When had Tad gotten out of the water? Getting a taste of his own medicine, Jimmy buckled under the blows, one hand plastered over his throbbing left eye. Derby obviously took good care of his nails, because Jimmy could swear, that had just been a razor instead of a finger.
Swiping up with his free arm, James felt limbs he couldn't see knock away from him. Fuck, his eye really hurt! Not just a little, but a fucking lot a lot. Trying to maintain his awareness of his surroundings while attempting to crack it open again was proving to be nearly impossible.
"Jesus Christ, Derby..! What the hell?" He spat angrily, swiping once at what he thought was the blonde, but the resulting squawk of pain proved to be Tad instead. Another half-blind punch was what it took for Tad to dance away with a boxer's reflexes before Jimmy spun around and did simply the only thing he could think of. He tackled Derby at the knees.
Both of them went down like a lead weight, hitting the hard, unsympathetic boardwalk with a sickening crack. From a distance, the volume of cheers took a decided upswing, and more money changed hands.
"Just go back home to your Daddy!" Shouted Jimmy, fumbling as he pulled himself on top of the other boy, managing a viper's hold on the front of his crisp, new, clean shirt. He landed a good punch to Derby's ribcage before the rich boy began proving difficult. "Or is he too drunk to talk to you right now? Does he even notice you're gone?"
Only seconds away from gifting Derby with one of the most glorious of all given shiners, the unexpected, once again, threw Jimmy for an unfortunate loop.
A large, callused hand grabbed his wrist from right out of the air.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, son."
Across the boardwalk, the nervous woman stuffed her cell phone hastily into her purse, grabbed her giggling daughter, and hauled her away trough flocks of scattering students.
Jimmy squinted, now truly mostly blind, up over his shoulder, and let loose the king of all deep, slow sighs.