Chapter 13 – Meggie #2
Shock and hurt merged in Christopher’s expression. “I ain’t take your pills.”
She ignored him. “Where are they?”
“I ain’t took those motherfuckers,” he snarled. “But you sure the fuck diggin’ your goddamn heels in about not wantin’ another baby.”
“I told you I changed my mind, which I have every right to do. It was traumatizing to you and our kids. That was selfish of me.”
“No, what the fuck’s selfish is you ain’t wantin’ to even think about my feelins. I told you I want another kid.”
“That isn’t true. I always consider your feelings. Many times, above my own. You didn’t want me to have another baby, so I scheduled the surgery—”
“Without my fuckin’ permission—”
“I’ll ignore that,” she said irritably, “before I get really angry.”
His eyes widened, and he stiffened.
“As I was saying, you told me to push the surgery back, so I did. But you don’t carry the babies. I do. I don’t want another baby right now. You can’t jerk my chains around according to your whims.”
“You mine,” he snarled. “You belong to me. I can do what the fuck I wanna.”
“In your dreams. My body, my choice. It’s the same thing you told me when you had the vasectomy.”
“A lotta fuckin’ good my dick snip did, but it ain’t the same thing.”
“I’m not debating this with you, Christopher. Just know if you took my pills, I’ll consider that abuse and manipulation. You have no reason to want me pregnant.”
“I didn’t take those fuckin’ motherfuckers, Megan. Go search my shit. You ain’t findin’ them cuz I ain’t took them. You probably put them somewhere and, since you ain’t ever liked pills, you fuckin’ forgot where and wanna blame me cuz you a forgetful lil’ motherfucker.”
It was possible, although she was loathe to admit that.
“I ain’t upset they lost though. You walkin’ the fuck away at a fuckin’ whim but you ain’t takin’ Rebel nowhere ‘til you take a pregnancy test. Case fuckin’ closed.”
“Are you taking me hostage?” she bit out.
“Don’t fuckin’ tempt me.”
Meggie scowled, thinking of the full week she’d had planned.
Tomorrow, she’d intended to finish buying the furniture for Jo’s room.
Tuesday, she was going to stock it with clothes, diapers, wipes, and whatever else she could think of.
In the wake of her friend’s death, she and Bunny planned to meet with the other old ladies to discuss their tribute to Gypsy.
That was supposed to happen on Wednesday.
Meggie rubbed her eyes. She spoke to Gypsy at least three times a week, many times on three-way with Bunny. Sunday was one of the main days Meggie and Gypsy spoke, so today was harder than expected because she was gone, her life cut short without warning.
“Christopher, I love you. I adore you. I worship you, but there are two things I’m not doing.
Living the rest of my life paying for taking a break from the man you’d become and having you play with my reproductive system at your whims. If you took my pills, keep them. I’ve requested a new prescription.”
He pounded his fist on the table again. “I ain’t took your motherfuckin’ pills and I ain’t wantin’ you to pick up the new fuckin’ prescription.”
“Maybe you didn’t, but you aren’t stopping me from starting a new pack.”
“The fuck I ain’t. I ain’t took these motherfuckers, but Ima take those motherfuckers, so fuck you.”
Anger pounded through Meggie, and she kicked Christopher, ignoring the sting to her toes.
“You in your fuckin’ bare feet. Your kick hurt you more than that motherfucker hurt me.”
Balling her hands into fists, she jumped to her feet and started for her husband, but Axel grabbed her wrist.
“Mom, stop!” he cried. “Stop, please.” His teary voice broke through her annoyance. She turned to him and put her arm around his scrawny shoulders. “If you think Dad abused you, you’ll leave.”
“Axel—”
“Please, Mom,” he interrupted her, throwing his little arms around her waist and hugging her tightly.
“You can’t threaten to leave for everything that motherfucker does.
His senileness will make you leave every day.
The motherfucker already forgot how miserable he was when you left sixteen days ago.
Give him levels of punishment instead of the same time for the same crime.
” Bursting into tears, he buried his face against her neck. “Please, Mom.”
“Shhhhh,” Meggie comforted, tangling her fingers through his dark hair and patting his back with her other hand. “Calm down, love, then tell me what you mean by levels of punishment.”
Pulling away from her and swiping his hand across his snotty nose, Axel licked his lips. “I need to prefer with my attorney to come up with a proper list.”
She and Diesel shared a smile. As angry as she was with him over Rebel, Diesel was a good big brother to his brothers, especially Axel and CJ. He’d taken Axel under his wing, and he’d set himself up as CJ’s protector from the time he’d met him.
If only he brought that same energy to his relationship with Rebel.
Axel raced around the table, stole the last of Diesel’s bacon and waited for Ryder and Ransom before they began whispering among themselves.
Christopher was as annoyed with her as she was with him, so they remained silent. Meggie’s heart melted at her sons’ happy laughter, unencumbered by the fear she’d desert them that was crippling their daddy and leading him to very stupid decisions.
“Okay!” Axel started off, then halted. “Get us more bacon, D.”
“That wasn’t your fucking bacon, Axel,” Diesel responded. “You should get more for me.”
Snorting, Axel stiffened his shoulders. “Motherfucker, I pay you too much to have to serve you, too. Whenever we have breakfast for dinner, I take your bacon. Stop acting brand new.” He glared at Diesel then stomped back to Meggie.
“You said you’ll only leave Dad if he hits you or goes with another girl. Is that true?”
Meggie nodded.
“Let the record show, if that motherfucker ever does that, we’ll kill him. You won’t have to leave.”
“I don’t want your daddy dead.”
“Objection!” Axel told her. “The witness is speaking out of turn. If it makes you feel better, he’d sad himself to death, anyway. We’d do that motherfucker a favor by not giving him a long, retracted death.”
“Protracted,” Diesel said around a cough, ignoring Christopher’s glower.
“Yeah, that.” Axel folded his arms and studied Christopher. “It would be both punishment and a mercy kill.”
“No matter how you frame it, it would still be patricide,” Meggie declared.
“Patri…patri…pater…father? Diesel told me about pater familias. That isn’t important though. The only type of murder I wouldn’t do is mamacide.”
Christopher and the boys guffawed. Seeing Bishop chuckling, Gunner joined in.
“You mean matricide,” Meggie corrected, smiling.
Axel slapped the heel of his palm against his forehead. “Oh brother.”
“We’ll discuss this later.” She had to pack. Unfortunately, there was only one of her. She could reassure Christopher and their boys she wasn’t ending her marriage until she ran out of oxygen. The only thing that would put them at ease was to show them. “I understand—”
“But I have to give you the stuffs you need to do, Mom,” Axel said.
She couldn’t brush her son off, as pressed for time as she was. This was important to him. “I’m listening.”
Hands behind his back, Axel began pacing in the small area between her and Christopher’s seats. “In law, there are levels of crimes and levels of punishment. There’s mismeaners and felonies. Criminals are felonies and civillies are mismeaners.” He paused and looked at Diesel.
He smiled. “So far, so good, Ax,” he said with pride.
Meggie appreciated that he didn’t correct Axel. It might have dampened his enthusiasm. There would be time to learn.
Axel beamed at Diesel, then resumed pacing. “If Dad hits you that’s a felony and an automatic death sentence. But I’d also have to fine that motherfucker first, so he’d pay for my bomb stuffs so I could kill him.”
A giggle escaped Meggie, but she pressed her lips together to contain her laughter since this was so important to Axel. Even Christopher seemed amused.
“I don’t want him dead, remember, son?” she said.
“I do,” Axel said in a grave tone. “But he’s so old, Mom. He’ll die soon anyway.”
Meggie frowned.
Axel narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side. “Did that upset you?”
“Very much,” Meggie answered.
Sighing heavily, Axel turned to Christopher. “Start taking vitamins, Dad. As soon as possible. Okay?”
“Yeah, boy.”
Satisfied by Christopher’s answer, Axel resumed pacing. “Would you consider cheating a felony, Mom?”
“In this house,” Meggie said with a sniff.
“Is there a ternative to you leaving?”
“Alternative and castration.”
Everyone except Jana, Axel, and Gunner winced.
“What’s that?” Axel asked.
“A cock decapitation,” Ryder responded. “Something no dude wants to think about.”
“Yeah, Ax,” CJ said, joining in after regarding the situation in silence. “Not only does a guy not want to even think about that, he doesn’t want to make his girl mad enough to consider it.”
Axel’s eyes widened. “You’d order Dad’s cock decipulation, Mom?”
“If he cheated and somehow convinced me to stay—” Which he wouldn’t do. “Yes, I would.”
“Mom!” Axel breathed in awe. “You’re so cool!”
“More like fuckin’ bloodthirsty,” Christopher snapped.
Axel ignored him. “So the two felony punishments are you leaving if he hits you and cock decipulation if he cheats. Right, Mom?”
“Decapitation,” Christopher barked, affronted. “How the fuck you sacrificin’ my fuckin’ cock just so your ma would stay?”
“If you’re the stupid motherfucker that does something to lose it, you don’t deserve it, Dad.” Axel looked at Meggie again. “I’m right, huh, Mom?”
“I’d leave on both accounts.”
Axel’s face fell, but he waved at Ransom. “You’re getting all this, Ran?”
Ransom didn’t lift his head. He continued looking at his phone screen. “Yeah, Sweet Pea. I’m recording and taking notes.”
“Okay, Mom,” Axel said, satisfied with Ransom’s confirmation. “Those two stuffs will be classified as Felony DEFCON1. He will be fined and deserted.”
At least he’d dropped the death sentence. “And divorced,” Meggie said for the utmost clarity.
“This no longer fuckin’ funny,” Christopher complained.
Axel placed a finger over his lips. “Quiet, Dad. Court is in session. I will have my bailiff drag you out.” He pointed to Ryder.
“You gonna have your bailiff fucked up.”
Axel stiffened but thankfully didn’t engage. He looked at Meggie again. “Is there anything else that would make you leave, Mom?”
“Abuse. Physical, emotional, verbal, or psychological.”
“Objection!” Axel said irritably. “You keep adding stuffs, Mom.”
Meggie shrugged. “You asked, son.”
“Fine,” Axel huffed. “Your argument is sustained.”
“You’re the judge, stupid,” Ryder said. “You can’t be…fuck did you object as prosecution or defense?”
“This is my courtroom,” Axel said. “I’m the judge, the lawyer, and the death man.”
“That would never hold up on appeal, Ax,” Diesel told him. “It would be thrown out due to conflict of interest, among other reasons.”
“I’m ignoring all of you. If Mom’s listening, that’s the only thing that matters.” He swung his gaze to her. “You are listening, huh, Mom?”
“I am,” she confirmed.
“Yay!” he said, grinning, then cleared his throat, straightened and turned serious again. “Let’s go to DEFCON 2, 3, and 4. Argument in progress. High time—”
“Alert,” Diesel inserted.
“And a lot of watching,” Axel finished, ignoring Diesel.
Not that it mattered. Diesel corrected Axel anyway. “Increased intelligence.”
“What’s DEFCON 5?” Meggie asked.
“Peace,” CJ told her.
Axel nodded. “A non-entrance.”
“Entity,” Diesel said.
Axel flipped Diesel off. “DEFCON 2 punishment is putting Dad out of bed for one night to one year, depending on the severeness.” He turned to Christopher. “Put Diesel on retainer,” he advised. “He’s really good at getting a reduced sentence.” He grinned at Meggie. “For DEFCON 4, you can—”
“Do what the fuck she already do,” Christopher inserted.
“What’s that, Dad?” Ryder asked.
Surprise marched across Christopher’s face as if he hadn’t expected that question. “None of your business,” he snapped, ignoring Meggie’s blush. “Besides, none of this got to do with those fuckin’ pills.”
“Yes, they do, Dad!” Axel growled. “Mom thinks you took them. That woman is very smart, so you probably did take them. Stop being a stupid motherfucker and let your woman have levels of punishment in place so she don’t leave for every fucking thing you do ‘cause you do a lot and you don’t learn.
You can’t teach an old elephant new handstands. ”
Another giggle escaped Meggie, but she clapped her hand over her mouth.
“Why the fuck your ma want to punish me because I want her to have another kid?”
Meggie’s amusement fled. “Babies are so hard on me. Why are you doing this? Why can’t you accept my timeline?”
“Cuz you scared, baby. I can understand that. You did almost die. But the longer it take you to get pregnant, the more what happened the last time will fuck with you.”
Covering her face, she rested her elbows on the table, on the verge of tears at Christopher's vehemence, both with his denial about stealing her pills and his insistence she have another child.
She looked at her husband. “How about this? We start trying at the beginning of next year. Jo will be a year old by then.”
“You promise me, Megan?”
She nodded, determined to hold back her tears, though her eyes stung. “I promise.”
Christopher studied her, then sighed. “Leave Gunner, baby. I swear Ima keep track of him. Take Axel.”
“That isn’t fair, though,” CJ said, giving his father a death stare. “If she takes Kaia or Axel, how is that spending time with Rebel?”
“They’ll be in one room and we’ll be in another room,” Meggie answered, exhausted suddenly.
“I ain’t too sure about you, boy,” Christopher said, “but I’d prefer Ax go with your ma. He pretty fuckin’ upset. He might think we made her leave.”
“It’s cuz of Diesel!” Axel blared.
Diesel looked at Meggie, unease on his face. “Uncle Christopher’s right,” he blurted. “Axel will be too sad if you leave him behind.”
“Yeah, Mom,” CJ agreed, nodding vigorously. “Take him. We’re fine. We’ll look after Gunner.”
Swallowing her laughter at their about-face, Meggie pushed back from the table, stood, and said, “okay,” then walked out. As she reached her bedroom, she realized Axel hadn’t told her the punishment for DEFCON 3.