Chapter Nine
Easton Fucking Love hightailed his ass out the club not long after Meggie and Rebel left.
Motherfucker knew his fucking life was in grave danger.
Ten minutes after that disrespectful assfuck departed, Christopher was still so fucking mad, he wanted to find that motherfucker and cut his cock off before or after carving out his fucking eyeballs.
It just depended if that motherfucker smirked or not.
Christopher preferred that assfuck watching as he lost the dick he wanted to use on Megan. He couldn’t have everything, though.
Balling his hands into fists to keep from smashing something, Christopher growled. CJ, Diesel, and the other boys glanced at him and nodded, his fury permitting their annoyance to grow.
“I’ve never heard Mom giggle for anyone but you,” CJ grouched .
Pangs of hunger hit Christopher so hard he felt lightheaded. He squinted, ignoring his growling stomach, and sniffed the air.
“Wait a fuckin’ minute. Megan ain’t cooked?
” His stomach growled again. “She texted me and said she was cookin’ braised ribs.
” Other shit, too. He just couldn’t remember.
Once he saw red meat on her menu, he didn’t give a fuck about much else.
He glanced around at the crowd, much bigger since he’d arrived.
“And she texted the brothers then decided to fuckin’ jet? ”
Another crime against Easton Love or whatever the fuck his name was.
When Christopher received her text, he’d been looking forward to an evening at the club, enjoying a meal Megan cooked for the brothers. “You got her message, too, huh, Mort?”
He nodded. “Yeah, Prez, but I came because you invited me to have a beer. I have other plans for dinner.”
“With who—?” Digger started.
Christopher’s stomach growled again. He hadn’t eaten in fucking hours. “I’m fuckin’ hungry!”
No, he was pissed. And so fucking jealous, he could barely see straight.
Axel’s little shoulders sagged. “I’m hungry too, Dad. Talk to your woman. She’s supposed to feed us.”
Christopher could feel that way, but his sons couldn’t. No fucking body else could. Megan wasn’t put on this fucking earth to serve those motherfuckers. He grunted, his empty stomach souring. “You can learn to cook, boy.”
“Do you know how to cook, Dad?” Axel asked in exasperation.
“Nope. Never had somebody to teach me. What the fuck that gotta do with you ? Your ma been tryin’ to teach you and your brothers.”
CJ leaned forward and rested his arms on the table.
“What’s up, kid?” A knot had formed on Digger’s hard fucking head. Other than that, motherfucker showed no indication Megan tried to fucking crown him. “You hungry, too?”
“I am, but I know how to cook,” CJ said morosely. “Mom, Lolly, and Aunt Bunny taught me. I was really looking forward to Mom’s food.” He shrugged. “I suppose I can prepare myself a meal.”
Axel scowled. “That’s against the bro code, C. You give us men a bad look. You got to call Mom and Reb and make them come and cook.”
“Little bro right, kid.” Digger nodded from Axel to CJ. “It’s not our place as men to cook.”
“Fuckin’ assfuck.” Christopher forgot his hunger and glowered at Digger. “What the fuck you mean we need to call Megan back so she could cook?”
“I didn’t say that, Outlaw,” Digger said faintly. “Meggie free to do as she please. But she did text the brothers and lured us here with the promise of a meal.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Mortician ordered, always trying to protect Digger. “This shit not our fucking business.”
Elbows on table, Ryder pressed his cheeks between his hands and hung his head. “Uncle Digger’s right, Uncle Mort. Mom’s supposed to cook for us. She’s a mom, a wife, and an old lady. That’s her job.”
The agreement rising around the table and amongst the club members who overheard horrified Christopher. Only CJ and Mort seemed to agree with him. Pained expressions crossed their faces, though Digger fist bumped Ryder.
“Your ma more than that, Ryder,” Christopher managed.
His stomach growled again, and his annoyance surged despite his best efforts. She could have cooked. He was starving and only Roxanne outcooked Megan. Besides, she had volunteered tonight’s meal for the brothers, then got pissed and backed out. In front of that motherfucker, no less.
Christopher snatched his phone from the top pocket of his cut.
“I wouldn’t if I were you.” Johnnie drained his beer bottle and set it aside. “You’ll only infuriate her further.”
“Who the fuck asked you?” Christopher grouched, throwing his phone aside.
It didn’t escape him that he’d thawed toward Johnnie in the last few days. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe because the motherfucker hadn’t taken any unexpected road trips. Or, maybe, because he trusted Kendall to help sort out Bash. She’d tell Christopher if Johnnie went off the rails again.
Or, fucking maybe , it was because he didn’t really have a fucking reason. Johnnie would be a stupid motherfucker now and forever more. Christopher either had to kill him or stop threatening to kill him and just overlook his assholery.
Without a reaction from Megan, threats weren’t fun.
“I met with Derby and Dez today,” he said, changing the subject, hoping Megan cooled off enough to come and feed everyone.
“How’d that go?” Mort grabbed the last beer from the bucket Potter brought out. “We any closer to telling them to fuck off or patching them over?”
Christopher beckoned Potter for another setup. “The Devils on their last fuckin’ leg. Remind me to email the updated reports. Their finances fuckin’ wrecked. Members resignin’. Even their clubhouse fucked up. Pipes fuckin’ froze and burst.”
Digger lifted his brow. “They still claiming they in danger?”
“Something not fuckin’ addin’ up,” Christopher admitted. “They don’t even have good fuckin’ killers. They don’t have a drug pipeline.”
“They have girls,” CJ said. “Maybe, they’re the key. If the strippers are profitable, would that make the club a target to bigger clubs?”
Folding his arms across his chest, Johnnie offered CJ a cold smile. CJ lifted a brow, grabbing a beer the minute Potter set the overflowing bucket on the table.
Diesel snatched another beer, too. “It could be that, CJ, but only if they make their bitches sell pussy.”
Megan hadn’t even noticed Diesel’s bruised cheek. The sour thought further annoyed Christopher.
“I don’t think their bitches high-quality enough to earn the type of money to put the Devils on any radar,” Digger said.
“Not like Dweller girls,” Diesel agreed, sipping beer.
CJ frowned. “What the fuck happened to you?”
Christopher gulped from his bottle. “He ran into my fuckin’ fists a couple times.”
“Yeah, okay. Cool.” Digger twisted off the cap and drained his bottle. “Sounds about right,” he added around a stinking belch. “No punch like a Outlaw punch.”
“Told you, Uncle Johnnie,” Axel piped in. “No assbeating like an Outlaw assbeating.”
“So you did,” Johnnie said blandly.
Christopher took in the scene, glancing from Digger to Johnnie and back to Digger, who couldn’t meet Christopher’s eyes if his fucking life depended on it.
“What the fuck wrong with you, motherfucker?” Christopher demanded.
Digger took another bottle as Val walked up to the table, secured his own beer and took his seat .
“Nothing, Prez,” Digger answered, nodding to Val. “Just, uh, just still a little shook about how you fucked up Torie.” He twisted the cap off. “That beautiful woman just gone .”
Christopher and Mort exchanged knowing looks.
“I’m not the brightest motherfucker.” Val paused to taste his beer. “But I swear you the fuckhead with the crush on the woman. Not Outlaw.”
Digger shook his head. “How you throw my fucking business out there like that, bruh?”
“So, you did have a crush on her, Uncle Digger?” Ransom asked in confusion.
“I didn’t say all that, little dude.” He drank more beer. “I just said she was gorgeous.”
“All you ever say is that,” Axel complained.
“Know what you haven’t said, Uncle Digger?” Ryder said severely. “That you’re not johnsoning behind her.”
“It’s jonesing,” CJ said, laughing.
“Nuh uh, C.,” Axel denied. “Dad said we have johnsons. That was on his list for cocks. We don’t have a jones, so we can’t jones behind nothing.”
“CJ right,” Christopher said. “Your johnson jones behind a girl.”
“That doesn’t make sense, Dad,” Ransom said. “Are you sure your senility isn’t kicking in? That’s been happening more and more lately.”
“How we went from talking about Torie to dicks?” Digger grouched.
Mortician scowled. “I’m sick and tired of hearing about that woman. Check yourself, motherfucker. You got a gorgeous woman. If she hear how you harp on about Torie, it’ll hurt her.”
“Bunny not no wild bitch,” Digger said.
Christopher might’ve let the comment slide if that motherfucker hadn’t side-eyed him. “You callin’ Megan a wild lil’ bitch, assfuck?”
All conversation stopped.
“I wouldn’t do that, Prez,” Digger said calmly, his eye twitching.
He set the beer down and forced a smile.
“But you got to admit, Meggie going off the goddamn rails. No matter what you didn’t—or did —do with Torie, you didn’t kill her until you was ready.
It didn’t matter what Meggie wanted. It just proved her power is only as weighty as you allow it to be. ”
Any anger Christopher felt died the moment he looked at the brothers and saw their agreement.
It was mostly the younger members, mainly between twenty and thirty-five, arrived at the club when Christopher and Megan settled into a comfortable routine as spouses, parents, and friends.
Seeing a smattering of older members, their faces filled with the same belief, tore Christopher up.
“Peep this, Prez,” Digger went on. “You even stripped her of power over the little bros. She try to chastise them, they tell her it’s club business and muzzle up, and she can’t do shit.”