Barfight
By ~Jillybean~
Max watched as Alec won yet another game of pool. He grinned triumphantly at his opponent and made a witty comment. Max sighed. Recently she'd noticed that she liked watching Alec. It was always entertaining to see him thrash people at pool or table football, it was even funnier if he lost. She suspected he let them win, it was always people he liked who won. She liked seeing him concentrate and she liked knowing something about him nobody else knew.
Damn it, she liked looking at him. After all, no harm in looking, right?
"Max Guevirra." A confident and cocky voice said above her. She looked up to see Chad, one of her ex-boyfriends. He smiled won at her, he had dark black hair and winning looks. He was yet another "Post-Heat Problem", complaining Max had been too cold to him and led him on.
"Hello Chad." Max swallowed before saying. He smiled warmly at her and gestured to the seat next to her.
"May I sit down?"
"Yeah - uh sure." Max scooted along a little. She hated these types of confrontations. She always felt very guilty, they were probably right. She did lead them on in the 'Heat' of the moment and then she was cold, not letting them know anything about her.
"You know Max, I haven't been able to get you out of my head. I miss you." Chad began. "And - I want to get to know you again. Because I was wrong." Chad exhaled nervously, Max looked at him in surprise.
"Um . . ." She began.
"No! Hear me out Max. I wanna be with you. I want to get to know you, I was wrong to try and change you and-"
"And now you're really sorry and you wanna get in Max's pants?" Alec's voice intruded. He walked up to the table and sat down on a chair opposite, taking a deep drink from his tankard. He smiled lazily at Chad, looking for all the world like a lion who knew exactly what it could do with it's strength.
"And you would be?" Chad asked, turning in his seat to smile antagonisingly at Alec. Max frowned, why had Alec come in like that? She hoped Alec didn't say anything stupid, Chad had a quick temper. Max didn't want to see him get hurt.
Chad that was.
"My name's Alec, yours?" Alec stretched out a hand, perfectly polite. He was grinning a little, the grin Max had learned to identify as the one he wore when he sensed danger.
"Chad." Chad did not shake Alec's hand. Alec smiled coolly and retracted his hand. He turned to Max and raised an eyebrow.
"Where'd you pick him up from?"
Before Max or Chad could answer someone new came in.
"Max- Alec isn't it?" Rafer asked, he smiled and sat down with them, oblivious of the tension. He smiled at Chad.
"Max, would you explain?" Chad asked, turning to her. Max wished he'd just let her stare at the pitcher like she'd been doing.
"What's your problem?" Alec asked, he hadn't moved, Max could practically taste the hostility coming from him.
"Who are you anyway? Boyfriend, hopefull?" Chad asked, Rafer looked between the two, very confused. Alec sat straighter.
"I'm a concerned enemy." He said, eyes glittering.
"Okay - I've obviously walked in to something here." Rafer said, making to leave.
"That you have pretty boy." Chad growled.
"Excuse me?" Rafer turned, his tone filled with deadly menace. Max started edging away from the table.
"I think you heard me, pretty boy." Chad repeated, enjoying the effect it had on Rafer.
"All right." Alec stood up, intending to lift Chad outta Crash. "Had enough of you Green Face." Chad leapt to his feet.
"You touch me sonny you get your ass kicked." He said. Alec stared at him for a minute then he burst out laughing.
"Did I miss something?" Logan asked, approaching the table. Rafer gestured angrily at Chad.
"That asshole is hittin' on Max." He said. Logan turned a death glare on Chad. Alec was reduced to sitting down again, cracking up with laughter.
"Guys, come one, let's be reasonable about this." Max said, holding her hands up.
"Shut up bitch." Chad snapped at her, he was furious at Alec's reaction.
It happened very quickly. Alec moved so fast he was only a blur. Chad was on the floor and Alec holding his fist poised above Chad's face.
"Don't talk to her like that again." Alec snarled.
"Who do you think you are!?" Logan demanded, pushing Alec's shoulder. Max stared in surprise. Alec landed on the ground beside Chad and stared up at Logan. Logan jumped on him.
"Pretty boy, eh?" Rafer asked, he leapt at Chad, battering his jaw with his fist. Max yelped and scrambled away from the fray.
"Logan! Oomph! What! Oow! Are you doing!?" Alec pushed Logan off him and tried to escape. Logan grabbed the back of his shirt, half choking him. Alec fell backwards and flung his arms up to protect his face from Logan's pummeling fists. Suddenly a stray kick from Chad made him yell out. Logan got a good hit to his jaw and another to his gut.
"Ow! Logan! I can't fight you!" Alec used his far superior strength to kick his legs into the air and use that momentum to flip to his feet.
"Max'd kill me." He finished. Suddenly Rafer threw Chad into him and both men went down. Alec grinned as he saw who had hit him.
"You on the other hand . . . "
"You slept with Max?" Logan asked Rafer. Rafer looked worried. "Look man, maybe you had a little too much to drin-k!" Rafer's head snapped backwards as Logan punched him. There was quite a crowd gathering round. OC came up to Max's shoulder and started laughing.
"Your boy Alec has got all the right moves girl." She said. Max turned to her, very distressed.
"How can you make a joke out of this!" She cried.
Chad grabbed a pitcher full of beer and swung it at Alec's face. It shattered and the crowd oohed. Alec shook his head, a little dazed.
"Max this is getting ugly." OC began. Chad leapt for Logan's throat. "I can't help! I might touch Logan!" Max wailed. Alec glared at the three men exchanging punches.
"This is getting ridiculous." He growled, wiping blood from his face. He marched up to them and pulled Rafer out by the scruff of the neck. One quick punch and Rafer was flat out on the ground. With super speed Alec tripped Logan up and caught Chad before Chad could do any serious damage to the fallen man. He put Chad in the sleepers hold, forcing his head down until he felt the body go limp. He let Chad drop to the floor and wiped the blood from his face again.
"Is he okay?" A girl asked worriedly to Max. "He's so cute!"
Max rolled her eyes and stalked up to Alec.
"Alec- how dare-"
"Alec!" the bar tender slapped him on the back. "Well done my boy! Couldn't have broke it up better myself." He said. Alec grinned at him.
"Let's get you cleaned up." Max said resentfully. "Do you have a first aid kit?" She asked the bar tender. He nodded and led the two of them over to the bar.
"Why didn't you fight Logan?" Max asked as she used a pair of tweezers to pull out the glass shards from Alec's face. Alec winced.
"Ow, Max that hurts."
"Answer the question." Max moved to get into a better position, she ended up half sitting on his knees.
"I didn't want to hurt him - ow! You'd have hated me." Alec moved his hand unsure where to put them, eventually they came to rest round Max's waist. she shifted to get into a better position.
"Thank you." She said after a minute. Alec grinned a little.
"Least I'm getting something out of it."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
Please e-mail the author of this story with your comments. jillybean@yahoo.com