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My resolve snaps, and I mutter, “I’m such a fucking sap.”
They smile wider, sensing they have me wrapped around their little fingers.
Gretchen shrugs when I agree to watch them tonight. She stands in her kitchen, texting June about their plan for drinks at the Corner Pocket Bar.
“She’s on the prowl for a new man,” Gretchen says, trying to drag me into her gossip.
“She isn’t even divorced yet.”
“Why do you always have to be so negative?” Gretchen asks, sighing. “Rhett, you choose to be toxic, like Harper with all her nitpicking.”
“It’s a biker thing,” I reply as Diva watches us from the cluttered living room. “My club runs this town. That means I don’t have to pretend to be nice to anyone. If you had more power, I bet you’d be an asshole, too. But since you’re poor and your man is locked up, you have to be the queen of fucking sunshine.”
Gretchen glares at me while Diva snickers and runs off to tell her brother.
“Well, if you’re sticking around, I’ll let Cindi know she doesn’t have to come around.”
“No, let her show up. I want to share my feelings with her in a completely toxic way.”
Gretchen almost starts complaining. I also spot her considering whether to text her friend against my wishes. Probably remembering how she wants something from me soon, she decides to finish getting ready for her night out with our hot-to-trot sister.
Cindi shows up as Diva runs a lint roller over her mother’s ass to deal with the stray dog hairs.
“My brother is babysitting,” Gretchen tells her friend.
The annoyed redhead wears a T-shirt with “Beware I’m An Asshole” printed across the front. She snarls at an oblivious Gretchen and grumbles, “And you couldn’t let me know that before I came all the way over here?”
“My brother wanted to talk to you.”
“About what?”
I nudge my sister aside and size up the redhead. Of course, the rude bitch is no fucking beauty queen. People love to punch down. That’s why so many locals had zero issue with mocking the kid version of me for being a bastard with a whore mom. Oh, but once the Steel Berserkers took down the Jordan family, those same people thought my shit didn’t stink.
Glaring at the woman, I mutter, “You made my nephew feel like shit. You need to watch your mouth around those kids.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Cindi lies and then flinches when I move forward. “If I did, I didn’t mean anything from it.”
“Look, I could toss out a few insults to show you how it feels. Or I can just ask that you never say anything to them that you wouldn’t say to me.”
Gretchen makes a grumpy noise behind me. I glance at her and then back at her friend.
“Feel free to insult Gretchen to her face. She’s got thick skin.”
I hand my sister her purse and shove her outside toward Cindi. Gretchen starts to complain as I shut the door on her. I hear her bitching to Cindi as they walk away.
Down the short hall, Diva and Rocket admire me like I’m a hero.
Rather than give them a pep talk about how life will get easier when adults can’t pick on them, I just speak the truth.
“I want breadsticks.”
I can’t deny these two got a raw deal in a lot of ways. However, their lives aren’t all bad. Their mom’s a moron, but not the worst one in town. Though their dad is a petty thug, he actually takes care of them when he isn’t locked up. And if those two dumbasses fuck up, I’m around to try and fix things.
“Is this your girlfriend?” Rocket asks after finding photos in my phone.
Relieved I didn’t take any dirty ones of Irina, I shrug. “Yes. I’m probably going to marry her.”
“Why?”
