Camry straightened and spun around, frantically searching for Fiona in the tangle of bodies. She spotted the girl preparing to drive a fork into the arm of the jerk who was trying to pull her out from under the table by her hair. Cam screamed the girl’s name at the top of her lungs, hoping Fiona could hear her over the sound of crashing dishes and the growls and grunts of the fighting men.

But it was too late. Even though Fiona tried to halt her downward swing as her eyes snapped to Camry, the fork still found its target. The ensuing shout of pain came just as another one of the drunken men flew backward, sending Camry to the floor with her own cry of pain as her ankle twisted under the weight of his landing on top of her.

Almost as quickly as it had begun, the pandemonium ceased when Dave, along with several of the grill’s regular male patrons, started grabbing men by the scruffs of their necks and pulling them off Dream Guy and Camry.

Fiona immediately crawled over and lifted Cam into a sitting position, wrapping her arms around her protectively. Cam snatched the fork out of her fist just as Dave came over and crouched down in front of them.

“Damn, are you girls okay?” he asked, brushing hair back off Camry’s face.

Cam jerked away when his fingers touched her throbbing cheek. “I just want to sit here a minute, okay?” she said shakily, carefully straightening her right leg.

“I’ve been stabbed!” a man shouted. “I’m bleeding! That bitch stabbed me!”

Dave looked down at the fork in her hand, which Camry immediately tossed under a nearby table. “You stay put until the ambulance gets here,” he said, getting to his feet and going over to the loudly complaining victim.

Fiona knelt behind Camry and pulled her against her for support. “Other than that shiner that’s already starting to swell,” Fiona said, “what else hurts?”

“My ankle is throbbing like hell,” Camry whispered. She turned to look up at Fiona. “Mind telling me what possessed you to stab that guy with a fork? You don’t think that was a little . . . extreme?”

Fiona shrugged. “My dad always told me that if I’m ever accosted, I’m supposed to see everything as a weapon, and not hesitate to use it.”

“Your father actually said that?”

She nodded soberly. “He said that I better not think like a woman, but like a warrior.” She suddenly smiled. “And that a woman’s greatest weapon is surprise, because men don’t expect us to fight back.”

Camry blinked up at her. “Your dad and my dad must have read the same book on raising daughters. Oh, God, I can’t breathe,” she groaned, twisting to face forward, trying to get air in her lungs as she frantically tugged on the laces of her bustier. “Help me get this stupid thing off.”

Fiona tried to untie the lacing on the front but couldn’t work the knotted bow free. “Luke,” she cried as he sat down next to them, holding a napkin up to his temple. “Help me. Camry can’t breathe.”

“Cut this damn thing off,” Cam panted, trying to find a position that allowed her to breathe. “Ow! My ankle!”

“Stop thrashing around. You’re making it worse,” Luke said. He dropped the napkin so he could hold her down, then unsnapped a pouch on his belt with his other hand. He pulled out a multitool and opened it to expose the blade. “Help me, Fiona,” he instructed, tugging on the knotted bow. “Hold her chest out of the way.”

Camry covered her own breasts. “You can’t see what you’re doing with blood in your eye,” she said, worried he might cut more than just the laces.

While she covered her precious anatomy with her hands, Fiona used her own hands to block Cam’s view of what he was doing. “He won’t cut you, I promise,” the girl said with all the bravado of someone whose boobs weren’t inches from a sharp blade.

Camry felt several tugs on her torso, a very welcome release of pressure, and all of a sudden she could breathe again! She tried to roll to her side, but discovered that Luke was straddling her hips. His weight suddenly disappeared, but instead of standing up, he rolled to lie flat on the floor beside her.

“Slow down your breathing or you’ll hyperventilate,” he instructed, also taking labored breaths. “Damn, I think I have a couple of cracked ribs.”

Fiona lifted Camry into a sitting position again, wedging herself behind her for support as Luke rolled toward her with a groan, then rose to his knees.

“Where else are you hurt?” he asked.

“She twisted her ankle,” Fiona answered for her.

Luke sidled down to her legs and very gently slid her shoe off her right foot. It was as he went to look up at her that his gaze suddenly stopped, and Camry realized he could look right down her unconfined blouse! But when she slapped her hand to her chest and his gaze lowered, she realized he could also look right up her skirt! She started wiggling as she tugged on the hem, trying to pull her skirt down as she also tried to hold up the front of her blouse.

“What is your problem?” he snapped, falling back when her flailing left foot kicked his thigh—apparently quite close to his groin.

“Nothing!”

“I’m pressing charges against whoever stabbed me,” Fiona’s victim cried from three tables down.

Still holding her blouse to her chest, Camry dropped her head to her knees with a groan. “Honest to God, I am never stepping foot in another bar,” she muttered, remembering the last time someone had wanted to press charges against her, after a barroom brawl in Pine Creek last summer.

Fiona patted her back. “I’ll tell Dave I was the one who stabbed that jerk.”

Camry straightened. “You will not. If the authorities find out your age, then Dave will get in trouble.” She suddenly smiled. “Unless you want your parents to get a call from the police, telling them their missing daughter is sitting in jail. Just think of the lecture dear old Daddy’s going to give you then. You won’t see daylight for years.”

“What do you mean, missing daughter?” Luke asked, his gaze darting between Cam and Fiona. He finally settled on Fiona. “Did you run away from home or something?”

“Or something,” Fiona said.

Luke’s gaze snapped to Camry. “You know she’s a runaway, and you haven’t done anything about it?”

“I suppose I could have left her on the beach. Or let her hitchhike to Portland so she could stay at a homeless shelter.”

Luke reached in his pocket, pulled out his cell phone, and handed it to Fiona. “You have to call your parents right this minute, young lady. They must be worried sick about you!”

Camry couldn’t believe how dense the guy was.

But even more, she couldn’t believe that Fiona actually took the phone, flipped it open, and started pushing buttons.

Her mouth gaping in shock, Cam blinked at Luke.

He shot her a smug smile. “Apparently she responds to male authority.”

Fiona suddenly handed the phone back to Luke.

“You didn’t call them!”

“I will. Eventually.” She gave him an equally smug smile. “But I did add Camry’s number to your phone list. Just in case you want to call her, seeing as how you’re going to be here for a while and don’t know anyone.”

Luke looked down at his phone. He started pushing buttons with his thumb, his eyes suddenly widened, and he snapped his gaze back to Camry.

Cam held out her hand. “Give me that.”

He flipped the phone closed and shoved it in his pocket.

“I’m changing my number first thing tomorrow.”

“Okay, the cops and the ambulance are here,” Dave said, walking over. “Folks,” he said to the dining room of stunned patrons. “I’m sorry for the disturbance. If you stop at the counter on your way out, my staff will give you vouchers for a free meal. First, though, I believe the police wish to speak with each of you before you leave. You all come visit the Go Back Grill again, okay? And bring your friends!”