Page 48 of Saved By the Marines (Soldiers Of Misfortune)

“He’s kidding,” I told her, but I could see the doubt flicker over her expression. “We’ll be back. And we promise not to kill any of them.”

“On purpose anyway.” Jas coughed.

With that, I drove to the address she’d given me.

We stood in the road looking at the frat house. Music was thumping, echoing across the lawn. I could see bodies through the windows, moving around as I was trying to count them. “I thought you said they weren’t having a party today?”

“They’re not.” Kip said, “This is just their normal Tuesday routine according to Amy. Just the residents in the frat house drinking and playing games with each other.”

“So there won’t be any collateral damage?” I asked. “What about the ones that didn’t go with him to Bailey's house?”

“They have the option to run. Everyone else…fuck ‘em,” Jas said.

“Right, let's do this. Kip, you get first dibs.” I motioned for him to lead the way.

“Right,” he said with a grin. He stepped forward, cracking his knuckles, and stalked up the path to the front door.

“Taking the direct approach. I like it,” Jas commented with a grin.

We walked up the stairs of the front porch, Jas and I taking up positions on either side of Kip. Kip banged on the door. It only took a minute before the door flew open. The man on the other side of it paled as soon as he saw us standing there. “What do you want…oh shit.”

“Remember me?” Kip said with a smile. The man had his arm in a sling, clearly one of the ones that Kip had tussled with earlier. Before he could shout anything to his fraternity Kip grabbed him by the shirt, with both hands, and launched the kid out the door.

He made a perfect arc through the air and over the stairs, landing in the lawn with a loud thud. “Hey, who the fuck are you!” someone yelled from inside the house.

“We’re here for Ted, the rest of you can go,” I said flatly.

“Fuck you dude!” The guy yelled, throwing his beer down and puffing up his chest. Stupid fucker thought this was a bar fight. Jas stormed through the door. He was about to correct that thought.

Jas ran straight into the man, wrapping his arms around his waist and lifting the guy off the ground. He kept his momentum up and ran through the wall behind them. Sheetrock debris and dust flew through the air. I laughed as I walked through the door. This was going to be great.

There were at least a dozen frat boys in here. With the three of us working together, it was going to be a melee. I grabbed my first frat boy by the collar of his shirt and drove my fist into his face. His head snapped backward as he was knocked out. I flung him into another kid that was running at me. He tripped over his unconscious friend and landed in a heap at my feet. I grabbed him by the hair and drove my knee into his face. The cracking of bone made me smile and eased the bout of rage that had been piling up within me since we’d gotten back and heard that these assholes had started a fight near our girl.

I heard a scream and looked at the hole Jas had made in the wall. He had emerged and was holding some kid over his head with both hands and heaved him into two boys that were charging him. The three fell in a tangle of arms and limbs. It was chaos in here and it was fucking glorious.

“Where the fuck is Ted!” Kip was holding a kid up by the neck. He pawed at Kip's grip as his face turned red like a ripe tomato. He gave up fighting and pointed up the stairs. Kip dropped him, he fell to his knees holding his throat and gasping for air. I gave him a kick to the stomach for good measure as I followed.

Kip stormed up the stairs. I paused and turned to Jas. “You good down here?”

Jas looked around, disappointment filling his features. There were four men lying at his feet. Add in the guy I dropped, the one Kip threw down the stairs and the one he choke slammed, that was seven down. I heard a crash of broken glass. Two guys were bailing out of a window. Make that nine down. “I’ll finish up down here,” he replied on a sigh. He’d been hoping for more of a fight.

I turned to the stairs and was about to go up when a body rolled down. I waited for it to pass, then headed up and met Kip at the top. “They’re loyal to a fault, I’ll give ‘em that,” Kip said. “Though maybe after tonight they’ll be a bit pickier about where they place their loyalties.”

We stalked down the hallway, kicking open doors, trying to find Ted’s room. “Oh Teddy! Come out, come out wherever you are,” Kip sang playfully as he kicked another door open. Another kid, sitting at his computer desk with headphones on spun around with a wide-eyed paranoid look. A glance down at his lap and we saw he was sitting there with his dick in his hand. “Sorry bro, you can go back to jerking off.” Kip pulled the door closed.

Snorting out a laugh, I shook my head. The fuck was wrong with these kids these days? They should be out looking for women to talk to, not beating off to some anime porn.

“You assholes want me?” We turned. Ted was standing at the end of the hall, shaking. He held a knife in his hand. “I’ll fucking cut you if you don’t get out of here.”

I laughed, though there wasn’t an ounce of humor in the sound. “Kip, he’s all yours.” It took everything inside of me to let Kip have the kid. I wanted to rip his head from his shoulders and piss down his neck, but Kip had been the one who’d had to deal with the fuck sticks on his own. It was only fair he got his shot with them now that the odds were evened out.

“Oh Teddy, didn’t your mother ever tell you not to play with knives?” Kip kept his eyes glued on the kid, but a smile played over his face.

“I’m serious, get the fuck out!” His eyes were as wide as saucers. He waved the knife around, probably his idea of a threatening motion. In reality, it just showed both of us that he had no clue what he was doing with the weapon.

Kip closed the gap at a fast but steady pace. Ted drew his arm back, then stabbed straight out. Kip twisted mid stride and brought his arm down over Ted's knife arm. Kip expertly wrapped his arm around Ted’s, pinning it into his armpit, safely trapping the weapon. With his free hand he punched Ted in the face twice, then grabbed his throat.

“You should have gone for the slash, Teddy. It’s so much harder to catch a slashing knife than to catch the stab.” He punched him again, then leaned back and straightened Ted's arm out and brought his fist into Ted’s elbow. The knife clattered to the ground, though you couldn’t hear it over Ted’s scream. He fell to his knees, clutching at the elbow that was now bent the wrong way.

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