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an opponent was stronger didn’t mean you couldn’t beat him. Jason knew he simply had to out-think Dominic. He concentrated on his own movements, forcing himself to ignore the crushing pain in his windpipe. Then he reached up and stabbed his thumbs into pressure points on either side of Dominic’s neck, just above his collarbone.
    Dominic’s body went slack. Only for an instant, but it was enough. Jason scrambled away and got to his feet, turning back to face his opponent. Amazingly, Dominic was on his feet already. He glared at Jason, his blue eyes crazed. He’s going to charge me, Jason realized, and dropped into a fighting stance, ready for Dominic’s attack.
    But just then, Brad grabbed Dominic in a head-lock. He gave Jason a grim smile. “I’ll take it from here.”
    Jason nodded and stumbled away from the fight. But he could feel Dominic’s eyes on him. Filled with hate.

 

    Four
     
    “A re you all right?” Sienna asked as she and Belle rushed over to Jason.
    “Yeah,” Jason answered. The word clawed its way out of his damaged throat. He felt as if he’d swallowed a mouthful of sand.
    “Well, you shouldn’t be!” Sienna snapped. “Are you crazy, going after Dominic? You’re lucky you’re not dead.”
    “He’s not that strong,” Jason muttered. But, in truth, Dominic was a lot stronger than he looked. Jason could usually size up his opponent pretty accurately, but Dominic’s strength had caught him completely off guard.
    Jason’s eyes moved back to the fight. Brad had Dominic pinned, and Dominic had stopped struggling. Their faces were only about an inch apart as Brad talked Dominic down. The situation had clearly shifted from red alert to yellow.
    “Give the boy a break,” Belle told Sienna. She turned to Jason. “I think you were seriously brave.”
    Jason didn’t answer. He wasn’t really in the mood to be praised by the girl whose boyfriend had just tried to strangle him.
    “He wouldn’t have had to be brave at all if you didn’t love seeing Dominic pull his jealousy act,” Sienna said, and sighed. “You knew what would happen when you asked Matt to do a body shot.”
    “Oh, please,” Belle said, waving off the criticism.
    Matt was the huge football player, Jason surmised. His thoughts came slowly, as if his brain had been scrambled with a fork. He’d been in fights before, but Dominic had really done some damage. He sucked in a deep breath of the chilly night air. It still surprised him how fast the temperature in Malibu dropped at night. Part of being so close to the ocean. He glanced over at the water. It was utterly dark now. Some clouds had drifted across the moon, blotting out the sparkles of silver light on the waves.
    Suddenly, the ocean didn’t seem beautiful anymore. The inky water looked…ominous. Like it was hiding secrets. Jason had the urge to go check on Dani, make sure she was okay. “I’m going to head up to the house. See if I can find any fights to get into up there,” he told Sienna and Belle. Belle laughed, but Sienna didn’t look amused.
    “You’ve had your share of fighting for one night,” she answered, her dark eyes stormy.
    She was scared for me, Jason realized. He didn’t know how to respond to that, especially because her boyfriend had just saved his ass. So he didn’t say anything at all, just turned and headed over to the stairs in the cliffside.
    The trip back up to the house felt like it took forever. He was really feeling the effects of the fight. He wanted a beer—or three—to take the edge off the pain radiating through several key body parts, and there was a cooler full of them right inside the door. But being the designated driver for the night, he decided he’d have to stick to something nonalcoholic.
    Jason managed to find a can of Mountain Dew stuck in among the Hansen’s kiwi and strawberry diet soda in the fridge.
    The sound of girls shrieking, guys bellowing, and then all laughing led him to the living room. Harberts