Page 81 of Restless
“They want to fuck you!”
“How the fuck is that my problem?” he shouted.
Harley gasped.
“I can’t control how the fuck those girls feel. They knowmyfeelings, and where my loyalties were.”
Were? Were alarmed Harley.Weremeant past tense. She jumped to her feet.
“You’re the reason my parents are fighting.”
“No. I’m not,” he retorted. “I don’t even know what the fuck they’re arguing over.”
“Because Daddy defended you, and I told him what Nardo made me realize.”
“Which is?”
“That Daddy isn’t a real gangster. What does he do all day, except try to suck up to your father? I told him he’s an Uncle Toady. A suck up and a sellout. Because Mommie didn’t defend him, a grown man, he’s butt hurt.”
“I would be, too,” CJ said flatly. He glared at her. “Obviously, you’ve felt this way about Uncle Mort if you said—”
“I did not.” Harley stomped her bare foot. Though she felt like a spoiled toddler, it got CJ’s attention, and he widened his eyes. “Nardo pointed it out,” she said loftily. “Daddy invited him and his father to lunch and embarrassed me and himself. Nardo’s father went to prison and everything. He’s a real G.”
“And you’re a fucking dummy.”
“I refuse to allow you to call me out of my name.”
“I called you a dummy. Definitely not out of your name if you feel like Uncle Mort hasn’t proven his worth because he hasn’t gone to fucking prison. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“He had no right to threaten Nardo and his father—”
“Fuck, if you were my daughter and you said that shit to me, I’d kill both those motherfuckers on GP.”
“There you go again, asshole. Daddy is a wannabe gangster, so he definitely isn’t the big bad killer that he makes himself to be.”
“Uncle Mort is a fucking killer, Harley,” CJ barked. “Myfather is a killer. Uncle Val. Uncle Digger. Uncle Cash. Not so much Uncle Stretch, although he has killed. And don’t even get me started on Uncle Johnnie.”
“No—”
CJ cocked his head to the side. “Why’s that so hard to believe? You know what happened to Cole at the Scorched Devils meeting.”
Confusion muddled Harley’s thoughts. Nardo’s reasoning seemed so logical.
“As the enforcer, it suggests Daddy has killed or beaten a lot of people. At some point, he would’ve gotten caught.”
“Only if he was a stupid motherfucker and slipped up,” CJ pointed out.
“But—”
“There’s no buts, Harley. What you said to Uncle Mort is shameful. Frankly, if my mother ever heard any of us disparaged Outlaw in such a way, she’d be madder than a motherfucker.”
Aunt Meggiehad beenmadder than a motherfucker when Rebel scorned Uncle Christopher. She hadn’t even tried to talk him out of spanking Rebel.
Despair hit the center of Harley’s chest.
“Neither is Uncle Mort a sellout. He has personally sponsored many upgrades and renovations to the club, Harley. He and my dad are best friends. My father holds yours in the highest esteem.”
“Daddy isn’t even an officer—”
