Chapter Thirty– Christopher
Thirty minutes after Church ended and most of the club members were gone, Christopher sat at his table with Diesel, Val and Stretch.
The moment Mortician left, Digger returned to whatever room he was using at the club and Ophelia came to wheel Cash home.
Johnnie went wherever. Hopefully, to check on his wife.
Or, maybe, to fall off the face of the fucking earth.
Christopher intended to head home soon, but CJ decided to hang out with Ryan and Grant as they talked to Rory. Christopher thought it was best to wait for his boy, so they could walk home together, but the little motherfucker didn’t seem like he’d leave anytime soon.
“Harley!” Grant called. “What are you doing here?”
“Dad’s already gone, Mattie,” Rory added.
“So’s Uncle Mort,” CJ said.
Halting between Christopher and CJ’s tables, Harley and Mattie exchanged glances, then remembered to paste smiles on their faces and greet everybody.
“What are you two doing here?” Christopher demanded.
It wasn’t unheard of that they came after Church ended, but it was usually with their mas.
“We need Ryan’s help?” Harley squeaked.
Why was that a motherfucking question?
“You not sure?” Val asked.
“It can wait until later,” Ryan said irritably. “Whatever it is.”
“No, actually it can’t,” Mattie said, patting his shoulders, harder than necessary.
Ryan jerked away from her. “Stop it! Fuck. What’s wrong with you?”
“Yeah, uh, Rebel’s outside in the car,” Harley said.
“Her ma with her? Cuz Rebel don’t fuckin’ drive.”
“Kaia drove us,” Mattie responded. “Aunt Meggie didn’t think Rebel could hop through the forest and she didn’t think Kaia could carry her so far.”
Diesel grabbed his pint of rum and downed half the contents.
“This won’t take long, Ryan,” Harley said, unease on her face. And something else: shame. “If we don’t bring Ryan outside, she’ll come in.”
Mattie laughed nervously, bent and rested her chin on Ryan’s shoulder. “You’re a gentleman, Ryan. You don’t want our poor injured cousin to come in when you can go to her, right?”
Christopher straightened, turning fully so he could better look at Mattie and Harley. “What the fuck all three of you need to talk to Ryan about?”
“Whatever it is, we want to know,” CJ said, smiling.
“I don’t think you do,” Mattie mumbled, straightening, suddenly looking as miserable as Harley.
Since the boys didn’t react, Christopher doubted they heard her, but he did.
“We really need to talk to Ryan on his own about something. Without anyone else, so please come with us,” Harley insisted. “It’s important.”
Standing, Val walked to the table. “What the fuck you did, boy?”
“Nothing,” Mattie said brightly. Too fucking brightly. Her eyes glistened and she just seemed to be wrung out. “We just need his help with the cameras. Apps, I mean. A-apps.”
“Definitely apps,” Harley agreed, nodding vigorously.
That clued Ryan in because that motherfucker widened his eyes and sprang to his fucking feet like a jack in the box.
“You’re right, Mattie,” he said, pale as a fucking ghost. He swallowed and looked at Harley. “I can explain.”
“No, motherfucker,” Rebel said from the doorway where she stood next to Kaia. That motherfucker was using that fucking cast as an excuse to hang around her. “I really don’t think you can.”
Leaning on her crutch instead of Kaia, she walked toward them.
“Rebel—” Ryan started, backing away until he realized he was going into a corner. He held his hands up. “Listen to me.”
“What the fuck you did, Ryan?” Christopher asked, because enough was fucking enough, especially since that little motherfucker looked ready to piss himself.
“A minute, Daddy?” Rebel asked sweetly, then smiled at Kaia. “Hold my crutch, Huahua.”
Christopher didn’t exactly blame Diesel’s growl, because that nickname was past the goddamn limit.
“Do you know what’s up, Kaia?” CJ asked.
“No,” Kaia responded. “Meggie asked me to drive them here because they needed to talk to Ryan.”
Rebel stopped in front of Ryan and smiled viciously. “I just had to see my favorite cousin.”
With each word, she hit his cheek. No, she was slapping the fuck out of him.
Ryan swallowed and his lips trembled, his eyes wide and panicked, frightened. He knew what the fuck was up.
If the girls took him, they’d keep whatever they needed to confront him about to their fucking selves, so Christopher waited. The only way to get to the bottom of this shit was to see what the fuck happened next.
“We need his help, Reb,” Mattie reminded his girl, her smile still pasted on her face. “If he’s unconscious, he can’t—”
“I know, cousin,” Rebel cooed, never taking her icy blue gaze from Ryan.
“Reb—” Ryan started.
“Shut up!” Rebel punched Ryan in his fucking mouth. “You’re a foul motherfucker,” she snarled.
CJ started forward but Christopher shook his head. If CJ knocked Ryan the fuck out, discovery would be delayed, too.
“I’m sorry!” Ryan said, touching his bloody lip, his fingers trembling.
Rebel, Mattie, and Harley looked at each other. But it was Harley, her expression haggard and defeated, her shoulders slumped, that sent unease through Christopher.
“Can you just come with us, Ryan?” Mattie asked. “We just need to borrow you.”
“No, we need to gut this motherfucker,” Rebel yelled, snatched her crutch from Kaia and swung, but Ryan ducked, lucky motherfucker that he was. “I will fucking kill you—”
Mattie clapped her hand over Rebel’s mouth.
“What the fuck’s going on?” Christopher wished Kaia asked fucking questions instead of jumping to do whatever the fuck Rebel told him. If he had to stay in her fucking face, he should at least make himself fucking useful. Frustrated, he crooked his finger at his daughter. “Come here.”
Folding her arms, she tossed her hair, pretending nonchalance. But Christopher saw her fury. She was fucking ready to pop.
“This is a cousin matter, Daddy.” She threw a hateful look at Ryan. “Now that we have this motherfucker, we’ll leave.”
She dug her nails into his jaw, drawing blood and laughing at his yelp, then she grabbed his ear and twisted, trying to drag him forward, but her injury hampered her. When Ryan dug his heels in, she stumbled and CJ hurried to her side, placing an arm around her shoulder to steady her.
Val cleared his throat. “What did the motherfucker do, Reb?”
“Tell us now what’s going on, Matt,” Grant said.
Ryan, Rebel, Harley and Mattie clammed up. Christopher noted Rebel’s uneasy glance at Diesel but pushed it aside because of the current fuckery. She should’ve been more concerned about Christopher’s response. Or Kaia’s since they shared halves of a goddamn dog.
“Tell me what the fuck’s goin’ on now,” Christopher ordered, “or I’m gonna have Stretch look at surveillance.”
“There’s nothing on surveillance, Daddy.
” Rebel’s look at Ryan promised a violent death.
As long as it wasn’t directed at him, Christopher loved it.
“How fucking unfortunate we only recently got fucking cameras on the second floor. It might’ve caught miserable fucking spies who are unfortunately related to me. ”
Christopher turned those words over in his head.
Repeated them under his breath. Picked apart each one, then reassembled them.
He narrowed his eyes. “You fuckin’ sayin’ Ryan put fuckin’ cameras in your fuckin’ room?
” He studied Mattie. She was involved for one of two reasons.
Either Ryan got to her, too. Or she’d used her skills and detected the unknown fucking signals.
Or both.
Rebel punched Ryan’s head. “And, somehow, that same fucking spy broke into Mattie’s room.”
“I’m sorry, Mattie,” Ryan started.
Swiping at a tear, Mattie turned her head and hugged Harley. They were devastated. But his girl? Even if she was hurt and betrayed, she wasn’t showing it. She picked up a glass of something and threw it in Ryan’s face.
“Fuckhead. Dirty, conscienceless motherfucker. You didn’t have to break and enter with Harley. She was right there. How could you? You took videos of her and sent them to Willard!”
Mattie winced, but Rebel didn’t see. She was too busy defending Harley to realize the full fucking truth. That motherfucker probably sent videos of her and Mattie as well to that motherfucker.
“Tell me you didn’t do that, Ryan.” Val sounded stricken.
For a moment, Ryan floundered. Then regret skipped across his face before he forced outraged into it and stiffened. “Fuck you, old man. I don’t fucking answer to you. So what if I looked at these bitches buck ass naked? They’re fucking whores—”
Val’s one punch sent Ryan flying into two brothers. Their chairs tipped back and they sprawled on the floor. Ryan grabbed one of the empty chairs and threw at Val, who dodged it.
As if Val’s anger freed something inside her, Rebel’s anguish finally appeared, looking as betrayed and close to tears as Mattie and Harley.
Christopher wanted to fucking kill Ryan.
Dragging Ryan to the door, Val opened it, then kicked him right in his ass and outside.
“Give me the IP addresses, domain names, everything you can—”
Rebel shook her head, refusing to let a tear fall, despite how watery her eyes were. “No, Uncle Stretch. We’re fucking naked in the majority of the videos.” Her voice cracked but she swallowed and looked at Harley. “And…and…Never mind.”
Harley trembled, and Christopher fucking knew Harley was more than just naked on those fucking videos.
“Fuck,” Val grumbled and covered his face. “Fuck that motherfucker.”
“Uncle Val.” Mattie hesitated before tipping to him and touching his arm. “We didn’t mean to out Ryan here. We texted him, but he didn’t answer us.”
Shoving his hands in his pockets, Val pressed his lips together and nodded.
She looked at Christopher, fear in her eyes.
“Baby, nobody mad at you,” he said, staring at her, knowing she held something back and hoping to reassure her so she’d feel safe enough to talk.
“Say what you have to say,” CJ encouraged.