“Damnit, I just replaced that,” Eric muttered, rushing past me. The rest of the brothers raced out of the house to catch the fight. After a second of shock, I ran out onto the porch, just in time to see Robert toss Carter against one of the trucks and slam his fist into his face. Carter ducked when he swung again and landed a punch right to Robert’s side.
“Go do something,” I shouted at Eric.
“He’s got this.”
Carter hit him right in the face hard and he stumbled back, tripping over something and hitting the ground hard.
“Are you sure?” I shrieked.
“Totally.”
Carter got on top of Robert and hit him several times in the face.
“Really? Because he doesn’t look like he’s got this!”
“Eh,” Will shrugged. “It’s fifty-fifty.”
Robert tossed Carter off him and landed another punch.
“See? He totally rebounded,” Joe grinned.
“Carter doesn’t have his gun on him, does he?” Andrew asked.
“What?” I shrieked. “Are you serious right now? Go help him!”
They both went tumbling to the ground, and at this point, I couldn’t tell who was kicking whose ass. There was a lot of grunting and what looked like blood flying. They were beating each other to a pulp.
“He’s a little rusty,” Andrew grunted. “You would think he would have a few more good moves in him.”
“He’s fighting a police officer,” Joe reminded him. “They train for this sort of thing.”
“So, then Robert really is doing pretty well,” Eric nodded.
“I can’t believe it!” I shouted. “You’re his brother. Go be his brother!”
“I am,” Eric said. “If he’s in trouble, we’ll break it up.”
“What does it take for him to be in trouble? Does someone need to get a crowbar?”
Joe snorted. “Nobody carries crowbars anymore.”
Robert landed one last punch and then Carter kicked him off of him. Robert flopped to his back, breathing hard as Carter laid beside him doing the same thing.
“Is…is that it?” I asked, a little surprised that it just ended like that.
Carter suddenly slammed his fist into Robert’s chest as he laid on the ground, and Robert returned his punch from the same prone position. Slowly, Robert got to his feet and held out his hand for Carter to take. As he turned toward the porch, Robert wiped the blood from his face, glancing down at the smear on his fist.
“So, it’s over?”
Kat walked up beside me and grinned. “Apparently, sometimes guys fight just to let off steam.”
My eyebrows shot up. “This has happened before?”
“Oh yeah. Eric has had at least two of these fights that I know of. It’s some kind of weird bonding thing men do. Watch, now they’re probably going to shake hands.”
I watched in fascination, waiting to see if it would really happen. Carter held out his hand to Robert, but Robert slugged him in the arm. Well, close enough.
“That wasn’t at all what I thought was going to happen.”
“Not bad, little brother,” Eric grinned, walking closer to the edge of the porch. “I thought for sure Carter could take you. A little out of shape?” he asked Carter.
He flipped him the bird and swiped at his own face. “He’s surprisingly fast. Of course, you would expect that from someone that runs away from his responsibilities,” Carter said, getting one more jab in.
“I would leave now if you don’t want to end up in a shallow grave,” Eric said threateningly. “You got your shots in, now get the fuck off my property.”
Carter gave a two finger salute and walked away, though his eyes lingered on me for just a moment. I sighed, thinking of what a waste that all was. If he hadn’t just been a total asshole, he would have been fun to date.
Robert
I walked up the steps of the porch and shoved straight past Anna, heading for the bathroom. I couldn’t look at her right now. I was still too pissed. Not at her. I could never be mad at her for what happened. But my anger was still simmering and I didn’t want to do or say anything to fuck things up between us.
Joe followed me into the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth, running it under the water. “I gotta say, that should have definitely ended up on the town Facebook page. If you were looking to outdo Kat and Eric, that would have taken the cake.”
He held the washcloth against my face and I snatched it away. “I don’t need your fucking help.”
“Really,” he said, folding his arms over his chest. “Because it looks like you could use a lot