Falling for Your Madness by Katharine Grubb

eyes.
     
    “Oh, David, no! You don’t need to explain that. It’s none of his business.”
     
    “Oh, what exactly happened, Laura?” Trey glared at me.
     
    “You need not ask her. Ask me. I am the one to blame.” David placed his arm between me and Trey.
     
    Trey brushed him off and yelled at me. “You are a piece of work. You lecture me about not treating you well and wanting to be a lady. But then apparently when there’s a mugging and a friend takes off their shirt, the rules change. You’re not a lady.”
     
    David audibly gasped. “You, sir, are out of line! How dare you question the virtue of this flower. This is inexcusable!” He threw down his other bag. “You blackhearted villain! I will not stand for such ungallant and disgusting behavior. I will not stand for it.” He opened his suitcase and removed two fencing swords and handed one to Trey.
     
    Trey was puzzled. “I’ve had it with you, Poindexter.” Trey put the sword down and leaned back to hit David with his fist. “You’re getting out of my way now. I don’t care if you did get lucky with some mugger. You’re going down.” He threw a punch. David blocked it.
     
    “Pick up the blade, you fool.” David handed the sword back to him. “I am bound by the rules of chivalry, both body and soul. I will not fight one who is disadvantaged.”
     
    “You’ve got to be kidding me? You want us to fight with swords?” Trey stepped back. Then he stepped back again.
     
    “It is not a sword, you idiot; it’s a foil. I will do what must be done. A woman’s honor is in question.” He lunged. “ En garde .”
     
    “Get away from me!” Trey scrambled backward. By now a crowd had formed around us, and I was frozen in place. Part of me wanted them to back down, to stop acting like silly boys, but part of me—maybe it was the part that felt the most like a lady—was so flattered that this was happening, I didn’t want it to stop. Then there was the part of me that really, really wanted to see David kick Trey’s ass.
     
    Then I heard a siren.
     
    “David, let’s get out of here!”
     
    “I said, EN GARDE! Say pret , you arrogant piece of mouse dung! ”
     
    “David!”
     
    Trey ran across the street to the Public Garden. David chased him with the foil in his hand. Trey stopped at the wrought iron fence that surrounded it. He turned around and froze like a trapped animal. David approached him, holding the weapon still and steady. In his fear, Trey fell to his knees. David placed the tip of the weapon inches from Trey’s face. I ran up to him. I wasn’t flattered any more. I was terrified something bad was going to happen. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
     
    I saw a squad car’s lights flashing out of the corner of my eye. I ran up to David’s arm and touched him. “Let him go. He’s not worth it. Let’s get out of here.”
     
    Trey yelled. “Let me go!”
     
    David’s voice was commanding. “I will let you go when you tell her what she is to you.”
     
    “Huh?”
     
    David’s voice sent chills up my spine. “You tell the young woman, whom you just insulted, what she is to you.” His voice was calm and low. I wouldn’t have compared David Bowles to Clint Eastwood, but I did now. This was his Dirty Harry moment. “Is she your friend? Is she your sweetheart? You tell me the truth, and then, my good man, I will let you go.”
     
    Trey whimpered. “She’s nothing. She’s just a girl.”
     
    “Speak up, you coward.”
     
    “She’s just a girl.” Trey started to cry. “She means nothing.”
     
    “Laura, my dear,” David turned to me. He was much calmer. “I’m so sorry to ask you this, but did you hear that?”
     
    “Yes. Please let him go.” I saw police officers with guns drawn. I would have thought that they would have stopped this by now.
     
    David looked back at Trey. “Your intention all along was to take advantage of her, wasn’t it?”
     
    “I don’t …”
     
    “Wasn’t it?”