A Toast to Starry Nights Read Online Free Page B

Impala. Dmitri got out and came bounding towards me,
ignoring Mike.
    “You okay?” Dmitri touched my shoulder
and face, looked in my eyes. I don't know what he saw, but his face darkened
and he shot a glare at Mike.
    “She's fine, just shaken from Moobs over
there. He just arrived, I told him to get lost. He wanted her to tell him to
leave, but she didn't speak to him.” A part of me smiled deep inside. Moobs was
his code name for two reasons, the first and most important being that his body
went to hell and now his tits were bigger than mine. The second and much more
ironic reason was that it reflected his initials.
    “I can answer for myself, Jet. Yes, I'm
fine and he won't go.” Using my peripheral vision, I could see Mike looking
agitated inside his car. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. I
could tame the wild beast of anxiety if I focused. That's what I told myself. I
felt Dmitri's arms creep around me, and I relaxed.
    “I'll talk to him. Go in the house. Jet,
please go with her.”
    I turned and left, not acknowledging
Mike as he bellowed after me, “Hey Kaylis, can I get your new number?”
    I heard Dmitri answer, “No you can't,
but I'll give you mine if you ask real nice.”
    Jet hustled me inside like a protective
mama bear. Once the door shut, she and I both took up a position by the front
window to see what was going on. My cell phone was in hand, 911 already
entered. If things got ugly, all I'd have to do is push the green call button
so I could save my Superman. Jet bounced off to the kitchen and returned with
my twelve inch cast iron fry pan in hand. Her free hand held the door knob, and
she kicked her heels off in anticipation of running Mike down and giving him a
piece of her cast iron mind. We glanced at each other and she winked. “You know
Kaylis, things are never dull when you're around.”
    I couldn't take my eyes off the scene
for long. I dreaded the thought of imminent violence. My ex would be too
arrogant to know when to stop and just take the advice my fiancé would
unfailingly provide. It's not that I feared for Dmitri's life; but dealing with
small town police and the gossip mill was another thing entirely.
    Mike exited his car and stood on the
sidewalk between the street and the driveway entrance. The dogwood trees
stopped swaying in the summer afternoon breeze, as if in anticipation of the
duel at hand. Dmitri stood with his arms crossed on the driveway next to my
black Grand Cherokee, no more than six feet from Mike. His black tee-shirt,
blue jeans and work boots were splattered in mud and grass clippings, his
mud-encrusted work gloves hung out of his back pocket. He was immovable as a
brick wall. Lips moved as they spoke back and forth. Then Mike said something
that caused a look of amusement to appear on Dmitri's face. When Mike was
mid-sentence, Dmitri said something that caused Mike to close his mouth and
contemplate what it was he was about to say. After a moment, I saw Mike's lips
mouth “Okay”. He turned and my heart lifted.
    He was going away!
    Hopefully forever, never to darken my
life again!
    But then Mike pivoted and leaped forward
to try and sucker punch my honey. Dmitri ducked and caught the fist, then
planted his own fist firmly in Mike's open mouth. I saw blood on Dmitri's hand
and gasped.
    Jet chuckled, “He probably cut his
knuckles on Big Mouth's teeth. Don't worry about Dmitri, he probably doesn't
even feel it. Remember, he was in the Marine Corps? They aren't boys... they
are warrior men. Let your man fight for your honor. Oooh, this can go in your romance
novel!”
    “Yeah, I don't think so.” I watched in
horror and glee as Dmitri planted another fist into Mike's bloated belly, and
then gave him an upper cut to the chin. Mike spun around and fell face first
onto the hood of his Impala, then slid into a pile on the sidewalk. Dmitri took
a few steps toward the dazed heap of human excrement and spoke. Mike shook his
head wildly, and stood up. He