Page 114 of Bobby Green

“Oh, Keith.” Then he turned back to Frank. “You useless piece of horse, uh, crap….”

From behind him, he heard his mom go, “Baby?”

Kane walked around Bobby and Frank and said, “Yeah—you Bobby’s mom?”

“Yes—who is this?”

“This is my niece, Frances. Bobby said there were horses?”

Bobby’s mother masked a sob. “Would you… would you like to see the horses, Frances?”

Oh, Kane. He looked like a gorilla—shoulders as wide as a tank, forehead still bruised and eye still red from the drama a couple weeks back—but that boy was smart in ways Bobby couldn’t even name. His mom and Frances both started across the meadow, and Bobby felt the warmth of Dex and Kane behind him.

“So, now that we can say the word ‘shit,’” Kane said pleasantly, “what horseshit were you just feeding Bobby here?”

“That woman can’t take care of a house by herself,” Frank hissed. “My boys came in to do an inspection—”

“And terrorized a woman by herself,” Dex snapped. “Where’s the lease?”

“What?” Bobby asked, looking over his shoulder.

“What?” Frank Gilmore asked, sounding stupid.

“Let me see your paperwork, Mr. uh—”

“Gilmore,” Bobby supplied.

“Gilmore. Let me see it. I want to see what rights you have versus what rights Bobby’s mom has. And then I want to see what you violated.”

“Keith!” Frank screamed. “Get out the papers! They’re in the truck! Let these assholes see what kind of laws they’re violating!”

“You entered her premises without permission,” Dex said smoothly. “You’re already in the wrong. Let me see how many other rules you broke.” He pulled his phone out of his back pocket as he peeled off from Bobby’s shoulder and Reg took his place.

“You go, Dexter,” Kane said sincerely. “You’re in for it now—he’s getting out his phone. You got no idea.”

Bobby’s arms were starting to ache from holding on to Frank Gilmore’s jacket. He let one arm down and shook it out, and was going to grab the coat again when Kane growled, low in his throat, and Frank visibly recoiled against the truck.

Bobby lowered both his hands, and he, Reg, and Kane juststoodthere, staring Frank Gilmore down. Ethan pulled in, driving Dex’s truck, and he and Jonah slid out and took in the situation.

“Where’s Frances?” Ethan asked, his voice, loud and deep, resonating.

“Across the field with the horses,” Kane supplied. “Jonah, you want to go join her and Mrs. Bobby’s Mom?”

“Do you idiots know how mafia this looks?” Jonah asked, and Bobby had to choke back a grin.

“He broke all the windows in the house and is trying to make her pay for them,” Reg said, visibly upset. “It was a real nice house, Jonah—she’s a real nice lady.”

“Oh.” Jonah’s voice softened, and he sighed. “Yeah, sure. I’ll go on mom detail.”

“Moms like you,” Ethan said, all earnestness. “You have a good one. It matters.”

“Yeah, fine. I’ll go make nice with the parent. You guys be good.” From the corner of his eye, Bobby could see Jonah, slight form bundled in an old down coat, curly hair under a stocking cap, and hands safe in fleece gloves as he trundled through the foot or so of snow toward the other end of the field.

And then Ethan was looming behind Reg, all of them staring down poor Frank Gilmore, who was starting to acknowledge he was in trouble.

“Jesus, Vern—whoareall these fuckin’ guys?”

Kane snickered, and Bobby rolled his eyes. “These are people I work with. They came to help my mom move. They didn’t expect to beat the crap out of a douchebag, but I’m pretty sure they’ll adapt.”