“I don’t know where Mom and Dad are,” CJ continued, his voice catching.
Kendall wanted to comfort his distress. Hug him. Tell him everything would be fine, but she couldn’t do anything beyond hearing his voice echoing, ‘he was strangling her.’
“Uncle Val took some brothers to Ridge Moore to search for that motherfucker.”
She thought he meant Nardo’s father. She tried to ask for clarification but she only squeaked.
“Diesel looked for Wally, Jr.” Words exploded from CJ as if he’d been waiting to get it off his chest and now that he’d found an outlet, he couldn’t stop. “Uncle Stretch went to Turn Creek.” He looked at Mortician. “I-I told them to cut down the overgrowth. I’m sorry if I overstepped my bounds. They didn’t listen anyway. Not until Diesel gave the order. That’s where mostof the members are. Cutting down all that shit, which should’ve been done ages ago.”
“Mort?” Digger called, the concern in his voice breaking through Kendall’s horror.
Mortician stared at his brother, still not speaking.
“Agrownmotherfucker hit my niece. A grown ass man. Do you hear me, Mort? You understood what little bruh told you?”
“NedGrevenberg hit my baby girl?” Mortician finally asked.
“Yeah, Mort,” Digger said carefully. “One side of her face got a fucking nasty ass bruise. Her fucking eye shut.”
“And Wally, Jr. tried to kill Mattie?” Mort asked woodenly.
Spoon’s assault invaded Kendall’s mind and all the peace she’d found today evaporated. While her baby needed her, she’d been off licking her wounds because Johnnie’s behavior crushed her. Mattie had been all alone facing a monster just like Kendall had so many times with Spoon.
Yesterday’s meeting with Bash shoved away Spoon’s face. The betrayal she felt was staggering. She’d actually believed Bash when he said he wanted peace. She’d been so smug, so arrogant, preening that she’d gotten the job done when Johnnie hadn’t been able to.
But Bash was just like Spoon. No, he was worse. He’d taken her for a fool, and she’d almost lost her baby girl.
A sob escaped her.
“Aunt Kendall.” CJ hugged her. “Mattie is battered and bruised and-and h-he just ripped away her panties—”
“Oh my god,” Kendall cried, finally finding her voice at that detail, what her daughter endured hitting her full force and almost buckling her knees.
CJ’s arms tightened around her. “I-I know I’m a motherfucker for saying this to you and I’m sorry, but Mattie needs you so bad right now.”
“I thought Marvey…” Mortician stopped and started again. “I told that motherfucker not to allow Nardo on the grounds. It should’ve stood to reason that motherfucker daddy wasn’t fucking welcome.”
The opening door brought in a blast of evening air, cooling Kendall’s wet cheeks and her racing thoughts, and she pulled away from her nephew.
He gasped. “What the fuck did you do, Diesel?”
Turning, Kendall stumbled back. Diesel was covered in so much blood, she wondered if he’d been injured.
“What the fuck I said I would do,” he gritted.
“You fucking killed Marvey, you raging prick?”
“You’re lucky I don’t kill motherfucking Johnnie,” Diesel snarled. “That’s the motherfucker who put Harley and Mattie at risk with his fucking miserable games.”
“Wh-what?” Kendall’s nostrils flared and disbelief joined her stew of emotions. She couldn’t believe her husband had gotten so far away from their family, so far from the man he’d been, that he’d do such a thing. She shook her head. “He wouldn’t…wh-what do you mean?”
CJ shoved Diesel, unbothered by the copious amounts of blood. “Can you ever shut the fuck up and have impulse control, dickhead?”
“What the fuck Diesel talking about, CJ?” Mortician demanded, stepping between the two brothers before Diesel punched CJ.
A pained expression crossed CJ’s face before he glowered at Diesel and gave Kendall a hesitant look.
“Uncle Mort—”
