Chapter Eleven
Mort didn’t have time to drag his brother to a field and beat his ass far from prying eyes.
If he did it in the clubhouse, Prez would find out and demand answers.
If Mort confessed his brother was a stupid, bitter motherfucker, then Outlaw would still fuck Digger up.
He wouldn’t only break a few bones. He’d bury him, so Mort kept his peace and accepted Outlaw’s invitation to have a beer.
Partly to calm his own nerves and partly to keep stupid motherfuckers alive.
Luckily, he’d invited Bailey out on a proper date, and she was supposed to meet him at the club. Otherwise, he would’ve been home, living his new normal on the sofa. Except he didn’t want that to be his new normal.
Luckier still was the fact that Bailey was running late.
When he headed to the club, Mort hadn’t anticipated walking in at the very moment Meggie girl punched the fuck out of Nyx and knocked her the fuck out.
Nor had he expected to witness a motherfucker boldly flirting with her right the fuck in front of Prez’s face.
Now, Prez and his sons were gone. Johnnie hightailed it off not long after. Val didn’t stick around either. He’d learned his lesson during the conversation after Torie’s death.
Mort checked his phone, wondering if he’d missed a message or a phone call from Bailey. But nothing.
“You leaving soon, Mort?” Digger asked.
Squeezing the bridge of his nose and setting his phone in front of him, Mortician shook his head. “I’m taking Bailey out. She might’ve gone home to change out of her work clothes.”
One reason he’d left was to give her space to prepare for their date.
In Mort’s eyes, she didn’t need to do much, but his woman usually took at least two hours to choose an outfit, style her hair, and make up her face.
Their marriage wasn’t in a place where he could send her teasing texts about the amount of time she took to dress compared to him.
“I didn’t know you was taking her out,” Digger said irritably. “I thought you came to hang out with me.”
“Look, motherfucker, get your goddamn ass home to your woman. If you know what the fuck’s good for you, I suggest you limit your fucking comments about Bailey.”
Digger gave him a sour look. “You doing everything you can to make up to her. She tripping. If she wasn’t so pissed at Meggie, I’d blame her—”
“About Meggie—” Torrin called, still sitting at the bar. He and Bishop moved closer to Narci after Outlaw left. “The bet’s off.”
Nods and grumbles of agreement rose around the club .
Narci swiveled the stool in Mort’s direction. “Did you know she could throw a punch like that?”
“Shocked the fuck out of you, huh, motherfucker?” Mort said with a smirk.
“CJ always talk about his mama,” Bishop confessed. “He never once mentioned she knew how to fight.”
“Meggie just threw a lucky punch,” Digger muttered.
“I fucking swear if you don’t lay off Meggie girl, I’m fucking you up,” Mortician growled. “What the fuck happened to your dumb ass? Did you not fucking hear Outlaw?”
“I want it to get back to him,” Digger snapped. “I want to see if Meggie care about me enough to save me like she always save Johnnie. Bunny live and die by that bitch. Sometimes, you visit Meggie before you hang with me.”
“When you fucking slip up in front Prez, I’m not speaking up to save your miserable fucking ass,” Mortician said coldly. “You stuck on the same tired song. I just pray Meggie girl do like you enough to intercede.”
“How I’m the wrong motherfucker when Meggie got my bitch, your bitch, and most of the bitches on her side?
Not only that, Bunny been whining about another baby.
A fucking girl. Meggie put that shit in her head.
I bet she responsible for Bailey wanting a girl, too.
The only thing I appreciate is not dealing with Bunny period and saving money on tampons—”
“Shut the fuck up. That’s the most disrespectful shit I ever heard.
Coming from a motherfucker who wouldn’t have a fucking dime left if Bunny didn’t rein in your fucking spending habits and Meggie didn’t invest and pay out dividends.
” Mortician snatched his phone again, praying Bailey would rescue him from his brother.
Nothing. He threw his phone down and scrubbed a hand over his face.
“I’m sick of your bullshit toward Prez woman.
I’m sick of all the bullshit toward her from you, Johnnie, Bailey, the younger brothers, and the new bitches. ”
“Bailey think Meggie hurt Harley,” Digger snapped. “She think Meggie keeping CJ from my niece.”
“Your niece keeping CJ from your niece,” Mortician retorted. “Now tell me what the fuck’s really wrong. You keep talking about Torie. You keep hating Meggie. You barely at home and when you are, you don’t want to be bothered.”
Digger hung his head and drew in a deep breath. He leaned closer. “I fucked up, Mort,” he whispered.
A variety of scenarios ran through Mortician’s head—bankruptcy, infidelity, betraying the club, leaving the club, impending divorce—none of which he wanted to imagine his brother facing.
“Didn’t lay with another woman,” Digger said, reading Mort’s expression.
“I might’ve had a crush on Torie and imagined fucking her, but I love Bunny.
I love how calm she is. How she know how to make me smile even when I’m a grouchy motherfucker.
I love waking up to her next to me. Sometimes, I don’t know how I got so lucky. ”
Mort swallowed. “Are you sick?”
“Sick? I’m healthier than some twenty-year-olds.”
“Then…?”
“Fuck, Mort.” Digger scratched his jaw. “Bunny want another baby. I still blame that shit on Meggie. Even if it’s not her fucking fault,” he said quickly, preventing Mort from talking.
Didn’t do any fucking good anyway.
“Our house not big enough. I want to surprise my woman with a bigger house. She want a bigger house. It’ll be further back in the forest, past Johnnie’s house.
Even if I could afford to buy it from the club, the land would have to be cleared.
Prez probably wouldn’t foot the bill to build infrastructure that far out like he did originally. ”
“Talk to Bunny,” Mort advised.
“I said it was a fucking surprise,” Digger growled.
Mort studied his brother. The motherfucker was omitting a vital piece of information; Mort didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what it was. “You broke, aren’t you? You fucked with the savings account you and your woman have?”
Digger shifted in his seat and averted his eyes. “It’s more than that, Mort,” he said quietly. “It’s so much fucking worse.”
“What the fuck’s worse than wiping your goddamn savings account, fuckhead? On what? Clothes? Things ? What the fuck did you do?”
“I tried to increase my money! I did shit I shouldn’t have. Now my money gone. Bunny money gone. Her money gone. Or some of it.”
Her…?
“Who—” A text message alert interrupted Mort and he leaned forward to read it.
Bailey: Please meet me at the burger place ASAP. I would like to turn in early.
Mort reread the message, pretending he wasn’t so disappointed he almost canceled the date completely.
He didn’t want a quick burger with barely any words.
He’d intended to take her to an upscale restaurant in Portland.
Not J’s either. A place where he had to pay.
As the step grandson-in-law—Mort still laughed over that shit because what ?
—of Joan Harrington, she refused to charge him.
He picked up the phone to reschedule their date but decided against it. If their marriage would survive they had to start somewhere . Why not at a burger joint ?
Unfortunately, that meant he wouldn’t have time to finish his conversation with Digger. Before he left, he had to know who else’s money Digger fucked with.
“Does Bunny know you and her broke?” he asked as a lead-in to the more important question.
“No. Not yet. She has everything set up on auto pay. My allowance. Utilities. Household expenses. Her checking account look fine. It’s the main account that’s destroyed.”
“And who else’s? What she you talking about besides Bunny?”
Digger opened his mouth, glanced away, then shrugged. “Bunny,” he said finally. “Some of Bunny money gone. Not all of it though. She gets her own income from Meggie.”
Mort gave Digger a level look. “What you not telling me, son?”
His phone dinged again.
Bailey: Are you coming or not, Lucas?
“Go, bruh. You reading too much into my words.”
“You fucking broke, motherfucker,” Mort said in disgust. “I know you. You not telling me the whole truth. It’s how your dumb fucking ass got involved with Sharper.”
Digger got to his feet. “If you not fucking leaving, I am.”
An alarm beeped on Mort’s phone, then Digger’s. Potter. Huck. Pike. Sparrow. Slipper. Chains. Tiny.
“What the fuck happened to Meggie now?” Digger said in frustration, sounding close to tears.
“Fuck!” Potter called. “The smoke alarm and sprinklers have been activated at Outlaw’s house.”
Sitting on the edge of her bed, Rebel stared into space, not seeing anything around her. Only listening to her mother’s movements in the bathroom.
Daddy used one of his gazillion apps to shut off the sprinklers, then he dialed a number.
Rebel realized he’d called Aunt Bunny. Apparently, when he took out his phone to deal with the sprinklers, he’d received an alert that she was in the house.
She explained that a pan of something was on the stove, burned beyond recognition.
“Eggs,” Daddy had said, and instructed her to take Gunner out to eat.
“We already ate.” Aunt Bunny’s voice over the speakerphone blared through the shocked silence, broken only by Momma’s sniffles.
“That’s better than us, Aunt Bunny,” Axel said woefully.
“We need to clean up the water,” she said. “Luckily, it was shut off quickly, so I’ll see what I can do. Who else is hungry?”