Fuck it. The shit was done. CJ had opened this can of worms. He had to see it the fuck through, even though it was so fucking hard for Christopher to keep his fucking mouth shut, but he’d stood toe-to-toe with Rack when he’d been CJ’s age on more than one occasion. Big Joe only intervened when Rack threatened deadly consequences.
“Apologize to my son, CJ,” Johnnie ordered.
“I’ll console him but I’m not apologizing for the truth, Uncle Johnnie.”
Appalled, Johnnie stared at Rory, not fucking seeing his kid’s grief. “Are you standing for this fucking disrespect, Rory? CJ wants to turn you into a laughingstock, along with me, by putting you in bed with that used up old woman. In other words,myson isn’t good enough to attract a girl like Fia or Tennysee.”
“How the fuck Ten get into this conversation?” Narci asked. That motherfucker didn’t want Tennysee but he didn’t want anyone else to want her either.
“Let’s take a vote on the armbands,” Christopher barked, uninterested in the bullshit.
“No, Christopher!” Johnnie jumped to his feet and started forward, but Mortician, fill-in SAA until Digger recovered, stepped in Johnnie’s path.
“Tell your fucking son to apologize.”
“I don’t give a fuck who tells me to apologize,” CJ snapped. “It ain’t happening. Rory and Gypsy were a thing, Uncle Johnnie. Since last fucking fall.”
Johnnie turned to Rory. “That isn’t true, is it, son? You can do so much better than a sad, pathetic wretch like her.”
Rory started to cry.
“You don’t give a fuck that Gypsy was almost fifty-five and your son is fifteen?” CJ asked incredulously. “Your issue is how she looks?”
“Would you want your fucking son to fuck a wrinkled old bitch?” Johnnie yelled. “Her own fucking husband didn’t want her, CJ. Your own father fucked older women when he was fifteen, so stop passing judgment on my son.” He thought for a moment, then smiled. “You’re jealous, aren’t you? Gypsy was no longer a looker, but she wanted Rory and not you. You can’t stand that.”
Folding his arms, CJ smiled viciously. “Whatever brings you the most comfort, uncle. By all means, think it.”
“You can’t compete with my son!”
“And you can’t compete with my dad, but that doesn’t stop you from trying, so fuck you.”
“Rory, open your fucking mouth and set your cousin straight.”
“Jesus Christ, you’re a fuckhead,” CJ complained.
“CJ’s right, Dad,” Rory said, hanging his head. “But she also propositioned CJ. I don’t know if she was trying to make me, Derby, or both of us jealous. I never expected her to get killed, though. I wouldn’t have ghosted her.”
Christopher looked at CJ. “Is that true, CJ? That bitch tried to fuck you?”
“Yeah, Dad. When Mom and Rebel were in the hospital. Derby offered to sell her to me.”
“Motherfucker always was a piece of shit to her,” Mortician said in disgust.
“Meggie would dig that bitch up and fuck her up again,” Val said.
“That bitch not even buried yet, Val,” Digger said, eliciting laughter.
“It isn’t funny,” Rory blared, pounding the table and silencing everyone.
Anything Christopher said would come across as judgmental or condescending, even though he understood Rory’s pain. As Johnnie said, he’d fucked much older women too when he’d been a teenager, girls connected to the Dwellers or other clubs and who’d left in one way or another. Either through death, by walking away, or being claimed as an old lady.
Death was always the hardest because there was never a chance of seeing that girl again. He’d missed those women, but never truly mourned them until he lost Kiera.Meganallowed him to mourn. She’d helped him process what he was feeling.
Rory’s situation was completely different. Kendall would go fucking insane and Johnnie had no goddamn heart.
“May I talk to Rory, Uncle Christopher?” Diesel whispered, the silence broken only by Rory’s sobs.
CJ and Ryan were talking to him, but that kind of devastation wasn’t easy to overcome.
