“I’m more than fucking happy to chop and box this fuckhead, kid,” Mortician told him. “What the fuck you used to strangle him, by the way?”
“You know?”
“Petechiae,” Diesel said. “Especially in his eyes. And the bruising around his neck.”
Christopher cocked his head to the side. “You used your belt?”
“Yeah, Dad. After I punched the back of his fucking head. I was minding my own fucking business, thinking about how proud I was of Harley, and the motherfucker came out of nowhere. Zero fucking survival skills with all the shit he started saying about her. I just lost fucking control.”
“He fuckin’ needed to die, but out in public, especially around civilians, you always got to stay aware,” Christopher scolded.
“We should’ve just made Harley stay home,” Mort said woefully. “Outlaw right, CJ. This situation could’ve gotten out of hand.”
“It would’ve been self-defense,” Diesel said with a shrug.
“He hadn’t attacked me, Diesel. He was just running off at the mouth.”
Diesel’s eyes chilled, CJ’s unfriendly tone loud and clear to Christopher. No one could miss it.
“Running off at the mouth,threateningyou, little brother.”
“That defense wouldn’t hold up in court,” CJ said.
“Are you implying I don’t know my fucking job, CJ?” Diesel asked.
“Sometimes, I fucking wonder if you knowanything,” CJ replied.
“Remember that the next time you text me about a fucking dead body.”
“I didn’t want to text my dad and alert my mom.”
Fuck. CJ’s ma and dad, huh? Ownership that pointedly excluded Diesel.
Anger and resentment settled into Diesel’s face, but Christopher drew his attention by throwing his cigarette on the floor and stomping it.
If his sons had to battle, he’d clip CJ’s wings a little and give Diesel a come up, so he didn’t fucking hem and haw. He just made the fucking announcement.
“Your ma gonna tear down the treehouse and build a new one for you and Jana. If I fuckin’ believe her, the motherfucker gonna be ten fuckin’ stories with a hundred goddamn rooms.”
It wouldn’t bethatfucking big. So far.
Fuck.
The announcement startled Diesel. For a moment, he lowered his guard and allowed Christopher to see his vulnerability and his hope.
“She is?”
“Yeah, boy.”
“Mom’s tearing downmytreehouse to give toDiesel?” CJ asked on fucking cue, reigniting Diesel’s rage.
“It wasn’t only yours, CJ,” Christopher told him. “It wasmainlyyours, but your ma had it built for all you lil’ motherfuckers.”
“Everyone called it my treehouse, though.”
No getting around that, so Christopher opted for an actual truth. “You don’t even go in that motherfucker anymore, boy.”
“Why wouldn’t she fucking build a new treehouse for me?”
