Page 96 of One Touch

“Duke, it’s fine.” Kate dusted off her palms and looked bored as she raked her eyes over JP. “This idiot thought he could use Dad to get us to convince Tootie to sell them the farmhouse.”

JP’s nostrils flared at her calling him an idiot. “Come on, I thought you were the smart one, Catfish. Guess I should have known.” He glanced my way, and rage bubbled beneath my skin when he smirked. “What? Did you think you’d try this guy on for size when his brother was done with you?”

She’d wounded JP’s pride, and he’d lashed out.

Big fucking mistake.

Her shocked gasp was all it took for me to lose control. My arm wound in front of her, pulling her out of the way as I stepped into his space.

Gripping JP’s collar with one hand, I pulled my right fist back and plowed it into his face. Blood spurted from his nose, and the bar erupted in a flurry around me. I took a punch to the face, followed by a jab to the side, which forced me to release my grip on JP.

Duke was locked up with another man as they fought. Others I didn’t even recognize picked a side and started brawling.

It was total chaos inside the Grudge Holder.

In the scuffle, Kate stepped between her brother and whoever he was beating on. In a blur, she stumbled and fell, her butt smacking against the gritty surface of the bar floor. Bending at the waist to catch my breath, I took in a shocked Kate as she scooted backward to get out of the fray. A screaming buzz filled my ears when I saw her wide eyes and stunned expression.

Immediately I scooped her up, setting her on her feet and checking her over for injuries.

The owner of the bar stepped in, holding a baseball bat and separating the fighters. “Enough!” he bellowed. “Cops are on the way. Get the hell out of my bar.”

I was breathing heavily, blood dripping from my nose, and my eyebrow stung. I looked over at Kate, who was staring at me with a mix of shock and anger.

“Oh my god! You’re bleeding.” Kate ran her fingers over my eyebrow, and a fresh sting settled over my throbbing eye. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“No one speaks to you that way.” I’d never be sorry for putting that asshole in his place when it came to her.

“I swear the men in this town don’t think!” Kate shot her brother and me a look that made us both shrink back.

In true Outtatowner fashion, once the fight was broken up, most people went back to their tables and drinks as though the scuffle had never happened. JP dusted himself off and shot a look of disgust our way before striding toward the exit with a few stragglers in tow.

Duke pinched the bridge of his nose. “Goddamn it, my face hurts.”

Kate looked at her brother in horror. “Someone hit you in the face?”

There was a long-standing unspoken rule of no hits to the face. At one time it had allowed Kings and Sullivans to hash things out with their fists without bringing home evidence of their fighting to their parents.

Duke gestured to me. “Hotshot over here threw out the rulebook when he clocked JP in his smug fucking mouth.”

I winced. “Sorry, man.”

Duke shook his hand, flexing it and turning it over. He sighed. “I’m going home.”

I looked over at the bar owner, who pointed his bat toward the exit. “Yeah, me too. Come on, Princess.”

I looped my arm over Kate’s shoulder as we moved toward the exit. She pulled me into her car and headed toward the beach house. Once inside, she dumped her purse and keys on the kitchen island and pulled a bottle of water from the fridge. She took one sip and slid the rest toward me.

My heart hiccuped at the sight of her moving so comfortably in my kitchen.

“You gonna tell me about that meeting with JP?”

Kate let loose a frustrated sigh as she planted her hands on the island. “Don’t get me started.” She raked a hand through her long brown hair. “It was a setup.”

I stepped forward. “A setup? What happened? Are you okay?”

She sighed. “I’m fine. Just annoyed. Turns out Bug was less interested in helping me and more interested in having JP try to get me to convince Aunt Tootie to sell the farmhouse.”

“Sell it?”

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