Slight Pressure

6. Kiss-Us Interruptus

written by dirtyyarn

After gently removing the smudge of mascara from beneath her eye, Harry slid his hand to cup her cheek. Riley leaned into his large palm for a second before abruptly pulling away.

"Harry," she scolded, "you called me 'babe' and now you're trying to spit-clean my face, which would be sweet if you cared, but you probably don't. And maybe you shouldn't. So it's actually kind of rude and gross! I wanted you to come tonight, but you didn't and now you did, and now I don't know why. And just because you're sex in boots..." she peered over at his feet. "Okay, sex in naked feet... Why do you have 'big' tattooed on your toe? That's weird, Harry. By the way, I'm calling you Harry now because you said you can't be my doctor and because of the maybe-going-on-a-date thing. But you didn't show up so I don't know why I'm in your car. Sometimes I fuck things up when I drink. This might be one of those times. Besides, I told you I was a mistake for you, so I'm gonna go now. But thanks for coming anyway."

Harry sat in shock as Riley stumbled back out of the car, slamming the door. His head was spinning and all he could do was blink while he sat, stunned, in the running vehicle, jaw hanging open. What the hell had just happened?

Just then the door to the bar opened and a scruffy, dark haired young man burst out along with a momentary blast of music. He looked left, then right, before clearly spotting his goal.

"Riley!" he yelled, trotting toward her. She turned unsteadily in the direction of the man calling her name. "There you are, I've been looking all over." He grasped her by the wrist and tugged, causing Riley to stumble into the solid mass of his chest.

Shutting off the engine, Harry scrambled out of the driver's seat, pressing the lock button on his remote. Cursing his bare feet, he quick-stepped it over to the sidewalk where this wanker was manhandling Riley.

"Hey, mate, how about unhanding her?"

Harry didn't want any trouble, he was a lover not a fighter. Or he'd like to be a lover, but his thoughts were getting ahead of the current situation. At any rate, he wasn't going to drive away. Riley was in no condition to stand up for herself and this cretin looked to be trying to play a game of grab-ass with the girl he was attempting to rescue.

"Mate? I don't know you and this is my girl, so back off. Come on, babe, I've missed you; we need to talk."

"Oh, yeah, wait! You guys gotta meet," Riley slurred as she pushed herself off the body that she had been pulled into. "Harry, this is my ex-boyfriend Liam-cheater-disease-giver. Liam, this here is Dr. Harry-sexy-boots. As you can see, he has no boots today. You two have sooo much in common! You're both cute, you've both seen me naked and you're both idiots."

The two men stared at each other while the seconds ticked by. Uncertain of what other move to make, Harry did as his mother had taught him and held his hand out to Liam.

"Well then, nice to meet you, I guess."

"Nice to meet me? You son-of-a-bitch, you saw my girlfriend naked? I'll show you, 'nice to meet you!'"

There was no time to deflect before Liam's right fist connected with Harry's left cheekbone. Thankfully, Liam's alcohol intake slowed his reflexes just enough for Harry lean back, reducing what could have been a more significant impact.

Jumping in front of Harry to shield him from further assault, Riley lit into another drunken tirade, this time unleashing on Liam.

"I am NOT your girlfriend anymore you ass! You can't even keep your dick in your pants and if you hadn't been waving that thing all over campus, I would never have met Harry. He was my DOCTOR for fuck's sake! Thanks to him, at least I know that when you walked out on me, you didn't leave any cooties behind."