“You did well today,” Sabrina said as she stretched out next to Elle. “But maybe I should take over your job until you’ve squeezed out your bastard.”
Ignoring her cousin, Elle sighed and asked me, “Did you ride all day to see me over a little bump on my head?”
“Sabrina’s right. You shouldn’t be doing anything except taking care of Sutter and the baby.”
“Iamright,” Sabrina said while cuddling her cousin. “I’malwaysright.”
“Fine. I’ll stop working until the baby is born, but not because of you two ding-fucks. I’ll do it for Sutter, who needs me to focus on him more.”
“No one cares about your reasoning,” Sabrina murmured. “We only care that we’re getting our way.”
“I want four things,” I announced, standing next to the bed. “You just agreed to the first one. The second is for Sabrina to get out of theroom. And third is to name our son Trent. The final one is for you to move to Baton Rouge.”
“No to those last three!” Sabrina cried. “Dumbass man trying to tell me what to do.”
Ignoring Sabrina, I sat on the bed next to Elle and rested my hand on her belly.
“Can you feel him?” I asked, needing reassurance about my son.
“Not right now. He was kicking me earlier.”
“You shouldn’t have been there today.”
“The world is dangerous,” Elle said, holding my gaze. “I can’t hide at my house.”
“If you’re so daring, why not hide at my house?”
“You don’t have one.”
“I’ll buy one. We can set it up any way you want.”
“In Baton Rouge,” Elle said, looking ready to cry. “You’re not thinking straight.”
“Zodiac’s just rattled after what happened,” Sabrina said and wrapped her leg around Elle’s body. “Don’t listen to him. He doesn’t want you to live with him. He’s making promises neither of you will want to keep.”
“I can’t give up my club,” I told Elle. “Not like you can give up living here with your family. I’m asking you to move to Baton Rouge and give me a year to make things work for you.”
The words rushed out of my mouth as if they had a mind of their own. I couldn’t stop myself even if I wanted to. With her, I could only bare my heart and hope she didn’t make me regret it.
“Pick a house you like,” I continued when Elle only stared brokenhearted at me. “Have the baby. You and Sutter can try to build a life in Baton Rouge. If after a year, you two can’t make it work, I’ll give up my club and move here.”
Elle’s mouth popped open. She glanced at Sabrina, who closed her own gaping mouth and shook her head.
“You shouldn’t give up anything for him, and he shouldn’t give up anything for you.”
Elle frowned. “Because it would inconvenience you or because you’d never give up anything for Moe and Xandy?”
“Obviously the first one, dumbass,” Sabrina said and scowled at me. “You can’t expect them to move there.”
“Elle and I clicked. No one else will ever have a shot with us. We ought to try, right? Why are you such a weak bitch?”
“I would give upanythingfor my women,” Sabrina insisted. “But Elle needs her family.”
“We’ll buy a big house like Exile and Lula did. There’ll be space for her parents to hang out. It’ll be fine.”
“And Sutter?” Sabrina asked Elle. “He shouldn’t have his life upended so you can run this experiment.”
“You’re right,” Elle told her cousin while rubbing her belly. “But he might be open to it. And maybe we can live in both places like Lula and Exile do. I need to consider the idea.”
