Page 25 of Misrule
“I-I don’t,” Knox gasped. “I swear. I-I love her. I swear,” he said, close to tears from the pain.
“Roxanne a good woman, Knox. Bailey close to her momma.Shescared, too. Know why? She think you going to take Roxanne and move her away, just to get her away from us. I’ll fucking kill you if you hurt Bailey like that. That’s part of my reason for doing this, but mostly, it’s because of Roxanne. If you don’t acceptus, really fucking accept us, you’ll never truly accept her. You staying at the fucking clubhouse. We going to teach you about who we really are. You keeping your cock to yourself. You going to show Roxanne you can’t live withouther, not sex, not her cooking.Her,motherfucker.”
Despite his pain, Knox raised his head and glared at Mortician.Hewas his soon-to-be son-in-law? The man with the ‘all-mothers-are-chaste-and-in-need-of-protection’ complex?
Standing, Mortician loomed over Knox, muscles bulging, eyes angry…Motorcycle boots near Knox’s head.
Into the tense silence, Knox’s cell phone rang. He forced himself to a sitting position, moaning and grunting and cursing Mortician to high hell, and grabbed his phone out of his pocket. He scowled at the familiar number.
“Yes, Outlaw?” he answered, irritated.
“Johnnie at the club, talkin’ about a meetin’ Kendall had with Emily Riser.”
“Is the name Emily Riser supposed to mean something to me?”
“Yeah! She the bitch got psycho cunt hatin’ on Megan.”
Jesus Christ! These people!
Knox rubbed his hurting forehead. “What about her?” he asked, as if Outlaw’s explanation made a difference.
“She in Portland. Contact her and set up a meetin’ where her and Johnnie meet some kinda way. If she look so much like Megan, then that should fuckin’ nudge him another fuckin’ step away from Kendall.”
Although he liked the sound of Kendall being one step closer to being gone for good, Knox couldn’t believe Outlaw’s audacity. “That plan is pretty fucked up. You’re basically owning the fact that Johnnie wants Megan and using that to come between him and Kendall.”
“Yeah,” Outlaw said without remorse. “So? One way or a-fucking-nother, Ima make sure Kendall have her day of reckonin’. Now, do what the fuck I told you to do and shut the fuck up.”
The call disconnected.
Cursing in frustration, Knox got to his feet. His body hurt, but he’d survive. Seeing Mortician standing a short distance away, Knox limped to him, just as the enforcer was ending a call.
“Shit covered,” Mortician announced.
“What do you mean?”
“Guards going to be posted at night by Roxanne and in front of your door at the club. She try and sneak by you or vice versa, she’ll be stopped and you’ll be detained, then I’ll be called to deal with the situation.”
Mortician smirked at him, then turned on his heel and started off, whistling a merry little tune.
The entire way back to the club Knox wished a painful death upon Mortician’s head.
Chapter Nine
With Kendall away, Johnnie declined to take his turn to host a family dinner, so it was moved to Roxy’s house, three days later. With all of the big bikers in her small, open space, it looked overcrowded. Bunny, Bailey, and Roxy sat on the sofa, eating their meal of stewed chicken, boiled rice, and steamed carrots. Johnnie sat in one wing chair while Zoann sat in another. Outlaw was stretched out on his side in the middle of the floor, eating casually, as Meggie leaned against him, also eating. Digger sat at the bar, already on his second plate, while Knox stood behind it. He’d refused to eat, claiming he wasn’t hungry. Mortician sat on the floor, on the side of the sofa, near Bailey. Val lounged against the wall, eating with contentment. He’d already put it out there that he wanted some of Roxy’s pecan pie and hoped she’d made one or two.
She had, but she kept that information to herself. Like a big child, he’d put his food aside and go straight for the sweets.
She leaned back, contented. It had been a very productive day. The only blight—the thing that pissed her off the most—was having last night’s plans to visit Knox thwarted.
Mortician, the motherfucker, was too suspicious for his own good. How the fuck did he know to post guards? She’d argued. When that didn’t work, she’d brought her ass back inside, deciding she needed a firm plan to outsmart her misguided son-in-law.
The door opened, and Diesel walked in, carrying a handful of empty paper plates. He was in the garage with the kids, where there was TV, video games, central heat, and all types of toys.
Diesel was a sweet kid, with sad gray eyes, and black hair. He’d filled out since Outlaw had rescued him from the streets. They’d miss him when he left for college,ifhe left. He might choose some place nearby. He’d told Roxy he didn’t want to leave Outlaw and Meggie, fearing they’d get used to him not being there and decide he was no longer a part of the family.
Roxy knew that wouldn’t happen, but he just had to see for himself.
He loped to the trash can, threw out his load, then went to the refrigerator, and pulled out two packs of juice boxes. With a grin, he headed back out and closed the door behind him.
