"I think I need to have a long talk with Miss Winterton," Kelsey said darkly.
Before Carynne or Amanda could reply, Kelsey gave Amanda a reassuring kiss on her cheek and set off after Stacey, with the two girls quickly following her. The busy crowd made it difficult for her to gain much ground on her friend, however, and she was unable to catch up until Stacey and Siara had already reached the town square where they'd left the guys.
A huge crowd was surrounding the Bossa Ball playing field, and there was a very noticeable buzz coming from the assembled gathering. Rather than the buzz they'd noticed earlier, when all the spectators had been cheering and laughing, this one seemed rather more ominous.
Siara let out a small "Oh no!" before quickly setting off into the crowd, struggling to get through, with Stacey following closely on her heel. Kelsey gave Carynne and Amanda a confused glance, then she set off after the two tall girls.
Her slender size helped her flit through the massed crowd a bit easier, and she'd just caught up with Stacey and was about to grab her when they all reached the end of the throng and saw what the commotion was all about.
Ryan and Damon were standing just beside the massive trampoline-like playing field, being confronted by a group of large guys, several of whom were clenching their fists. Damon had a worried look on his face, likely on account of being outnumbered six to two, but Ryan seemed more angry than anything else.
"I don't like losing to a cheater!" said a tall black guy, who seemed to be the leader of the group confronting the two swimmers.
"And I don't like being called a cheater!" Ryan said heatedly. "You lost! Whining about it isn't gonna help!"
The black guy took a step forward, loosely rolling his shoulders. The crowd held its collective breath, apparently waiting for the blows to start raining down, but Ryan just stepped forward himself, coming to stand within an inch of the taller guy, a menacing scowl on his face. Both Damon and the other guys stepped forward as well, and a fight seemed inevitable.
"Bugger!" Siara groaned.
"What's going on?" Stacey asked.
"I don't know, but he always gets into situations like these," Siara sighed. "He always refuses to back down, even over the smallest bloody things!"
"Hang on, I'll get my bodyguards," Stacey said, looking around for the group of men that she knew would be close by. When she couldn't see them, she frowned in annoyance, then she rejoined the crowd of people in an effort to go find them.
"We need to do something!" Amanda said anxiously, obviously worried over Damon.
"Yeah. Let's go and see if we can get this resolved peacefully," Kelsey agreed.
Siara, having heard the two girls, turned around and shook her head. "Don't worry. Ryan and Damon aren't in any danger."
"That's not really how it looks," Carynne said with a determined grimace on her face. She'd never let a friend down when they needed her, and she wasn't about to now, especially not when it concerned the brother of the girl she loved. She took a few steps towards the group of quarreling men, but Siara gently took hold of her arm and pulled her back.
"You don't have to go over there. Ryan can easily handle these guys," Siara said.
"Are you sure?" Amanda asked doubtfully. "They look awfully big to me."
Siara smiled in a resigned fashion. "Trust me, Amanda."
The girls fretted for another moment, then they returned their attention to the confrontation in the midst of the town square. Apparently Ryan and the black guy had traded some more verbal jabs, and the black guy was now clenching his jaw and his fists, obviously spoiling for a fight. "I think I'm going to beat the shit out of you and your boyfriend!" he sneered. "Maybe that will teach you not to just come here and ruin everyone's fun."
Ryan shrugged in an unconcerned manner. "Are you sure you have enough of your buddies with you to try it? There's only six of you, after all."
The blow came quickly, though it wasn't the black guy who'd thrown it. One of the guys right behind him had stepped forward and swung a right hook at Ryan's face.
Ryan stepped aside so smoothly that it seemed like his opponent was moving in slow-motion. He caught his adversary's wrist, somehow wrapped his hand around it, then twisted it violently; with a loud scream of pain his opponent practically flipped in the air and landed on the pavement with a loud thud while Ryan kept holding on to his wrist and caused the guy's arm to be extended just a little further than it should, at a very uncomfortable-looking angle.
Two of the other men rushed forward, but Ryan just squeezed the wrist a little harder, and the ensuing cries of anguish caused the two of them to back off again.
"Now, how about you all just walk out of here, I'll let your buddy go, and we can all just forget this ever happened, okay?" Ryan said calmly.
The black guy and his friends looked at each other as if to ask the others what they thought they should do. Before they could come to any kind of conclusion, however, several policemen broke through the cordon of spectators. The guys bolted at the first sign of the cops, leaving Ryan and Damon standing there while the policemen walked up to them.
"What is going here?" the officer in charge asked, his gaze alternating between the guy on the ground who was still being held by his wrist and the group of men who had already vanished into the crowd.
"Just a minor misunderstanding, sir," Ryan said politely. "There was an argument over who'd won the last game. It's nothing worth getting excited over."
"Then why are you holding this man?"
"Because I want to make sure
he
understands that it's nothing worth getting excited over as well," Ryan said pointedly.
"Yes, yes! You guys won fairly, I agree!" the guy groaned, his face having turned white from the undoubtedly painful position he was in.
"Thank you," Ryan said, letting go of the guy's wrist. The guy winced in agony as he got up, clutching his sore wrist, then he scampered off in the same direction his buddies had gone.
"I apologize for the disturbance, sir," Ryan said to the officer after the guy had left.
The policeman shrugged. "Winston and his friends are known to us; they tend to go around looking for trouble. I would advise you not to stick around and to return to your resort as quickly as possible, however."
Ryan nodded. "We will. Thank you, sir." Without saying anything else, he motioned for Damon to follow him, and they quickly walked off towards the girls who were waving at them.
"What the hell was that?" Damon asked, a little in awe.
"Nikkyo." Ryan shrugged. When he saw that Damon didn't understand, he added, "It's Aikido."
Damon waited for him to say something else, but apparently Ryan wasn't in the mood to share more. The two of them reached the girls, and they both went to hug their girlfriends.
"I was really worried about you," Amanda said after kissing Damon. "What happened?"
"I'm not really sure. One moment we're playing the game, Ryan scores an awesome point, and the next thing we know, these guys are accusing us of cheating," Damon explained.
