Page 202 of Relentles
“And fucking proud of it,” he joked, wanting a real lighthearted moment, instead of an illusion. He seethed with fear, worry, and pure fucking fury. He’d fuck up Bash if it was the last fucking thing he ever did.
If Christopher had been involved from the beginning, Bash would already be dead.
She kissed the base of his neck and desire shot through him. “Talk to me, Johnnie,” she whispered. “What’s bothering you?”
“A lot, gorgeous,” Johnnie said on a sigh. “Most of which I can’t discuss with you.”
“Then let’s talk about what you can tell me.”
His arms tightened around her, appreciating Christopher’s paranoia at the once ever-looming threat of harm befalling his woman. Kendall faced danger from time to time, mostly from her own poor decisions. On the other hand, Megan had been a target because of who she was—Big Joe’s daughter and Christopher’s wife.
Yet, it was so much fucking deeper, aided by massive amounts of money but honed in betrayal and death. While Big Joe was alive, Megan had been safe. After his death, K-P stepped in, but he’d been better than all of them and he hadn’t been able to afford the exorbitant amounts Big Joe split between Logan and Sharper. And Dinah, that sniveling cunt, contacted Sharper once she realized Megan had no intention of returning to Seattle. In response, Sharper sent Cee Cee to reason with Christopher to send Megan away because she was weakening him and, therefore, the club. First, though, Cee Cee decided to fuck with Megan.
Maybe, the motherfucker had been bored. Or, maybe, he wanted to add another woman connected to the Death Dwellers to his list of perversions. Maybe brutalizing Johnnie’s grandmother, mother, aunt, and cousin wasn’t enough.
Whatever the case, Cee Cee hadn’t intended to leave Megan alive. Joe was dead, so killing his baby girl wasn’t a betrayal, to Cee Cee’s fucked-up way of thinking. Once Christopher killed Cee Cee, Sharper resurrected fucking Logan.
After K-P’s death, Dinah hadn’t gone into a catatonic no man’s land out of grief. It was because she couldn’t handleher fucking guilt. She was a weak, conniving bitch, while Aunt Patricia had been amurderous, conniving bitch.
Put together with massive amounts of hidden cash and deed designations, murder was on everyone’s agenda.
Years after her death, Christopher still held his mother in the highest esteem. In his eyes, she’d been one of the few people who’d been a victim of circumstance but lifted herself up and prevailed. Few knew she’d orchestrated a fair amount of chaos. Offering the truth would serve no purpose, except to crush the pedestal Christopher placed Aunt Patricia on.
Kendall sat straighter on his lap and frowned at him. “Johnnie?”
“Sorry, sweetheart.” He scraped his fingers through his hair. “I have a lot on my mind.”
“Would you like to eat here alone? I’ll dine with the kids.”
Smiling, he twirled a tendril of her red hair. “No—”
“I don’t mean to cut you off, but the strangest thing that happened to me today,” she said as she stood, beginning to pace.
Her innocent tone raised his guard and put him on alert. Usually, she already had her answers; she merely sought confirmation for what she already knew. She instigated discoveries before she created chaos.
“What—”
“I was leaving the courthouse and a man walked in front of me.” She sniffed and folded her arms. “It was purposeful on that asshole’s part. What alarmed me was how like Outlaw he looked, even with his bald head, pockmarked skin, and beard. He leered at me, then turned and left me standing there. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he had a cut on. And his back rockers identified him as an American Scorpion from Salt Lake City.”
Pursing her lips, she sidled a glance at him.
“Wasn’t that your father’s club?”
Johnnie gritted his teeth. Megan was the key to an illegal enterprise, while Kendall was the wife of a half-brother aligned with and loyal to Bash’s public enemy number one. Motherfucker was back to his fucking games, turning up everywhere like fucking Waldo.
A chill slithered down Johnnie’s spine, quickly extinguished by burning fury. After the recent development, if he made a big deal out of Kendall’s announcement, she’d suffer again. “Yes.”
“I-I thought they were wiped from the face of the earth.”
If only.
She glanced at him through the fringes of her lashes. “Should we tell Outlaw?”
“No, gorgeous,” he croaked. “We want peace. Remember? If the motherfucker didn’t say anything to you, there’s no need to worry.”
“He gave me the creeps,” she confessed.
Another moment of silence followed, filled with expectation.
