“I actually kinda can’t, D,” Rebel said quietly. “I have this work situation that means I need to keep my mind in that game.”
This made Maddox wonder.
Rebel was a filmmaker. She did band videos and corporate videos and wedding videos. As far as he knew, for the most part, she worked on her own.
What was she working on that she was away for the weekend but had to keep her mind in that game?
With all that was going on, Maddox didn’t have his shot to ask after that.
Primarily because, at that exact moment, Diesel indicated he was done.
“Right,” D spat, scraped his chair back, his hand going to his back pocket, his eyes going to Stellan. “Mind if I use your deck?”
“By all means,” Stellan murmured.
Yeah.
The dude was pure class.
“Sorry. It’s rude. But excuse me,” Diesel muttered,
And with that, he prowled to a pair of the French doors behind him, pulling his phone out of his pocket as Maddox called, “D.”
D ignored him, opened the door and stepped outside.
“I think maybe I should—” Rebel started, pushing her chair back.
“No,” Molly interrupted her, putting a hand on her arm to stop her. “He needs to do this for you.”
“Okay, none of our business, but, uh . . . do you want to make it our business?” Sixx asked.
“Darling,” Stellan tried to shut her up the classy way.
“Diesel came out to his family this week,” Molly announced.
Stellan turned his gaze to Molly like he was aiming a laser beam and stated firmly, “Excellent.”
“They’re not super thrilled about it,” Molly told him.
Maddox watched Stellan’s jaw go hard.
Yep.
Maddox totally liked this guy.
“He should just let me deal with their bullshit,” Rebel muttered.
“That’s not in him, Rebel,” Maddox told her something she knew.
“It’s not in me to let him go this alone,” Rebel returned heatedly, her attention directed at the door Diesel had used.
“I’m so sorry this is ruining our dinner,” Molly said to Sixx. She indicated her cleaned plate. “It was delicious. It really was. As you can see since we all practically licked our plates. But D’s D and—”
Sixx cut her off gently. “I’m not sorry, Molly. Although I hate that D’s going through this right now,” her gaze strayed to Maddox, “I’m very glad he’s gotten to this place.”
She hadn’t quite finished that when the door swung open and D came in.
Nope.
He didn’t come in.
He stormed in.
Eyes on Maddox.
Everyone looked to him, Sixx twisting in her seat to do it.
“Dad call you?” Diesel asked.
Fuck.
“Brother—”
“Did my father call you?” Diesel roared.
“Yeah, buddy,” Maddox said quietly.
“He call you names?” Diesel asked.
Fuck!
He felt Molly’s gaze come to him and he also felt the anger that began to beat off her.
“Diesel—” Maddox tried
“What did he call you?”
“D—”
“What’d he fuckin’ call you?” Diesel barked.
“I’m not gonna say it, baby,” Maddox answered.
“Right,” D bit, put the phone in his hand back to his ear and said, “Dad? Yeah. Fuck you. Just . . . fuck . . . you and your lunatic fuckin’ bullshit. I cannot believe you called Maddox and laid that shit on him.”
There was a pause.
Then an explosion where Molly and Rebel jumped, Molly letting out a muted mew, Rebel making a sound like a growling purr, but Stellan, Sixx and Maddox all grew tense like they were about to spring into action.
“No! You don’t get that! For fuck’s sake, what’s the matter with you? That time has passed and it never should have happened in the first place. In these times, you don’t get the excuse of righteousness. That’s bullshit. You don’t get the excuse of ignorance. That’s bullshit too. It’s not my place to explain dick to you. You don’t ask me to explain why I breathe. It’s what I need to do. You don’t get an explanation for this. And you don’t get to be the injured party here, Dad. You made me and there’s not one goddamned thing wrong with me. But there’s something wrong with you. And that’s about riding Rebel’s ass about something that has shit to do with her, and everything to do with you. And it’s about you handing me this shit, when there should be no shit at all, and making it about you. But mostly, it’s about phoning my man and laying your shit on him. I will not tolerate that, Dad. And you know why? Because that’s the man you made. That’s the man you raised. He’s mine and nothing harms him. Not even you. Actually especially not you.”
The entire room was frozen.
But for Maddox it was more.
It felt like his heart had stopped beating.
D gave that to Molly.
Nothing hurt Molly.
Ever.
But now . . .
“Hear me,” Diesel growled in a rumbling thunder of a tone Maddox had never heard in his life, “there is no coming back from this. Never. We’ll have our commitment ceremony, and you will not be welcome. We’ll have our children, and they will not have their grandfather. You just lost your son because your son has just erased his father from his life in a way you won’t ever be written back in.”
Another pause and . . .
“Then that goes for Gunner and Mom too. I’ll let you to share that news. Goodbye, Dad. Have a good life. What’s left of it.”
And with that, he took the phone from his ear and started moving his thumb over it, staring so hard at it, it was a wonder the thing didn’t combust in his hand.
Maddox pushed up to his feet. “D.”
D’s head shot up.
“I love you,” he said to Maddox.
Right in front of everyone.
“And no one fucks with you,” D finished.
“Okay, buddy,” Maddox whispered.
“You know, darling,” Stellan drawled, shoving his chair back and getting up. “I was in little question before, but I see how right you are now. Your friends are quite incredible people.”
Everyone then watched as he sauntered from the dining room table to the kitchen, the women sitting, Diesel and Maddox still standing.
Stellan then walked down a back hall and disappeared.
Molly sniffed.
Maddox looked down to her and it was like she felt his attention because she waved her hand and announced, “I love you. But if you touch me in this moment, I’ll fly apart.”
“Right, baby,” Maddox muttered.
“And you,” she snapped toward Diesel then finished fiercely, “are the most beautiful man I’ve ever known.”
Mad grinned at her then turned his grin to D.
“Except him,” she went on and in his peripheral vision Mad caught her jerking her thumb his way, “it’s a tie.”
Maddox started chuckling.
Diesel asked tightly, “Why didn’t you tell me he called?”
Maddox stopped chuckling.
“Because that would have fucked with you,” he explained. “And nobody fucks with you. Especially not through me.”
D’s eyes flashed and his face warmed.
But his mouth asked, “You’re an asshole, you know that?”
“Totally,” Maddox answered.