Page 141 of Restless
He hung his head. “I want to kill someone,” he whispered. “I want to be the one to do what I’ve seen my dad do. I used to have nightmares. Now…now…I wanted her body so bad.” He heaved in a breath. “When I heard Ryan fall and went into the kitchen, he had fainted.”
“What—”
“He’s okay. It was because he found her head. If I had a way to leave, I would’ve stolen it and brought it back to the meatshack.” Tears brimmed in his eyes. “That makes me a monster, doesn’t it?”
“No. No matter the reason, you didn’t steal it. You a resourceful little dude, Rory. If you’d wanted her head, you would’ve found a way to have it.”
Mort didn’t truly believe that since Rory was right. If he would’ve lugged a bag or a box out, he would’ve been questioned. However, Rory needed redirection in his young life. Hopefully, this was that opportunity. If Mort said the wrong thing, though, the moment would be forever lost.
“If you want to go in the meatshack with Johnnie, do it, Rory. You go anyway. I’ll talk to Outlaw. But you have to remember all the other club rules, kid. We don’t hurt chicks or defile their bodies. We don’t kill just to kill. Once a motherfucker commit a death worthy offense, he can die however the mood strikes you.”
“I dream of being the enforcer one day, Uncle Mort.”
“We don’t have a crystal ball to predict who’ll be where down the road. You might be the enforcer.”
“Dad said I wouldn’t be a real club officer.”
It fucking figured. Johnnie long ago stopped seeing Mort as a “real” officer or even a friend. “Why don’t you suggest to Johnnie that he introduce a motion to change that?”
Rory smiled for the first time since Mort arrived. “I never thought of that, Uncle Mort.”
Removing his arm, Mort stood and dusted off the back of his jeans. “I have to get inside—”
“We need to burn this motherfucker, Mort,” Digger grumbled, stomping outside carrying a trash bag. He went to Chester’s Jeep that Val drove over, opened the back door and put the bag in.
Val and Ryan walked outside as Digger returned and Rory got to his feet.
“I told you not to put that fucking head in my woman’s cage, fucker,” Val bit out.
Hands on hips, Digger glared at the RC. “Where the fuck you want me to put the motherfucker?” he snapped. “We got to get it and the rest of her out the fucking house and yours the only fucking transport vehicle available.”
Ryan looked away, his pale green countenance, sour stench, and dried vomit on his clothes, giving away how upset he was.
“I didn’t have time to get back to the club,” Val said. “CJ called me and told me I needed to return.”
“He’s not the club president,” Ryan bit out. “It’s bad enough you jump to your wife’s every order. Now, you’re listening to that arrogant motherfucker? Have you no fucking balls, old man?”
“Shut your fucking mouth, boy,” Val ordered. “CJ did what he should’ve done. If you would’ve kept your fucking cock in your pants, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Ryan stiffened. “You’re pathetic. Is it any wonder I don’t fucking respect you?”
“Enough!” Val boomed, despite the hurt on his face. “I don’t give a fuck right now, boy. Straighten the fuck up and do what I tell you. The neighborhood’s quiet now. I don’t know how long that’s going to last and we need to clear the fuck out. Tom Harris is a fucking sheriff’s deputy. We don’t need to be accused of shit we didn’t do.”
“Shut the fuck up, Val,” Ryan said after a moment of silence. “I don’t take orders from you.”
“Maybe, but you taking orders from me, Ryan,” Mort said, tired of the bickering. “Get your fucking ass in the fucking house and start straightening shit out. Val right. Since you, CJ, and Rory involved, and I’m pretty fucking sure Tom Harris know, I don’t trust the motherfucker not to try to accuse you boys of the fucking travesty that happened today.”
“If I’m not listening to him, what makes you think I’ll listen to you,Mortician?”
Val bowed his head. At some point, he needed to bring his fucking kid in hand. Since today wasn’t that day, Mort wouldn’t beat around the bush.
He smiled at Ryan, the kind he gave motherfuckers right before he fucked them up. “Well,Ryan, you want to stand up to me like a fucking grown motherfucker? I’m going to treat you like a grown motherfucker. Right now, you disobeying not only your daddy but an officer of the club. Either do what the fuck he says or I have to fucking enforce thepunishmentof the club.”
Ryan swallowed. “She’s still in there,” he mumbled, turning greener. “I-I’ve never been alone with a corpse, Uncle Mort. Her head…she wasstaringat me with lifeless eyes.”
Mort wasn’t happy with Ryan’s near hysterics, but he couldn’t help thinking how different his reaction was to Rory’s. If only Johnnie had allowed his son the luxury of a gore-less childhood as Val had Ryan.
Val reached out to touch Ryan. The vile little motherfucker knocked his hand away.
