Rebel #2
“Didn’t you blame Mom?” CJ snapped. “When Rebel’s right. You should be kissing the fucking ground she walks on. She fucking saved all of us. You shouldn’t have taken her to Rule’s room if you were going to lose your fucking mind.”
“I ain’t took her. I went there for a moment to myself.”
“All evidence points to your lies, Dad,” Axel said. “She was with you.”
“She fuckin’ followed me there,” Christopher growled. “She probably went in the room, ain’t seen me, and realized where the fuck I was cuz of how well she know…”
He snapped his mouth shut and flushed like a bitch.
“Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!” Each time Axel yelled guilty, he punched the palm of his hand. “Mom loves you so much, she didn’t even have to text you to know where you were!”
“Get the fuck to your rooms,” Christopher snarled, feeling like a dickhead.
“Fine, Dad,” Ryder said, shoving Axel toward the door. “Just remember this: If Mom tried to run the club, she’d fuck it up. You’re here, giving her advice, passing your opinion, distracting her. Lowkey interfering in shit you know nothing about.”
“I knew something about something,” Christopher grumbled pointedly.
“Rule again?” Ransom sighed. “You’re missing the point. You stick to your business and let Mom stick to hers.”
“I ain’t started hangin’ around ‘til your Ma had Jo. Rule been havin’ mental issues. She ain’t said a fuckin’ thing.”
Diesel’s eyes widened. “So, you do blame Aunt Meggie?”
“What? No!”
“Sure the fuck sounds like it to me,” CJ said. “Rule’s issues only flared up after Mom got sick.”
“Guilty, guilty, guilty…” Axel chanted, staring him down.
“Get the fuck out!” Christopher roared.
The little motherfucker turned his ass around and backed the rest of the way into the hallway.
“Mom was pregnant and Rebel was out-of-control,” CJ continued. “Rule didn’t go down really bad until she ended up in the hospital. I think something in him snapped.” He bowed his head. “I tried…fuck, I failed him, too.”
“It ain’t your fault, CJ. You a kid, too.”
“I feel old,” he mumbled.
“Imagine how Mom feels,” Axel said, still out of sight. “She’s like Cinderella and you’re her fairy stepmother.”
“It’s fairy godmother, big head,” CJ said. “And you mean stepmother. Cinderella’s stepmother made her do all types of work and was quite mean to her.”
Christopher glanced at each of his sons. Diesel hadn’t said much, but he loved Megan, too. He wouldn’t appreciate how Christopher had treated her all because…because…
He wasn’t functioning at the capacity needed to take care of his family or Bash.
Or motherfucking Johnnie.
“You got nothing to say for yourself, Dad?” Axel demanded.
“No, boy.”
Ryder and Ransom remained silent, but he felt the weight of their judgment, too. Out of sight but not out of mind.
“I’m sorry,” he said finally, scrubbing a hand over his face.
“Tell it to Mom,” Axel called from outside the door.
CJ smirked at him. “He can’t right now.”
“Oh, right. The Blonde Viper—”
“Nope, the queen,” CJ said. “She will execute him.”
“We can lend her some of our bomb making supplies,” Axel volunteered.
Alarm raced through Christopher. Judging by CJ and Diesel’s faces, they shared the sentiment.
“What bomb making supplies, Ax?” Diesel said, raising his voice as motherfuckers tended to do when they were speaking to someone out of sight.
“So far we’re just stockpiling Hogzilla’s shit,” Ryder explained. “Also handy if we need another shit trap.”
A fucking disaster waiting to happen. Christopher’s only consolation was he’d beat their asses and made them clean that shit up.
He doubted they’d ever repeat that scheme.
It had backfired in the worse way possible.
Except if he’d been doused. Then, those little motherfuckers would’ve still been locked in their fucking rooms.
“Mom’s feelings were too hurt. If Reb wants to execute you, we have to help her avenge Mom,” Ransom said woefully. “Mom held me really tight and cried so hard, I almost started crying. And I didn’t mean to tell her about Nyx.”
“I know, boy,” Christopher said quietly. “I’ll be up in a few minutes to talk to you.”
Once the Triplets left, CJ, Diesel, and Christopher drank in silence, until CJ finished his beer and stood.
“I’m tired, Dad. I’m going upstairs.”
Christopher felt lower than shit. He didn’t know where the fuck he’d sleep tonight. Megan had probably gathered supplies to stay in the room for the next two weeks and barricaded herself in.
“Blow the building up or just kill every motherfucker involved, Uncle Chris?” Diesel asked calmly, a couple minutes after CJ left.
“Fuck up Meeks,” Christopher instructed, referring to the director of the treatment center Rule had been transferred to.
“The Special or…?”
“I need you back here as soon as possible, so just toss that motherfucker out a window. The higher, the better.”
Diesel nodded.
“We gotta get the other patients out,” Christopher said. “It was supposed to be low occupancy cuz I didn’t want Rule overwhelmed by a bunch of motherfuckers.”
“Any ideas on how to empty the building?”
“Code violations,” Christopher said.
“Yes, sir.”
“Find out who the fuck was on duty. Who knew what the fuck was goin’ on. Then get them there for a meetin’.”
“Burn them or blow them up?”
“Settin’ fire give them a chance to escape.” Annoyance surged into Christopher. “Motherfuckin’ Cash…” His bomb tech. Motherfucker wouldn’t help him because he’d deem it personal. “You not familiar with explosives. If you don’t do it right, you can get injured, killed, or caught.”
“We can always kill Cash,” Diesel suggested. “One less dissenter.”
“Fee and Stretch love that motherfucker. Since she my lil’ sister, that make motherfuckin’ Cash family in a way. He still on your ma No-Kill list.”
“A sentiment Axel doesn’t agree with,” Diesel said with a grin, and told Christopher how upset the kid had been with Cash. “Ax would be firmly on my side.”
Christopher laughed. “A couple more years and that lil’ motherfucker will build our bombs.”
“It’s a shame he took such a dislike to Cash, Uncle Christopher. Axel would soak up whatever Cash taught him and become a valuable club asset.”
“Or end up in fuckin’ prison by the time he twelve for blowin’ up any motherfucker who pissed him off.”
They chuckled.
“I’ll get it done,” Diesel promised. “I take it we won’t tell Rebel and Aunt Meggie yet?”
“No. Maybe about the rectory fire—” That wasn’t sitting right with Christopher. Shit happened, yeah. But when it was somehow connected to the club, shit happened for a reason. “Any idea how long Wilcunt been a priest?”
Diesel frowned. “Not a clue.”
“He knew Big Joe.”
“Do you think…? That’s impossible. What would Father Wilkins know that would get his rectory burned but not him gutted?”
Christopher’s thought, too. “It might not be connected to Bash. However, that fat lil’ motherfucker is a goddamn gangster pretending to be a priest.”
“He does have his favorite club girls.”
Which Megan didn’t fucking know about. “He also like to gamble. He like expensive shit. He’ll shake a motherfucker down in a minute. I had to save his fuckin’ life more than once cuz he won’t sit the fuck down.”
“Is he on Aunt Meggie’s No-Kill list?”
“Yeah. Maybe I need to let slip to your ma how he like his cock sucked?”
“She’ll be pissed,” Diesel agreed.
“Yeah, boy.” Christopher sighed and rubbed his eyes, exhausted. “But I gotta make up my goddamn mind how I want her to be.”
“True.”
“I just need answers from some motherfucker, Diesel. If the priest know something and your ma take him off her No-Kill list, that’ll give me some leeway. Even if he don’t have nothin’ to do with Bash, I can at least cut his fuckin’ arm off for fuckin’ with me all these years.”
Diesel snickered. “Let it be, Uncle Christopher. Aunt Meggie is unhappy enough with you.”
Truth. “When you get back from LA, look into Michael Wilkins. That’s the priest’s full name, but don’t let Kendall know cuz she already riskin’ herself enough. If Wilcunt involved with Bash or some other shit, I ain’t wantin’ her in the middle of it.”
“How’s Johnnie?”
“Don’t know. Don’t give a fuck.” Uninterested in talking about that motherfucker, Christopher stood. “You coming, Diesel?”
“Huh? Uh, no, Uncle Chris. I need another drink. Tonight was a lot.”
Not only had tonight been a lot, but the past month, too.
Although Rebel didn’t want to leave Momma alone, she refused to stress her out any further and demand to stay.
She’d been curled up in her bed and heard a scream that made her sit up.
At first, she thought she’d been dreaming.
Or awake and lost in a nightmare. She was home, the battle to survive fought and conquered. Now, she fought for her sanity.
Everything inside her felt dark and empty; shadows and misery chased her, too. Then, she’d heard raised voices, so she’d went to her door and listened.
The house was almost impenetrable, but anything was possible, and there were measures in place to protect everyone in case it was ever breached.
Daddy and Diesel drummed it in Rebel’s head not to go toward danger, so she’d waited. A minute later, sobs had reached her, followed by a raised male voice.
One of her panic buttons was right next to her door.
Before sounding the alarm, she’d cracked open her door and peeped out, verifying her father’s fuckery.
Axel, Ransom, and Ryder were already in the hallway, so Rebel knew it was safe.
At the end of the hall, Diesel stood with a gun in his hand.
He must’ve come out, ready to defend home and hearth against invaders.
Except the marauder was the fucking head of the family. CJ walked into sight after descending the staircase, also drawn from his room. Diesel backed away long enough to put his gun away.