Ex Wife's Collapse After Divorce novel Chapter 87

Chapter 87

“Let go?” The man grinned. “I just want you to sit down and have a drink with me.”

“I can’t. I’m working.”

“Then quit.”

The waitress pulled her arm back. “I said no.” Her voice had turned firm.

The drunk man’s eyes widened-then his lips split into a grin. Excited. The resistance was turning him on.

“Oh, she’s got a mouth on her.” He stood up, swaying, still gripping her wrist. His other hand reached for her waist. “I like that. I like a girl who fights back-”

A hand closed around his forearm like a vise.

The drunk man froze. He looked up.

Ethan stood there, one hand locked around the man’s wrist, his face expressionless. The whiskey warmth was gone from his eyes. What was left was cold and flat and very, very still.

“She told you to let go,” Ethan said quietly.

The drunk man blinked, trying to process. “Who the hell-”

“Get

your hands off her.” Ethan’s grip tightened. The man’s fingers spasmed open involuntarily, releasing the girl’s wrist. “And get out.”

“You don’t tell me what to-”

Ethan leaned in. Close enough that the drunk could smell the whiskey on his breath, close enough to see that there was nothing behind those eyes that resembled bluffing.

“I said get out,” Ethan repeated. His voice didn’t rise. It dropped. “Now. While you can still walk.”

The bar had gone quiet. The college kids at the pool table were frozen mid-shot. The bartender’s hand hovered over the phone beneath the counter.

The drunk man stared at Ethan for a long, swaying moment. Something in that gaze-something hard. and absolute-cut through the alcohol fog just enough.

He yanked his arm free, stumbled back, and knocked his stool over with a clatter.

“Psycho,” he spat. But he was already backing toward the door. “Crazy son of a-”

The door swung shut behind him.

Silence held for another beat. Then the bar exhaled. Conversations resumed. The pool balls clicked.

Ethan released a slow breath and turned to the girl.

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She was rubbing her wrist where the man had grabbed her, a faint red mark already forming on the skin. Her face turned a bit red when she noticed Ethan’s eyes.

“Thank you, Sir.” she said quietly.

Ethan looked at her wrist. The red mark was still there, angry against her pale skin.

“It’s nothing,” he said. “Just be careful. A girl your age, working alone at a place like this at night-” He paused, choosing his words. “You’d be surprised how many men like him are out there. Worse than him.

She blinked, then smiled-a small, genuine thing that softened her whole face. “I will. Thank you. Really.”

Ethan nodded and turned back to his drink.

But she didn’t leave.

“Um,” she said. “You saved me.” Her cheeks flushed pink. “I want to-I mean, can I do something? To

repay you?”

“No need.” He lifted his glass. “It was nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing.” Her voice was soft but stubborn. “That guy-he’d been bothering me for an hour. None of the other staff wanted to step in. You’re the only one who did anything.” She clasped her hands in front of her, fingers interlocking. “It matters to me. A lot.”

Ethan studied her for a moment. There was an earnestness in her expression that was hard to dismiss- wide eyes, a slight pout forming at the corner of her lips, the kind of face that made it difficult to say no

twice.

“You don’t owe me anything,” he said.

“Then let me buy you a drink.” She brightened instantly, as if she’d been waiting for him to refuse just so she could counter. “The best bottle we have. On me.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Can you afford that?”

She tilted her head, and a sly little grin appeared-mischievous and sweet at the same time. “I can. I’m not really here for the money anyway. This is just…” She waved a hand vaguely. “A thing I’m doing. Life experience. My mom says I need to understand how the real world works before I graduate.”

Before he could respond, she stuck out her hand.

“I’m Chloe,” she said. “Chloe Hewitt.”

Ethan looked at the outstretched hand-small, nails trimmed short and clean. He shook it.

“Ethan.”

“I know.” She grinned again, dimples appearing. “I saw your tab. Stay right there, Ethan. I’ll be back.”

She turned and walked toward the bar counter with a bounce in her step that made two nearby patrons

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look up from their phones. There was something infectious about her energy-something bright and unguarded that didn’t belong in a dim bar on a Wednesday night.

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