Page 249 of Misrule
“You okay, Knox?” Outlaw asked.
“Except for being tired from all the bullshit, I’m excellent,” Knox answered, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I’m too exhausted to demand an explanation from you about why I was the only one arrested.”
“Ain’t givin’ a fuck if you was wide the fuck awake, ain’t got a explanation to give you. This shit as much a mystery to me.” He indicated everyone behind him. “But we fuckin’ findin’ out.”
“Knox, why did you leave Momma outside?” Bailey asked, walking up to him, Outlaw, and Brooks.
Knox frowned. “Roxanne isn’t here?”
“What the fuck that mean?” Mortician demanded, joining them. “You fucking see her here?”
“Your woman went down to the station to wait for Brooks to get his ass there,” Digger said from where he stood at the bar.
All eyes turned to Brooks. Horror dropping into his face, he shook his head. “I’ve not seen Roxanne,” he managed.
A thoughtful expression crossed Outlaw’s features. “Bailey, you ever hear of a motherfucker name Joyner Amfinger?” he asked.
“How do you know that evil fuckhole?” Alexia demanded.
Staring at Outlaw, Bailey nodded, unease creeping into her face, while Knox’s stomach sank.
“Joyner Amfinger is Creighton’s minion,” she answered in a faint voice. “He does anything and everything Duke’s father tells him to do.” She swallowed. “Why?”
Knox staggered back, the horror overcoming him almost knocking him off his feet.
“Amfinger got a fuckin’ record?” Outlaw pressed.
“Cretin’s a lawyer,” Pearllene called. “And connections. All anybody would ever see in public records is his ass being a gun dealer or some shit.”
Carissa snorted. “Amfinger wish he had the balls or the brains to do shit like that. It’s Creighton. All Creighton.”
“Call that motherfucker cretin like the goddamn heathen he is,” Pearllene demanded. “He met a Jessica Rabbit-looking heifer at one of the strip clubs he owns. Which, by the way, is also the basis for his drug operation.”
“Roxanne knew what Creighton was up to?” Johnnie demanded.
“Yeah. I found the evidence in her house,” Pearllene answered. “She never told me. In all the years since her divorce, she never once mentioned it. I think she thought if she just pushed it away, it would go away. But diseased-brain motherfuckers keep turning up. Creighton not going nowhere.”
“Oh, yeah, the fuck he is,” Outlaw declared. “As soon as I get my fuckin’ hands on him, him, Amfinger, and the fuckin’ guns gonna be blown the fuck up.”
“No!” Knox said. “We can’t kill them. Let the law take care of them.”
“For fuckin’ real, assfuck?” Outlaw demanded. “If you get to the motherfucker before my ass, have him arrested. Otherwise, fuck you. We gotta figure where the fuck Roxanne at. What happen to Aintfinger and Cretin can be fuckin’ debated later. Stretch, get a bead on Amfinger phone. If we find him, we find her.”
Knox debated on whether or not to do it his way or Outlaw’s way. Then, Knox remembered Outlaw was part of Roxanne’s close-knit family, which meant Knox was to. Therefore, he’d stick with them and hope when the time came for retribution he’d be able to look the other way.
Tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth, Roxy glared as Joyner circled her. The tight clothes he wore and the highness of his hair made him look like a caricature of a man. Except he was more than fucking real.
“Would you like to hear how Knox’s ex-wife pleaded for her life? Begged me not to kill her.” Joyner laughed as tears began to stream down Roxy’s face. “Don’t know why I did it?” He shrugged. “Oh, that’s right. Lassoing Knox in was taking too long and it annoyed me. I’d been holed up in a shitty little town, with a warehouse full of guns, expecting the job to be easy. I never expected that biker, Outlaw, to be so suspicious.”
Stopping in front of Roxanne, he thumped her forehead so hard that her neck snapped back. Trying to speak but failing, Roxy kicked his shin.
Joyner groaned and slapped her cheek. “Don’t test me, woman! I still haven’t gotten back home to my women. I’ve been stuck at this motel with suitcases filled with money, waiting for a chance to get Knox. We finally decided to put our plans into motion tonight, when your daughters told your son they were heading this way for wedding celebrations. Tomorrow, would’ve been your turn. Then, you ended up in a limo by yourself and we expedited the plan.” He smiled. “And here we are.”
She was dizzy and cut-up. The white dress she intended to preserve for prosperity as part of her wedding ensemble, was torn and stained with blood—hers and the limo driver’s.
A knock came on the door. Rubbing his hands together, Joyner grinned at her, then went to the door and looked through the peephole.
“Our guests have arrived,” he announced, unlocking the door and opening it.
