Free Tres Leches Cupcakes by Josi S. Kilpack Page B

bridge of Shel’s nose.
    Coke spilled all over the table, and Shel went careening backward so fast that it wasn’t until his chair, and perhaps his head, cracked against the concrete floor that Sadie fully realized what she’d done. Everyone at the table screamed or cursed, jumping up and back as the quick change of mood and circumstance caught everyone off guard.
    Sadie blinked at the Coke dripping off the table, then turned to see Margo looking at her in shock.
    The entire bar was frozen, except for the music, which sounded tinny and sparse in the instant silence.
    Shel struggled to his feet while everyone stared, cupping both his hands over his face. Once upright, he pulled his hands away to reveal his mouth, chin, and hands covered with blood.
    Sadie had hit him harder than she’d meant to, and she wondered if she should apologize.
    He looked down at his blood-covered fingers, then up at the three of them standing across the table while Garrett, who was closer to Shel, started moving away. Shel narrowed his eyes, and in one movement, he grabbed the edge of the table and threw it over.
    Margo, Langley, and Sadie tried to jump out of the way but ended up running into each other and the people from the table behind them, their feet sliding on the peanut shell-covered floor. Coke and beer went everywhere; Sadie dropped her Coke bottle as she stumbled over someone’s foot. She grabbed the back of a chair, hoping to save herself, only to realize someone was sitting in the chair. They tumbled to the ground together—the woman screaming and swearing while Sadie tried to apologize. She heard someone laugh, and from a few feet away someone else yelled “It’s on!”
    People were enjoying this?
    The entire bar seemed to erupt an instant later, and Sadie scrambled up from the sticky floor only to duck a punch. Who wanted to punch her ? A moment later, she didn’t duck fast enough and a fist hit the side of her neck.
    With her neck throbbing, she put her arms up in a protective block while trying to back out of the crowd. The next time an arm came toward her, she hit it as hard as she could in order to deflect the blow. There were easily a dozen people fighting as a mob now, everyone throwing random punches. For real? People just jumped into a fight and started punching whoever was in their way?
    How did this night go from asking a few questions to a full-on barroom brawl?
    Sadie caught sight of Langley holding some guy in a headlock. Margo was yelling at a man in a cowboy hat in the epicenter of the fight. Sadie wondered who he was—she’d never seen him before—and why Margo was so angry with him. The drinks had mixed with the scattered peanut shells and created a slippery mess all over the floor.
    Sadie pushed toward Margo and grabbed her arm, trying to pull her out of the fray just as Shel appeared, getting in Margo’s face and screaming at her. Before Sadie could get her away, Margo threw a punch, catching Shel under the right eye. He responded like a wild animal, swiping at her and anyone else in striking range.
    Where were the bouncers? Shouldn’t someone break this up? She didn’t see Garrett in the mix. She hoped he wasn’t involved, the poor boy seemed completely baffled by the direction of the discussion earlier, and she’d hate for him to be drawn into this as well.
    Sadie heard glass break, and she pulled Margo again only to have someone step hard on her foot, causing her to stumble and lose her grip on Margo’s arm. Sadie pushed the person away, which earned her a push back. What a nightmare! The shouts were getting louder. Something hit the back of her head and made the room spin. She had to get out of the pileup. She reached for Margo again, but she was gone. Sadie couldn’t even see her now. She had to save herself!
    Sadie started elbowing and pushing her way toward what she thought was the outskirts of the madness, getting pushed back almost as often as she made progress. She started yelling too,