Page 198 of Misrule
“Okay, boy,” Outlaw called, meeting his son’s gaze in the mirror. “Stay in here by me.”
“I’ll keep watch over him, Uncle Chris,” Diesel promised.
“Val?” Johnnie said, buttoning JJ’s tuxedo shirt. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you. Kendall thinks her house is bugged. Can you meet me there tomorrow or the next day to check for me so I can reassure her?”
Knox choked, his gaze flying to Outlaw’s to see if he looked as panicked as Knox suddenly felt. If Johnnie found those cameras and listening devices, all hell would break lose. Had he missed this part of the surveillance? If he had seen it, he would’ve run to Outlaw with the news.
Silent, Outlaw arranged his bowtie, but the reflection staring at Knox from the mirror didn’t change. The man didn’t flinch or even look concerned.
“How you got your shit, Prez?” Digger demanded. “When you came in for a fitting?”
“I called my measurements the fuck in, motherfucker,” Outlaw said. “I ain’t wearin’ the monkey suit I got married in no-fuckin-where. That belong to me and Megan. I already used the other motherfucker I got several fuckin’ times, cuz some-fuckin-how, Megan get my fuckin’ ass to where these goddamn tuxes all the fuckin’ time.”
“Mort, why I’m buying a tuxedo?” Digger asked.
“Fool, how the fuck should I know?” Mortician responded. “Your ass must need one.”
“I’m perfectly happy renting, thank you very much,” Digger answered. “All this fucking money for clothes I’m not wearing too often. After Bailey get the big wedding she want and Roxanne and Knox marry, who the fuck else going to expect us to wear a fucking tux?”
“All the bitches,” Val answered from where he sat on the floor next to his sons as they played with miniature motorcycles, ramming them into one another, between ‘vroom-vrooms’. “You know Meggie always coming up with some kind of bullshit.”
Outlaw turned and pinned Val with a stare.
“’Law!” CJ said. “Uncle Val call MegAnn a bitch.”
“I didn’t, CJ.” Jumping to his feet, Val raised his gaze to Outlaw. “I didn’t call your woman a bitch.”
“You say MegAnn name and not no nother girl,” CJ pointed out.
“Boy,” Outlaw said with amusement, “lemme handle your Uncle Val. Okay?”
“By the way, CJ, it’s noothergirl,” Johnnie corrected before CJ responded to Outlaw.
The little boy grinned, but didn’t say anything.
“I ain’t pointin’ out what the fuck obvious, Val,” Outlaw said, capturing their attention, not bothering to applaud Johnnie for promoting decent speech. “Even my fuckin’ boy know what the fuck you did.”
“Make the mudna fucka bleed, ‘Law,” CJ yelled.
“You still a blood-thirsty lil motherfucker, huh, CJ?” Digger asked, shaking his head. “Never got my ass kicked by a two-year-old before you.”
“Assfuck Dig!” CJ said
“I prefer Ashfuck, lil’ dude,” Digger told him. “You said it cuter. Call me assfuck make you sound too much like your old man. Just with a fucking miniature voice. Shit like that give me nightmares. If you a scary lil’ motherfucker now, how the fuck you going to be when you older?”
Knox couldn’t hold back any longer. “He’s only scary because he’s Outlaw’s son. Any other child would’ve been spanked a long time ago. Except CJ gets to say and do what he wants to with absolutely no discipline. He’s going to be kicking your ass before long, Outlaw.”
“Uncle Mudna Fucka, you mean,” CJ stated.
Grant’s eyes widened. “You call my dad Uncle Motherfucker?”
As the other men snickered, Knox stiffened and scowled at his son. “If you don’t want to be punished the rest of the weekend, young man, you’ll not use those words. You’re a child. I expect you to act like one. This is your only warning.”
Embarrassment crept onto Grant’s face and he put his head done, then nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“I not ever hitting ‘Law, Uncle Mudna Fucka,” CJ went on. “I love ‘Law.”
“And I love you, boy. What Uncle Motherfucker don’t understand is the day you lay your fuckin’ hands on me is the day I knock you the fuck out. We can argue and fuss and cuss and disa-fuckin-gree. But hittin’? Ain’t happenin’. Got me?”
