Chapter Two – Christopher
“You have a minute?”
Cash McCall’s question pulled Christopher away from the note he was drafting on his phone to entice Skip and two other chapter presidents back to his side after Johnnie’s fuckery. With Cash’s help.
Christopher didn’t raise his head from his task. “Fuck you. Fuck off.”
Instead of listening, the motherfucker pulled out his usual chair–out of Christopher’s reach–and plopped his ass down. “It’s about your sons. Three in particular. No! One in particular.”
“Listen up, McCall.” Setting his phone aside and snatching his bottle for a swig of beer, Christopher met Cash’s angry gaze.
“You got off fuckin’ light, considerin’ I wanna chop off your motherfuckin’ head and pitch it in a fuckin’ bear cave.
Axel got more fuckin’ balls, and loyalty, than you’ll ever fuckin’ have, so speak at your own fuckin’ risk. ”
His skin paling, Cash glanced over his shoulder. Johnnie and the other motherfuckers he aligned with against Christopher weren’t there. They’d been laying low.
“Outlaw–” Cash swallowed. He looked fucking rancid. Not in a dead, decomposed way but like a yellow-bellied, pussy-faced betrayer reeking of guilt and fear. “I didn’t mean–”
“Don’t fuckin’ hand me that bullshit,” Christopher snarled, pounding his fist on the table and drawing attention.
Not that he gave a fuck. He was ready to kill every motherfucker who stood against him.
Obviously, they were taking him for a pussy if even motherfucking Digger fucked over Megan.
“You wanna stand ten fuckin’ toes down against me, then look me in the fuckin’ eye and say fuck you. ”
“I would never–”
“You fuckin’ did, so shut the fuck up.”
“I exercised my free fucking will, Outlaw. My vote wasn’t personal. It wasn’t a betrayal.”
“It was both,” Christopher spat, tautening his muscles so he wouldn’t blow this motherfucker away.
It would devastate Ophelia and Stretch. And Megan wouldn’t give a fuck. That thought alone stayed his hand. His sweet angel was almost back. She just needed a little more nudging.
“It wasn’t!”
“How the fuck else am I supposed to take it? You, motherfucker, riskin’ my wife for a kid who can’t join the club for another thirteen years, so fuck you. That lil’ motherfucker might not even want to join. As for my boys, Ima give them a raise in their allowance for what the fuck they did.”
“Outlaw, let me explain.”
“Ain’t no motherfuckin’ explainin’ in the motherfuckin’ world why you sat your motherfuckin’ ass in this clubhouse and announced I wanna fuck over the club just to protect my woman.”
“I didn’t say that!”
Christopher ignored him. He hadn’t said those exact words but he might as well have.
“Hope, pray, Megan don’t come to harm cuz of the way you motherfuckers voted.
” He leaned in close, glad the brothers had turned their attention back to whatever, and held Cash’s gaze.
“Remember Mars? Ima send Diesel after every motherfucker who voted against me. But you? Johnnie? Skip? You motherfuckers mine. Ima fuckin’ gut you, castrate you, and dig out your fuckin’ eyeballs.
And Ima do it slow. Over three or four days.
So, motherfucker, don’t ever fuckin’ mention what the fuck my boy did to you. ”
Cash gulped and shoved back from his seat, but halted at Diesel’s approach.
“Uncle Christopher,” Diesel greeted, glaring at Cash.
Scowling at the motherfucker, CJ stepped beside Diesel. “Hey, Dad.”
His boy had more bruises than Christopher after their fight yesterday, but he had gone to school. “Talked to Coach Yancy?”
CJ sidled another glance at Cash, then nodded. Christopher expected CJ to greet that motherfucker at any moment, although he hoped his boy continued ignoring him.
“You back on the team?”
“It isn’t that easy. I have to turn in another physical by next Friday and I also have to attend one-on-one practice sessions with him starting Monday.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask if you’d like to work out with me, little brother?
” Diesel tipped his lips up and looked at Cash.
“I’ve been practicing deprivation methods.
Little sleep. No food or water. Holding my breath under water.
Light exposure. Noise exposure. Stuff I intend to do to our enemies.
Not that we’re in the presence of any since we’re all family. Right, Cash?”
“You bet,” Cash said faintly.
Diesel’s grin widened. “So, what do you say, CJ? I need to train my body in case I fall into enemy hands and they want to torture me. We can train together.”
As far as Christopher knew, Diesel was a lying motherfucker, but the terror on Cash’s face was worth every fucking untruth.
Before CJ responded, Ransom, Ryder, Rory, and JJ walked up. It was Rory’s first time back in the club since Christopher’s ban. Although CJ’s punch to the lil’ motherfucker was barely that, his boy followed his orders. Everything else could be settled later.
“Hey, Uncle Cash,” JJ piped up, the only one to do so. He stuck more to Kendall than Johnnie and wasn’t as enamored of the club as his brother.
“JJ,” Cash mumbled, flushing.
“Are you okay?” the kid asked, concern creasing his brow, blond like Johnnie but brown-eyed like Kendall.
Cash nodded. “How was school?”
“Ass,” JJ grumbled. “The best part was staying after school to wait for CJ while he talked to the football coach. Ro hitched a ride with Diesel, so I did, too.”
“Don’t one of the girls usually pick you up?” Cash asked.
“Mom’s busy,” JJ explained into the continued silence, still the only motherfucker willing to talk to Cash, and not picking up on the mood. “Something with Aunt Meggie.”
Annoyance ran through Christopher. He was right. Hell Goddess stuck the fuck around. She’d given him a taste of heaven last night and teased him with his Sweet Angel. Apparently, the new day gave her renewed determination to torture him.
“Hey, Dad,” Ransom said, the haunted expression he’d worn since Nyx’s death gone from his face. “Axel’s sleeping?”
“Axel not here.” Christopher lifted a brow at Cash. The motherfucker hadn’t stood up or made a move to leave since Diesel’s arrival. “Even if he was, why you think he’d be sleepin’?”
“Mom checked him out early,” Ryder revealed, looking at Christopher expectantly as if he knew what the fuck was up.
Well, he did, but he wouldn’t go into detail.
Christopher shrugged. “The lil’ motherfucker probably had a doctor’s appointment.” While she was taking Axel to his appointment, she’d convinced her coven of witches to abandon their motherfuckers.
“He never said that,” Ransom said. “And, usually, Mom takes the three of us together.”
“Ain’t nothin’ but a thing, boy,” Christopher promised, fucking fuming.
Megan had been winning the battles, but he’d win the fucking war.
“Why don’t you text him?” Diesel suggested.
“We did,” Ryder said woefully. “He’s not answering.”
“You three haven’t made up yet?” CJ asked. “Didn’t you all sit together at lunch?”
Ransom nodded. “Yeah, but now he won’t answer us back.”
Unclipping his cell phone, Diesel dialed a number. “Voicemail,” he said a moment later. “Ax, call me when you get this.” He disconnected. “He’s fine. He’s with Aunt Meggie and Kendall.”
“Okay,” Ransom said morosely and looked at CJ. “We can go home and see if Mom cooked dinner before she left.”
“Her hand’s still fucked up, so Bishop might’ve cooked,” CJ said.
“He’s a decent chef,” Ransom said. “I don’t mind if it’s him. Hopefully, it’s one of them and we don’t have to wait until she gets back.”
“We’ll see,” CJ promised and turned to Diesel. “Are you coming straight home? My backpack is still in your car.”
“Yeah,” Diesel answered. “I have no plans for the evening.”
“Bet,” CJ said, then nodded toward the door. “Let’s go, Ransom. I’m starving as well.”
“Nope,” Christopher said. “We eatin’ here. The final push to get my sweet angel back.” A push more imperative than ever. He was so glad he’d planned his offensive, otherwise she would’ve sent him on the defensive, always a disadvantage.
Ransom, Ryder, and Diesel gaped at Christopher.
“Dad,” CJ said slowly, “please don’t tell me you’re still fucking with Mom.”
“I ain’t fuckin’ with her. She fuckin’ with me.
Case in fuckin’ point: tofuckinday. Yesterday, she was my wife, your ma, again.
My sweet angel. She was puttin’ motherfuckers in their fuckin’ place and lovin’ on me.
Today, the lil’ pain-in-the-ass motherfucker back to dividin’ to try and conquer.
Let her, Reb, Axel, and Gunner eat alone, while we here.
” He looked at Rory. “As a matter of fact, get Johnnie here. I ain’t gonna think about killin’ him too brutally tonight. ”
“Uh–”
“Call him,” Christopher ordered again.
“Uh, o-okay,” Rory said and staggered to the bar, sitting on one of the stools.
“Ima call Val and Mort,” Christopher continued. “She clickin’ up? I fuckin’ am too. We gotta get Megan back. Sweet Megan.”
“You only love Mom if she’s a certain way?”
Ransom’s strained words cut through Christopher and he shook his head, wondering where the fuck his boy got that idea.
“Fuck no! I love Megan no matter how she is.”
The explanation seemed to confuse Ransom even more.
“Fuck, you too young to understand, boy.”
“Or you’re too fucking old to understand, Dad,” Ryder countered, rolling his eyes, golden-haired and blue-eyed like Megan and Rebel. And Big Joe and Snake. “Instead of all these fucking games, just apologize to Mom. She was back yesterday because you were too.”
“I ain’t changed,” Christopher said stubbornly. “Megan was back cuz she missed me. She been sleepin’ next to me since she was eighteen. Ain’t no fuckin’ way she stayin’ away from me too long. Two days at most.”
“Dad, I have never heard Mom bring up divorce in any context,” CJ said , his voice rising in frustration. “If you keep fuckin’ with her–”