Xander and Mike went for Landon.
Landon never found out how serious they were about it because neither of them got their hands on him. Genevieve stepped up and kicked them, hard and directly, right in their shins, just like that, one-two. They cried out and went down like bowling pins.
Brett was amazing.
When Skip got close, Brett hooked an arm under Skip’s, lifted, and flipped him to the side. Skip went down with a thud on the grass and then rolled into a tree, but he hopped up and came after Brett again. Every time he got close, Brett just sidestepped him, or tripped him, or spun him around and threw him to the ground. Before too long, Skip was out of breath and hunched over with a bloody nose.
When Genevieve went to give him a bonus kick, Brett scooped her up and spun her around. “Oh, no you don’t. None of that. He’s had enough, haven’t you, Skip?”
Skip only glared up at him and smeared the back of his hand with a bright swatch of blood from his nose as it dripped steadily into the grass.
“Yeah, he’s had enough.” Brett started to walk away. “Come on, guys. Let’s get some ice cream.”
Brett paused and they looked at him. “Come on.”
He turned again, and this time they followed. Landon made sure the girls were with them and the bad guys weren’t following before he relaxed enough to say, “Brett, what was that? Like, jujitsu?”
“Nah.” Brett waved a hand through the air. “Just wrestling.”
Landon shook his head. “How can you be so calm about it?”
“I’m not afraid of them, Landon. You were right. I could crush them.” Brett held the door for them all. “You could too. You just don’t know it.”
Genevieve chimed in, “That’s what I keep saying to him.”
“Yeah, we gotta work on that, Landon.” They all sat down at a table in the corner before Brett turned to Megan. The way he looked at her, and she at him, gave Landon a jolt. He’d assumed Brett was kidding when he said he’d taken Megan from Skip.
“You okay?” Brett asked her.
“Yes. Thank you,” she said.
Then she put her head on Brett’s shoulder, breaking Landon’s heart.