Hands ca at us.
Yvaine and I both caught the first wrists before they could land.
One phone flew out of soone’s grip and hit the floor with a clack.
The second row surged forward the mont the first took a swing.
It was like soone had thrown a switch.
They shoved in, jostling one another to get closer.
Phones, elbows, bags—everything hit at once.
Yvaine’s staff tried to step in.
A couple of them linked arms and moved to block the crowd.
That only made it worse.
The fans shoved back harder, screeching about being manhandled, clawing and thrashing.
Soone shrieked.
Soone else swore.
One girl ramd her shoulder into a shop girl’s chest like they were in a rugby match.
It turned into a brawl.
Not even a proper one.
Just limbs flying and people tripping over handbags and folding stools.
Yvaine and I got boxed into a corner, but no one could reach us through the chaos.
Her staff took the brunt of it.
Most of them were barely out of school, skinny, nervous, completely outnumbered.
One girl, maybe five foot nothing, got shoved flat on her back.
She hit the floor hard and didn’t move right away.
Tables went flying.
Chairs crashed.
A ring light hit the floor and snapped in half.
One of the photo setups collapsed like scaffolding in a storm.
The glass cabinet by the counter exploded on impact.
Pastries, shards, icing, and blood.
Soone slipped.
Soone else went down on their hands and ca up screaming with red sared down their palm.
I shouted, ‘This is insane. Soone’s gonna end up in a body bag. Did anyone call the cops?’
‘We did! They’re on the way!’
Yvaine and I kept ducking blows, half-crouched, trying to shield the ones still standing.
My shin stung.
Her arm was bleeding.
One of the fans tried to kick .
I grabbed her ankle and shoved her back into the ss.
Then I heard it. A cut through the noise like a whip crack.
‘Enough!’
We both looked up.
Cassian Langford was storming in.
Six foot sothing, broad shoulders, pressed shirt now rumpled from pushing through.
He crossed the room in seconds.
He reached us, grabbed Yvaine’s wrist and started dragging her towards the back.
Yvaine yanked herself loose. ‘What the hell are you doing here? Gonna help Harper’s little army beat the crap out of too?’
‘Jesus, can you not?’ His voice cracked with irritation. ‘I’m here to get you out.’
‘No one asked you to play hero. Go be useless sowhere else.’
‘You’re bleeding,’ he snapped. ‘Maybe stop picking fights for two minutes.’
Before she could co up with sothing worse to say, one of the girls on the left swung a chair straight at us.
Cassian turned, stepped in front, and caught the hit full-force across his back.
The chair cracked.
He didn’t fall, but his whole body jerked.
His breath hissed through his teeth.
He ended up slamd against Yvaine, pinning her to the wall.
She twisted away from him instantly.
‘Don’t touch . I didn’t ask for your damn help.’
Cassian looked like he was about to throttle her. ‘You think I want to be here catching chairs with my spine? I was passing by.’
‘Then keep walking.’
‘You’re welco,’ he muttered, still shielding her with one arm.
The crowd surged again.
A girl lunged, fists swinging.
Cassian blocked the blow with his shoulder and shoved Yvaine tighter between him and the wall.
She didn’t like it—rolled her eyes, shoved at his chest—but didn’t push him off.
I kept an eye on them while trying to hold off a girl who had one of our mannequin arms like a weapon.
Yvaine reached out and yanked behind her.
That left Cassian with both of us smashed against him while more fans clawed at his back.
I heard him swear under his breath.
His arms braced on either side of us, trying to keep the wall behind and the chaos in front.
There wasn’t enough room to fight back.
He couldn’t even move.
One of the girls elbowed him hard in the ribs.
His jaw clenched.
A mont later, he doubled over slightly, like sothing inside gave way.
He didn’t drop, but he spat out blood onto the floor next to my boot.
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake,’ I muttered.
The sirens cut through the noise.
Police flooded the entrance a second later.
The screaming stopped.
Most of the girls backed up imdiately, phones shaking in their hands, livestreams still running.
‘Shut off your phones. Now,’ one officer barked. ‘Who started this?’
Yvaine shoved herself out from behind Cassian’s protective arms. ‘It was them!’ she yelled, pointing at the group of girls. ‘They barged in and just went crazy.’
The officers quickly took statents, checked the store’s CCTV, and confird it was the fans who threw the first punch.
The troublemakers were hauled away, while we were given ti to deal with the aftermath before we had to go down to the station.
Yvaine went to check on the injured employees.
Two of the girls were badly hurt, and she called an ambulance straight away.
I could hear Cassian mumbling sothing about his own injuries, but Yvaine ignored him.
‘I just saved your ass back there, and not even a “thank you”?’ he muttered. ‘Stop cleaning up. That’s not important right now. You two should head to the hospital.’
I shot him a glare. ‘Don’t act like you’re so hero, Cassian. The whole damn thing’s your fault.’
He scowled. ‘How the hell is any—’
‘If you hadn’t let Harper Foster run loose, none of this would’ve happened. You couldn’t even keep your little plaything in check. Pathetic.’
Reviews
All reviews (0)