in the face and then seized the front of his suit in a rough grip that had his knuckles white. He forced him up against the bar, leaning over him with a few inches above him in height, sneering as he ignored the blood trickling down the guy's face, their noses barely two or three inches apart. "No one fucking touches my wife, mate!" he growled and kept the guy pinned to the bar. "I don't fucking care who you are or how much money you have, if I see you in pissing distance of her again, I'll smash your fucking face in so hard you'll be ordering your drinks through your fucking ass!"
Luke hadn't actually anticipated Rob would take such drastic measures. The suit wasn't the only one lulled into a false sense of security. Luke thought Rob had been about to prove him wrong and politely warn the guy off. Actually, he expected a bit of a heated verbal exchange and maybe a bit of shoving, but fuck! He hurried over to the scene with a stunned, "Rob, Jesus Christ!" The guy's nose was pouring with blood and his eye was rapidly turning black. It wasn't just a small smack to face, the guy was lucky to still be conscious. He grabbed a bar towel and a handful of ice to wrap up. Hopefully this wasn't going to cost him more than drinks, but at least he had learnt something - to never fuck with Leila's husband, who clearly was a silent assassin, kind and civil until he had a reason not to be. He asked the guy to look like he was cracking onto Leila, not actually flare the situation up like this. It probably would have been a lot of help if Rob's dog tags had been visible before the force of nearly thumping a guy out had them falling from behind the collar of his shirt.
Rob gave the guy another firm shove with his elbow and then released the handful of the suit to step back. He pointed at the guy, and then nodded in the opposite direction, a deep scowl on his features. "Get away from her," he told him calmly, yet his voice was hoarse and strained. Luke hurried out from behind the bar with the makeshift ice pack, shooting Leila a look of disbelief, and he pulled the guy out of Rob's vicinity, who was now cursing but managing to apologise with a string of repeated 'They better be doubles!'. He took the guy into the staff room to make sure he was okay, but more importantly, wasn't going to sue or have Rob arrested for assault.
Leila was still wondering what Luke had been playing at, and met his look of disbelief with one of disapproval. Then she looked at Rob, her eyes darkening as the surprise at his outburst shifted to something else. She couldn't help it. She could definitely be possessive but no other guy had ever been the same about her. No one had smacked a bloke in the face on her behalf, or threatened to make them order drinks through their ass. It was also the first time she'd ever seen Rob really angry. Leila moved up to him, sliding from her stool as she snaked an arm around her waist and leaned in close so that only Rob could hear her. "You need to take me home, Sergeant."
It was possible she'd find the suit again and apologise. Maybe even try and explain it away as Rob having difficulty dealing with his recent trauma. Or maybe not. It was hot watching her husband in action, and she was more concerned with getting back to their place so she could show her appreciation. Away from the suits, and the sluts in short skirts. She noticed the woman from earlier was now looking at Rob with something more akin to fear, than any kind of sexual interest. Good, Leila had her husband all to herself again.
Rob cleared his throat and rubbed a hand over his mouth. He did realise there was maybe a slight overreaction on his part, but he saw red. The asshole's comments didn't help. He had maybe let his anger hover slightly too close to the surface lately, which made it hard to reign in when it flared up. He looked over Leila's face quietly for a few moments. "Just talking?" he asked her. It wasn't that he doubted her, he just had to know that really hadn't pushed as far as he had verbally suggested he would. Rob could see now just how protective of Leila he had became, and it did maybe stem a little from being cheated on by his previous wife. This was just a tiny portion of the whole thing, though. He really did not want any other bastard thinking he could just help himself to Leila, whether it be by touching her or otherwise, and he felt slightly sick to think how this would have played out if he hadn't been there.
Which caused another train of thought to jump into his head, and he frowned again, waving his hand in the direction of where Luke had disappeared with the bastard. "Why the hell didn't Luke say something to stop that?!" he asked her. "He threatens me not to hurt you, but let's some fucking asshole practically feel you up in front of him?!"
"Just talking," she replied quietly, and cupped his face with her hand to keep his gaze on her. "I wasn't inviting anything, I didn't instigate anything, he came up to me. And it should have just been talking, but the prick went one step too far." At the mention of Luke, Leila winced, and sucked on her bottom lip. She wasn't sure if she should dump him in it in case Rob hadn't quite calmed down yet. Plus it wasn't a funny situation. She couldn't imagine Rob laughing about being set up in this manner. "I don't think he realised what was going on until you'd already stepped in."
Rob was looking at her uncertainly, but glanced briefly in the direction Luke had gone. He eventually nodded, blaming the uncertainty on the adrenaline rush. His side was hurting a little from the force of the punch, but it was just a reminder to him that he didn't regret belting the guy at all. He was definitely still on an adrenaline high and needed to get rid of it in some way. Maybe he wasn't exactly quite finished marking his territory either. He caught Leila's lips in a deep kiss that maybe was slightly rough and foreceful, and he didn't care who was watching, either.
Leila had no trouble returning the kiss, her hand moving from Rob's waist to his arse as she pulled herself close against him. She had been easy on him while he recovered from his big night, but now Rob was just driving her crazy. "Take me home," she reminded him after the kiss eased off. "You're going to get incredibly fucking lucky in about five different ways, soldier."
Words: 3530
H. G. Wells
[co-written with notskywalker & tacticalmind]
It was a weeknight, so The Bondi wasn't very busy except for a steady trickle of musicians coming into jam with others, and a few people having some casual drinks after work. Luke was up in New York for a few days to get the paperwork done, so while he wasn't technically working, he was there behind the bar because he couldn't help himself. Leila technically was on shift, but she didn't actually need to be there because there was plenty of staff to cover the patrons. She had come, though, and brought Rob along with her, mostly so she could catch up with Luke for a little while. After chatting on and off about their Part Three's issues with not getting any newlywed sex, Luke paused in his polishing of a tray of glasses and pointed with one to Rob who had struck up a conversation with a small bunch of sailors at one of the booths across the bar.
"Should I be worried about the quality of my booze? I've offered him freebies all night and he keeps sticking to orange juice. Saving his mojo to pound you into the mattress later?" he asked in amusement, shaking his small towel out and putting the clean glass into the tray. "You know what they say, a guy's cock stops working properly when he's pissed."
"Is that what say?" Leila asked as she smirked at him. "I could have sworn it was more like a guy's cock doesn't get a chance to start working once he's passed out. You experienced some issues with the wife?" She leaned on the bar, and watched Rob. Her expression shifted as her eyebrows drew together. "He went out on the piss with Mike. Needed to get hammered after his appointment with some blokes on the base. The ones that decide if he's fit enough to go back to duty, or not."
Luke watched the military posse for a few moments and then shot Leila a wry look. "Bad news, then? I mean, don't get me wrong, he's looking better than he has since you brought him back, but I got a feeling he was a little off his game. Still friendly enough, though. He doesn't seem to have any trouble striking up a conversation. How have things been going for you since he got back?" He watched the scene for a few more moments and then smirked at Leila. "I think there's a chick asking him to dance."
Leila shrugged a shoulder as she pulled her mouth to the side before lifting her glasses to rub tiredly at her eyes. "It wasn't the greatest, but I have yet to needle much information out of him. Mike just said that he's got to wait about six months, and they offered him a training position. Apparently that's military speak for 'we think you're fucked, here's a desk job'. He wouldn't see combat again. He will be feeling like he's let himself, his country, and everyone else down." Leila sighed. "Can't blame him for wanting to get drunk. He really was pissed as a fucking skunk, though. I even got dirty voicemails, and texts. Mike thought I'd want his testicles as payment for getting Rob drunk." Leila had been laughing a little, but it stopped as she straightened up, eyes fixing on the chick talking to Rob as she watched. "That better be all she's asking him."
Luke nodded. "Fuck, yeah. That's some friggen huge cross to bear. What, does he just feel like he's turfed out now, used goods? Doesn't it even matter that he was hurt doing what he does? Isn't he a Sergeant now? What the fuck does a desk job mean in Sergeant realms? But then, he'd stay in the country then, wouldn't he? You wouldn't have to worry about him getting sent away or blown up again. Is he really that fucked up?" He smirked, though, raising an eyebrow at her. "How dirty? If he made sense, I'm as jealous as all fuck of him. Every time I try it, it looks like I'm speaking in tongues. How much do you want to kill her right now?" The woman was leaning on the table in front of Rob, clearly trying to give him a view right down her top. Rob held his left hand up, indicating his wedding ring and then pointed in the direction of the bar with a laugh. Still, the woman wasn't that deterred.
"Yeah, pretty much. He feels like he's worth shit now. At least, that's what Mike got out of his drunken ramblings. I don't think it much matters that he got hurt right now. He's just feeling like he's been dumped out with the trash." Leila gave a small shake of her head. "I don't know. Training other soldiers to do what he can? Yeah, he'd stay. And no, I wouldn't... for six months at least. They seem to think he is, and Mike's worried about what he's starting to remember." Leila snorted. "No, you're safe. I think I could just tell he was meaning them in a very dirty way. I'm sure Tab still appreciates your tongue." Leila's teeth bared a little when she realised the stupid bimbo wasn't letting up. "A lot. Fucking whore needs to work out how to stick to single guys."
"Am I allowed to ask him about it or hasn't he spoken a lot to you yet? I don't want to piss him off if he's still trying to wrap his head around. Even six months out of action is a hell of a long time for someone who is usually like top in the action game. Does he seem fucked up to you? I mean, you're with him the most, you share his bed. What about fucking? Please tell me you're still fucking, because I would go out of my mind trying to figure out how to help you and Andy in that capacity." Luke started to take some bottles out from under the bar to restock the spirits. "You are so jealous. Your jealous streak can be fucking scary. I still want to know how he would react if someone tried cracking onto you. I say he's got a streak of temper in there somewhere. Have you ever seen it?"
Leila turned enough to reach out and tug on Luke's hair before ruffling it affectionately. Then her eyes were back on the stupid cow trying to get into her husband's pants. She picked up a wedge of lemon from the container behind the bar and sucked on it before she took aim, and tossed it at the bitch. "You can ask him if you want, it's fine. I'm hardly going to make you wait for him to talk to me. I'm just taking it easy on him at the moment. He had a killer hangover that lasted a while, and he's still... a little tender. He's trying not to seem different, but he is. We're still fucking, so you're safe there. Rob's very keen now he can move properly. Or as close to. Shit, I still don't know how to help Andy. I tried, and failed." She raised her hand to blow a kiss to Rob when he turned to find out where the lemon had come from. "Scary? Me? Don't be silly. I'm an angel. Rob told Mike as much. I say he's got one too, but I haven't seen it. You're just evil."
"An angel?" Luke snorted with a laugh, but he was looking at her with a far from innocent look in his own eyes. He scanned the length of his bar and then without a word, moved to the end of it, leaning over to have a brief conversation with a guy sitting there on his own. Luke kept his back to Leila so she couldn't see what he was saying or what he was doing. When he returned to her, he flashed her an innocent, butter wouldn't melt, smile and reached up to drop a fresh bottle of vodka into the holder, shaking it to get the bubbles to the top. "Why haven't you talked to him? Because he was hungover? I guess he was boozing to drown his sorrows, he was a write off but at least Mike was with him. Did he make sure Rob didn't hump a bar stool or something? What's your plan of action, just leave him to brood on it, hope he'll say something when he might not if he really has a buggered head right now? Andy's a lost cause right now. I was over there earlier and Sex and the City reruns were giving him a boner."
Leila narrowed her eyes as she watched her cousin, but it wasn't as if she could accuse him of doing anything. For all she knew he was just serving someone. Only no drinks were poured, and she didn't even know if he knew the guy. "I tried, but he really was just in a lot of post binge pain. He drunk nearly a whole bottle of whiskey on his own. I'm glad Mike was with him, even if my other soldier's wound up with a guilt complex. Poor boy needs a decent shag." Leila tilted her head. "Seriously? Fuck... I knew it was bad, but that is bad." Leila noticed the man Luke had spoken to start to move up the bar, and she followed him, something not feeling right. "Lulu, what did you do?"
"It's bad. He needs to talk to her, but she's doing a good avoidance job. I get a feeling he's right, she's scared he'll knock her up again, then she'll have another miscarriage." Luke poured two drinks, scotch and soda, placing them on the bar in front of Leila. "It's not easy to talk with your head in the shitter, either. That much booze and he had to be barfing up a few vital organs. No wonder he's been sticking to juice all night. His stomach probably isn't attached to his GI tract anymore." He was smirking at her deviously by now, but didn't say anything in response to her question. In fact, he was interrupted when the guy he had been talking to came up beside Leila with a smile. Luke took the opportunity to purposefully knock an empty glass tray onto the floor behind the bar, causing a loud crash when it hit the ground and, as hoped, it caught the attention of Leila's soldier.
The guy leaned in close to Leila. "Hey, I hear you work here," he said to her, smiling. It wasn't sleazy. In fact, Luke deliberately picked a guy Leila couldn't just thump in the face by default. The guy was a lawyer, and cashed up. That's why Luke picked him for his evil deed. Luckily he did let the guy in on what he was doing and offered him free drinks for the night.
Leila had looked for Luke to thump him in the face instead, but her cousin was hiding, so now she was stuck with the suit. She was all too aware of her husband being metres away, and she hoped like hell he was looking elsewhere. "That's right. Please don't tell me you're going to try and ask me to do my Coyote Ugly impression. I might have to knock myself out."
The guy tilted his head with a small smirk. "Was never much a fan of that movie. I prefer my drinks served off a bar without boot prints all over it," he told her with a laugh. He leaned in even closer so their shoulders were touching. "I have a confession to make. Your boss offered me free drinks for the rest of the night to make it look like I was hitting on you. Something about testing your other half's loyalty."
Rob's eyes hadn't left Leila since the tray was knocked behind the bar. At first, nothing looking amissed. Luke was behind the bar, Leila was sitting in front of him where she had been most of the night. But then some asshole was walking up to her and talking to her, which was enough to get Rob shifting in his seat, though he had hesitated when one of the sailors asked him where he was going. Maybe the guy just thought Leila was someone else. But when he touched her, it was not fucking on! He was out of his seat, swooping over to the guy and banging his hand down on the bar loud enough to set the glasses in the vicinity jumping. "What do you think you're doing, pal?" he demanded, leaning close into the guy's personal space. Up the bar, Luke just stood there, smirking but had the decency to try and hide it.
Leila had actually jumped when Rob slammed his hand down, and looked between him and the stranger that her allegedly loyal cousin had apparently made an arrangement with. "Rob, it's fine," she told him. "We were just talking." She tried to give the guy a look, and then just cleared her throat. He really was stupid for accepting free drinks off Luke when her other half was an Army guy. But then Rob wasn't in uniform, so it wasn't completely obvious. She now had him permanently ruffled and the top button of his shirt undone, unlike the first time he had walked into Luke's.
"That's right, mate. Talking. I don't see anyone else keeping her company," the guy returned with a smug smirk. "Gorgeous girl like this should have someone to snuggle up to, keep her nice and warm at night."
Rob just looked at the guy for a few beats, his face expressionless at first and his stillness giving out an air that he wasn't going to react further. It was only long enough to lull the guy into a false sense of security before he swung back and belted the guy firmly in the face and then seized the front of his suit in a rough grip that had his knuckles white. He forced him up against the bar, leaning over him with a few inches above him in height, sneering as he ignored the blood trickling down the guy's face, their noses barely two or three inches apart. "No one fucking touches my wife, mate!" he growled and kept the guy pinned to the bar. "I don't fucking care who you are or how much money you have, if I see you in pissing distance of her again, I'll smash your fucking face in so hard you'll be ordering your drinks through your fucking ass!"
Luke hadn't actually anticipated Rob would take such drastic measures. The suit wasn't the only one lulled into a false sense of security. Luke thought Rob had been about to prove him wrong and politely warn the guy off. Actually, he expected a bit of a heated verbal exchange and maybe a bit of shoving, but fuck! He hurried over to the scene with a stunned, "Rob, Jesus Christ!" The guy's nose was pouring with blood and his eye was rapidly turning black. It wasn't just a small smack to face, the guy was lucky to still be conscious. He grabbed a bar towel and a handful of ice to wrap up. Hopefully this wasn't going to cost him more than drinks, but at least he had learnt something - to never fuck with Leila's husband, who clearly was a silent assassin, kind and civil until he had a reason not to be. He asked the guy to look like he was cracking onto Leila, not actually flare the situation up like this. It probably would have been a lot of help if Rob's dog tags had been visible before the force of nearly thumping a guy out had them falling from behind the collar of his shirt.
Rob gave the guy another firm shove with his elbow and then released the handful of the suit to step back. He pointed at the guy, and then nodded in the opposite direction, a deep scowl on his features. "Get away from her," he told him calmly, yet his voice was hoarse and strained. Luke hurried out from behind the bar with the makeshift ice pack, shooting Leila a look of disbelief, and he pulled the guy out of Rob's vicinity, who was now cursing but managing to apologise with a string of repeated 'They better be doubles!'. He took the guy into the staff room to make sure he was okay, but more importantly, wasn't going to sue or have Rob arrested for assault.
Leila was still wondering what Luke had been playing at, and met his look of disbelief with one of disapproval. Then she looked at Rob, her eyes darkening as the surprise at his outburst shifted to something else. She couldn't help it. She could definitely be possessive but no other guy had ever been the same about her. No one had smacked a bloke in the face on her behalf, or threatened to make them order drinks through their ass. It was also the first time she'd ever seen Rob really angry. Leila moved up to him, sliding from her stool as she snaked an arm around her waist and leaned in close so that only Rob could hear her. "You need to take me home, Sergeant."
It was possible she'd find the suit again and apologise. Maybe even try and explain it away as Rob having difficulty dealing with his recent trauma. Or maybe not. It was hot watching her husband in action, and she was more concerned with getting back to their place so she could show her appreciation. Away from the suits, and the sluts in short skirts. She noticed the woman from earlier was now looking at Rob with something more akin to fear, than any kind of sexual interest. Good, Leila had her husband all to herself again.
Rob cleared his throat and rubbed a hand over his mouth. He did realise there was maybe a slight overreaction on his part, but he saw red. The asshole's comments didn't help. He had maybe let his anger hover slightly too close to the surface lately, which made it hard to reign in when it flared up. He looked over Leila's face quietly for a few moments. "Just talking?" he asked her. It wasn't that he doubted her, he just had to know that really hadn't pushed as far as he had verbally suggested he would. Rob could see now just how protective of Leila he had became, and it did maybe stem a little from being cheated on by his previous wife. This was just a tiny portion of the whole thing, though. He really did not want any other bastard thinking he could just help himself to Leila, whether it be by touching her or otherwise, and he felt slightly sick to think how this would have played out if he hadn't been there.
Which caused another train of thought to jump into his head, and he frowned again, waving his hand in the direction of where Luke had disappeared with the bastard. "Why the hell didn't Luke say something to stop that?!" he asked her. "He threatens me not to hurt you, but let's some fucking asshole practically feel you up in front of him?!"
"Just talking," she replied quietly, and cupped his face with her hand to keep his gaze on her. "I wasn't inviting anything, I didn't instigate anything, he came up to me. And it should have just been talking, but the prick went one step too far." At the mention of Luke, Leila winced, and sucked on her bottom lip. She wasn't sure if she should dump him in it in case Rob hadn't quite calmed down yet. Plus it wasn't a funny situation. She couldn't imagine Rob laughing about being set up in this manner. "I don't think he realised what was going on until you'd already stepped in."
Rob was looking at her uncertainly, but glanced briefly in the direction Luke had gone. He eventually nodded, blaming the uncertainty on the adrenaline rush. His side was hurting a little from the force of the punch, but it was just a reminder to him that he didn't regret belting the guy at all. He was definitely still on an adrenaline high and needed to get rid of it in some way. Maybe he wasn't exactly quite finished marking his territory either. He caught Leila's lips in a deep kiss that maybe was slightly rough and foreceful, and he didn't care who was watching, either.
Leila had no trouble returning the kiss, her hand moving from Rob's waist to his arse as she pulled herself close against him. She had been easy on him while he recovered from his big night, but now Rob was just driving her crazy. "Take me home," she reminded him after the kiss eased off. "You're going to get incredibly fucking lucky in about five different ways, soldier."
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