An hour later, we were at Jax’s house, getting into his truck, when Austin pulled up and hopped out. He wore a teasing grin when his eyes spotted Grant.

“Where you all off to?”

“The fair.”

“I’m meeting Lilly there later.”

“What happened to Liz?” Jax crossed his arms.

“She’s decided to move back to Nebraska for college. No sense in getting close again when she’ll be long gone soon. Hey, we should meet at the Beer Garden.”

A garden of beer? Were my ears deceiving me? The fair was starting to sound like a truly magical event.

“Looks like Pipsqueak is back.” Austin chuckled.

Grant’s hands popped onto his hips. “You can’t call me a pipsqueak. I am a big second-grader, for your information.”

“Tell you what, if you can push me hard enough to move my big old feet, I’ll never call you pipsqueak again.”

Jax leaned against his truck and shook his head in amusement. Grant took a run at Austin, who didn’t budge an inch.

“There you go!” Austin clapped his hands. “It’s Pipsqueak.”

Grant waved his fist in a sign that Austin would one day get his comeuppance. Jax stepped in front of Austin. “IfIcan take you down and pin you, you call the little dude by his name.” He cracked his knuckles. “Challenge extended.”

Grant protested further. “I’m not a little dude, either.”

“Quiet, kid.” Jax waved his hand at Grant in a signal to back off “I’m on your side here.”

The shit-ass grin on Jax’s face made my stomach do a little thing between pride and bubbling laughter.

Austin let out a whoop and clapped his hands enthusiastically. “Challenge accepted.” He looked down at Grant. “Stand back. You’re in for a real treat, there, Pipper.”

Jax and Austin were both built and about the same height. They looked like two muscley dudes who should be doing a TikTok dance or strip tease thing. So much testosterone in one place. Whoa.

I watched them eye and circle each other, and to be honest, I couldn’t wait to see how this thing was going to go down.

In an instant, Jax dove at Austin’s legs, and he hit the ground with a poof of dust from the gravel driveway, which probably did not feel good.

Austin’s laughter echoed off the house as he grabbed Jax, and they rolled around for a long minute. It was a bit difficult to tell who was winning, as there was so much action going on. And cursing. I quickly covered Grant’s ears as several muffled fucks, pussies, and shitheads flew through the air. In Jax’s defense, he was fighting for Pipsqueak’s honor, so there you go.

Austin got Jax on his back, and I thought it was done. When Austin looked over at me to gloat, Jax got loose and, in a split-second, flipped Austin and held him to the ground. Austin struggled but was stuck like a roly-poly bug on its back.

“Say it!” Jax shouted with laughter.

Austin continued to push at Jax. “What?”

“That you’re a pussy and will never call Grant a pipsqueak again.”

Austin groaned. “Come on. Ever? How about a year?”

Jax laughed. “Say it!”

“Fine!” Austin was still trying to get loose, failing miserably. “I’m a pussy! I’ll never call the boy pipsqueak again.”

Jax let him go, and they popped to their feet, both dusty, with their hair shooting in all directions.

Austin walked over and stopped in front of Grant. “Looks like your old buddy Jax over there got lucky today.” He extended his hand, and Grant shook it. “I’ll call you Grant, and maybe you can call me Awesome Austin?”