Chapter Forty – Christopher #3
“You need help, Prez?” Mort asked hopefully, already suited up with apron and gloves.
CJ and Diesel had Christopher’s fucking nerves shot. Add Rebel into the mix and he either had to dismember fuckhead or smoke a pack of cigarettes and drink a gallon of tequila. “Nope.”
Diesel hadn’t moved from the spot where Christopher ordered him to stop.
CJ stood nearby, angry for a different reason.
He was going to be even angrier when Christopher called him down in front of everyone.
But as Big Joe once told Christopher, if he aired dirty laundry in front of everyfuckingbody, then they’d clean that motherfucker the same way.
“Show me where the fuck your fuckin’ name on the fuckin’ deed, CJ. If you ain’t able to do that, you can’t claim exclusive ownership of the treehouse.”
Hurt rose in CJ’s eyes and he stiffened. Christopher ignored how upset he suddenly felt at coming down so hard on his boy. But the little motherfucker was losing his way. Before he lost himself, Christopher had to do this.
“You’re taking Diesel’s side, Dad?”
“You a Caldwell son and Diesel a Caldwell son. When you two argumentative fuckheads fuckin’ bring your goddamn argument to my fuckin’ ass, then I give the motherfucker with the most right his fuckin’ due.
If both you motherfuckers wrong, I say that too.
In this fuckin’ case, you wrong like a motherfucker, boy. ”
“I’m not. I’m protecting Rebel—”
“As you fuckin’ should, but you been fuckin’ with Diesel for fuckin’ months.
If it was only for Rebel, that’s fuckin’ fine.
Howfuckinever, that motherfuckin’ treehouse ain’t got a fuckin’ thing to do with Rebel and there ain’t no motherfuckin’ reason for you to have fuckin’ told him he ain’t a Caldwell when you fuckin’ know that ain’t the fuckin’ truth.
You actin’ like a fuckin’ jealous assfuck. ”
And, because of that, Christopher had to fix his fucking mouth to pretend he’d be fine with a relationship between Diesel and Rebel. He also had to put CJ in his place in front of motherfuckers like Ryan and Devon. And Rory, Johnnie’s biggest defender, who was CJ’s biggest hater.
In other fucking words, a clusterfuck of epic proportions.
Growling, Christopher snatched the machete and lobbed Nardo’s fucking head off in a clean strike. The motherfucker rolled to the floor and Ryan squeaked, staggered and slid to the floor, landing on top of Dead Ned.
Val started toward Ryan.
“Leave that motherfucker right where he fuckin’ at, Val,” Christopher snarled, throwing the machete aside and stepping over Nardo’s head. Because his heart wasn’t pumping, blood didn’t spray everyfuckingwhere.
“I can’t fucking believe you’re calling me jealous, Dad,” CJ said bitterly while Val wrestled with whether to ignore Christopher’s edict.
He ignored that motherfucker to focus on this motherfucker. “And I can’t fuckin’ believe you fuckin’ whinin’ like a cunt over a motherfuckin’ treehouse, CJ. A treefuckinhouse.”
“My treehouse that I’ve had since I was three or four. The one Mom’s tearing down for Diesel and then rebuilding it.”
“Fuck that motherfucker. She tearin’ it down and if that motherfucker rebuilt, Ima blow it the fuck up. Megan’ll just build Diesel a motherfuckin’ house somewhere on the grounds.”
“Mom could’ve done that in the first place, instead of targeting my fucking treehouse. But you know why she didn’t, Dad? Because I’m not her potato anymore.”
“You might not be her fuckin’ potato but you are a mopey bitch. Your ma don’t have to answer to you, boy. No, fuck that. You know fuckin’ what? Go tell her what you said to Diesel and how the fuck you cryin’ over a motherfuckin’ treehouse. Let me fuckin’ know what the fuck she say.”
“That she fucking loves me and will always see me as her potato.”
“You callin’ your ma a fuckin’ liar?”
CJ’s eyes widened and a little fucking sense seeped back into his fucking head. “Of course not!”
“You must be if you ain’t believin’ her.”
“Mom doesn’t lie!”
“Then you callin’ her a motherfuckin’ cunt on the down low.”
“I am not!”
“You doin’ one or the fuckin’ other. Repeatin’ her words cuz you don’t believe them or mockin’ her because you don’t think that high of her.”
“You’re putting words in my mouth. I love Mom. I’m just telling you what she tells me, then shows me something different.”
“Motherfucker, Megan don’t have to show you a motherfuckin’ thing. She don’t even have to talk to you if she don’t want to.”
“What aren’t you getting, Dad? Although I couldn’t understand why she’d want to build Diesel a whole fucking house, at least she wouldn’t give him my fucking treehouse.”
“It sounds like you don’t think he deserve a fuckin’ thing, CJ.”
“That’s not fair. Diesel gets whatever I get. No, he gets more than me. I don’t have a fuckin’ car or a bike or a condo.”
“You ain’t old enough to have none of that,” Christopher snapped. “You want to fuckin’ measure your ma’s love by fuckin’ materialistic shit? Let’s start with the fuckin’ obvious. After our bedroom, you got the next biggest.”
“That would be Rebel.”
“Just recently,” Christopher said.
“Outlaw, Ryan stirring,” Val interjected in worried tones. “If he realize he fainted on a dead motherfucker, he might have nightmares forever.”
No less than he deserved, but that would defeat the purpose of allowing him to fucking live.
“Sit him in that fuckin’ chair, Val, then leave him the fuck alone,” Christopher barked.
“Do you know how much you’re embarrassing me, Dad?” CJ croaked as Val rushed to Ryan.
“About as fuckin’ much as you embarrassed your fuckin’ brother, boy.”
“Now, you’re showing your preference.”
“Ain’t no motherfucker preference, CJ. I love all you motherfuckers.”
Christopher meant that. But as the words hung between them, he realized how rarely Big Joe had said those words and included Snake.
“I have a question,” CJ said coldly. “When Diesel made his first kill, it was a big fucking thing at the club.” He nodded to Nardo and folded his arms, his look challenging. “What are you doing for me?”
“Later today?” Christopher’s held CJ’s angry gaze and smirked.
“Not a motherfuckin’ thing. It’s Diesel’s fuckin’ birthday.
” If Diesel was fucking smart, he’d toast CJ.
“Cuz what the fuck you not doin’, CJ, is puttin’ me on the motherfuckin’ spot or actin’ like a spoiled fuckhead to have your fuckin’ way. You earn what the fuck you get.”
“Since fucking when, Dad?” CJ bit out. “Like fucking seriously, when have you made me earn anything? When have you made anyone else…no, fuck that. When has anyone, except Uncle Mort, made me think I needed to earn anything? It’s why they overdosed me.”
“No, they fuckin’ overdosed you cuz you wanted to fit the fuck in and ain’t trusted your own goddamn instincts. If it don’t fuckin’ feel right, don’t fuckin’ do it. I taught you that from the time you was a lil’ kid.”
“I looked to Diesel. He told me to do it.”
“And he a motherfuckin’ addict, fuckhead. He ain’t givin’ a good fuck about himself. But you looked to him to validate what the fuck you knew was wrong. You know he ain’t meant for you to fuckin’ overdose and I fuckin’ know it, too.”
CJ’s accusatory glare cut through Christopher, but his boy’s meltdown...fuck! He needed to go to Big Joe’s monument, have a drink, and apologize for the young fuckhead he’d been.
Blowing out a heavy breath, Christopher shoved his fingers through his hair. CJ’s angry gaze swept over Axel’s handiwork.
“Leadership part knowledge, part charisma, part bravado, and part motherfuckin’ lies, CJ.
Yeah, it’s fuckin’ well known what the fuck I want for you.
But I thought you had the goddamn sense to know how the fuck to finesse it.
You wasn’t supposed to fuckin’ act like it was yours on a fuckin’ silver platter. ”
Eyes widening, CJ shook his head. “You know what, Dad? Axel’s onto something. You’re fucking delusional.”
“The lil’ motherfucker call me senile, so shut the fuck up.”
“If I said it, you’d ground me for the rest of my fucking life,” CJ yelled. “But you like it when Axel says it.”
“I ain’t givin’ a good fuck. I fuckin’ know I ain’t senile, but you act like you ain’t got a motherfuckin’ brain. By the fuckin’ way, alienatin’ Diesel, your brother, also alienate his motherfuckin’ friends.”
“I have my own fucking friends, Dad.”
Christopher scowled. “Are they in the motherfuckin’ club, CJ?
Diesel got the ear of most of the younger members.
As fucked up as it is, I created this fuckin’ situation between you and him, and the motherfucker done now.
He fucked in the head and you just fucked up.
But you need Diesel and his friends to get you fairly elected as Prez one day. ”
“That’s years away,” CJ scoffed. “By then, I’ll have cultivated my own boys in the club.”
“And then fuckin’ what? Your boys and his boys turn into your fuckin’ faction and his motherfuckin’ faction?
War? You fuckin’ want that? I fuckin’ don’t.
That’ll ruin the club. My club that I spent fuckin’ years in, only to have it destroyed cuz you and Diesel can’t see eye to fuckin’ eye.
You wanna fuckin’ betray me like that? What about your ma?
You wanna break Megan heart, let two of her fuckin’ sons pit themselves against each other. ”
“If that happened, Diesel would be the one—”
“I’d wanna fuck you up too,” Christopher barked in frustration. “Part of your goddamn problem is your ma spendin’ more time with Axel cuz the lil’ motherfucker recognized—”
“That he could steal my mom!”
“You ain’t fuckin’ six, CJ. You always thought Megan belonged to you exclusively and you just lent her to us motherfuckers.
That’s my fuckin’ wife first. Get that through your fuckin’ head.
She belong to me. Without me, there wouldn’t be a fuckin’ you.
I didn’t make you to fuckin’ compete with your motherfuckin’ whiny ass for my fuckin’ wife. ”