Page 45 of Rocky

“What? No! I’m not calling him. Today is hard for him, and I don’t want to add to it with this bull.”

“Fine, I’ll call Russell and tell him to tell Rocky,” Rosemary threatened.

“Rose, chill. I’ll tell him.”

“Deacon is making threats. Call Rocky now,” she demanded.

“Fine!” I picked up my phone, found Rocky’s contact, and selected it.

“Hey, baby.”

“Hey. Are you busy?”

“Not really. Me and Russ just left an emergency club meeting. What’s up?”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. We had some pertinent things to discuss. You good?”

“I’m fine. I hate to bother you with this, but…”

“But what, Rue?”

“Deacon just called me from an unknown number and was pissed because I have his number blocked. He said the next time he calls me, he better be unblocked or else.”

“He’s a bitch. Don’t worry about him, baby. I got you.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“That’s for me to worry about. Can I come see you?”

“Sure.”

“Alright, let me drop Russ off?—”

“Nah, you can bring him with you!” Rosemary shouted.

“Sorry. My nosy sister forced me to call you, and you’re on speaker.”

“It’s cool. We’ll be there in ten.”

Mother’s Daythis year wasn’t much different than it had been over the past twenty-three years, except it was also my brother’s birthday. We went to the cemetery with the beautiful arrangements Rue and Rosemary had made for them, and as expected, we were all very emotional.

After we left the cemetery, we went to brunch and spoiled my grandmother with gifts. She went from crying tears of sadness to crying tears of joy. We spent the afternoon around the house while my grandmother went to the spa. Everything was perfect until we got called in for an emergency meeting.

I knew what it was about but didn’t give a fuck. It had been damn near two weeks since I beat Deacon’s ass, and no one had brought it up. Word must’ve gotten out, and it was time for the situation to be addressed.

“Word is they plan to strike at the block party fundraiser,” Joe announced.

“That would be the dumbest thing they could do. There will be a huge community and police presence plus all the members of Mayhem,” I said.

“Yeah. Well, you’ve beaten up two of their members in the past month. They might have let the shit with the young niggaslide, but Deacon holds a higher rank. Even if the members want to let it go, Deacon is ignorant as hell,” Semiyon said.

“I’ll talk to our police liaison and let him know what’s up. There’s really not much else we can do. We’ve been planning the fundraiser for too long to cancel it or move it to another day or location,” I offered.

“That’s probably all we can do right now. Too many organizations are counting on the proceeds from this event. Canceling now would put them in a tight spot,” Russell commented.

“You’re right,” Joe agreed. “Send out a notice to all members letting them know they need to come out in full force. We don’t need to give all the details even though most probably already know what’s going on.”

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