A pair of large men had somehow snuck up right behind them. Zahra guessed they had more than likely come down Bloomsbury Street just as she and Dina had hurried across the road. The two women hadn’t seen them coming, apparently too lost in their conversation… and their bourbon.
The men were only ten feet from Zahra and Dina now. Both strangers looked to be heavily intoxicated, perhaps even on drugs. Their eyes were dark with heavy bags underneath them. Regardless of their current mental state, they didn’t look like they wanted to casually exchange pleasantries. These guys wanted to forcibly exchange something else.
Dina clutched Zahra’s left bicep. She was of slight build, petite, and Zahra knew she wasn’t athletic. The worst fight she had ever been in was probably with herself over which article of clothing to wear on a Friday night out.
Unlike her friend, however, Zahra had no fear of these two. She had dealt with far more challenging odds in her life than a pair of overstimulated, voracious sex hounds.
Zahra leaned in close to Dina and whispered. “Whatever happens, stay behind me.”
“Huh?” Dina was confused. “What do you—”
Zahra gave her a stern look and then slipped out of her grip. “Hey, boys,” Zahra said, tossing back her shoulder-length hair. She buried her piercing eyes into the bald man on her left. He was the biggest of the two, and the one she would focus on first if things got dicey.
The bald guy spoke up first. “What are you two lovely ladies, like yourselves, doin’ out at this hour?”
Every word was stilted, leaned on. He was definitely drunk, or at least well on his way.
Zahra held up the open flask, ready to play along.
The left side of Baldy’s mouth curled into a small smile. He shrugged and stepped forward. “’on’t mind if I do. Gerald, by the way.” He tipped his head toward his partner. “An’ this is Mickey. What about you?”
He reached forward. Instead of going for the flask, though, Gerald bypassed it and sensually rubbed on Zahra’s shoulder with a clammy, cold palm. Mickey’s eyes latched onto the intimate gesture, and he swallowed. His face twitched with a disgusting, frenzied delight.
If Zahra didn’t know any better, this guy was about to do something terrible.
“She’s Julie, and I’m Mar—”
Zahra cut herself off while she had them focusing on her words, then she forced Gerald away with a double-palm-strike to his chest. Without looking, she splashed the bourbon into Mickey’s face with a flick of her wrist. She followed that with a snap kick into Gerald’s crotch, dropping the man to his knees.
With him somewhat incapacitated, she turned her attention to Mickey, who was shrieking and rubbing the alcohol deeper into his bloodshot eyeballs.
Knowing that he wasn’t an immediate threat, she allowed Mickey to blindly swipe at the air. She’d focus on Gerald instead. He was still on his knees, holding his privates tightly with both his hands.
“How do you want it?” she asked confidently, standing tall with her hands on her hips.
Gerald growled from his knees. “
She didn’t let him finish. Zahra stepped in close and drove her right knee into his unprotected face. The single blow rocked him back, and he fell to the sidewalk in an unconscious, bloody heap. The impact had broken the man’s nose.
Zahra was half-tempted to leave Mickey be, but she also wanted to continue her lesson in
Breathing hard from the cold air but not the short-lived altercation, Zahra picked up the empty flask, then handed it back to Dina. The blonde was shellshocked by what she had just witnessed. She couldn’t take her eyes off the carnage.
Zahra waved her hand in front of her friend’s eyes. “Earth to Dina…”
The Brit blinked. “Wh —,” she stuttered, still staring at Gerald, “
Zahra shrugged and pulled her hair into a ponytail. “I was a linguist. Why?”
