Page 70 of Remorseless
“Bailey! Fuck! Youhavelost your motherfucking mind. CJ shouldn’t have had to sit outHomecomingbecause Harley ordered him not to go. That’s the past. This the present. You need to apologize to Meggie, CJ, and Prez.”
“Absolutely not! They don’t deserve it. I did nothing but protect my daughter.”
Mort deflated. As long as Bailey couldn’t admit she was wrong, he wasn’t interested in a reconciliation. “For whatever fucking reason, you been giving Harley right even though she wrong ninety-nine point nine-nine-nine-nine-nine—”
“Very funny. Round that off and you get one hundred.”
“Your fucking words, not mine.”
“Harley was wrong in her treatment ofmeand you. The other times she was responding to unfairness.”
“I’m fucking done. We going round and round and reaching the same fucking conclusion. You sticking to Harley no matter what.”
“I’m a Mama Bear!”
“A blind Mama Bear, but a Mama Bear,” he grumbled.
“I’m so tired of your insults this evening. It’s been horrible enough. You waltz in here an hour and a half late. I decided to talk to Tee about that flirting heifer but he refused to fire her.”
“Bailey, Symphony need this goddamn job. I haven’t set foot in this motherfucker in weeks—”
“Since she left—”
“I wouldn’t have come tonight,” he continued, not dignifying her accusation with a response. “Youpicked this motherfucker! I wanted to take you to Portland. Somewhere other than J’s. If you would’ve been on fucking time, I wouldn’t have even been near the fucking club when the goddamn alarm went off.”
“I haven’t been feeling well, so I took a pregnancy test, and it came back negative.” She shrugged. “I decided to stay at the office until it was time to meet you, but I ended up with a massive headache. I even threw up. I wanted to spend time with you. Not just have you barely talk to me at home.”
“We go round and round about the same thing, baby. I want us to move forward. I want us to work through this, but I just can’t until you realizeyou were wrong.I’ve taken too much bullshit from Harley and from youbecauseof Harley these last few weeks. If you don’t fucking see the error of your fucking ways, it’s going to happen over and over again.”
“I see.”
Perhaps, she did, but judging by her tone, she didn’t fucking like it.
“When you arrived, I was in the bathroom throwing up again.”
“Bailey—”
“It could be stress,” she acknowledged. “Neither Mama, my grandmother, Carissa, or Alexia is talking to me.”
“Because of Harley.”
His sisters-in-law were outraged at her behavior. After Harley’s fight with Roxanne, Carissa and Alexia probably jumped down Bailey’s throat. Not that it did any good. No one could get through to her and make her understand Harley needed a firmer hand.
“I feel so isolated.”
“Because of Harley.”
“Stop blaming her!” Bailey screeched. “She’s just a confused little girl.”
“She’s spoiled and immature,” Mort countered. “She listened to a motherfucker out of spite. A motherfucker who wanted Harley just to fuck with CJ and she was too fucking blind to see that.”
“Everything has to go back to that fucking asshole. The embodiment of entitled. Meggie flutters aroundher potatoand thinks the sun rises and sets in him. He’s so arrogant.”
“What the fuck is Harley?”
“She’sours. How dare you choose him over her?”
“I’m not choosing a motherfucker or his mama over you or Harley. I’m giving right where right fucking belong.”
