“No, Rebel. I’m not buying you a fucking bottle of champagne. Would you please get the fuck out and stop fucking with me?”
“Yep. Oh, yeah, Daddy, I almost forgot, Kayce is here. Momma said it’s fine if I hang out with him and Kaia.”
Diesel, that fuckhead, growled, and Rebel grinned, quite fucking pleased with herself.
“I hope no one has a problem with it?”
Christopher had a lot of fucking problems, not the least of which was Diesel almost foaming at the fucking mouth. “Can I ask you something, Reb?”
“Sure, Daddy.”
“Where the fuck you got the fuckin’ idea you can say what the fuck you feel, do what the fuck you want, stomp, rant, and rave, and don’t have no fuckin’ consequences?”
Startled, Rebel blinked.
“Seriously, dude?” CJ asked in disapproval.
“Yeah, CJ,” Christopher snapped. “Seriously. She ain’t got it from me!”
“Isn’t Reb like you, Dad?” Axel asked in confusion.
“I ain’t spoiled and temperamental, boy.”
She looked fucking offended. It was almost as if she thought she had the right to take offense, silently implying hewaslike her. Not in a million years. Besides, he had other reasons for his annoyance toward her, not the least of which was because she still had her ass on her shoulders over Torie.
“In other words, all of my bad qualities are from Momma because you’re sane, kind, and even-tempered?” Rebel asked sarcastically.
“Did you just fuckin’ call me an uncompassionate, insane psycho?” Christopher demanded, resenting that to high fucking heaven.
“Oooo, someone’s guilty,” Rebel retorted. “Besides, wouldn’t you prefer I call you that—which I didn’t by the way—then Momma?”
“But you didn’t, huh?” Axel blurted, a flash of panic on his face. “So you don’t got to bring her up. She might hear.”
“We share fifty percent of Momma’s DNA, Axel. If I didn’t get those traits from Daddy, they can only be from her.”
The horror on Axel’s face sent a wave of guilt through Christopher. Axel didn’t deserve to worry because Rebel was a brat.
Wistfulness surged into Christopher and memories of Rebel as a small kid invaded him. She’d been so fucking easy to deal with back then. Heknewwhat to say. What to do. Why the fuck did she have to stop being that little girl who adored him? He didn’t know what to do with a teenagedfemale, especially one as rebellious as his daughter. The one who never knew when to shut the fuck up or back down and looked at him in a way that crushed him. With mistrust and anger and hurt. He’d done nothing to her and he resented her attitude toward him as much as she did with him.
Before he lost his fucking temper with Rebel and her games, he’d set her straight and then send her away.
“First, watch you fuckin’ mouth, Rebel. You know I ain’t said that about your ma. If you fuckin’ tell her that, you and me gonna have problems. Second, go to your fuckin’ room. Ima send Megan up there to fuckin’ talk to you.”
“That tracks,” she sneered. “Since you don’t know what the fuck to say to meever.”
“I fuckin’ resent that!”
“You resent a lot, Father. Luckily, I don’t give a fuck.”
“You grounded,” Christopher snapped.
“The fuck I am! You can’t brush me off, only give all your love and devotion to your sons, and then think you can discipline me. It doesn’t work that way.”
“It works exactly that way, Rebel,” Christopher said. Grounding her was the easiest way to keep her safe. She’d be home and he wouldn’t have to worry about her doing grown things with motherfuckers he’d kill. Grounded, she could smoke and drink alone in her room. Or with motherfucking Kaia. That distasteful thought angered him more and he spoke before he thought his words through. “If you ain’t respectin’myrules as your old man, you gettin’ the fuck out—”
Axel ran to him and clapped his hand over Christopher’s mouth. “Mom might—”
He shoved Axel’s hand away because Rebel still wouldn’t fucking yield. The mutiny in her eyes pissed him the fuck off.
