Page 129 of Rebellious

“I beat CJ’s ass and put baby oil stuffs on his clothes and you still don’t got cameras on the third floor.”

“We don’t have to explain fuck all to you, boy,” Daddy snapped, slipping his belt back through the loops in his jeans and buckling it. “I let this shit get too fuckin’ far out of hand. Now you think you can do anyfuckinthing and ain’t sufferin’ repercussions. Well, you know what? You three lil’ motherfuckers punished and you ain’t havin’ no birthday party Saturday evenin’, Axel. Case fuckin’ closed.”

Axel gasped. Instead of sobbing like a normal child, he stiffened and narrowed his eyes at Daddy. “This is war! You beat a man’s ass. Take his fuckin’ money and steal his mom away on his birthday, then cancel his party.”

Momma got to her feet and glanced at Daddy before smiling at Axel. “How about this, love? Your Daddy and me come home Saturday morning and we have a small celebration here?”

“Megan—”

Axel hugged Mom but smirked at Daddy. “Can you come home Friday evening?” he asked in a miserable voice. “Then you can do fun stuffs while we decorate Saturday?”

“Axel,” Daddy gritted.

“Friday?” Momma said with disappointment.

Axel nodded, still hugging her, so she couldn’t see his face, but Rebel did—his big sniffle was fake as hell. “I never had a birthday without you, Mom,” he said pitifully.

“Oh, my little Sweet Pea,” Momma said, tightening her hold on him. “We’ll come home Friday night.”

Axel poked his tongue at Daddy.

Daddy’s moving lips seemed to say, “motherfucker”, but Rebel couldn’t be sure. He flipped Axel off, then gritted his teeth. “We got the cabin rented until—”

“Mom, we got bacon?” Axel interrupted in that same tormented little voice.

“Aunt Bunny left after she set the bowl of strawberries down,” Ransom said. “Maybe she went to get it?”

“Here, love. Sit.” Momma guided Axel to his seat. “We still have a few more things to bring out. Give me a few minutes.”

“We can do this the easy fucking way, Dad, or we can do this the hard fucking way,” Axel said, the minute Momma left. “My ass is on fire. You made me send you the 5Gs back and you want to cancel my fucking party?”

“You ain’t fuckin’ blackmailin’ your fuckin’ way out of this fuckin’ punishment.”

“Keep it up, Dad, and I’ll make Mom stay home,” Axel warned darkly.

“Can I interject?” Diesel asked, looking between Daddy and Axel.

“Dad would’ve gotten off better if you negotiated Axel’s sentence, Diesel,” Ryder said, laughing.

“This ain’t fuckin’ funny,” Daddy snarled.

“Nope,” Ransom agreed. “It’s hilarious.”

Daddy growled.

“How about this?” Rebel started, deciding to throw in her two cents. It couldn’t hurt. Momma was looking forward to being with Daddy but she would cancel the trip or shorten it even further if Axel pushed enough. “I’ll tell Momma that I’ll plan Axel’s party with CJ, Diesel, Ryder, and Ransom. We’ll get 420 decorations.”

“Oh boy!” Axel crowed, completely forgetting his distress.

“Axel will tell Momma that he overreacted and he wants her to celebrate her anniversary with you, Daddy. That way, you can stick to the original plans.”

“And I want my fucking money back,” Axel said.

“Ain’t no motherfuckin’ way that’s happenin’.”

“You don’t get to have all the fun stuffs,” Axel complained, glaring at Dad. “Taking my mom away and keeping my money that you fucking owed me.”

“I owed you a grand, so shut the fuck up.”