The girls looked at each other and Harley started to cry again.
“He sent videos of her and Ryan together,” Rebel mumbled.
“ThatRyansent to motherfucking Willard, right?” CJ demanded.
“Are you two with anyone on the videos?” Diesel pointed from Mattie to Rebel and pinned Kaia with a hateful look. “Any fucking lewd tapes floating around? Do we have to cleave him in three to avenge each of you? Or just keep that motherfucker whole when we get to him?”
Rebel cringed, and Christopher’s heart sank.
“Motherfucker,” CJ said, starting for Kaia.
“Stop, CJ!” Rebel cried. “I didn’t do anything with anyone!”
“You’re lying,” Diesel charged. “Tell us the truth so we can get everything that’s out there with you, Harley, and Mattie.”
“It was…it was…s-solo,” she said, unable to meet anyone’s eyes, and sobbing like she never had before. “I’m sorry.”
In the scheme of things, Rebel’s announcement relieved Christopher. However, he never thought he’d see the fucking day when anything about sex embarrassed him.
He was wrong.
The tips of his ears burned. His nose twitched and his goddamn face and neck almost erupted into fucking flames.
“And me walking around without a stitch of clothes on,” she added miserably, weeping bitterly. “Just out of the bath. Sleeping. The same with Mattie.”
“I don’t have as many,” Mattie said. “I think Ryan placed the cameras in Rebel’s room first. I was getting a lot of data. Harley has the most though.”
“You told Megan?” Christopher asked.
“Daddy, please…I know…Aunt Zoann” Rebel sat in Christopher’s seat and face planted on the table.
“Tell them, Mattie,” Harley croaked, hurrying to Rebel and rubbing her back.
“Aunt Zoann loves Ryan a lot,” Mattie said. “In the last few weeks, he’s been begging Willard to stop. He sent them something yesterday and Willard threatened to tell everyone about what his mom did to Ryan.”
“He said…he said he didn’t care. No one would care about what happened to him.” Harley stepped back from Rebel and looked at Val again. She started fidgeting. “They know…they know what happened to you and Aunt Zoann. If Ryan didn’t continue, they were going to expose everything. They’re angry because Bash brought Molly back and they think it’s because of Ryan.”
Rebel moved, breaking the tense silence, and straightened. She grabbed one of the few remaining napkins on the table and patted her cheeks. “Ryan was so fucking foul for what he did, but that stupid fuckhead ended up being a victim, too.” She hung her head and all Christopher wanted to do was hide her away and protect her. From herself. From men. From the world. Her sniffle broke his fucking heart. “If Momma knows, then she’s going to tell Aunt Zoann.” Her voice cracked and Christopher balled his fists to keep from pulling his .9mm, finding Ryan, and blowing him the fuck away. She dabbed her cheeks again. “Even if Ryan deserves to be stomped, Aunt Zoann doesn’t deserve to be humiliated and devastated. She loves that prick.”
“He could’ve come to anyone of us!” Val snarled. “That motherfucker didn’t have to do that to you girls. To you, Harley. Your daddy one of my best…He could’ve come to any of us,” he repeated, a small sob bubbling up.
Devon hurried to Val and hugged him. “Dad, it’s okay. Ryan’s sorry, but he didn’t have a choice.”
That statement bothered Christopher, but too much was going on for him to figure it out. Later, he would.
“It’s not okay, boy,” Val said. “If Ryan didn’t want to talk to all of us, he could’ve come to one of us.”
“He went to my daddy, Uncle Val,” Mattie admitted, her voice as bleak as her eyes. “He tried to get help, but then he was scared, too.”
“He should’ve been!” Val barked, his eyes brimming with tears and fury. “What the fuck did he even need Johnnie for? Of all the motherfuckers!”
Because of Molly. Ryan had already confessed to Christopher. He just hadn’t confessedeverything.
“I know why the fuck he did it, Uncle Val,” CJ said, red-faced with anger, his stormy eyes filled with emotion. “It was because that motherfucker called Molly’s Dad and told TomHarris where he could find her. Then that stupid fuckhead regretted what he did and didn’t know how the fuck to get her back, so he made Harley, Rebel, and Mattie the fucking scapegoats.”
“We made ourselves that,” Harley said.
Mattie and Rebel nodded.
