Mav slowly got to his feet, his eyes dancing with something I recognized all too well from our childhoods. He was in a playful mood. “Maybe you should pick on someone your own size.”
“Hey, he started this.”
“He’s also smaller than you.”
“Not smaller,” Jeff muttered.
“He swung first!”
Mav stalked toward me, and I sighed, already knowing where this was going.
“Alright, you need to stop. You can’t win against me.”
“Why? Because you were in the military?”
“Yeah, that’s one of the reasons,” I chortled.
“You forget, I grew up wrestling with you. I know all your moves.”
I sighed internally. Why did they have to keep pushing? “Correction, youknewall my moves.”
“I could kick your ass then, and I can kick your ass now,” he smirked.
I knew it was coming. I even let him get in the first hit. What else was I supposed to do?
My head snapped to the side as my childhood best friend’s fist hit me hard. Yeah, he could still pack a punch, but it wasn’t enough to take me down.
Not even close.
Shaking it off, I smiled at him. “Are we good now?”
“Good? Nah. I’m just getting started. I never walk away that easily.”
“You really should.”
But he didn’t, as I knew he wouldn’t. Charging me, I sidestepped him, trying to be the bigger man, and let him run right past me.
All that did was ignite a fire under his ass.
“Alright, that’s enough. Seriously, I don’t want to hurt you,” I said, holding my hands out to placate him.
“I’d like to see you try,” he chuckled, coming at me full force. He got in one good hit, but that was it.
I immediately went on the offensive, slamming my fist into his face before going after his ribs. He dropped his elbows, trying to break my fucking hand, but I saw the move coming and quickly averted my blows.
The good news was that he was actually making me work up a sweat. At least he hadn’t lost it while I’d been gone. The bad news was that if he didn’t let up soon, I was going to have to put him down. This couldn’t keep going.
I went at him again, this time hitting his nose. Blood gushed at the snap, and he held his hand up, catching the blood before it dripped on the ground.
“Okay, that’s enough!” Blake shouted. “You guys are acting like teenagers!”
“Them, not me. I tried to stop it.”
“Oh, please,” she retorted. “You’re like an oversized Hulk. You could have stopped this at the start.”
“Yes, but then they’d be in body bags,” I muttered right before Mav charged me again, his playful side long gone.
But I never got the chance to swing. Blake ran right at him, her body colliding with his.
