Kaylah leans in so she doesn’t have to yell. “Jesse needed to set things straight with Rowland,” she tells me, referring to Monica’s little brother who’s getting a little too big for his boots. “He was apparently causing some shit down at the races last week.”
“Oh, really?” I question. “Why didn’t you tell me that? You know he’s Monica’s little brother, right?”
“I did tell you,” she argues. “On the phone. I said Jesse had to come handle some shit,” she grunts, looking at me like I’m crazy. “You didn’t know this was Monica’s place?”
“No, I had no idea this was her place until I was already here. If I’d known, I would have sharpened my claws before I came,” I tell her. “And for the record, you never mentioned a name on the phone.”
Kaylah’s face scrunches up as Tora looks on in confusion. “What are you talking about? Why do you need to sharpen your claws?”
I look at her blankly. Is she nuts? She was the one to come and help me after Monica and her band of hussies beat me up in my living room. “Ummmm…because of the whole getting jumped thing.”
“What?” Kaylah shrieks. “That was her?”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Tora says, stepping in closer. “You mean to tell me that you got jumped by the chick who owns this place?”
“Yeah, her and her friends,” I laugh despite the fact that not a damn thing is funny about it. “Why else would I need to sharpen my claws?”
“Well, shit,” Tora, grunts, slamming her drink into Jesse who fumbles around to catch it before it spills all over her. She starts unhooking her earrings. “Let’s go cut some bitches.”
“Whoa,” Kaylah says, reigning in Rocky. “We’re not beating up anyone.”
“Hell yeah, we are,” Tora says. “Your girl got jumped by these people. What did you expect was going to happen?” She turns back to me. “You want to take them out one by one or as a group? I’m down for either. I could really use a good smackdown.”
“Fuck, Tora,” Kaylah groans, turning back to Jesse. “Can you do something about her? She’s about to go rabid on these high school bitches.”
Jesse stands and steps up behind me, wondering what the fuck is going on over here, but Tora cuts off whatever he was about to say, and I applaud her efforts. No one in Broken Hill or Haven Falls would ever get away with cutting off Jesse Ryder. “No,” Tora demands. “We’re doing something about this. Henley is one of your closest friends. You’ve said it a million times, she’s like a sister to you, that makes her family to not only you but to me too and I’m not about to sit back and let this go unhandled.”
“Wait,” Jesse cuts in, looking at Tora. “What the fuck is going on? If you come home covered in blood, Nate is going to have my balls.”
Tora grins wickedly. “What Nate doesn’t know can’t hurt him.”
Jesse groans and curls his hand around the back of his neck. “I’m a fucking goner.” He turns to Kaylah. “Nice knowing you, babe. I want a live band at my funeral and my ashes scattered in Nate’s bed so the fucker can’t sleep a wink without thinking of me.”
Kaylah winks. “You got it.”
Tora groans. “There’s no need for dramatics.”
“Look who’s talking,” Jesse snaps back at her. “You’re the one about to go batshit crazy on some chicks you don’t even know.”
“Easy fix,” I say, stepping forward, more than good to go ahead with the plan. “I’ll give you a quick introduction before we fuck up Candice’s nose job.”
Tora grins wide. “I like you.”
“I got to admit,” I tell her, “you’re growing on me too.”
“Fuck me,” Jesse says, falling back into the chair beside Rivers before looking up at Kaylah. “I’m signing out. They’re your problem now. But be warned, Nate will hold it against you if anything happens to his girl.”
I look over Tora before looking back at Kaylah. “She can handle herself.”
“Damn straight, I can.”
With that, Tora loops her arm through mine and drags me away, giving me only the slightest chance to latch onto Kaylah’s hand and pull her along with me. “You bitches aren’t serious, right now?” Kaylah seethes. “I can’t get in a fight. I can’t even throw a punch at my brother without hitting myself in the face.”
I let out a sigh. “As much as I want to put them in their places, it’ll never work here. There are too many people. We’d just get knocked around and it’ll turn into a brawl.”
“Yeah,” Kaylah agrees. “The last Haven Falls brawl that broke out, someone got glassed, remember?”
“Yeah,” I laugh, remembering the way the bodies were slammed around and the cops were desperately trying to pull kids off one another. The beauty of living in Haven Falls. “That was a good party.”