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He flexed his left elbow gingerly It seemed to still function, and apart frootten off pretty easily His face showed nothing worse than exhaustion He didn’t ever notice the pain during a bout But afterward … that was a different story That hy he trained only during his four days off fro duties It took time to recover

Why, he asked hi hiet out of it besides bruises and stiffness? Well, and the secret knowledge that he could disable every guy in the San Gabriel Fire Depart, he could probably even beat his brothers, ere all in various branches of the military

He planted the trophy, a brass-plated karate figure lared at it Second place Never hest he’d ever ranked Never am was essentially unbeatable Never mind that his brothers wouldn’t take hiht, and he was doomed to second place because of his—

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden whisking away of the trophy He looked up to see a girl in a bridal veil brandishing it in the air Under the veil she hadtrouble

“Cindy Barstow is hereby awarded the title of Most Bodacious Bride!” Shearound her, one of whoesture and irl in the veil then bent to whisper in Fred’s ear “Sorry, it was a dare You can’t deny a bride during her bachelorette party”

Teht of feirl’s hair—Fred warily surveyed the wo him Four of them, all dressed in skimpy party dresses and sparkly tiaras All seemed seriously buzzed

With perfect ti pitcher of beer “Ladies,” he said in greeting “If you’re here to celebrate, welcome aboard”

“What are we celebrating?” an Asian girl in a hot pink tube dress asked “I le lady to the enslavement known as matrimony?”

“I like your style, babe” Mulligan gave her a once-over “You busy later?”

“Oh, I plan to get busy later” She flipped her hair “But probably not with you”

“Ouch” Mulligan mimed a shot to the heart Then he plucked the trophy froirl’s hands and transferred it to the Asian girl “There you go Prize for best putdown”