Awe brightened Johnnie’s eyes. “You are?” he whispered, right back under her spell.
“Please,” she hiccupped, looking at Christopher with huge eyes, and grabbing his arm.
“Tell me what the fuck you did to Johnnie,” he demanded.
Tears slipped down Kendall’s cheeks. “He’ll hate me,” she whispered, so only he could hear. She sniffled. “Please.” Then she shook herself and cleared her throat. “You don’t understand. I’m not drugging him.”
“Get your hands off my wife,” Johnnie ordered, pulling his piece and starting to raise it. “Before I shoot Meg…Oomph!”
Mortician slammed his fist against Johnnie’s temple, abruptly cutting off his words. His Glock slipped out of his hands as he dropped to the floor, knocked out cold. Just as well. With his eyes wide opened, motherfucker was still blind, proven when he told Christopher to let Kendall go, when it was the bitch that had him by the arm.
Fed the fuck up, Christopher pushed Kendall away from him, and grabbed his own piece, aiming it at Johnnie’s head.
“No!” Kendall screamed.
“Christopher, don’t do this,” Megan cried.
“This is Johnnie,” Zoann told him.
Christopher cocked the hammer. “Look me in the fuckin’ eye and admit again you druggin’ him, Kendall.”
Her watery eyes widened then narrowed. “Are you a witch doctor? Able to figure out all the secrets of the world?” she snapped.
“Red, you didn’t,” Mortician said in disbelief.
“You drugged my cousin?” Zoann gasped.
“I can explain,” Kendall blurted.
Christopher lowered his gun. “I don’t want…” He trailed his voice off, noticing the smudges on the metal as he started to stuff his piece back into his waistband. He lifted the hand he’d used to grab Kendall by the throat, and frowned. He wasn’t a fucking rocket scientist, but he was a married motherfucker. More than once, he’d taken Megan’s face between his hands and gotten her makeup on his fingers. Foundation, she called it.
Squinting his eyes, he crooked his finger at Kendall. “C’mere,” he ordered.
“No!” she responded, inching toward Roxy.
He growled and stalked to Kendall, grabbing her chin and lifting it, dreaming of twisting her fucking head off her shoulders. When he scrubbed his fingers over her neck, the make-up on his fingers didn’t surprise him. The more he scrubbed, the more visible the bruises on her neck became.
He sure the fuck didn’t do that shit to her. An idea forming in his head, he fitted his fingertips to the prints on her neck. They didn’t match. His were bigger.
Another idea formed in his head. One where Johnnie saw these horrendous fucking marks on his woman’s neck and decided to take out his anger on Megan. Except Johnnie would’ve killed Megan. This time, Christopher only meant to frighten Kendall.
She was back to her fucking games.
He shook with rage.
“Kendall, get out of here,” Megan said in a panicked voice, inserting herself between them and placing her hands on Christopher’s chest. “I love you,” she whispered as Roxy and Ophelia hustled a sobbing Kendall away.
Megan stood on her tiptoes and took his face between her hands. “Kendall will forever be Kendall,” she said. “She’s family, Christopher. Johnnie’s family.”
“That cunt ain’t no fuckin’ family of mine,” he snarled. “Her fuckin’ games almost got you killed.”
“I told you Johnnie didn’t—”
He kicked one of Megan’s tables where she had plants on them, sending it flying. Glass, dirt, and ceramic flew everywhere. He didn’t give a fuck. “Stop with the fuckin’ lyin’, Megan. I already figured the fuckin’ shit out. We don’t fuckin’ lie to each other.”
“Prez…” Mortician started, but stopped when Christopher went to a prone Johnnie and kicked the fuck out of him for still having the time he’d spent with Megan on his mind, to throw in Christopher’s face. He’d brought up the one thing that infected Christopher with jealousy and insecurity.
Val winced.
“Better him than me,’ Digger mumbled.
“Shut the fuck up, son,” Mortician commanded, “before it is you.”
Christopher kicked Johnnie again. This time, for being such a stupidly blind fuckhead where his bitch was concerned.
“Please,” Megan begged, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her body against his back, attempting to halt him physically. “Stop this.”
“Tell me the fuckin’ truth and I might fuckin’ stop.”
“Yeah, Outlaw, just like you might fuck him up,” Val pointed out.
Zoann slapped the back of Val’s head.
“Ow,” he said, raising his hand to his injury.
Forgetting Johnnie for a minute, Christopher rounded on Megan. “Look at your motherfuckin’ neck! All cuz of that motherfucker. But you’ll fuckin’ pro-fuckin-tect him with your dyin’ fuckin’ breath and it ain’t for my fuckin’ ass.”
She swiped at the tears streaming down her cheeks and widened her eyes. “What?”
“You fuckin’ heard me. You gotcha own fuckin’ reasons for protectin’ him. It’s cuz of him, not me. He got your pussy off and you feel allegiance to him, so don’t tell me it’s cuz of me you ain’t tellin’ me the truth.”
Megan’s emotions went from fear, panic, and hurt to being a pissed off little motherfucker. Every-fucking-body else still in the room pretended to be interested in the fucking floor and walls.
“Fucking Johnnie,” Mort said with a scowl. He’d been in the room when Johnnie said what he did.
But Megan didn’t deserve the words Christopher had thrown at her. He was just so fucking frustrated and angry.
That was no fucking excuse. He owed her an apology.
“Baby,” he started.
An ashtray flew toward his head. He ducked just in time.
“You big jerk,” she yelled, picking up a picture frame and throwing that at him, too.
Fuck, if he didn’t have good reflexes, he’d be fucked.
She searched for another weapon, which Zoann gladly supplied, handing Megan an empty wine bottle. She didn’t hesitate and lobbed that motherfucker at him next.
“Stop, Megan!”
Of course she didn’t listen. Instead, she found a little statue and hurled it at him.
His only hope of not getting knocked the fuck out was to immobilize her. As Zoann assisted Megan by providing her with weapons, Christopher covered his head with his arms, ignoring the stings of whatever the fuck hit his arms, chest, and stomach. Since Bunny wasn’t feeling good, she was upstairs with Kendall’s nanny and all the kids. He was glad, too. His children didn’t need to hear him being an assfuck to their Ma.
Finally, he reached Megan and grabbed her wrists.
“Let go of me!” she ordered, through clenched teeth, redder than a motherfucker. Her eyes were so dark, they looked black.
Christopher was in so much fucking trouble. “Baby, listen to me.”
“Shut up,” she snarled. “You can’t bring up what happened between Johnnie and me whenever it suits your stupid purposes, Christopher.”
“I know.”
“I can’t believe you’d think Johnnie is more important to me than you are.” Just saying those words pissed her the fuck off and she started struggling in his arms, attempting to knee his cock back into his stomach.
He wouldn’t faint like a pussy, but his dick ached so much, tears slipped out of the corners of his eyes.
“What we do, we do to protect you. We do it because we love you.”
Nodding…speaking… would disturb the pain in his dick, and he’d ache even more, so he remained silent and still.
“Yet, you…you…oh, you’ve made me so angry, moron. You know what? You’re locked out of there for the next three months!”
She yanked herself out of his grasp, turned on her heels, and stalked away, leaving him to fall back onto a chair and writhe the fuck in
pain.
SITTING IN THE BREAKFAST ROOM, Johnnie listened as Rory counted to one hundred and Matilda went as high as twenty-five. JJ, the baby, sat in his high chair, chewing on a piece of baby toast as slob and crumbs dribbled down his chin and arm.
Kendall sat just across from him, her eyes reddened from a night of crying.
When he’d regained consciousness and came to yesterday, after Mortician sucker-punched him, Christopher told Johnnie that Kendall had been drugging him. He hadn’t believed it, until he’d stormed into the kitchen, cleared all the women out, and confronted his wife.
She’d tearfully confessed everything, right down to the fact that she’d choked herself to bruise her neck.
Her actions horrified him. Her first drugs of choice had almost killed him. The second round had almost gotten him killed. Fuck, it had almost gotten Megan killed. All because Kendall wanted to take a fucking case.
“Johnnie, please talk to me,” Kendall sniffled now. “I’m so sorry.”
Rory and Matilda looked at him, then at Kendall, their little faces filled with curiosity. However, they knew better than to speak if they weren’t spoken to in their mother’s presence.
“What do you want me to say?” he snapped. The kids shouldn’t witness their argument, but he didn’t have the energy to send them away. “How can I ever trust you again?”
“I’m so, so sorry. Please, please, please forgive me. I didn’t want to harm you.”
“Really? After the first two drugs made me so sick, you didn’t stop. You merely switched to another option.”
“That proves I didn’t want you dead,” she sobbed. “I don’t want you dead.”
Johnnie sighed, hurt, angry, and frustrated. “Where do we go from here? It goes back to the same thing. It always does. You being an attorney.”
“I’m not happy without anything meaningful to do.” She swiped at her tears. “Being a wife and a mother is important, but it’s not everything. Not for me.”
She was right. It was something he should’ve recognized months ago. Maybe, they wouldn’t be in this situation now. That still didn’t excuse her actions. She could’ve killed him, and he happened to like living.
“You could’ve stuck up for me. Gotten Christopher to compromise.”
“The hell I could!”
“The hell you couldn’t,” she bit out, her voice a combination of anger and pain. “He loves you. If you would’ve told him I was leaving you if I didn’t go back to work, he would’ve given in. Even if he allowed me to practice law part-time, it would be something.”
“You’re never going to change, are you?” he said tiredly. “Now, you want me to become as manipulative as you are.”
Her nostrils flared and her face flushed, reminding him of the pregnancy announcement she’d made last night.
The argument about her career was pointless. They’d forever be at odds over it, if someone didn’t give in, and Kendall wasn’t going to do it. He had to resign himself to the fact that he’d either have to leave the club to make her happy or leave her to stay in the club.
“Are you really pregnant?”
She usually didn’t suffer morning sickness, but he thought her breasts always got larger. Maybe, with this many pregnancies that wouldn’t happen.
Yet, wouldn’t he notice some change?
“You’re pregnant?” he said again, since she hadn’t answered.
She lowered her lashes and gave the barest nod. “Yes,” she whispered.
“I thought we were protected.” She was supposedly using birth control.
“It failed,” she said with a shrug. She swiped at her tears again. “Do you want me to leave?”
He offered her a half-smile, sadness enveloping him. Because he loved her, despite everything, he hated himself for being unable to change his feelings—no matter what she did. “Leave. Stay. That’s up to you, Kendall. It’ll be a long time before I can trust you. How are we supposed to have a relationship if, every time, you offer me a glass of water, I’ll wonder what’s in it?”
“I’m not going to ever drug you again. Please, believe me.”
“Believe you?” He barked a laugh. “You have a fucking lot of nerve.”
She pressed a hand against her belly and broke into fresh sobs. “Yelling upsets me, which upsets the baby.”
Rage dug into him. He was so fucking angry with Kendall, he could strangle her himself. Before he gave into the urge and harmed her and their baby, he decided to go to the club.
Throwing his napkin aside, he pushed from the table and stood, walking away from her without uttering another word.
WEARING LARGE SUNGLASSES AND A hooded jacket, Kendall walked into the same diner she always met with Randolph at, spotting him immediately. He sat in a booth, his blond hair flowing down his back.
“Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice,” she said as she slid across from him and adjusted her hoodie to make sure her hair was still hidden.
It had only been a couple of hours since Johnnie had walked out. She’d made Ella take the kids to the nursery, since Rory and Matilda had had a day off from daycare. Afterwards, Kendall had gone to the bathroom and threw her birth control pills away.
Somehow, she had to convince Johnnie to make love to her until she really got pregnant. A baby inside of her would gave her a lot of leeway. Besides, Johnnie would think twice about leaving her and breaking her heart. And, if for some reason, she couldn’t get pregnant soon, she’d tell him she lost the baby. If she remembered correctly, there were herbs for miscarriages. Would they work to make her periods so heavy it appeared as if she was losing a baby?
“Kendall?” Randolph called. “Do you have any news about my case?”
“No. I wanted this meeting to tell you that I’m not taking your case.”
She’d made her decision three days ago, but she hadn’t had a chance to inform him before now and she didn’t want to tell him over the telephone. She needed to do it face-to-face.
He was silent a moment. Scratching his beard, he smiled. “Yes. You are.”
“You haven’t paid me a retainer fee,” she reminded him coolly.
He picked up a grocery bag that had either been in his lap or was next to him in the booth, held it up, then tossed it toward her. It plopped onto the table “I just did.”
She slid the bag back to him. “I’m not accepting it. I’ve fucked up enough. I refuse to add to it by stabbing my husband in the back and representing you of all people. A club enemy.”
“Bitch, you’re taking my fucking case. I’ve already fired my other attorney.”
“Motherfucker, I told you I’m not. Rehire them or find someone else.”
His eyes frosted. “Two insults from the Dwellers. We’re not good enough for Outlaw to absorb us into his club. Now, you’ve made a fucking fool out of me.”
“You don’t need any help in that department,” she said sweetly.
He glared at her. “Something’s going to have to be done about the Death Dwellers. Maybe, I need to ransom you. Tell Outlaw you were supposed to represent me, then backed out.”
“Oh, please, asshole, who do you think told me I can’t practice law? That edict came from Outlaw.” She rubbed her temples, resenting all things club-related, especially Christopher Caldwell. “I know if it wasn’t for Meggie, he’d be a lot more lenient,” she grumbled. “But he wants to keep her safe, so he’s turned into a frightened, cautious, pussy-whipped asshole.”
Interest lit Randolph’s face. “Is that so? Hard to believe. The things I’ve heard about him are legendary.”
“I’m around him all the time.”
“True.” He shifted in his seat. “And you’re sure he’s pussy-whipped because of Megan?”
She nodded, surprised at the familiarity in which he said the blonde’s name. “Ask any of his support clubs. It is known, far and wide, how he is with her. If there was no Meggie to protect, he wouldn’t be alarmed every time she broke a fingernail.”
&nbs
p; While her husband couldn’t even defend her.
“Without her around, he’d focus on club business, like he should.”
“Hmmm.” Randolph grinned at her, picked up the money, and stood. “Thanks for the information. Now, I need a ride back to my crib.”
“Really, asshole?” Kendall sneered. “I know you’re not expecting me to play chauffeur. However the fuck you got here, you can leave that same way.”
“You’re here, Kendall. You bring me. My ride’s long gone.”
“Fuck no. I can’t trust you. You want me to take your case and I’ve told you no. You might be taking me somewhere to kill me, so fuck off.”
“No one gives a fuck about you,” he snapped. “Remember? You won’t be good to me for anything, dead or alive. All I’m asking is for a ride, so I don’t have to disturb my brothers.”
At his cavalier words, despondency threatened to overwhelm Kendall. “As I said, it’s well-known that I’m no good for anything but Meggie is good for everything,” she answered with a shrug, refusing to let him see how his words got to her.
“Are you taking me home or not?”
Kendall scowled at him, then slid out of her seat. “If you even think to fuck with me, my husband tracks me via my phone.”
“Are all the bitches tracked?”
“Every last one of us,” Kendall answered briskly. “Although Outlaw is over-the-top with Meggie. He tracks her with her phone and a device on her car.”
Randolph’s eyes lit up, then he cocked his head to the side. “You’re giving up all her secrets. That doesn’t seem very loyal.” He grinned. He was a rather charming rogue. “If someone wanted to harm her, all they’d need to do is go to you for the 411.”
“If you want me to take you home, keep your comments to yourself. I’d never betray Meggie.”
“Go ahead if you believe that bullshit. You just did stab her in the back. Either you’re a crazy bitch or a lying one.”
She rounded on him. “One more insult, asshole, and I’m leaving.”
Randolph raised his hands. “No harm meant.”
“Bullshit, and harm was taken. How’d you like me to tell Johnnie?”
Death Dwellers Motorcycle Club:: Fifteen Bad Boy Biker Books Page 443