“Let’s put the subject of Cash, Stretch and the club on hold right now,” Johnnie barked. “Is Kendall’s treatment of you as your boss what you needed to talk to me about?”
“No,” she admitted, wishing to rewind the clock and never discover any of this. Involving Johnnie had been a bad idea, bringing him to this bar an even worse one. It never occurred to her that she’d be associated with Cash and Stretch.
Now, she had to tell Johnnie about Kendall, when Kendall still had information about her, Cash, and Stretch. With the warpath she was on, Fee would be a fool to cross her. Discovering Christopher killed Mike because he’d beat her up added to her unease. Cash and Stretch wasn’t hurting her but they were disobeying Christopher.
Johnnie was here now, though, so she’d skirt around most of the details Kendall had blackmailed her over and hope it didn’t lead to bloodshed. “Kendall hates Meggie.”
“I don’t know who’s carrying these rumors to you, but—”
“No one,” Fee interrupted, then hung her head in her hands. “I shouldn’t tell you but I don’t know what else to do. What she’s doing is dangerous. If I tell Meggie, she’ll tell Christopher.”
“Get to the fucking point,” Johnnie shouted.
“All right. You don’t have to yell,” she said, rushing to explain the events of the night before. When she got to Zoann’s rape, she couldn’t stop the tears rushing to her eyes. The thought of what her sister must’ve endured had kept her awake most of the night. She sniffled.
“Fee,” he crooned, offering her a napkin to dry her wet cheeks.
“Did you know about Zoann?”
“Yes, sweetheart. Not right away. I found out recently.”
“What happened?” She wanted the details, to help her better understand her sister and all the years of her anger and bitterness. “Was her attacker ever caught?”
He swallowed more of his scotch. “It’s a tangled fucking web, Fee.”
“I would ask Zoann, but I don’t think she wants to talk about it.”
“I can’t believe Kendall,” he growled. “She had no fucking business blurting shit out.”
She swiped at her eyes and drew in a breath. “Well…”
“Don’t fucking tell me there’s more.”
“I wish I didn’t have to. Kendall wants her job back and she’s plotting with Charlotte to screw over Christopher and Meggie’s marriage to…to…” Her rush of words slammed to a halt. Discovering what Zoann had been through made Fee doubly glad she hadn’t chosen her and Val in Kendall’s ultimatum. “She wants to have Christopher distracted so she can work on a deal that’ll make him want to give her her job back.”
“WHAT?”
The one word sounded like a thunderclap, the red suffusing his face and his rapid breathing, worrying her.
“Everything okay here?” Chloe asked, her eyes bulging at Johnnie’s rage.
“Get him some water, please.” Fee had never seen Johnnie so angry before. “Here,” she said when Chloe returned and handed her the glass.
He knocked the glass away. “Get that the fuck out of my face. Bring me the goddamn bottle of scotch.”
The glass falling to the floor and breaking drew even more attention than his loud voice. “Johnnie, please.” Meeting him here had been a bad idea. She should’ve met him at her apartment.
“Mind your own fucking business,” he yelled to everyone looking in his direction.
“Don’t be angry with Kendall,” Fee declared after Chloe cleared the mess of water and broken glass. “I wanted to talk to you to help her, not to turn you against her.”
“Christopher shot the fuck out of me, just a few months ago, because of Kendall. Now, she’s back to her same bullshit again? Fuck no. She’s going to get me fucking killed. I happen to like living. She knows better than to talk about Zoann’s rape, Dinah’s betrayal, and the killing of Traveler. I told her everything in confidence and she’s fucking using it as ammunition. And to fuck with Christopher and Meggie. Jesus Christ. I can’t believe her.”
“Zoann punched her,” she admitted, glad that Johnnie was calming down.
“What do you mean?” He snapped his brows together. “Kendall told me her bruise happened when you didn’t know she was so close to you and you accidentally elbowed her in the jaw. She was kneeling at your desk.”
Listening to the explanation Kendall gave to Johnnie made Fee drain her glass of wine.
“Fucking deceiving little bitch!” he snarled, pounding his fist on the table.