“He doesn’t say that,” Meggie said gently. “He says if one of us is happy, then all of us are.”
“His senileness strikes again,” Axel said with a long-suffering sigh. “Cuz, Mom, we are different people. We might feel different stuffs. Look at Reb. She can’t wait to see Rule and she misses him just like I do. ButIdon’t want to seehim.Andeven if I got the saying wrong, I just turned it upside down. If all of us are happy cuz of stuffs, then that means if one of us is sad, we’re all sad.”
Meggie nodded. “You’re right. I didn’t leave home this time for any other reason than Reb. I miss your dad and your brothers and sister a lot.”
“You got to be honest about stuffs, Mom,” Axel said indignantly. “That motherfucker fucked with you again over those pills that stops babies. He’s luckyI’mhere andhe’sthere.”
“I’m sure he is,” Kaia mumbled.
Axel jerked his head up and narrowed his eyes at Kaia. “Donotinterfere when I’m talking to the Blonde Warrior. I will shave your face with a dull razor.”
Umkay, then. Meggie took Axel’s precious little face between her hands. “You shouldn’t have done anything to Kaia, love. That wasn’t right.”
“My motto is do a crime, suffer the time. And time could be anything.”
“If Kaia was a different person, he could’ve gotten very angry.”
“Kaia got that much sense, Mom. He knows Diesel wants to cut something off him and watch him bleed to death. If he crashed out toward me, Diesel would make him suffer.”
“Diesel isn’t here.”
“Diesel is a phone call away,” he retorted.
Meggie dropped her hands, realizing when Axel was talking about his punishments he hadn’t included Diesel. “You know Diesel knew what CJ and your daddy did by setting Kaia and Rebel up.”
“Yeah, but Diesel didn’t like it. He still don’t.”
For completely different reasons.
“Perv, but he acts like Reb’s big brother,” Axel continued. “Not a stalker freak and creep. Actually, that was Reb. Until she met that motherfucker.” He jabbed a finger in Kaia’s direction. “Then, she started liking him. How the fuck did he pay her back?Andthere’s Jana there now, so what happens when Kaia dies?”
“He isn’t dying!”
“He don’t seem like he want to fucking live. And I’ll tell you what happens. Reb’s a kid—”
“Like you, son.”
Axel gave her a disapproving look, folded his arms and sniffed.
Meggie lifted a brow.
“You win, but any other motherfucker call me a kid and I’m kicking them. Back to what I was saying. Diesel’s anoldmotherfucker, but he’s stupid. His brain’s bigger than Kaia’s, though. He knows law stuffs, Medieval stuffs, and killing stuffs. Kaia don’t know nothing.”
Wincing, Meggie glanced over her shoulder and threw Kaia an apologetic look. He shrugged.
“Words can hurt people, Axel,” Meggie said. “You have to respect other people’s feelings.”
Axel cocked his head to the side. “You told CJ that?”
“At some point, I’m sure I did.”
“He listened. I’m not, cuz respect got to be earned. That motherfucker needs his feelings squished like a fucking bug. Going with Fia is the same as being friends withUncle Johnnie. They’re against all of us, some of us, or one of us. They are traitors and traitors die. So, no, I’mneverrespecting nobody that hurts us. I love you, Mom, but that’s my final decision.”
Maybe he was right. All her lectures about respect and consideration fundamentally changed CJ, and left him floundering.
“Apologize to Kaia,” Meggie said.
Axel started to shake his head.
