“Diagonal!” Nicolas called.
Julian swung his sword in a downward arc, and at the same time, to his left, he heard a telltalewhack.
Daniel grunted, his spine arching in pain. He spun around to glare at Lyle, behind him.
“Hold,” Nicolas called, and the rest of them froze with their practice swords in the ready position. Julian turned his head to watch.
Nicolas approached the fuming Daniel and unapologetic Lyle. “What happened?”
“He hit me in the back,” Daniel fumed.
Lyle shrugged. “It was an accident.”
“Why were you so close to him?” Nicolas said.
“I didn’t think I was. Guess his steps were too small on the forward moves.”
Daniel’s mouth tightened, and Nicolas glanced between them with uncertainty. Julian didn’t envy him. He couldn’t show his brother too much favoritism, but they all knew Lyle was full of crap. He hit Daniel on purpose; they just couldn’t prove it.
Daniel shook his head. “Forget it.”
Nicolas sighed, and when his gaze swept across the others, Julian jerked his head. Nicolas’s brow furrowed, so Julian did it again, more pointedly.
Nicolas licked his lips. “Danny, swap places with Julian. You’ll have more space on the back row.”
Julian nodded, breaking form to jog over and take Daniel’s place. Lyle wouldn’t hit him, or he’d give back as good as he got. Daniel couldn’t fight back without turning them against him even more, and Nicolas risked his standing as a captain if he protected Daniel too much.
The rest of their training was just as fraught with tension. Somebody tripped Daniel during their run, causing him to fall and skin his knee and elbow. They showed him no mercy during sparring, taking dirty shots and kicking sand in his face, ignoring all of Nicolas’s admonishments. They didn’t care if they had to do extra push-ups or laps. It was worth it to give Daniel grief.
Julian hated it.
Daniel and Nicolasdidn’t stay to shower in the locker room, so neither did Julian. He wanted to catch them before they left for the day. He emerged from the rec center to see the brothers headed toward their car and hurriedly jogged after them.
“Hey,” he said, falling into step on Nicolas’s other side, “listen, why don’t you guys come over to my place tonight? I’ve got some steaks we could grill.”
On Nicolas’s other side, Daniel grimaced, opening his mouth most likely to refuse, but Nicolas spoke first.
“Okay, yeah. That sounds good. It’s been a while since we’ve done that.”
Daniel’s face settled into a complicated frown. “Nic, we shouldn’t. It’s not safe.”
Julian understood. He was afraid they would put targets on their back by spending time with him. Nicolas got an understandable pass, because they were brothers, but Daniel had been avoiding Julian for weeks. He missed his friends.
“I don’t care,” Julian said vehemently. There was no one else around, and their voices weren’t loud enough to carry. “You were my friend long before any of that happened, and that hasn’t changed. I think we all deserve a little break. Good food and good company might be just what we need. And… maybe somewhere far enough away from here that we can bitch in peace.”
Daniel’s gaze darted around them worriedly, while Nicolas’s mouth quirked in bitter amusement.
“I agree,” Nicolas said. “And I’d like nothing more than to do somethingnormal. Hanging out at Julian’s is normal for us. Everybody knows it.” At Daniel’s unchanged expression, he added, “Come on, Danny. I think it’ll be good for all of us.”
Daniel sighed. “Okay.”
Julian wanted to clap or cheer, but he didn’t want to draw attention to them. As much as he hated it, Daniel’s fears weren’t unfounded. It was safer to keep a low profile these days. The paladins were meant to keep their heads down and follow orders.
“Great,” Julian said. “I’ll meet you guys at my place, then.”
They split up at the parking lot. Julian went to his sensible little car while the Garcia brothers headed off to their own.
His house was on a quiet street with a handful of carefully tended trees. The house itself was built in the late nineteen-fifties. When he’d stumbled across it on a patrol one night, he fell in love with it, despite the broken siding and the sagging front porch. He’d bought it cheap because it needed a ton of work, and it had become a project for not just himself but the whole squad. They all used to come over on their days off and help him remodel, Nicolas and Daniel included. He paid them in food and cold beer. He couldn’t believe how quickly things had changed.
