Chapter 20 – CJ
Harley: How’s your day going?
CJ: It’s going. Mom’s back in LA. With Axel and Rebel. Oh yeah, Kaia, too.
Harley: Is everything okay?
CJ: Rebel needed “alone” time with her. She probably does, but Mom still took Axel and Kaia.
Harley: Well, um, Axel going might be for the best. By the time she got back, your entire house would’ve been blown up.
CJ:
Harley:
CJ: Are you okay?
Harley: I’m trying to be.
CJ: If you need to talk, I’m always here for you.
Harley: I miss you. Our friendship, I mean.
CJ: I miss you, too.
Harley: Maybe we can hang out soon?
CJ: Dinner? My treat.
Harley: When?
CJ: I’ll see if Mom lets me borrow her Vette and let you know.
Harley:
CJ: Is that a yes?
Harley: Definitely.
CJ: Lunch is almost over. I’ll text you later on.
Harley: I’m at Aunt Zoann’s. You can visit.
CJ: Nope, I might punch Ryan in his fucking mouth.
Harley: As vile as his actions were and as much as I hate that he used us as a means to an end, remember he was trying to help Molly. Maybe you two can talk.
CJ: I’ll think about it.
Harley:
CJ waited a moment before he shoved his phone in his top pocket, in case Harley sent him anything else.
But, for now, their text exchange was over.
As much as he wanted to pretend otherwise, he couldn’t wait until he and Harley had concrete plans.
They’d never gone to J’s one-on-one. Yeah, they hung out together and ate, but normally it was at Tee’s or the local pizza joint.
They’d never gone to a sit-down restaurant, like an actual date.
Fuck. CJ was getting way ahead of himself. She needed time to heal emotionally and they needed to rebuild their friendship.
“Hey, CJ.”
Skye Ratcliffe’s voice drew him back to the present and he met her gaze.
She was still a golden girl, honey-colored hair, sun-kissed skin, blue eyes, and legs for days.
She looked so cute in her uniform, her blazer snugly fit, her necktie perfectly knotted, her white shirt crisp and her skirt a little shorter than most girls’. Not that he was complaining.
“What’s up?”
She nodded to the empty seat across from him. “May I sit?”
Biting into his chicken wrap, he shrugged. “Sure.”
She glanced at the empty tables, normally overflowing with siblings and cousins. “Where is everyone?”
“Doing their own thing,” he said easily. She didn’t need to know more.
Sliding the strap of her backpack off her shoulder, she sat and then set the bag in front of her. “Are you busy this afternoon?”
Fuck, her science project. No, their project.
They only had a week before final entries closed.
She’d been after him for days to help her and he’d blown her off.
Family issues took precedence. Now, though, the science fair was in just under two weeks.
He was trying to return to a normal high school student routine.
For his sanity and for his mother. That meant paying attention to project collaborators.
“I’m a shitty lab partner, bae.”
“You are,” she said primly.
He smiled and finished his wrap. She seemed to have had another personality transplant, reverting to the girl he’d met at Turn Creek instead of the combative one she’d become recently. Exactly what was she playing at?
“Do you have notes? An idea of what you’d like us to enter into the contest?”
“I was thinking a Ferris wheel with lights and sound.”
“Sounds complicated.” He could probably do it. Depending on the scale, however, it might take more time than they had. “Any other ideas?”
“A flying car.”
“Like in The Jetsons?” he asked, grinning.
“Wouldn’t that be cool? I know we’d place if we had either one of those. I need the prize money like yesterday.”
“I understand.”
“You probably don’t,” she said glumly.
Did he want to know what she meant? Sure didn’t, yet he couldn’t seem to fucking help himself where girls in trouble were concerned. “What’s going on? Why do you need the prize money so bad?”
“Life.”
“A very vague answer.”
“My mom’s behind on a lot. My sister, brother, and me barely see her because she works two, sometimes three, jobs and it still isn’t enough.”
CJ had gotten too involved in Molly’s life and he’d almost lost his mind worrying about her.
Jaleena saw him as a cash cow. Even if Skye was telling the truth, he suspected she pegged him for an easy mark.
Jaleena had a big fucking mouth. “That must be hard on you,” he said, ignoring her crestfallen look.
“We’ll do the Ferris wheel. Are you going to cheer practice? ”
“I am.”
“Good. I’ll be at football practice.” Coach Yancy accepted his physical from the beginning of the school year, but he still wanted to put CJ through his paces. “We’ll go shopping for everything, then we can go to your place and start working on it.”
“Why my place?” she asked nervously. “I’d love to see your home library.”
“Some other time. Your place because it’s mainly your project.
I already have a partner.” That he wanted to win first place.
On the other hand, Molly wouldn’t want for anything ever again.
She was part of their family, so her expenses would be paid.
“Tonight, your place,” he amended. “We’ll see how far we get. ”
“I’d like that.”
He smiled at her.
She lowered her lashes and licked her lips, drawing attention to her mouth. “I’m sorry about the way I’ve been acting.”
He owed her his assistance for his science project, since Billson told him to help her. But that was it, so he didn’t respond. He still didn’t trust her sudden about-face.
“I’m trying to be however you want me to be.”
Recoiling at the Jana vibes, he lifted a brow at her. “I don’t like phonies and refuse to waste my time on a girl who bends her will to my specifications. I want the real you or nothing at all.”
“But—”
“No buts, Skye.”
“Jaleena likes you a lot. She said you’re a really good kisser—”
He glowered at her. “I also don’t like gossips,” he snapped.
Swallowing, she nodded. “You’re a man of mystery. You’re a legend.”
The idea that he was a legend startled him. He curved his mouth into a slow smile and shook his head. “That would be my dad.”
“A biker, right? The president of the Death Dwellers?” she asked, the hesitation in her voice matching the discomfort on her pretty face.
Irritation surged into him and he heaved in a breath. “My friends, girl or guy, don’t ask fucking questions. Whatever they see or know, they shut the fuck up about.”
“Okay. And, um, your dad’s a legend in his world. You’re one here. Everyone knows you, whether or not you know them.”
Before he found the words to respond to Skye, Ryan walked up to the table.
“CJ?”
CJ stiffened. As much as he tried, he couldn’t let go of his anger toward his cousin.
No matter what Rebel said about forgiving that motherfucker and moving on, Ryan was part of the reason she was so upset.
The idea that Rory and Devon knew and kept that shit to themselves for no motherfucking reason whatsoever.
At least Ryan was trying to undo his fuckery. Those other two were just fuckbags.
Reminding himself that Ryan used Rebel, Mattie, and Harley to help Molly compelled CJ to answer. “What, fuckhead?”
“I need your help with something.”
Those fuckheads tapped Ryan to help find their fucking clothes and Ryan expected CJ to help? Fuck all of them. Let them suffer the same humiliation as his little sister. Resisting a smirk, he pretended ignorance. “Whatever it is I’m not fucking interested in helping.
“It isn’t for me.” Shoving his hands in his pockets, he rocked on his feet. “Rory and, uh, Devon…they—”
Fury swirled in CJ. He barely contained his need to punch Ryan in his fucking face, but he was already battered and bruised. No one could kill that fuckhead, so beating him to death was out.
“Why the fuck should I help you?” he snarled, remembering his little sister’s sobs as she explained what happened, Harley’s bruises and trauma, and Grant carrying Mattie after she’d been attacked.
All because of a trio of motherfuckers. “I have to suffer you for Aunt Zoann. Leave it at that and move on.”
Ignoring him, Ryan leaned close to his ear. “I think Ryder and Ransom stole Devon and Rory’s clothes. If you can just ask your brothers where they put them, they can dress.”
Let them live in the fucking PE Center for the rest of their goddamn days. If it was left up to CJ, he’d never return their clothes.
“I hope those motherfuckers never find their fucking clothes.” CJ stormed to his feet, pleased to see he was even taller than Ryan.
“And, fuckhead, you shouldn’t give a fuck either.
” Once again, agreeing, or siding, with his cousin galled the fuck out of him, but truth was truth.
Besides, CJ remembered the transcripts that Mattie provided from all the conversations really showed Willard threatening to reveal Aunt Zoann’s assault and Uncle Val’s sexual abuse.
Ryan was a fuckhead but he’d gotten backed into a fucking corner.
“They let you take the goddamn fall when they were just as guilty. No, those fuckheads are guiltier—”
“Hey, C!” Ryder yelled from the doorway that led to the hall, attracting the attention of the students who still remained in the cafeteria and the teachers on duty. “Come with me.”
Rolling his eyes, CJ stalked to his brother, grabbed his arm and yanked him across the hallway and out of the building. “Have you lost your fucking mind? You’re drawing attention.”
“Yeah, ‘cause we got a problem,” he said, a guilty expression on his face. “Can you hurry? The bees and the ants are escaping the locker room.”
“The bees and the…?” CJ’s eyes bulged. What fucking bees and ants? “Fuck!” he said and took off running.
If Coach Yancy had been timing him, he would’ve congratulated CJ on how fast he’d run without stopping until he reached the boy’s locker room and opened the door, a sensory exploration that he could’ve done without.