As soon as I told Cameron what was going on with Liam and Linc, he promised to come home for the weekend and bring some reinforcements. They’d already planned out everything by the time I meet them on Friday night.

Jake says, his Australian accent thick, “We need to discuss possible roadblocks.”

Logan nods. “Women.”

Cam grunts and keeps his same tone when he says, “I’ll take care of the wife.” Then he points to me.

“Um…” I look between them. Crazy assholes. “Lane’s working, so she won’t be a problem. Also, you guys are fucking weird.”

Jake chuckles.

Logan rubs his hands together. “Middle School Mayhem, motherfuckers!”

The plan is simple, really, and besides me walking the streets to pick up dog shit in the middle of the night, my brother Logan pissing into a different type of cup, and Cameron fucking with the chains on Benny Watson’s bike during his little league baseball game, my brothers and I stay out of the actual mayhem. It’s too obvious if people see us; six Preston punks plus our brother-in-law? Yeah, we're kind of hard to miss. But we all wanted to be here to see it go down, so we watch from behind the tinted windows of the minivan. “Here he comes!” Linc whispers, and we all scoot to one side of the van, press our noses to the windows.

“How far do you think he can get?” Logan asks Cam.

“Not far.”

“This is bad,” Liam says. “You guys, maybe we shouldn’t do this.”

“Shut up!” Linc snaps. “He called you a fag and beat the crap out of you. This is nothing compared.”

“What’s a fag?” Lachlan asks.

Logan groans. “I told you we shouldn’t have brought him.”

Lachlan repeats the question.

Leo says, “It’s a guy who likes other guys.”

“Why is that bad?” Lachlan questions.

“It’s not,” I tell him. “Come here.” I rear back so he can sit in front of me and see what’s going on. Then I point to Benny Watson. “See that kid getting on the bike?”

He nods.

“He wasn’t very nice to Liam. He hurt him.”

“Inside or outside?”

“Both,” I tell him. “And you remember Cam and Lucy’s friends Jake and Big Logan?”

He nods again.

“They’re here to help him understand why it’s wrong to hurt people.”

Benny starts to pedal, and it takes less than three seconds for the bike to lock up. The little punk flies over the handlebars and falls on all fours, and I almost feel sorry for him. But then I look over at Liam and the damage on his face and arms and that feeling fades real quick. My brothers stifle their laughs while they watch part two of Middle School Mayhem come to fruition. Big Logan and Jake rush toward him, perfect in their display of fake concern. Cam puts his phone on speaker, connected to Jake's phone so we can hear what they're saying. “You okay, mate?” Jake asks. He and Big Logan squat in front of Benny, a hand on each of his shoulders.

“That was rough, dude,” Logan says, his voice dripping with worry.

Benny looks up at them, tears in his eyes, and I wonder what Liam was like when he was copping a fucking beating from this asshole.

“Here.” Jake slips a backpack off his shoulders and unzips it. “You look like you’re about to pass out. You need to eat something.” He pulls out the gourmet dog shit/peanut butter sandwich I crafted and hands it over to Benny. “You’ll feel better,” Jake pushes.

Benny takes a bite, munches a few times before spitting it out and cursing. The minivan erupts with laughter while Jake shakes his head, his brow bunched. “What’s wrong, little man?”

Benny’s still splattering everywhere, his tongue out, trying to get the taste of shit off his tongue. “What the hell is that?”

Jake shrugs. “Peanut butter and vegemite. Sorry, man. Must be an acquired taste.” He takes the Logan-piss-filled drink bottle from the backpack. “You want to wash it down with something?”

Without a thought, Benny takes the bottle from him, tilts his head back, lifts the bottle, and squeezes. As soon as the liquid hits his tongue, his eyes squeeze shut, and he coughs and spurts everywhere.

Dying. We're fucking dying in the minivan, watching it all go down, and Benny tries to stand, but Jake keeps him in place. Benny's nothing but flailing arms and legs. “What the fuck?!” he shouts.

Big Logan says, “Ur-ine a lot of trouble here, kid.”

Jake chuckles.

“Who the fuck are you?” Benny screams.

“We’re delivering a message from Liam and Lincoln,” Jake says. “You fuck with the Prestons, you fuck with their friends. You so much as look in their direction, you’ll be eating more than dog shit and piss. You got it?”

I’d put money that Benny’s pissing his pants right now. “Y-y-yes, sir.”

They smile brightly at him and help him to his feet. “Have a fantastic day!” Big Logan exaggerates. “Asshole.”

Middle School Mayhem is great.

Later in the afternoon while I walk to my truck, Cam calls out, running up to me.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“We need to talk.”

“I have to pick Laney up from work.”

“It's quick,” he says. “You know that check you sent us to give Cooper?”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t find him on campus.”

“What do you mean you can’t find him?”

He shrugs. “He hasn’t been in his dorm for days, and I asked Jake to ask around… jocks, you know, they stick together.”

“And?”

“And Jake says no one on the track team's seen him for a while. He's missed training the last couple days. That jerk's AWOL.”

I keep this information from Lane when I pick her up from work which I don’t feel too bad about. It’s not like she’s asked, and come to think of it, her phone hasn’t been blowing up the way it used to. At least not when I’m around.

I tell her about what happened today, the shit sandwich and piss bottle, and she’s sad she missed out on it. I thought she’d be disappointed in the way we chose to retaliate, and I tell her that. She shakes her head, says, “You know, I followed that little punk home from school one day so I could see where he lives and speak to his parents. His dad’s just as vile and pathetic as he is.”

We go to her house to pick up her sewing machine to go with all the other crafting supplies she keeps in our little apartment where we still haven’t had sex because we’re taking it slow, doing it right. And then we go back home where we save dinner by “helping” Lucy in the kitchen, which means taking over without Lucy realizing it. After we eat, I help Lachlan with his bath and his bedtime and his one minute, and Lucy invites us to hang out at the cabin. Lane says she wants to shower, so she does that while I wait in the living room. Then her phone rings, and I know I shouldn't look, shouldn't answer. But I do look, and I see Cooper's name flash on the screen, and I do answer because I want to know what the hell he still wants and where the hell he is.