A fist clipped my right eye as one of them tried to get my arms behind my back. I heard Linc bellow my name. Then one of them was trying to get me into a hammerlock, ala Bruno Sammartino. Paul sure did love his old wrestlers. Someday, maybe, I’d be able to watch those classic matches with him again. Not tonight. Tonight was a bar fight that never made it into the bar. Rip took a lazy swing at me. I ducked, catching Dodge out of the corner of my eye delivering a jab to one of the Learys, causing him to double him over. My fist then connected with Rip’s shoulder, the blow missing his jaw. I could hear Bella somewhere behind us, shouting at someone to help Aiden. Rip was a big man, but thebooze and pot were slowing him down. He dove at me, taking me down in the dirt with me on my back, and began pummeling me. Before I could get my arms up to block it, his fist cracked my nose. Hard. I saw stars. Blood ran into my mouth as Rip drew back to hit me again. This time on the side of my head. Fireworks that time. Rip, mouth bloody, grinned down at me.
“All you Bastians are cocksuckers, and you know what happens to cocksuckers?” I spit in his face just as a lithe blond undead nurse appeared behind Rip, wielding a second-hand guitar. I watched through a rapidly swelling eye as she swung that old six-string like it was a Louisville Slugger. KWANG! Wood smashed into skull. Rip fell over me, out cold. Bella stood over us, holding the broken neck of her guitar, her chest heaving.
“I know what happens to hateful bigots,” she snarled down at Rip before rolling him off me with a tiny boot to his side. Blinded in one eye and leaking blood, I slowly sat up. The world was now suddenly blue and red. Shit. Did I have a brain bleed?
“Break it up!” a firm male voice shouted. I looked to the left. Ollie and his deputy had arrived and were yanking Linc off one of the Learys who was pinned against a truck. The local law pulled the combatants apart and started handcuffing a few drunken Learys who were intent on hitting a few lawmen. That was dumb, but no one ever said they were smart. “I swear I leave you Bastians alone for a few hours and this is where we end up,” Ollie growled, stopping in front of Dodge to inspect his face. He tutted over the busted lip his boyfriend was sporting then moved on down the row until he came to Bella still holding what was left of her guitar. She handed it to the deputy. “Bella, I’m shocked you would join in with these morons.” He jerked a thumb at us sitting on the ground, bloody and beaten but rather jolly. We’d given as good as we’d got, that was for sure. Aiden was led over to join us, his cheek busted and bleeding, but his smile was wide.He sat beside me, trying to wink, but it was hard with a swollen eye. Still, it made me want to kiss him, bloody lip or not.
“Family sticks together,” she proudly said, sitting down with a huff.
The sheriff gave his boyfriend a long look. “I didn’t think you’d get involved in something this stupid.”
“Family sticks together,” Dodge said, echoing Bella’s reply.
Ollie rubbed his eyes with the tips of his fingers. “As if one Bastian hadn’t been bad enough, now we got four.” He glanced at Bella. “Five to deal with. So, who wants to tell me what kicked this off? Who threw the first punch?” No one said diddly. Ollie got much sterner. “Okay, we can do this one of two ways. You dipshits can tell me what happened now, or I can cuff you and haul you to the station, where you’ll be booked for—”
“It was me, I think,” I spoke up. Bella and I did not want to get arrested and have our names pop up on some police page where someone could see them. “I pulled up and saw Baker fighting with Aiden, and it pissed me off.”
“We weren’t fighting,” Baker hurried to say. His speech was messy because his lip was swollen pretty badly. “We were discussing a personal situation.”
“No, you were telling me to back off dating Ford,” Aiden interjected, leaning up to glare around Linc picking gravel from his beard.
“Youwhat?!” I shouted, making a few of the patrons who were gathered outside to watch the show startle. “How fucking dare you?!”
“I never told him to stop dating you. I told him his reputation as a tomcat made me worry about you two dating,” Baker barked and spit some blood to the dirt.
“You also said I was too old to be sniffing around your little brother,” Aiden fired back, his voice rising slightly. Oh man, he sounded really mad. Not madder than me, though. “The man istwenty-five years old. He’s not underage. And ten or so years isn’t that much.”
Baker snorted then winced. Hanley was poking at the bridge of his nose and grimacing.
“Seriously, I am getting tired of my family sticking their noses into my life. I’m old enough to know who I want to sleep with, Baker!” I yelled.
“Then maybe you should choose someone who’s—”
Baker’s reply was cut short by a sharp, loud whistle. We all looked up to see Ollie with his thumb and forefinger in the corners of his mouth. The only noises that were heard were the muffled sounds of the Learys packed like sardines into the back seat of the sheriff’s cruiser.
“Enough! Jesus. Do I look like Dr. Phil?” We all shook our heads. “I didn’t think so. If you chuckleheads have family issues, work them out at home. Now, Ford. What did you do to start this brawl?”
“I opened the truck door without really looking at the car next to me. I was too pissed at Baker pointing a finger at Aiden, so I pinged the van on my left. It may have made a dent. Who would know? Then the door opened, and the Learys piled out. They were really aggressive, Rip especially, and I owed him a punch in the face for shooting Lady so—”
“Wait.” Ollie held up a hand. “Rip Leary shot some lady?”
“Lady is a dog,” Aiden interjected. “The one you brought to me after being shot at by Rip.”
“The best dog,” I added because she was, and it needed to be said often.
“Oh, Okay.Thatdog. Dodge mentioned her. Should have recalled the name. Okay, so you threw the first punch, Ford?” Ollie asked, and I had to reply honestly. I nodded. Ollie studied us all intently. “I need to speak to some other folks here, getsome witness testimony, and see if the owner wants to press charges. Sit tight. Do not move. Baker, are you solid?”
“Never got through the door, but thanks for your concern,” Baker fired back, clearly riled up with me, Aiden, and the whole world, it seemed. Other than Hanley, who Baker never seemed to get angry with. Guess that was what true love did.
“What a bunch of boneheads,” Ollie muttered and wandered off.
“Does anyone want to hear my version of “Haunted” before we get locked up for drunk and disorderly?” Bella asked while rewinding a loose wrap on her slim forearm.
“Can’t arrest you on a D and D if you’re not drunk. Ask me how I know,” Baker stated with zero emotion. He looked as tired as I felt. Getting into a bar fight was not as glamorous as it was in the movies.
“Good to know,” Bella whispered as she began to dab at Linc’s bloody knuckles. “You really tore them up,” she said to him.
“Yeah, caught them on the front teeth of that peckerhead who gave you shit at the front door back at the fire hall,” he said, staring at Bella’s small hand cradling his large one.
