The dire warning made the hairs on the back of Memphis’s neck stand up, and he half expected a bullet to rip through him or a blow to the head to knock him unconscious, but it was just another empty but ominous threat. “Why, Dad? Why did you do it? A hitman? Really?”
“Don’t call me that!” Tennessee snapped.
Memphis surprised himself with a laugh. “What? Dad? Would you prefer Tennessee? Keith? Maybe I should just call you by your new name, inmate number 465206?” he asked, reading the number off the patch on his shirt. “It has a nice ring to it.”
“You’re a lot tougher when my hands are cuffed,” Tennessee growled, tugging on the ring in the center of the table.
“I’m tough either way. I had to be. I was living on my own in LA at sixteen, still trying to regain my strength after some pathetic piece of shit doused me in liquor and set me on fire. But I did it. I made a life for myself out there, and I did my best to forget you ever existed,” he lied.
He looked at Memphis with disgust. “Yeah, well the feeling is mutual, boy. I did my best to forget you ever existed, too. I didn’t need some pathetic little cocksucker whining and crying all the time, gaying up the joint, acting like I owed you something when I’m the one who put food on the table and kept clothes on your back.”
Memphis’s fury was instantaneous, like a match to kerosene, all thoughts of negotiating his way out of the hit incinerated. “Clothes on my back? Old man, you didn’t even leave the skin on my back. There wasn’t a single fucking thing we got in life that you didn’t steal, including Knox’s mother, remember her? The fourteen year old you knocked up? Whose parents’ house you burned down when they threatened to file charges? Where is Rita, by the way? Or how about my mom? Huh? I know she’s dead, and I know you killed her. Come on, you’ve got nothing to lose. You’re never getting out of here. Tell the truth, what’d you do to her?”
Memphis had never really let himself think about his mother, had never truly wanted to know the details. He didn’t even know why he was asking him now, but all of these things he’d shoved down for so long now just seemed to be bubbling up out of him and he couldn’t stop himself.
“I didn’t kill your mama or Rita. They just took off. Think I’d waste bullets on a couple of dumb cunts like them? Your mama didn’t want you boys enough to take you with her when she ran. Guess you got that from her. Last I heard, little Rita went back to stripping and disappeared with a client.”
It was all bullshit. Memphis knew it and Tennessee knew he knew it. It was a game. He thought fucking with Memphis was amusing. He always had. “Sure,Dad. I’m sure that’s exactly what happened.”
His father shrugged, leaning back and raising his hands as much as the restraints allowed. “Hey, it’s the truth. If you don’t like it, leave.”
“Leaving sounds like a great idea,” Memphis said, realizing all at once what a pointless endeavor this had all been. “Have a great life, Dad. I’m sure you’ll be really happy here. Don’t drop the soap.”
Memphis hadn’t even made it to his feet before Tennessee said, “Don’t you wanna know? Aren’t you going to ask the real question you came here for?”
Memphis narrowed his eyes. “What question is that?”
“What it’ll take to keep you alive.”
Memphis froze. He couldn’t help it. He just stared into his father’s eyes. The same eyes as Memphis and Knox. The same eyes as Nash. But that was all they had in common. The only trait they all shared. “And what’s that, Keith?” Memphis asked, refusing to call him Dad or even Tennessee anymore. “What could I possibly have that’s worth my life to you?”
Tennessee smiled, revealing he was now missing a tooth. “Your brother.”
Memphis blinked at him. “Knox? You think I’ll hand you my baby brother so you can continue to let Nash torture him? Oh, wait. Nash is on the run. Who’s going to take care of him? You know, since you’ll never see the light of day again? Got some other teenage girl locked up in a house somewhere, barefoot and pregnant?”
Tennessee ignored the jab. “Nash will be fine. You think any of those charges against him are gonna stick? Not in my town. Once the charges are dropped, he’ll want his brother home with him.Iwant his brother home with him. He needs to learn the family business.”
Memphis laughed out loud. “Which one? Drug dealing? Gun running? Dog fighting? Human trafficking? Which stellar legacy is it that you plan to leave your youngest son?”
“That’s really none of your concern. It’s a family matter and you ain’t family.”
Memphis nodded. “You’re right. I’m not your family and neither is Knox. You’ll never get him back. Ever. Not even if you kill me. I’ve made sure of that. So, go ahead, Keith. Pull the trigger, have me killed and spend the rest of your life knowing that your youngest son, the one you’ll never find, is being raised not by one or two butseveralgay men who will never, ever let you hurt him again.”
“I should have drowned you at birth,” Keith spit.
“And I should have shot you in your sleep when I had the chance. I guess we both have to live with the consequences of our inactions.”
“Yeah, well, you’ll have to live with them a lot less time than me,” he said with a snicker.
Memphis turned to look at the guard, indicating he was done with his visit. “Maybe so, but I’ll die knowing that I had a man who loved me, friends who cared about me, a brother who will never have to endure what I did, and that you’re withering away in this prison with absolutely no chance of ever getting out. Have a nice life, Keith.”
With that, he stood and left, refusing to look back. He was done with Keith Camden. He refused to give him one more second of his time. Maybe he really would kill him, but until then, Memphis had Preacher. Preacher would make sure Knox was fully protected, no matter what happened to him. He was sure of it.
“Is he alright?”
At Jackson’s question, Preacher craned his head around to look at where Memphis sat in the conference room with Wyatt, Day, and a girl named Charlie, Bo and Luke at Memphis’s feet. They were laughing and joking like nothing had happened, like Memphis’s life wasn’t still in danger.
“I’m honestly not sure,” Preacher admitted. “He seems fine. Better than fine, which is a weird fucking reaction to your father telling you he’d hunt you to the ends of the earth unless you give up your baby brother.”
