Page 189 of Remiss

“You’re in my fucking house, cuck. If you don’t like what I have to say, get the fuck out.”

“Come on, Mattie.” CJ stood. “Let’s go to my house. I’ll get Mom’s Lexus and we can go for a burger or something.”

“Absolutely not!” Ryan jumped to his feet. “Harley lives here.”

“Mattie calledmefirst, dickhead.”

“You don’t know—”

“She told me who she was going to call after, so I do know.”

“Please don’t argue,” Mattie said. “This won’t help Harley.”

Grant nodded. “I agree.”

“Why don’t I talk to her?” CJ suggested. “Grant, go to Uncle Mort. Mattie, see if you can get into her phone. Maybe, we can find something there—”

Relief flowing through her, Mattie nodded. “I should’ve done that first.”

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Ryan narrowed his eyes, glanced away, and bit his lip. Definitely guilt.

What had he done?

“I can check her phone,” he said after a brief moment of consideration. “She lives here. I have access to the device itself.”

Mattie didn’t trust him, so she shook her head. “I know how to get into phones with just a phone number.”

“You get more information with the actual device,” Ryan argued, which Mattie couldn’t refute.

He sounded sincere. What was the saying? If it acted like a duck and quacked like a duck, then it was a duck? But Ryan was Ryan. Years of fuckery toward her, his brother, and their cousins wouldn’t completely disappear. If it acted like Ryan and quacked like Ryan, then he was definitely being a massive dick.

“You’re right, Ryan,” Rory said. “Matt, go with Grant. You can explain this shit better.”

“Why don’t Ryan and Mattie look into Harley’s phone?” CJ suggested.

Ryan gritted his teeth, then stiffened. “You don’t fucking trust me?”

“Should I?” CJ shot back. “There’s a goddamn reason you’ve become a motherfucking performative fuckface again. What the fuck did you do to Harley?”

“I resent that!”

“I don’t give a motherfuck what the fuck you resent, asshole. She lives here. You did something. You know something. Or both.”

Devon stuck his head in. “I’ll watch Ryan, CJ. I’ll make sure he does what he’s supposed to do.”

CJ glanced between the brothers, sweeping his green gaze from Devon’s kind whiskey-colored eyes to Ryan’s guarded turquoise ones. He shook his head. “No. If he’s up to something, you won’t give a fuck, Dev. You don’t like Harley.”

“I heard everything Mattie said,” Devon argued. “I don’t want Harley hurt. I promise if Ryan doesn’t have her best interest in mind, I’ll call you so Mattie can get on the job.”

Hesitation crossed CJ’s features. Obviously, he knew something was rotten in Hortensia.

“Have I ever lied to you or did anything against you?” Devon pressed, shoved his hands in his pockets like Ryan, then nodded to him. “We aren’t close, CJ. I’m actually closer to you than I am to him. We’re wasting time but I’m asking you to trust me.”

“Fine,” CJ relented, and Mattie didn’t know if she was relieved or worried.

It was past time for Mortician to stitch his fractured family back together.

After Roxanne, Red, and Chester terrorized Tee and Symphony because they were concerned at his vulnerable state, Mortician had had enough. He also wasn’t sure when Meggie would return. If she was still Hell Goddess, Mort didn’t trust her not to tap Diesel to kill Symphony and Tee. He needed to nip shit in the bud before the girls took their warpath to an all out fucking rampage that left a swath of bloody corpses that met a gory end.