“That’s different from what you want to arrange,” Kendall responded.
Fee threw her a dirty look. “It was just a thought.” A hasty, ill-advised one, taken from Kendall’s playbook of distraction and diversion.
“I like the way you think,” Johnnie assured her. “Why don’t you call Christopher? I’m sure he’ll love the idea.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that, I guess.”
“Anyone else there, my love?” Kendall jumped on Fee’s discomfort. “Stretch?”
“He’s there. Doing fuck-all. I don’t know what’s going to get through to him. Why? He wouldn’t want to hear about Mother’s Day.”
“What is there to get through to him?” Fee asked, shooting daggers at Kendall, grateful she hadn’t said Cash’s name.
“A bunch of shit, Fee,” Johnnie admitted. “He’s not himself and hasn’t been for a while.”
Kendall studied her nails. “Maybe, you could talk to him, Fee. Aren’t you two friends?”
“It’s worth a shot,” Johnnie answered, unfazed by Kendall’s announcement. No one saw Stretch as a threat. “About the only other girl who hasn’t talked to him is my Kendall. Megan has, as have Zoann, Bunny, and Bailey. He’s still lost.”
“He’s still full of self-pity,” Kendall corrected. “It isn’t bringing Hanson back. It’s only pulling him down.”
“I’m heading out,” Fee said, uninterested in Johnnie’s response, wanting away from Kendall’s baiting. “I’ll stop in and say ‘hi’ to Stretch.”
“Do that,” Johnnie responded.
Without another word, Fee headed to her car, sighing at the cloudy skies. It looked as if it would be a rainy night, so she needed to pop in at the club and get home before the heavens opened. She was also unsure how long Christopher and Meggie would be out.
Instead of walking along the pathway, she jumped in her car and drove the access road that Christopher had paved specifically for the girls to have their cars at their houses instead of at the club. She parked along the perimeter of the clubhouse, near where the road began.
A few bikes filled the parking lot, including Cash’s. Perfect.
The moment she walked in, she spotted Cash and Stretch at Christopher’s table, eating. Cash had his back to her. Other members were grouped in twos and threes at various tables. Four were engaged in a game of pool. Potter leaned against the bar, plate in hand. As he scarfed down his food, he also looked at the monitors above the bar.
“Fee!” Slipper shouted from the pool table area, spying her first since she hadn’t moved from the doorway. “Prez not here. Him and Meggie going for a spin.”
“Okay, thanks.”
He nodded toward the table. “Cash and Stretch here, though. Cash looking pretty fucked up. Know anything about that?”
Fee frowned. “What?”
“Nothing. See for yourself.”
All the invitation she needed. “Yeah, I think I’ll tell them hello.”
Slipper snickered. “I bet you will.”
Ignoring the taunt, Fee made her way to the table where Cash slid his empty plate away and leaned back, sipping on his beer. He straightened at her approach and turned his face toward her. A bruise bloomed on his swollen jaw and chin. The skin around his eye was discolored, too.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he snarled, the moment she got into earshot, as if he didn’t look like he’d engaged in a boxing match.
By sheer will, she ignored her inclination to touch his bruises and check the extent of his injuries for herself before soothing away his pain. “What happened to you?”
“Don’t worry about what happened to me. Answer me. What are you doing here?”
Stretch shoveled mashed potatoes into his mouth, chasing the food with rum. “There’s no law that says she can’t come to the club.”
Without invitation, she dropped into the chair closest to her, next to Cash, noting something had changed in the way Stretch acted toward her. “Thank you, Stretch.”
Cash finished his beer, then barreled to his feet. Face paling, he swayed and clutched his gut.
“Are you okay?” she asked, ignoring her eye level with the bulge in his pants. The man was hot, even all bruised up.
“Fine,” he gritted, still intending to leave.
She couldn’t allow him to walk away, and she wouldn’t beg him to tell her about his injuries. She grabbed his wrist. “I need to talk to you.”
His blue eyes burned into her. “What?”
“Sit down,” she ordered. “This is important. It’s about Kendall.”
“Not interested,” he said flatly. “I steer clear of her. She’s a fucking handful and a half. Let Johnnie handle her.”
“What about Kendall?” Stretch asked, the quiet, still waters that ran very deep.
If only she could help him over whatever demons chased him. Her gaze fell to the scar on his face. It was ugly and brutal, but it gave him character, added intensity to his otherwise boyish looks. Most of the time, she barely took note of it. But it was as if she was just meeting him and wanted to drink in every fine detail of his features.
Searching for a way to fix her mouth to admit what she’d done, she rushed through her explanation, then fell silent.
Cash dropped back into his seat, wiping the sweat popping off his brow.
“I’m sorry,” she said when they both continued to stare at her.
“I can’t fucking believe you,” Cash finally said. “Of all the fucking women around here, you chose Kendall to open your fucking mouth to. You did this shit on purpose, to force my hand. It hasn’t worked. All it’s done is pissed me the fuck off.”
“I’m sorry, Cash. I wanted to unburden myself.”
Stretch studied her. “You do realize what you’re doing, don’t you? You let Kendall in on what should’ve been kept between us, and you’re forcing us to withhold this from your brother. If we go to him with Kendall’s intentions, he’ll want to know how we found out.”
“He sure the fuck will,” Cash spat. “He knows we don’t deal with Johnnie’s woman.”
“We’d have to tell him you told us.”
“No, please!” He’d also want to know why she hadn’t come to him with this, thus doing the job he’d hired her to do. “He’d never forgive me.”
“And he’d fucking kill us!” Cash said on a whisper-yell. “He’s fucking serious about having his orders followed.”
“Daphne is one of your girls, Cash,” Stretch told him. “Maybe, you can talk some sense into her.”
“I’ll try my fucking best. Maybe, if I give her enough dick I can convince her to back off.”
Fee fought back tears at his words. He was being unnecessarily cruel. She regretted her mistake, but he didn’t have to throw another woman in her face. Usually, Stretch offered disapproval at Cash’s tactics. This time, he only nodded.
“I’m sorry,” Fee said miserably.
“Sorry isn’t good enough,” Stretch told her, getting to his feet. “This is a huge problem. Kendall is no one’s friend.”
“You both are being unfair. To her and to me. I can almost understand why she’s desperate enough to do this.”
“She’s not desperate,” Cash spat. “She’s calculating.”
Fee jumped up, ready for this day to be over. “Not with me! Her back was just against the wall. I’m so sorry for giving her the ammunition to involve you. Believe me, I’m furious with her for what she’s doing. However, she needs understanding. I need it, too.”
“You’re not getting it from me. Never. Not in this situation.”
At that, Cash stood and stormed off, heading to the exit and outside without looking back.
“Stretch…”
“Save it, Fee. Just hope Cash can straighten this out. Now, it’s best if you leave. Rain is coming in, so Outlaw will be back soon.”
Stretch’s cool distance alarmed her more than Cash’s anger. For all Stretch’s jealousy toward her, he’d never sounded so perturbed. Aware sh
e’d messed up really bad, Fee took his advice and left without another word.
Pain streaking through his body, Cash knocked on the door of Daphne’s apartment, unable to believe any of these bitches. Well, not Daphne or Fee. Kendall? He put nothing past her.
After almost getting herself, Outlaw, and Val fucked up, and Johnnie and Brooks Redding shot, she was at it again.
“Daphne, open the goddamn door.” Her car was parked in her spot, so Cash knew she was home. “Now!”
As he expected, his command got a response. The door swung open, revealing a nude Daphne, face flushed and mouth swollen. Love bites reddened her breasts and neck. Just beyond, inside her apartment, Cash saw one of his club brothers sitting on her couch, cock out.
“What are you doing here?”
Cash shouldered past her. “Get out,” he ordered the dude, one of the younger members who was friends with Diesel.
“Sure, Cash,” he drawled. “Call me later,” he told Daphne once his dick was secure and he stood at the door.
“I will,” she promised, turning to Cash as soon as they were alone. “I didn’t know you were coming. I wouldn’t have kept my appointment with him.”
“I’m not here to fuck you. I’m here to ask you if you’ve lost your fucking mind. Teaming with Kendall Donovan,” he added before she could deny anything. His injuries had him in pain and in a bad mood. The way he’d lost it with Fee didn’t help matters.
But, fuck. He’d been enjoying the food Meggie cooked, texting Josh and Georgie. No one thought anything of him and Stretch sitting at Outlaw’s table together. They were a part of his crew, so it didn’t look out of the ordinary. After the way Stretch had hovered around him today, once he’d helped him out of Outlaw’s office, Cash was just enjoying Stretch’s company. No bullshit. Nothing.
Then, Fee dropped her fucking bombshell.
“Did you hear me?”
Hands on hips, unconcerned with her nudity, Daphne waited for his answer.
“No. What did you say?”
“I said what she’s doing is no worse than what you did, so back off. At least, she’ll keep to her word and pay me everything she promised.”
“I fucking paid you.” And got his ass beat.
“Money, not cock, which you promised me.”
“You get cock from every motherfucker around. You don’t need mine.”
She stomped to the sofa. “Why are you here? If it’s to tell me not to do it, you can’t.”
Cash followed behind her, determined to ignore his massive pain. This girl had to know she was risking her life by following Kendall’s lead and fucking with Meggie. He hadn’t directly fucked with Outlaw’s wife and had just missed getting beaten to death. “The fuck I can’t. I’m in charge of you and the other girls. I can get rid of you. Bar you from coming to the club.”
“You’re nothing but a hypocrite,” she accused. “You’d use me to play with Outlaw, but won’t let Kendall do it?”
“What I did was different.”
“Explain to me how? You brought me there to suck him.”
“Him,” he barked. “I’m not stupid enough to directly fuck with his wife.”
“You were still fucking with her. You said it yourself. And you knew his kid would be there. CJ tells his mom everything. The kid has a big mouth. You knew what you were doing, Cash. If CJ was there, Meggie would find out.”
Scrubbing a hand over his face, Cash wondered if she was right. Had he wanted Meggie to find out? That would make him a terrible asshole. A coward too, seeking a fucked up way to cover up his own shit.
Shame hit him. Every awful word, each of his fucked up actions, toward Stretch and Fee came to him, further proving he carried many of his father’s genes and wouldn’t be good at being with two decent, loving people.
“Cash, Kendall is giving me twenty-five grand. I need that money. If I can’t have her life or Meggie’s life, at least allow me to make this money.”
“Daphne, babe, listen to me. Do you even know why Kendall is doing this?”
“Yes. Not that I care. I mean, c’mon, Cash. Those two bitches will be arguing for the rest of our lives. As Kendall said, Meggie is trying to protect Outlaw by keeping my behavior from him.”
“She’s trying to keep harmony in his club,” he corrected. “She’s trying to keep him calm, so he won’t fuck up stupid motherfuckers.” Like me.
Rolling her eyes, Daphne sniffed. “I liked Meggie at one time. Then, Kendall started telling me all she lets Outlaw do to her. Do you know he withholds orgasms from her if she doesn’t follow his orders? She has to suck him off every fucking day, Cash, and then bristles when I’m around? Kendall says how she calls me a cocksucker. All the girls.”
“Fuck, Kendall is the one who says all that shit. She’s fucking with you to turn you against Meggie.”
“What reason would Kendall have to lie? I lost all respect for Meggie after Kendall filled me in on how she really is. At least Kendall calls me names to my face. Meggie pretends to be civil to me, then rips me apart behind my back. I can’t stand a fucking hypocrite.”
“Daphne, Kendall will get you and her killed,” he reiterated. “Meggie doesn’t even say cocksucker. That shit about Outlaw withholding orgasms from her isn’t fucking true. Before he married, he took pride in getting women off who meant fuck all to him. As much as he loves his wife, he’ll double his effort.”
“You don’t know that!”
He knew it with every bone in his body. Outlaw loved women too much not to pleasure them. However…“Neither does Kendall!”
“Doesn’t she? Kendall and Meggie are friends. Meggie confides in Kendall. I mean, this girl is an awful bitch. Not fit to be top bitch.”
Cash opened his mouth to dispute Daphne, but she raised her hand.
“My mind’s made up, Cash. If I get Outlaw into my bed, that’ll be a bonus. I swear I won’t do anything more to Meggie than what Kendall tells me to do. Not that she doesn’t deserve so much more.”
“Daphne, fuck, don’t fucking do this. You’re wrong about Meggie and Fee is caught up in this.”
Folding her arms, Daphne scowled.
Cash cursed his stupidity. She’d have no sympathy for Fee.
“That fucking matters to me how?”
“Whatever you believe about Meggie, what has Fee ever done to you?”
“Other than get you?”
“Don’t say that bullshit! Fee doesn’t have me. Outlaw has barred me from having anything to do with her.”
“That didn’t stop you, did it? So she has you.”
Thinking of this weekend, Cash knew Daphne was right. Something had changed between all three of them. A new dynamic that Cash had to fight.
“Fee doesn’t deserve to have her brother turn against her because you want money and Kendall wants a fucking job.”
Instead of responding, Daphne leaned back and peeped at him through her lashes, roaming her hands down his back. “Why are we arguing?”
Her touch added to his pain and he grimaced, jerking away. “Why are we arguing? Why don’t I just blow you the fuck away and save Outlaw the trouble?”
Daphne tensed, fear sliding into her face. “You’d kill me for helping Kendall take a page from your book? Granted, she’s been paying me to fuck with Meggie, here and there. But she’s using your diversionary tactics. Your games gave Kendall this idea.”
The woman twisted anything to benefit herself. “Let me guess,” Cash said tightly. “You told her what I did?”
“Naturally.”
Kendall wanted seven days. He’d been furious that Fee’d allowed herself to be blackmailed, but Cash understood the position she’d found herself in.
He could kill Daphne, but they rarely killed women. While he was concerned about Meggie, his main priority was Fee. Any action on his part might give Kendall unnecessary ammunition. Outlaw casting Fee aside due to poor judgment would devastate her.
Sick to his stomach, he got to his feet. He’d been so fucking
arrogant and disrespectful. Now, the shit was coming back to bite him in the ass. The next seven days would be unbearable but he had no one to blame but himself. He couldn’t even blame Kendall.
His antics left him with two choices: Confess all to spare Outlaw drama with Meggie, and forfeit his own life, not to mention Stretch’s, Kendall’s, and Daphne’s, while also ruining Fee’s relationship with her brother. Or, allow it all to go down, knowing Meggie had already gotten upset over Daphne.
Whichever he decided, he hoped he came out alive after his bad judgment started a chain of bullshit that spiraled out-of-control.
Christopher sat at his breakfast table, reading financial reports and scowling at the lab’s profit and loss statement. They barely broke fucking even nowadays, thanks to the amount of the monthly retainer paid to Brooks Redding. For the most fucking part, it was pissing money in the wind. Neither the club or the members had gotten into serious fucking trouble recently.
However, any fucking thing was possible, so he considered this a good fucking investment, even if it meant they just about broke even at the lab.
Besides, Brooks had called him in to reassure him about Noah Counts. He was doing shit aboveboard, but Christopher still wasn’t interested in dealing with him and had told Brooks as much. The Torps regrouping wasn’t alarming at the moment, but he’d keep a bead on the situation in case he had to take motherfuckers out.
“Look who dropped in to eat with us,” Megan announced, leading Fee in.
Christopher closed the folder, shut his thoughts down, and stared at his sister. “This a social visit or a business visit?”
“It’s eight in the morning,” Fee chirped, sliding into her seat as Megan left them alone. “Definitely social.”
“For fuckin’ real, Fee? I been gettin’ the same bullshit from you every-fuckin-day. Kendall fine. I know that bitch ain’t. She never is, especially if she off her meds. I saw her ass yesterday and she look too fuckin’ happy not to be up to shit. I wanna know what. That’s why the fuck you there.”
Guilt flitted across Fee’s face, putting Christopher on high fucking alert.
Death Dwellers Motorcycle Club:: Fifteen Bad Boy Biker Books Page 313