Page 75 of Relentles
Enough about his cousin. The Barts were a fucked-up bunch.
“Ryan!” Axel yelled.
Stepping to the side and sighing, Ryan watched as Axel booked it through the overgrown clearing toward the picnic shelter. Compared to his brothers, he was a small kid, but then he wasn’t yet eleven.
Devon inviting Ryan to the mall with the cousins surprised him. Mom seemed so pleased, he couldn’t say no.
She really loved him.
He’d been even more shocked when Rory insisted on detouring to talk to Meggie. The grounding of the Terrible Triplets dampened the enthusiasm of the other boys.
Ryan didn’t give a fuck, even though Axel, Ryder, and Ransom broke into Hogzilla’s pen, gathered piles of her shit, and dumped it in a bucket of water, mixing their noxious brew.
“I wrote the recipe, Mom,” Axel had said proudly. “Do you want it?”
“Shut up, idiot,” Ryder ordered. “Don’t remind her of the crime or else we’ll have to do more time.”
In his entire life, Ryan never saw Meggie as pissed. It almost impressed him to discover she wasn’t a ditzy, shallow slut only good to ride Outlaw’s cock and pop out his psychopaths.
Rory convinced her to let the Triplets accompany them to the mall. Some of Ryan’s anger returned at her capitulation. Had it been him, she probably would’ve declined.
Of course, had it been him, he wouldn’t have asked in the first place.
Now, upon seeing the Barts, Axel skidded to a halt.
Fuck, they were the Byrds again. No one knew their real identity.
Willard’s eyes gleamed. “Well, if it isn’t Pee Wee Caldwell.”
Nope, Ryan wasn’t getting in Uncle Christopher’s crosshairs again and he definitely wasn’t allowing his mother to kick his ass another time. Wondering why the little motherfucker was there, he jerked Axel behind him.
“Back the fuck off, Willard.”
“We won’t kill him. Just break every bone in his body,” Wally said, no longer a blubbering idiot.
“Oh, yeah?” Axel demanded, stepping beside Ryan.
“Get—”
Wally screamed before Ryan finished his sentence and blood poured from his nose, the bridge opening.
What the fuck?
“Wally!” Willard yelled, rushing to his brother.
Ryan glanced at Axel, who held a slingshot in his hand. If he wasn’t so small, he probably would’ve killed Wally.
Willard sat his brother on the ground, then looked at Axel with murder in his eyes.
He lifted the slingshot. “You’re next, fuck face,” Axel warned. “I did that fucking whale for Mattie. Don’t think I won’t shoot your fucking eye out to savemyfucking life.”
Willard lunged at Axel. He released his shot but without much force because he was scrambling out of reach.
Ryan tried to grab Willard by the scruff of his neck, although he couldn’t hold him.
An arrow landing in Willard’s shoulder halted him and he staggered back.
Eyes wide, Ryan watched as Ryder and Ransom came up on the scene. It was Ryder who held the bow. Ransom carried a bat.
