Page 53 of Deception
“The same way he’d never try to kill his sister?” Colt snaps back. “Because you’re fucking wrong about that, too.”
He slams his hand on the table and lifts out of his chair slightly as he leans forward. “He would have stopped!”
“Yeah, when she fucking stopped breathing,” Ky says. “You weren’t there. You’re never fucking there when she needs you. And sorry, Nash, but your word means shit to the rest of us because of how you baby Zane. You’d rather ignore everything he’s done than think rationally and see it could be him who did this.”
“You really think Zane would have killed Lex?”
“Why don’t you ask your granddaughter who watched it happen?” Colt asks, his voice low and angry. “She called youbecause her dad scared her, and the reason he attacked not only Lex but Lucas, too, was because she refused to let him take his daughter on his bike while he was drunk.”
Jennings and TK stare at VP in annoyance at his lack of accountability, but he just shakes his head. “He just lost his wife. You don’t understand what that’s like.”
“Yeah, because my mom wasn’t murdered by a rival club when I was sixteen and had watch my dad lose everything, including himself. As far as I know, he never tried to take off with Ashley or me while he was drunk off his ass,” Ky says.
No matter how much times passes, Nancy Short’s murder never gets easier. Colt only had a glimpse of the bloodbath back then, and he can’t blame Ashley for her addiction problems. She’s the one who found her mother, and what happened broke Diesel.
“So, he was going to take out himself and his daughter, too? Tell me, were you going to blame Lex for letting him kill himself like he blames her for Lane’s death?” TK asks.
“He was fine,” VP growls.
Jennings shakes his head. “How much time did it take to clean up the clubhouse after your disaster of a wedding? Nash, you gotta open your eyes, man. Your son’s a train wreck, and you only help him derail rather than keep him on the tracks.”
Jumping up, VP slams both hands on top of the table. “So, this is my fault? That’s what we’re back to? It’s my fault Julian’s coming after us because I ruined my son, and you think he’s talking to the cops out of spite? All because I’m a shitty father?”
“You’ve got half of it right,” TK says.
Venom leans back with a smug look on his face as he glares at the man. “I didn’t think he’d ever admit it.”
“You say you love Lex, but you never once protected her. Not when it comes to him. You got so butt hurt when we foundout she was in therapy because of her childhood, but I don’t understand it,” TK says.
“You think you’d be with okay with being told you ruined your daughter’s life?”
He shakes his head. “If Klaire came to me and said I failed her as a father and made it so she had to talk to a therapist, I’d want to know where I fell short. You just get defensive and deflect. Take accountability for once in your fucking life, man. Be the man you couldn’t raise Zane to be.”
“Failed,” Venom says. “He fucking failed.”
“Fuck you!” VP shouts.
Standing, he walks around the table. “Your oldest son is MIA while you raise his daughter because you never taught him to deal with his feelings without throwing a tantrum like a fucking two-year-old little bitch. And your youngest wants nothing to do with you because you walk around like Ray Charles—blind to your shortcomings. Yeah, fuck me.”
“I think we’re getting off-topic a bit,” Jennings says.
The former President may be right, but Colt will never get sick of people putting VP in his place. “As much as I’d love to see VP and Venom duke it out, you’re right. For the record, though, Zane’s not the only male in the family who needs his ass kicked. I don’t think we can beat common sense into people, though.”
Jennings gets up and guides Venom back to his seat as VP backs down. “I don’t disagree, but we have something bigger at play. Do you really think Zane’s the one talking?”
“No, I don’t,” Colt admits.
“Then who do you think it is?” Ky asks.
Taking his seat, Venom shoots a glare to VP before leaning back. “If it’s not Zane, which member am I beating to a bloody pulp and burying six feet under?”
Colt locks eyes with Jennings. “I don’t think it’s a member.”
“I’m fucking confused,” Ky says, his hands tossing in the air.
“He thinks it’s an old lady,” Jennings says. “And I have to agree.”
His father whips his head, looking first at Colt and then to Jennings before turning back to Colt. “What?”
