Dark Chocolate Demise by Jenn McKinlay Read Free Book Online Page B

man’s fist wound tighter into the fabric of his chef’s coat.
    Mel stomped forward. Enough was enough.
    â€œPut him down. Now,” she said. The man looked down at her as if she were no more than a mosquito buzzing in his ear.
    She could sense a crowd was forming around them, and she had a flash of annoyance that no one else was stepping up to help them out.
    â€œIs this your girl?” the man asked Oz. “Maybe I should grab her tits and we can call it even.”
    â€œOh, hell no!” Tate and Oz cried together. Then Tate looked at Oz and said, “Do it!”
    Oz raised a knee and nailed the man in the junk with it. Mel heard every man in the crowd wince in sympathy. The ogre dropped Oz and with a primal roar, Tate lowered his head and charged the man. The two of them went down with a thump against the pavement.
    Just then, Marty came running up. He clapped his hands to his bald head and cried, “What the hell is going on here?”
    â€œHe started it!” A buxom redhead, wearing a zombie maid’s outfit complete with cheesy fishnet stockings, pointed at Oz. “He grabbed my breasts!”
    â€œI did not!” Oz protested. His voice cracked and his face turned bright red, visible even under his thick gray makeup. “I tripped and fell on . . . er . . . you.”
    Mel glanced back at Tate and the big man. They were rolling across the ground. Tate had his arms and legs wrapped around the giant man, making it almost impossible for the guy to get a solid punch in. That didn’t stop the ogre from rolling until Tate was on the bottom, where the man tried to head butt him.
    â€œA little help here!” Tate yelled as he dodged the cranial smack-down.
    Mel, Oz, and Marty moved in to help, when three Scottsdale police officers on bicycles rolled up.
    â€œUh-oh,” Marty said.

Seven

    The officers wasted no time in grabbing the big guy off of Tate. The skanky girlfriend immediately got into the officer’s face, pointing at Oz and shrieking about how he had jumped her, and her boyfriend was just protecting her.
    Mel recognized one of the officers as being friends with her uncle, Stan Cooper, who was a detective on the Scottsdale PD. She gave him a little wave and he came over.
    â€œMel, I almost didn’t recognize you with your brains coming out of your forehead like that,” he said. “Not your best look.”
    â€œNo, I don’t suppose it is,” she said. She fingered the latex on her forehead that was beginning to itch. “Good to see you, Henry. How are Jackie and the kids?”
    â€œGood, everyone is good,” he said. They were quiet for a moment and then he gestured to Tate, who was talking to another officer. “Friend of yours?”
    â€œYes, Tate Harper,” she said. “Uncle Stan can vouch for him. He’s a good guy, but that thug accused our employee of trying to feel up his girlfriend, and Tate was forced to intervene.”
    â€œI didn’t!” Oz protested.
    The officer smiled at Oz’s genuinely alarmed face.
    â€œOfficer Henry Dodge, this is Oscar Ruiz,” Mel introduced them and they shook hands.
    â€œCan you tell me what happened from the beginning?” Henry asked Oz.
    Marty stepped forward, looking like he wanted to add to the conversation, but Mel gestured him back. He made a huffy sound but held his silence.
    Oz explained how he was going on a break and got jostled in the crowd. He accidently brushed up against the mean girl, and the next thing he knew her crazy boyfriend had him up in the air by the front of his shirt.
    â€œStay put,” the officer said. “I’m going to check in with my partners.”
    â€œYou don’t think they’ll arrest me, do you?” Oz asked as Henry walked away.
    â€œNah, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Marty said. “And look at that guy. I bet he has a rap sheet as long as his