Death Dwellers Motorcycle Club:: Fifteen Bad Boy Biker Books

by Kathryn C. Kelly

  “We’re all friends,” she said finally. “We find things to do.”

  “And you love both of them?”

  Another bout of defensiveness assailed Fee. “You can love two people at the same time.”

  “I’m well aware of that. Some of us will always carry a torch for their first love.” Bitterness tinged her tone. “Others have feelings for fucking barbaric jerks that don’t deserve the time of day, so, yes, I believe you can love two people at once.”

  All of Kendall’s words sounded quite personal, as if she had firsthand knowledge. She rubbed her temples, then paused. “Wait. Does Meggie know?”

  “No.”

  The gleam entering Kendall’s eyes removed the pall that had fallen over her. “Really?”

  “I considered telling her, but I didn’t want to put her in the position of having to keep this from Christopher.”

  “You’re so right, hon. She’d run to him and then he’d kill them. Of course, whatever he does, she forgives. That makes her a horrible fucking friend.”

  “Oh no, Kendall! Don’t say that. I appreciate your loyalty to me in this matter, but Meggie’s great.”

  “Of course she is. She’s a little doll.”

  Ignoring Kendall’s sarcasm, Fee turned the conversation back to her relationship. “Until we find a way to convince Christopher to accept us, me, Cash, and Stretch will continue to meet in secret.” She wouldn’t add that Cash was happy with their current state of affairs.

  Kendall started walking again, forcing Fee to follow behind. “Well, be prepared to have a clandestine affair for the rest of your fucking lives. Outlaw will never accept such a situation for you.”

  “He has to,” she insisted as they reached the entrance to the establishment. “Eventually.”

  She was over twenty-one. Who she ended up with was her business, not his. She only needed the courage to say that to his face.

  “We’ll continue this conversation later.”

  Opening the door, Kendall left Fee no choice in the matter. The place hadn’t been opened for the day very long, and the lunch patrons hadn’t started arriving yet, so the atmosphere was quiet, unlike the rowdiness of the night crowd.

  “Table for two?” a hostess Fee didn’t recognize asked.

  Kendall craned her neck and smiled. “No. I see who I’ve come to meet.”

  A group of men with notepads in front of them and pens in hand sat at one table. Their meeting was already underway, and Kendall was a stickler for time. The only other occupied table had a lone man, with a scruffy beard, who wore sunglasses.

  “There he is.” Kendall pointed to him. “Counts!”

  “What kind of name is Counts?” Fee asked, not expecting or receiving a response as they hurried to the table.

  “Good morning,” Kendall greeted, ignoring the near noon hour.

  “Who’s she?” Counts’s low tone disguised his true voice.

  Fee rolled her eyes at all the secretive behavior. Not waiting for an invitation to sit, she pulled out a chair and dropped into it. Kendall threw her an irritated glance, but took the other seat and hung her purse from the chair. A gift sat in the fourth chair.

  Shit! Had she forgotten Kendall’s birthday?

  “This is my cousin,” Kendall explained with a happy smile. “Fee, this is a friend of mine.” Before either of them responded, she picked up the menu. “Let’s order a light lunch.”

  “I’ve already eaten,” Counts said in that same ridiculous tone.

  “Well, I haven’t,” Kendall announced, and summoned the waitress.

  “Neither have I,” Fee said with a sniff, turning her attention to the menu and placing an order soon after.

  “How’s everything going?” Kendall’s question broke through the tension.

  Counts shrugged. “There’s been some difficulties. My sister’s working on it from the inside, as we all discussed last night.”

  Why had Kendall insisted on picking Fee up from her apartment for this meeting, if they were leaving her out of the loop? “What are you talking about?”

  “Counts is going to help me get my job back,” Kendall explained.

  OH SHIT!

  Kendall had gone from being on the firm’s payroll in secret to wanting her position back. Fee knew she’d made a mistake in keeping everything from Christopher. Kendall was more than she could handle. Before someone got killed, Fee should go to her brother and spill the beans. Sing like the loudest canary.

  “Go ahead, say it,” Kendall chirped. “My ingenuity is genius.”

  Not. “Working for the firm in secret is bad enough, Kendall.” Fee kept a firm rein on her temper. She wanted to quit. She definitely didn’t want to be caught in the crosshairs of Kendall’s tunnel-visioned determination. “There’s no way you’ll ever be able to resume your position out in the open.” She smiled at Counts, to soften her next words, when she seethed inside. “I’m sure you have cases to see to. You shouldn’t waste your time on a fool’s errand.”

  “First of all, it isn’t your place to say what he or I should do,” Kendall snapped, “especially while you’re on the clock. Reserve your opinion until you’re on your own dime. Secondly, does he look like he could be an attorney?” She laughed. “If he does, you need eye glasses.”

  “Wow, Kendall,” Fee jeered, shaking her head, though Counts’s expression didn’t change. “That’s kind of messed up. I can’t judge anyone by their appearance.”

  “We’re not here to talk about you, Fee. I’m here for me.”

  Counts thumped on the table. “You two can fight some other time,” he said, still talking in that stupid way to disguise his voice. “I have places I need to be. Me and my sister are delivering on our end, Kendall. You need to deliver on yours.”

  Kendall sucked on her teeth, halting long enough for the waitress to set their orders in front of them. “Your sister just agreed to step up her game last night,” she continued without missing a beat, once the waitress took her leave. “If she doesn’t do her job correctly, I’m not paying her.” Biting into her sandwich, she nodded to Fee. “This is the reason I brought Fee. She knows Outlaw. I’m sure she can get you a meeting.”

  Forgetting about the French fry she’d intended to grab, Fee stiffened. “No, I can’t get you a meeting with my brother. Furthermore, I resent being pulled into whatever scheme you’re up to, Kendall, without knowing the details. Whether I’m on or off the clock, never put words in my mouth again.”

  “Oh my God, lighten up,” Kendall huffed out. “I merely made a suggestion.”

  Counts turned his head toward her. Although his sunglasses covered his eyes, Fee still felt the heat of a piercing stare. “You related to Outlaw?”

  “She’s his little sister,” Kendall answered, taking another bite of her sandwich.

  Counts grinned. “Nice.”

  “Don’t get any ideas, asshole.” Kendall sipped her lemonade. “We’re working to get my junior partnership back. If she doesn’t want to help me, we’ll leave her out of it.”

  “I might help,” Fee backpedaled, not liking the underhanded vibes. Thoughtful, she took a bite of her sandwich. While Fee pitied Kendall’s grief over the loss of her job, it was her own fault. But she wouldn’t get any information, if she seemed against whatever they were up to. “I need to know some particulars.”

  “Of course you do, Fee.” Kendall leaned closer to her. “Counts needs your brother’s help for a very important project. Life being as strange as it is, it so happens, one of the Bobs is Count’s sister.”

  Fee lost her appetite as she thought of what Christopher would say if…when…um…if she told him. She slid her plate away. “I’m not quite following you.”

  “Don’t hate me, okay, Fee? There’s this girl. Her name’s Daphne.”

  Daphne! The gorgeous woman who’d been all over Cash at the clubhouse? Kendall knew her?

  “She’s Counts’s sister,” Kendall went on, oblivious to Fee’s increasing resentment. “She’s crushi
ng on your brother. It’s hilarious. I just need her to distract him long enough that I can work out a deal. What I’m planning will benefit the firm and show Outlaw how invaluable I am. He’ll allow me to work for Brooks again.”

  “You’re paying a woman to seduce my brother?” That woman especially. The one who had Cash eating out of her hands. “Are you kidding me?”

  “He has ice in his veins. No real woman can tempt him. Me, you, and Daphne are real women.”

  “W-we are?”

  “Ummhmm. We’re sexy career women who keep men on their toes. Men, in the plural sense.”

  Fee frowned.

  “Daphne was at the park yesterday,” Kendall continued. “Johnnie told me. CJ was there, so I can almost guarantee he ran and told his mother.” She gave a long-suffering sigh. “Meggie probably put up an obligatory objection, then forgave Christopher immediately. However, every woman has a breaking point. Even our sister-in-law. Daphne was supposed to go to their house today and...I don’t know what she would’ve said to Meggie. Not that it matters. It worked out better than expected.”

  “Daphne agreed to this?” Fee asked in outrage. “Hold on. What did you mean when you said she agreed to step up her game?”

  “Sometimes, to have fun, I’ll give Daphne a few dollars to taunt Meggie. She refuses to have Christopher bar those women from the club, so why not use them against her?”

  “What does that mean?” This was sounding worse by the second. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Nothing. Anyway, before she got to the house to see Meggie, Daphne ran into Christopher outside the clubhouse.” A small smile on her face, Kendall lowered her lashes. “After Daphne and I made the arrangements, I left my house and came across her and Christopher, so I called Meggie. Mayybbeee, I embellished things a little bit.”

  “Oh my god!” Fee cried. “Kendall! Oh my god! That’s the evilest, vicious, and most diabolical plan I’ve ever heard. What the hell’s wrong with you? You can’t do that to Meggie and Christopher.”

  “Fee, we’re friends. Remember that.”

  “Not if you’re fucking over my brother and his wife.”

  “I’m not! I swear. It’ll be a week at most, then I’ll come clean to them.”

  “No! I’m not being a party to this. A lot of damage can be done in a week’s time.”

  Tears rushed to Kendall’s eyes and she grabbed Fee’s hand. “Please, Fee. I’d never do anything to hurt them,” she swore around a small sob. “They mean the world to me. I intended to build my career at the firm. I have tenure there. With my partnership gone, I feel so worthless and lost.”

  Understood, but what Kendall was doing had the ability to destroy her brother’s life. “I can’t—”

  “Please, Fee,” she wailed. “You’re my friend. You said so yourself.”

  “Kendall, I can’t believe you’re doing this to me! The position you’re putting me in. You’re making me choose between Christopher and you.”

  “I’m not!” She sniffled and sobbed again. “I’d never make you do that. I respect my friends too much to ever put them in such a position. I just need a few days. That’s it. Then I’ll fix everything. I’m not asking you to choose. I’m just asking you to hold this secret.”

  Elbows on table, Fee covered her face. “I could’ve done without this. I’m not bringing anything to the table, so my being here is pointless.”

  “I wanted you to meet Counts. I thought you’d help him get a meeting with Christopher.”

  She folded her arms and glared at Kendall. “I don’t interfere with anything at the club.”

  “I didn’t realize that.” Kendall sounded so pitiful as tears slid down her cheeks.

  Fee nodded. “Now you do.”

  “We’ll discuss this in a moment.” Grabbing a few paper napkins, Kendall dabbed at her eyes, then looked at Counts before digging in her purse. “I have money for you.”

  “Thanks,” he said, opening the flap and looking inside the envelope. Apparently satisfied, he stood. “I have to get going.” Whistling merrily, he strolled away, leaving the beautifully wrapped present.

  “Wait! Counts, you’re forgetting your package.” Every time Fee called his name, she thought of the character on Sesame Street and struggled to contain her laughter. “Counts!” she said again, because he kept walking.

  “It isn’t his package. It’s yours.” Standing, Kendall picked up the present and set it on the table before returning to her seat. “Open it. This is another reason I wanted you to come. Counts got me an excellent deal on this.”

  Curious now, Fee tore open the wrapping paper, then used one of the butter knives to slice through the tape on the box. Once she lifted the flaps, her mouth fell open. Kendall had gotten her a commercial grade digital camera.

  “Oh my god,” she said. “This costs a fortune.”

  “We’re BFF’s, Fee. Family. Employer/employee. No amount is too great to spend on you.”

  “You’re insane!” Fee giggled. “You won’t let me sit with you and Meggie because it looks bad, but you’ll gift me with a five-thousand-dollar camera?”

  “That’s different. What’s money without status? If I break the social codes, I’ll never achieve my goals.”

  Still chuckling, Fee shook her head.

  “Don’t think badly of me. And I’m going to make up the brunches to you. But I had to work so hard, do so much, to earn my degree. I came from a very poor background. I just want to lift myself up.”

  Fee set her gift down and gave Kendall a level look. “I understand. You can’t achieve your goals through other people’s misery, though. How’s that fair?”

  “It isn’t! Especially someone as precious to me as Meggie. Daphne might be very pretty, but she’s a slut. Deep down, Meggie knows Christopher would never fuck over her with such a disgusting cocksucker. We all know that.”

  Consenting to an extra person in a relationship created problems. Never mind when someone cheated. Stretch had more access to Cash than Fee did and it panicked her that he might sway Cash back into a one-on-one relationship. On the other hand, Stretch probably felt the same way. She couldn’t blame Cash. Though only he had the power to put them at ease, they’d consented to what he wanted.

  Christopher and Meggie looked out for each other. He’d never allow some random girl to make Meggie uncomfortable. Would he?

  What about whatever Kendall said to Meggie? That concerned Fee, too.

  God! What kind of woman would agree to go to another woman’s house to lie as Daphne had?

  “What did you say to Meggie when you called her?”

  “I told her Daphne was in the parking lot whispering in Outlaw’s ear and hugging him, and he was returning the attention.” Kendall sniffed. “You know Meggie. She thinks the sun and the moon rises in Outlaw. Do you know she didn’t believe me? So I described Daphne. Meggie doesn’t know we’re acquainted. Then, I said I saw them leaving the club together and that they were pretty wrapped up in each other. They were putting on their public display of affection for the world to see. I didn’t mean to make her cry but that’s what she gets for being so fucking blind.”

  “Kendall, seriously? Do you hear yourself? How could you tell such lies?”

  “I didn’t lie! I embellished and left out the part where he shoved the hell out of Daphne.” She laughed merrily. “It would’ve done me so good if she’d fallen on her ass. Always prancing around Johnnie.”

  “Oh my goodness, I have to go to Meggie,” Fee rushed out. “She must be…” Devastated. Even a woman with the utmost faith in her husband, would think the worse when faced with such a performance.

  “She’s the same as always,” Kendall said. “Believing in Christopher.”

  “Then why was she crying?”

  “Our Meggie is a drama queen. She wanted me to feel sorry for her, when I know she’s just going to forgive him. She could see him fucking another woman and she’d forgive him. Please, sit. Look at this from my point of view and
allow me to use Daphne for my own gain.”

  Fee returned to her seat, hating Kendall’s small voice and sad expression. Though she understood Kendall’s dilemma, she couldn’t risk hurting Christopher. Desperation had led her to this. Fee understood how it felt to be driven to the brink of despair, seeking out any way to soothe away the pain.

  But Christopher had been through too much, and he deserved every bit of happiness he had now. He loved Meggie more than he loved his own life. If Meggie ever left, Christopher wouldn’t survive. However he’d been before her, he wasn’t that way now. Meggie had changed him for the better. Tamed the wild beast in him. To Fee, the choice was a no-brainer.

  “I can’t, Kendall. I’m sorry. You have to find another way.”

  Kendall stiffened and swiped away the tears. “I thought we were friends,” she hissed.

  “We are, but Christopher’s my brother. I love him. I can’t sacrifice his happiness for yours.”

  “Of course not. I’m always the expendable one when there’s a choice between me and Meggie.”

  “No! I adore Meggie. I do, but this has nothing to do with her. This is about my brother.”

  “Your brother?” Leaning closer, Kendall narrowed her watery eyes, an ugly look crossing her face. “The same brother who’ll kill your lovers if he somehow finds out you’re giving pussy to both Cash and Stretch at the same fucking time? In case I didn’t tell you before, you’re an idiot. Cash fucks everything he sees, as long as there’s a hole to stick his cock in. Stretch is just a fucking pitiful shell. If you want to throw your life away on two goddamn losers, that’s your business. I can’t stop you.” She smirked with triumph. “But Christopher can. I don’t need to distract him with Daphne threatening his precious Meggie. I can tell him about you. Although he just fucking huffs and puffs and doesn’t have the balls to kill anyone anymore, it’ll be interesting to see how my information affects him.”

  “You wouldn’t dare!”