Page 81 of Rowdy & Kat

Clint glanced in the direction of Elle, who was pretending to fight Sabrina near the patio. Zodiac remained close to his woman as usual.

“I don’t know.”

“So, what’s the plan?”

“Clint’s gone soft, just like you,” Rock said and shrugged when our president frowned at him. “Elle living in Baton Rouge puts an obvious target on her.”

“Going after Elle would be suicide,” I said, winning a nod from Clint. “There’d be no walking it back.”

Rock shrugged and glanced at Elle. “It only takes one reckless asshole to take the shot.”

“So, we do what, then?” I asked.

“Wait,” Clint muttered. “I don’t want to be the reason my sister gets hurt. Zodiac is likely worried about the same thing.”

I glanced at Kat in the other yard. She was listening to Lyric as the girl danced around her. Seeing everyone happy around me, I had no interest in battling with anyone right now. My defenseless sons needed to grow up and see the world. My woman was just settling into her new life. The last thing we needed was violence to break out.

“Normally, I’d say you two were fucking weak and needed to grow a set of brass balls,” Rock told us in his usual charming way. “But I’m not sure what happens if a war breaks out. Are we looking at Bob’s family coming after us? Or will the former Black Rainbow guys arm up and attack? Even Zodiac can’t answer that question.”

Thinking about the former Black Rainbow members, I pointed out, “Most of those guys who were screwed over by Zodiac are old now.”

“They’re the same age as our parents,” Clint said.

“Yeah, but imagine if someone like Zodiac took over the old Little Memphis club and shoved out our dads. Would they have gone down quietly if Joker wanted to keep the club? No, but these Baton Rouge fucks were too scared to face off against Zodiac and his loyal guys.”

“So, you’re saying they won’t have the balls to fight us now. Not even if those three assholes ended up dead, and they knew we did it.”

“Basically.”

Rock exhaled roughly, sounding annoyed. “Zodiac has his people ready to go to war. We might want to prepare the foxes and the whipped men in the Crimson Guard to be as ready.”

“What do you mean by ready?” Clint muttered at him, and I sensed this was an argument they’d shared before. “Should I lock Ivy in the condo? What about my mom? How about yours?”

“My mom can handle whatever they throw at her.”

Shoving Rock, I snarled, “One day, you’re going to care about someone who can’t handle whatever gets thrown at them. When that happens, I’m going to laugh at the dehydration you get from crying so much.”

Without missing a beat, Rock insisted, “I refuse to fall for a nice nurse or a petite rich girl or whatever Nova is. I’m planning to stay single until I die. You’ve already promised to hang out with me at the nursing home.”

“And I will keep that promise, you piece of shit,” I said and patted his shoulder. “And I’ll bring my hot wife with me to remind you what you missed out on.”

“Sure. Have her bake me something.”

I narrowed my eyes and hollered, “Oh, she’ll bake you something fucking fantastic! It’s one of Kat’s many qualities!”

“Why are you yelling?” Sabrina yelled at us. “Is this something that needs my presence?”

“No!” Rock yelled back.

“What?” Sabrina hollered at Elle.

“He said he wants your help!” Elle yelled back at Sabrina. “Also, he thinks you smell like butt wipes!”

Rather than join us, Sabrina chased after Elle, who took advantage of her nonpregnant body to hightail it out of the yard.

“That was close,” Clint muttered. “I didn’t need her to yell at me for being both a wuss and a hothead.”

Calm again, I asked, “Did my other big sister offer any advice on the situation?”