Page 219 of Misrule
Johnnie admired Roxanne for the way she’d given Knox room to grieve for Callie’s violent death.
“You ladies are being completely unfair,” Knox stated. “Kendall and this lady were little girls when all that went on. Johnnie and Kendall are separated,” he said flatly. “Do you expect him to stay a monk the rest of his life?”
“No! Fuck no, Knox,” Roxanne answered. “But Johnnie and Kendall aren’t evenlegallyseparated yet. He could give her enough respect to not bring another woman around her kids and her family.”
“I’m with Knox,” Cash offered. “It won’t matter who Johnnie brings around. There will always be an issue because she isn’t Kendall.”
“All Kendall ever did was stir up shit, Puff,” Val said, eyeing Zoann. “Now your ass on your shoulder because Johnnie brought a new bitch around.”
“Of course not, Val,” Zoann chirped with a sniff. “It’swhothe bitch is.”
“So much for female empowerment,” Emily said with sarcasm.
Zoann lifted a brow. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
“No. Just talking about me,” Emily shot back.
“What do you have to say for yourself, Emily?” Fee demanded. “How could you treat Kendall so cruelly?”
Johnnie registered Emily’s hostility and distaste a moment before she grimaced and replaced the fleeting looks with remorse.
“I don’t have to answer to any of you,” Emily said. “If Johnnie has no problem with me, then none of you have anything to say. But, of course, I always did get along better with men. Women have forever been jealous of my overwhelming beauty.” She sidled to Johnnie, wrapped her arms around him, and grinded her body against him.
“How long will Johnnie be okay with you?” Zoann questioned. “What will he tell his children when they find out their stepmother is the bitch who bullied their mother?”
“As if you really give a fuck, Zoann,” Johnnie snapped. “You gave Kendall so much bullshit and never attempted to befriend her. Don’t be a fucking hypocrite and pretend you’re so concerned about her feelings now.”
“Kendall is fucked up and I can’t stand her fucking ass most of the time,” Zoann spat, her eyes shooting daggers at him, “but, taking up with this woman is the worst fucking betrayal there could ever be, fucker. This is Kendall’s sworn enemy and you’re fucking her.”
“I haven’t touched Emily,” Johnnie stated.
“Of course not,” Zoann sneered. “You had to bring her and compare her to Meggie first. Right, motherfucker? You couldn’t see Emily and Kendall side-by-side, so Meggie it was.”
Anger flashed through Johnnie. He couldn’t believe Zoann had the gall to believe Megan had anything to do with this. Didn’t she know Christopher? Wasn’t it clear that Johnnie meeting Emily had been orchestrated?
“You’re overstepping your fucking bounds. Watch yourself, Zoann,” Johnnie warned coldly.
Zoann snapped her brows together and barreled to him. “Or what? If you value your fucking dick, I’d shut the fuck up.”
“I’m not Val,” Johnnie returned.
“No the fuck you’re not,” Zoann answered. “Val is ten times the man you are. He doesn’t make me live up to the standards of other women. He doesn’t let me do shit that’s way off the deep fucking end. We respect each other. I can tell him to stand down and he can do the same with me. You’re nothing but a piece of fucking shit, making Kendall miserable because she isn’t Meggie. You’re the stupidest motherfucker alive. All the fuck you wanted was a woman to stand in for Meggie. You wanted what Christopher has, so you chose the first bitch that crossed your path after you lost Meggie to Christopher. You never loved Kendall. You couldn’t have. If you did, you wouldn’t have fostered her fucking jealousy. You wouldn’t have tolerated her bad fucking behavior. Who the fuck cared what the fuck we did? It was up to you to tell her that wasn’t fucking acceptable, you miserable motherfucker.” She pointed to Emily. “Now, get this bitch the fuck out of here before I use her to fuck you up.”
Humiliation roared through Johnnie and he gritted his teeth. He took a step toward Zoann, noting how she held her ground, dared him to come any closer, when all he wanted to do was grab her and shake the living fuck out of her.
Before he reached her, though, Val appeared at her side. “You put a finger on my woman, and we got problems, Johnnie.”
“Johnnie, bruh,” Digger called. “Take your bitch and get the fuck out my house. Don’t fucking feel like cleaning blood splatter. We got a lot of wood in this motherfucker. Shit would be hard as fuck to clean up.”
Johnnie blinked at Digger’s words. “You’re putting us out?”
This was spiraling completely out-of-control. No one saw what he saw. Instead of questioning the coincidence of how Johnnie had met the one woman who’d tortured Kendall, they were maligning him.
Digger shook his head in disapproval. “Did I fucking stutter. If I did, my bad. Maybe this better: Get to fucking stepping and take your bitch with you.”
Johnnie looked at each of them—Cash. Stretch. Val. Digger. Mortician. Knox. Roxanne. Fee. Zoann, Bunny, and Bailey.
“You’re Kendall’s fucking friend, too, huh, Bailey?” Johnnie demanded, needing to lash out at someone. Besides Megan, he considered Bailey one of the sweetest girls in their group. “What do you have to say about me having Emily as my date?”
