Instead, he saw Knox stagger sideways. Recovering quickly, the man attacked.

After blocking Knox’s haymaker, Gabe jabbed his fist into the man’s breadbasket, folding him over.

Damn, that felt good.

As Knox straightened, Gabe delivered a sweet uppercut.

Knox staggered back.

Advancing, Gabe kicked the idiot’s feet out from under him, followed him down, and snapped on the cuffs.

Baumer had finally jumped in and was struggling with Chevy, so Gabe walked over and delivered a sharp kick to the back of the vandal’s knee. The man dropped.

Baumer pulled out his cuffs.

“You’re getting slow, viejo.” Caz was crossing the street from the clinic. “The sarge would have you doing drills all day to speed you up.”

Gabe gave him a grin. “Yeah, I was slow. You’re right.”

“That was slow?” someone said in a hoarse voice.

Turning, Gabe saw Baumer and the two vandals were staring at him.

Gabe frowned. In Iraq, after he’d killed a knife-wielding insurgent, his team had worn similar expressions. Because he’d taken a gut-wound and hadn’t noticed.

He looked down at himself. No blood. No knives. “What’s with the stares?”

Caz laughed. “Those two have been calling you a pussy city-cop Outsider.”

“Well, that’s just rude.” Gabe yanked Knox to his feet. “It is true that I was a city cop, though.”

The rest, not so much. But he rarely spoke about his past. Terrified the law would return them to foster care, Mako’s boys learned to stay silent about where they lived. That wariness became entrenched. Being a SEAL—not gonna share. And he sure wasn’t about to discuss working as a merc.

“Hey, Chief.” Leaning against the grocery store wall, Bull had a grip on Julie’s upper arm.

At the sight of her wide eyes, a pang of guilt shot through Gabe. While he’d been enjoying himself, she’d been terrified at the violence. Not surprising considering her recent past.

He should have tried harder to avoid the fight.

Then he blinked. Damned if she wasn’t holding a bottle of apple cider by the neck. Like a weapon. And Bull’s grip on her was one of restraint, not support. The realization she’d wanted to help him warmed his heart. “You were going to whack Knox for me?”

Bull snorted. “She did whack Knox for you. I’m surprised the bottle didn’t break.”

Ah, that was why Knox had staggered.

“He…he could have killed you. Are you crazy?” She sputtered for a second. “You were smiling. When you hit him, you smiled.”

“Yeah, well, there’s no law that says law enforcement can’t derive a smidgeon of pleasure from a good fight.”

She sputtered some more. Fuck, she was cute. “Thank you, Goldilocks. I appreciate the help.”

Eyes on Gabe, Knox wore a perplexed expression.

Gabe couldn’t help laughing. “What? Pussy city-cops can’t have fun on the streets?”