“You didn’t say Valerie?”
“No.”
“Diesel taught you about the Middle Ages, too?”
“A little.”
Axel grinned. “Would you like to have a jousting competition?”
“Do we have fucking horses?” CJ asked.
“Neither do we have armor but we can buy those stuffs,” Axel said.
“You can’t just order fucking horses online,” CJ snapped.
“You can get themsomehow,” Axel said. “And the dark web has everything.”
CJ was too tired to get into that subject. “Can I come out from under this bed?”
“We didn’t make you run under it,” Axel said. “We were just going to beat you another ten minutes. You could’ve lasted.”
“You would’ve beaten me unconscious.”
Axel stiffened and glared at him. “We wouldn’t have. Tell me why before I stomp your fucking fingers.”
CJ quickly snatched his hands back.
“One…”
“Because of Mom,” CJ blurted. “If I was really hurt, it would upset Mom.”
“You finally got another fucking clue. Why do the motherfuckers take so long for you to understand? I got to fucking talk until I’m purple before you get it.”
“Maybe I’m just a stupid motherfucker.”
“You are, and I’ve been telling it to you all along.”
Sliding from under the bed, CJ got to his feet, then sat on the edge of the bed, never taking his eyes off his brothers.
“A truce?” Axel said, holding out his hand.
Begrudgingly, CJ shook it. “I will take better care not to do anything that’ll upset Mom.”
“And this is between us?”
“If you fuck with me again, I’m telling Dad,” CJ warned.
Axel saluted him, then looked at Ryder and Ransom. “Attention!” he yelled.
Ryder and Ransom straightened.
“Forward,MARCH!”
The Terrible Triplets marched the fuck out of CJ’s room, thankfully leaving him in one piece.
Later that evening, Mortician found himself at Tee’s because Derby’s woman called him and asked for a meeting. Between curiosity and nothing better to do, he agreed to see her. It surprised him that Symphony was on the floor when he walked into the diner. Days after her confrontation with Roxanne, Symphony’s face was still somewhat swollen, but the cuts and abrasions were healing.
He nodded to her, spotting Gypsy already seated at a table.
