Chapter Forty-Four #2
“Then you decide what you are and we’ll talk about it another time.”
Before Harley responded, the door opened and Daddy walked in, followed by Kayce and Kaia.
Kaia held a bouquet of pink roses. The moment he spotted Rebel, he walked over, leaned in and kissed her cheek.
“Reb.”
He wore plaid pants, a long-sleeved black shirt, ankle boots, a leather necklace with an evil eye talisman, a leather bracelet on each wrist, his silver ring, and lopsided earrings.
One hoop was bigger and had leather tassles dotted with sapphires, while the other hoop was small and silver. He smelled smoky.
“Hey, Kaia,” Rebel said, uncomfortable with the audience. Maybe that’s why Kaia merely stared at her. She smiled at the flowers. “They’re beautiful. Are they for me?”
“Who else, angel?” Kaia grabbed her hand and set the bouquet in her palm, closing her fingers around the stems that stuck out from the wrapper. “A dozen pink roses can’t compare to the red rosiness of your peachy skin.”
A giggle escaped Momma, but she clapped a hand over her mouth and pretended to cough. Mattie snapped her brows together and looked at Rebel.
“Peaches are fuzzy, stupid,” Axel blared .
Rebel’s face heated, but she ignored her little brother.
Somehow, she needed to communicate to Kaia to keep his poetry to himself.
They’d already discussed the difference between their first meeting on Turn Creek Bridge and their date at the restaurant.
He admitted he resorted to poems to hide his nerves, but it pleased him that she liked the words he strung together off the top of his head.
“Are you saying the Blonde Viper got a hairy face?” Axel demanded into the silence.
Uncertainty marred Kaia’s handsome features and he turned. “Uh—”
“Axel asked a fair fuckin’ question,” Daddy said, glaring at Kaia.
“Of course Rebel doesn’t have a hairy face.” Kaia smiled at Rebel. “She has nectarine skin.”
“Nectarines wrinkle when they get old,” Axel replied.
Momma pressed down on her lips, her eyes watering and crinkling in amusement. She fanned her face and drew in a deep breath. “Kaia, why don’t you save your compliments for Rebel for another time?”
“But Mrs. Caldwell, I bottle them up inside like steam in a boiler until the moment I can stare into her blue orbs of brilliance.”
“Omigod,” Momma said, spinning away. Her shoulders shook.
“Mr. Caldwell, you understand, don’t you?” Kaia asked, ignoring Rebel placing a finger over her lips in an attempt to tell him to shut up. “When you look at your fair wife, poetry must pop into your head.”
“If the shit you sayin’ came to my fuckin’ ass, I’d chop off my goddamn head so I’d never fuckin’ think it again.”
“Little dude, I don’t offer my advice for free,” Uncle Digger said, “but I’m doing you a public service today. Shut the fuck up cuz the shit you saying don’t make no fucking sense. ”
Kaia’s eyes lit up. “Not to you, but Rebel loves my poetry.”
All eyes turned to her and she damned him for putting her on the spot. She couldn’t tell the truth and burst his bubble.
Uncle Val looked at Rebel. “Even I could write better lines, Reb. You really like that? You, who can beat a bitch or a motherfucker?”
“Back the fuck off, motherfuckers,” Daddy intervened. “If Reb like it, we love it.”
Kaia gave him a beaming smile then transferred it to Rebel. “A man after my own heart.”
“Don’t fuckin’ push it, boy,” Daddy grumbled.
Ignoring the warning, Kaia turned to Kayce and beckoned him closer.
Kayce Riggs was stockier than Kaia with reddish highlights in his dark hair and eyes that were a lighter blue. She knew him from school, though, like most of the boys there, he kept his distance.
She smiled at him. “Hey, Kayce. How are you?”
“Impressed my brother found a girl who likes his brain.”
“He’s jealous,” Kaia said, laughing.
“In your dreams, dude,” Kayce retorted in good-natured amusement.
“Now that everyone’s here, let’s move the party to the den,” Momma said. “I’ll see to the food.”
“I can help, Aunt Meggie,” Mattie volunteered.
Harley walked to CJ and inserted herself between him and Rory. “Are you going to help Aunt Meggie, CJ?”
Irritation crossed his face. Ignoring Harley, he looked at Momma. “Do you need my help, Mom?”
“No, potato. I’m fine. Entertain your cousins and friends.”
“I want to leave,” Harley said miserably. “Can you walk me, CJ?”
“Nope. ”
“I’m still afraid of the dark.”
“C’mon, Harley,” Uncle Mort said with a sigh. “I’ll walk you.”
“No, Daddy. I want CJ to walk me.”
“You can want whoever you please,” CJ said. “I’m not doing it.”
“I’ll walk you home,” Ryan volunteered, shocking everyone.
“I’d prefer if you fucking didn’t, son,” Uncle Mort barked.
Harley ignored him. “Does it matter to you if Ryan walks me home, CJ?”
“Harley, baby, have a lil’ pride,” Daddy said. “This not the time or the fuckin’ place to do this shit.”
“But, Uncle Chris, they hate each other. It should matter—”
“Harley, enough !” Uncle Mort ordered. “It’s fucking painful watching you almost beg. CJ mind made up, baby. Whether he right or wrong, you don’t have to beg no motherfucker. You better than that. You more than that.”
“You just don’t understand!”
“We all understand,” Uncle Mort said. He walked to her and put an arm around her shoulder. “Why don’t we go for a spin on my bike? We can grab a burger.”
“No,” Harley cried. “I want…I want CJ to talk to me and be my friend, Daddy. Make him do that.”
“Harls, you’re getting worked up for nothing,” Mattie said. “Give CJ time. Apologize to him. You hurt him a lot. What you’re doing isn’t the right way to go about it.”
Harley ignored everyone and grabbed CJ’s wrist. “Can’t you see what you’re doing to me? Doesn’t it bother you how upset I am?”
“Not in the fucking least,” CJ said. He jerked his wrist away. “Stop trying to make me jealous. Or get my fucking attention. I don’t care. Leave with Ryan. Stay here with him. Go for a spin with Uncle Mort. I don’t give a fuck.”
More tears rushed to her eyes and leaked down her cheeks. If Rebel took a shot every time Harley cried, she’d overdose.
CJ gnashed his teeth together, but relented and tipped Harley’s chin up.
“Uncle Mort’s right,” he said, his face softening and his tone gentling.
“No one’s worth your pride. Even me. I don’t…
I can’t…who knows what the future holds.
If you would’ve told me a year ago, I’d have a new sister, Mom and me would almost die, and my best friend in the entire world would be practically my enemy, I would’ve laughed in the motherfucker’s face.
But that’s what happened.” He tucked hair behind her ear and smiled.
“One day, we’ll look back on this time in our lives, and realize this was exactly what was supposed to happen to end up in the place where we end up. Wherever that may be.”
CJ’s sadness twisted Rebel’s heart. Underneath his insistence he wanted nothing to do with Harley was still the feeling he’d always had for her. Rebel knew it because, despite everything, she still dreamed about Diesel. It hurt her that he hadn’t said one word to her this evening.
“I’m sorry, CJ. I’m so very sorry that I hurt you.”
“You’ve apologized, bae. A lot. I accept every one. But the real test is your behavior. Usually, you go back to doing the same thing again. I’m not living my life stuck in one place.”
“So my apology means nothing to you?” Harley asked.
Studying her face, CJ gave her a half smile, then backed away. “As much as my words meant to you.”
Ryan stepped next to Harley. “We can go to the swings, until dinner is ready. If you aren’t feeling better, I’ll walk you home. ”
“Okay,” she said miserably, allowing Ryan to take her hand and guide her into the central foyer.
It was a short cut to the hallway where the door with the quickest route to the swings was located.
Five minutes later, Rebel and Kaia were in the den with everyone except Momma and Mattie. After declining Rebel’s offer to help, they went to the kitchen.
Rebel still held her bouquet, until Uncle Mort took the flowers and disappeared, returning a few minutes later with her pink roses in a water-filled vase. He set them on an end table, then joined Daddy, Diesel, Uncle Digger, and Uncle Val at the bar.
CJ and Kayce sandwiched Rebel and Kaia on the couch, while Grant and Rory sat in wing chairs on each side of the coffee table and Devon leaned against a wall, in almost the exact position she’d seen Uncle Val—and more recently Ryan—do so many times over the years.
Rule read a bible on an ottoman he’d pushed in a corner.
Every time he turned the page, he glared at her.
Rebel wanted to know how many fucking times did one need to read the bible. She knew there were different versions, but they all carried the same messageRule always a King James edition.
Meanwhile, the Terrible Triplets sat on the floor directly across from them on the other side of the coffee table. They stared at Kaia like he was the star attraction at a freak show.
Gritting her teeth, Rebel searched her mind for something to say.
She’d been nervous at the restaurant, but once she gave up her purse, she and Kaia had some privacy.
Bishop, Narci, Potter, and Torrin weren’t at the table, listening to her.
Here, especially if Kaia didn’t stop his nonsense, everyone would comment.
Kaia picked up on the tension. He hadn’t said one word since they sat and were suddenly squeezed together with CJ next to him and Kayce next to her.
The tasseled earring caught her attention. “Did you have that specially made?” she asked, hoping to jumpstart the conversation.
“It’s one of a set,” Kaia told her. “I bought the pair last weekend at a flea market. I can take you tomorrow and see if we can find something similar.”
“Can’t tomorrow,” CJ said.
“Why not?” Rebel demanded.
“Nyx’s initiation is tomorrow,” Grant answered.
“What’s that?” Kaia asked, and lifted a brow at Rebel.
They smiled at each other.