“Shut up,” Digger told Val. “Kendall did a lot, but this not the time to remember that. This the time to stick together.”
Mortician and Digger always had a soft spot for Kendall. Cash wondered how they’d defend her if they suspected what he did.
“You all have every right to be angry with my wife,” Johnnie said, not sounding himself at all.
His sadness came through. Just as Cash had spirited Kendall away on behalf of Johnnie, he empathized with the man, too.
“Kendall’s done a lot,” Johnnie continued. “My love for her makes me able to forgive her. That doesn’t mean any of you have to.”
Aww, fuck. Poor John Boy.
Val gnashed his teeth together. “It takes a lot to get my woman to cry, Johnnie. She cried all fucking night because of your bitch and what Kendall revealed about Fee. Fee cried all night. They were wrecks because Kendall couldn’t keep her fucking mouth shut.”
“Go to your bitch,” Outlaw directed.
Stiffening, Johnnie stared coldly at Outlaw. “I need to see my kids first. If it wasn’t for you, Kendall would be here with me.”
“Fuck you. Check your fuckin’ attitude before I pluck your fuckin’ eyes out, motherfucker. That cunt exiled cuz of her own fucked up behavior. You love her? Fuckin’ wonderful. I ain’t gonna fuck her up, but she ain’t welcomed here. Every-fuckin-time she get fuckin’ pissed, she gonna threaten to clue Megan the fuck in about shit I ain’t wantin’ her to know.”
“Christopher, she needs me. She needs us,” Johnnie argued, his look and tone more reasonable.
“I give a fuck how?” Outlaw said, lifting his brow before he sighed with irritation. “If you had a fuckin’ way to stop her from tryin’ to fuck with Megan, I’d tell you to bring her the fuck back. You could take care of her here. But she made her fuckin’ bed, now she gotta fuckin’ lay all the fuck alone in it.”
“She sounds devastated, but she also sounds finished,” Johnnie admitted bleakly. “This just might end my marriage.”
Cash drained his beer, watching Outlaw stalk to the hallway without commenting, and disappear in the direction of his office.
Christopher sat behind his desk, drinking tequila and thinking of Johnnie’s devastation. He hadn’t seen Kendall around in days, so he knew she’d been put somewhere out of his reach. The aggravating cunt wouldn’t have had the sense to stay away, until Christopher cooled off. Until he backed off.
Now, she’d lost her fucking kid and Johnnie wanted her near, something Christopher understood. In a similar circumstance, he’d want to be with Megan.
But Kendall wasn’t Megan. Psycho bitch forever put him in a fucked up position. She’d destroyed his trust in Fee. Her conduct kept Johnnie unhappy.
Jesus, Mary, and all that was holy, why didn’t that bitch behave?
A light knock came on his door. At first, he thought he’d imagined it, then it came again.
“Come in,” he called, frowning as Cash stepped just inside the room, looking as if he preferred to be anywhere else.
Motherfucker knew he was owed a dick stomp for fucking with Fee after Christopher told him to stay the fuck away.
“What?” he barked.
No response.
Christopher had fuck all to say to Cash. Not only because of Fee, but because he was also the motherfucker who’d probably helped Johnnie put Kendall out of Christopher’s reach. It hadn’t escaped his notice how fucking buddy-buddy Johnnie and Cash had suddenly become.
“John Boy loves his old lady,” he started as if Christopher was a stupid motherfucker and needed that pointed out.
He’d never considered how deep that love went. Yeah, the motherfucker had gone off the deep end when she fucking left. At the time, Christopher thought a fuckload of hurt fucking pride had been mixed up with a sense of loss and betrayal. “So?”
“If you had a way for Kendall to come back, would you allow it?”
For Johnnie, yes. “I fuckin’ don’t got a way, so get the fuck outta my face.”
“Suppose you did?” Cash persisted. “Suppose you had some information to keep her in line? If she opens her mouth to Meggie, you’d go to Johnnie.”
Suddenly, he remembered coming upon Slipper and Kendall with Cash. Kendall wouldn’t have stopped to talk to either of those motherfuckers, unless she had a specific request. She hated Slipper, so she’d ask nothing of him. But Cash?
“You the assfuck with the ability to get that bitch away. You also the assfuck with hookups to all types of pills and shit. Pills to destroy babies, for fucking instance.”
Cash choked, all the confirmation Christopher needed. With a roar of rage, he bounded from the chair and punched Cash, sending the man reeling. “You stupid motherfucker,” he snarled, pulling his nine.