his fist at Caleb’s stomach while his buddy recovered his balance from the initial missed punch. But Caleb grabbed the red-haired man’s forearm with his left hand while slamming his clenched fist into the front of the man’s throat. The assailant immediately gasped with a choking sound, and fell forward onto his knees onto the asphalt parking lot.
The first man, a bearded guy with curly hair, recovered and punched Caleb in the lower back around his kidneys. Pain shot through him, but it was bearable and nothing like the pain from Devon’s assault, so he had enough stamina to whirl and catch the man in the side of the nose with the back of his right elbow. Caleb heard a crunching sound as his elbow slammed into the bearded man’s face, followed by a shriek as the guy reached up to cup his face with both hands.
One glance at Gil revealed he was quickly losing in the brief melee of fists flailing between the two men. The mustached man made a quick punch to Gil’s jaw, sending him banging into the side of a beat-up old pickup parked next their car. The young rocker slumped groggily down to the asphalt after that.
Caleb rushed forwards to side-kick at the mustached man’s left knee, sending the yelling thug to the ground. Caleb landed punches against the left side of the guy’s head and jaw, requiring only three sharp blows before the guy fell unconscious onto the blacktop with a heavy thump.
Caleb was spun around from behind, glimpsing the red-haired man who he’d hit in the nose with his elbow. Blood still ran down the guy’s mouth and chin as his fist landed against the left side of Caleb’s face, popping his head backwards. The man weighed into Caleb with a left blow to his ribs, but Caleb maintained concentration on retaliating by foot-sweeping him. As the red-haired man fell backwards, Caleb slammed the flat of his foot into his head, knocking it back against the pavement with a thud. All the fight ebbed from the thug as he rolled onto his side moaning and grasping at the back of his head.
Caleb breathed heavily while glancing around for witnesses as he grasped Gil by his arm and helped to steady him as he rose. Gil shook his head slightly, seeming to recover his wits and looked at Caleb with a surprised expression.
“Where the hell did you --”
“Just get in the damned car!” Caleb yelled as he felt warm blood running down into his left eye.
“Shit, no, dude! I better drive,” Gil insisted as he picked up the keys from the pavement near the front of the car. “Dude, your face is bleeding wicked bad.”
Caleb cursed and fell into the passenger seat of the car as Gil raced around to the other side, hopped into the driver’s seat, and revved the engine. He peeled out of the parking lot and into the late afternoon light traffic.
“Shit! I’m not even sure which way is home,” he complained.
Caleb managed to remove his blood-covered sweatshirt, wadded it up, and used it to press against the bleeding side of his face as he attempted to discern their location. He glanced at the GPS, punched the preset for home, and barked, “Just follow the GPS!”
“Okay, just chill,” Gil snapped. “Don’t get all cracked out on me, dude.”
Caleb grumbled under his breath, wishing he had some ibuprofen or something for the pounding in his head. He shifted slightly in the seat to test his back and ribs, but didn’t think anything felt broken or out of place. Still, most of his body ached, and his right knuckles were throbbing. He glanced sidelong at Gil, who had a bloody lip and bruises on his face, but otherwise seemed okay. What a sight-seeing trip, he thought darkly. Katrina’s sure as hell not going to be happy about this, he considered as an afterthought.
It only took about twenty minutes for them to make it back to the estate, though that was partly due to the fact that Gil enjoyed speeding down the highway at any opportunity. They lurched into the driveway, and Caleb activated the garage door opener, muttering, “Just leave the car out. We have to hose down the tire and fender, remember?”
“Yeah, sure,” Gil replied absently as they got out of the car and walked into the garage.
Katrina and Paige sat in the living room at the back of the house sipping glasses of warm blood and discussing the prospects of