Chapter Diesel
Momma arrived at the same time as Uncle Mort, so Daddy took her to his office for no more than two minutes. When she walked out, she summoned Kaia to help Rebel to the conference room and ordered Harley and Mattie to follow.
Daddy was sitting down at his table with Uncle Val, Uncle Stretch, and Uncle Mort. As Rebel leaned on Kaia and followed her mother and cousins down the hall, she saw Grant and Rory sit at Daddy’s table, too.
When Kaia helped her to a chair, Rebel realized CJ and Diesel had followed them instead of remaining with the others in the main room. Mama didn’t say anything, even when Diesel sent Kaia out of the room.
Trying to get her bearings and calm her burning anger and humiliation, Rebel looked around at the dark wooden walls, concrete floor, and gray ceiling.
Daddy always managed to sit at the head of this maze of tables because there was a lip on the one he used that set him apart.
Rebel wished her mother had taken that seat, instead of one across from where she directed Rebel, Harley, and Mattie to sit.
“I’m sorry, Aunt Meggie,” Harley started.
Momma reached across the table and grabbed Harley’s hands. “You have nothing to apologize for, love. Ryan should be on his hands and knees begging for forgiveness.”
“Then Aunt Zoann—”
“I’m well aware, CJ,” Momma snapped. “I also know Val beat Ryan and that idiot thought he had to do it to save Molly. His stupid face should be broken. How dare he use you three to undo what he did in the first place.”
CJ sucked in a breath. Whether Momma knew it, she’d just confirmed CJ’s suspicions.
“Harley, sweetheart, you have been the most abused. However, Christopher insists we tell Bailey.”
“No, Aunt Meggie—” Harley said. “She’ll be so angry.”
“Mom, will Dad tell her about what Ryan did, too?” CJ asked.
Sighing, Momma shook her head. “No,” she said, glowering at nothing in particular. “To protect Zoann, we have to lie to Mortician. He’d kill Ryan.” She looked at Mattie. “We will tell Kendall, though.”
Tears slipping down her cheeks, Mattie nodded.
“I have to wait for Bailey so she can help you decide if you want to try and make contact with Nardo, Harley. Or for anything,” she said grimly.
“If I say something to you and she feels as if I’ve overstepped my bounds and has a meltdown…
” Momma’s mouth turned down. “I’m not in the mood to hear it.
” She squeezed Harley’s hands tighter. “We love you and support you. You’re one of ours and you will be avenged. ”
“Thank you, Aunt Meggie. I know I don’t deserve—”
“Sweetheart, even if you were still acting out, you’d have us. What you don’t deserve is what those jackasses did to you. Ryan, Willard, and Nardo.”
Harley nodded, so Momma reclaimed her hands and looked at Mattie.
“I didn’t mean to get Ryan in trouble, Aunt Meggie.”
“You didn’t get that motherfucker in trouble, Mattie,” CJ spat. “That motherfucker got himself in trouble.”
Momma nodded. “What CJ said. Kendall is on the way.”
“Okay,” Mattie said miserably.
Momma finally focused on Rebel. “Hey, love,” she said softly.
“I’m fine,” Rebel blurted. “Harley and Mattie need you more than I do right now.” She combed her fingers through her hair.
“I don’t care if Willard saw me without clothes,” she said breezily, ignoring Diesel’s growl, lying through her teeth but whatever.
“Didn’t Father Wilkins talk about the sin of…
of…you know…? It doesn’t matter. He probably needed lessons on handies, since even his own fucking hand wouldn’t want to be bothered with him. ”
No one laughed at her lame attempt at humor.
“What you do in the privacy of your bedroom, alone, is no one’s business, Rebel,” Momma told her calmly, but her icy blue eyes revealed just how furious she was.
Meanwhile, Diesel and CJ were pacing, their footsteps a background melody to Rebel, Mattie, and Harley’s shame.
“Even if you had consented, you’re a minor. In another world, they’d face serious jail time. In ours? We have to suffer Ryan, but those other two won’t be alive long enough to even think about jail.”
“Do you think Ryan watched us, Aunt Meggie?” Mattie asked, her cheeks flaming. “Or do you think he had enough decency just to send those stupid videos to Willard?”
“I will pluck that fuckhead’s eyes out,” Diesel said.
“You will do no such thing,” Momma said in exasperation. “We couldn’t explain that to Zoann.”
“Is that the only reason you’re saying no, Mom?” CJ asked with a thread of amusement in his voice.
Momma nodded. “I wish there was some way to put the fear of God in him, so he’d never do something so treacherous again. No matter why he felt compelled to do it.”
A thoughtful look crossed Diesel’s handsome face. Rebel would’ve loved to know what idea popped into his head. Hopefully, something brutal and bloody. If Aunt Zoann asked why his teeth had been yanked from his head, they could always say Ryan fucked over a club member.
The perfect scenario for all the trauma he’d caused.
“What about my play tomorrow?” Harley asked, changing the subject to something normal even if no one had thought about the production in days. “I have worked so hard and it’s a major part of my grade.”
“As long as you’re up to it, we will be in the audience cheering you on, love,” Momma told Harley. “However, your participation is up to Bailey and Mortician.”
“I understand,” Harley said.
“Aunt Meggie, can you and I talk to Momma alone?” Mattie asked softly.
“While you’re talking to Aunt Kendall with Mattie, maybe CJ and Rebel can help me explain everything to Mommie,” Harley added. “If that’s okay.”
Rebel wrapped an arm around Harley’s shoulders. “It’s whatever you want, Harls. We want to help you. If you need me in there to help you talk to Aunt Bailey, then that’s where I’ll be.”
It wasn’t a place Rebel particularly wanted to be. She didn’t like Aunt Bailey any longer.
“I’ll allow you and your sister to talk to Bailey with Harley on one condition, CJ,” Momma said.
“I’m listening, Mom,” CJ said.
“If Bailey comes at you, stand up for yourself.” Momma gave him a small smile. “And then tell me.”
“Don’t respect anyone who doesn’t respect me.”
“I believe Ax’s quote is, ‘don’t respect no motherfucker that don’t respect me’,” Diesel said blandly.
“It is,” Rebel said.
“Do you need me for anything, Aunt Meggie?” Diesel asked. “I have an errand to run.”
“I don’t,” Momma said. “But your daddy might, so check in with him before you leave.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, and walked out.
Rebel wondered where he was off to. It also hurt her a little that he’d barely looked at her since she revealed what she’d been doing on camera. It probably grossed him out. The idea just added to her embarrassment.
Momma stood. “Come on, Mattie. We’ll go in Christopher’s office to talk to Kendall.”
“Okay,” Mattie said, getting to her feet and following Momma out, leaving CJ, Harley, and Rebel to wait for Aunt Bailey.
Hiding in the shadows of the forest near the Taylor log cabin, Diesel slipped from behind a tree at the approach of footsteps. The property wasn’t as well-lit as his family home, but he was just able to make out Ryan, ambling toward the house.
Just the motherfucker Diesel wanted to see.
Rushing him before he got to the door, Diesel grabbed Ryan from behind and used his arm to apply pressure to his neck.
“Come with me on your own or with my help.”
“On my own,” Ryan gasped.
Diesel jerked him away and nodded to the pathway. “Walk, motherfucker.”
“Don’t kill me, Diesel. Please. I had no—”
“Walk,” Diesel gritted.
Sniffling, Ryan stumbled all the way back to the club’s parking lot, where Diesel’s Mercedes was parked near the club’s entrance. In the bright stadium lights, the beating Val gave Ryan was evident in his battered face and busted knuckles.
“What’s up, Diesel?” Orange, one of the guards tonight, walked up to them before Diesel and Ryan got in the car. “Where you and Ryan headed to?”
“A strip club,” Diesel said smoothly.
“Fuck, bro, I wish I was off duty. I’d hitch a ride. The bitches weren’t allowed tonight, and I need a cock suck.”
Diesel didn’t want to consider having his cock sucked. Or a nude female body.
Or Rebel playing with her sweet pussy.
The thought left him wanting to weep and fucking kill. Despite how much he wanted revenge for her allowing Kaia to kiss her, the idea of anyone seeing her undressed, the idea of her doing things he tried not to imagine, drove him insane.
“If you two boys wait a bit, I can come with you,” Orange went on, breaking into Diesel’s rage.
And lust. “Been at least three days since my old lady sucked my cock. The last time she did it, she fell asleep with one of my nuts in her mouth. Mid suck. Having a small kid is a fucking headache for more reasons than one.”
“Can you read the fucking room, Orange?” Diesel barked.
Orange rocked on his heels. “Playing with your nose again? We not in no room for me to read. We out in the open.”
Diesel growled and took a step toward Orange. The motherfucker raised his hands and hopped back.
“I’ll just…uh, let me know when you ready to leave,” he rushed out. “I’ll open the gate for you.”
“Diesel, I can explain,” Ryan started miserably, the moment Orange walked away. “It isn’t what you think.”
“It’s exactly what the fuck I think, motherfucker.”
“Just hear my side and you’ll realize it…it…isn’t that bad.”
That motherfucker said that with a straight fucking face, probably not realizing just how much Rebel revealed. But he wouldn’t bother telling Ryan that he knew how much he’d fucked over her.
If Diesel said one thing, he’d rip Ryan’s fucking eyes out of his head.
He refused to consider what Ryan had seen her do because that would send him over the edge.
As much as remembering Rebel’s shame. Not because she’d done it, but because this motherfucker invaded her privacy.
Even if he hadn’t viewed what the fuck that camera caught, he’d allowed other motherfuckers to see her without clothes.
The memory of Rebel’s bright eyes and swollen lips from her first kiss invaded Diesel’s memory at the worst possible time. He punched the side of his head, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Ryan sniffled.
To think, Diesel suffered with the belief that that motherfucker’s only punishment would be Val’s ass beating. Then, Aunt Meggie said the magic words, wishing someone put the fear of God in the little fuckhead.
Diesel was just the man for the job.
Storming around to the driver’s side of his Mercedes, he nodded to Ryan. “Get the fuck in.”
“Diesel—”
“Shut the fuck up and get in.”
Not having a fucking choice, Ryan complied, and Diesel got behind the wheel. The moment Ryan settled into the passenger seat and closed the door, Diesel sped off, halting long enough to use his key card to open the gate and swerve away.