Page 153 of Remiss
“Are you sure about that?” Charlotte said with a sniff. “It wasn’t so long ago that Meggie was going to let that man kill you and Johnnie. You’re too much of a sweet girl to know retribution. She saw her opportunity—”
“Am I a fucking ghost?” Kendall snapped, frustrated. “Obviously, she didn’t do it. You were there at Outlaw’s birthday party. You know what happened. Stop twisting this to suit what you wanted to do.”
Charlotte reached her hand across the table and held it out. Kendall didn’t want to take it but she drew in a deep breath, extended her arm, and placed her hand in the older woman’s.
“You know I’ve only ever wanted the best for you, dear,” she said softly. “Sometimes, I am a little overzealous in my wont of protecting you. I mean no harm. Believe me.”
“If you want to harm Meggie, then youdomean harm, Charlotte,” Kendall said quietly, no longer the damaged woman who bought into Charlotte’s spin on Kendall’s life at the club or her relationship with Meggie.
Releasing her hold on Kendall, Charlotte straightened and drew her hands in front of her.
“I thought you’d put your derision toward her and Christopher,Johnnie, behind you.”
“Not when Brooks is in danger,” Charlotte cried.
“Brooks and Johnnie endangered themselves,” Kendall snapped, wondering why she’d even gone there. “Meggiehad fuck-all to do with it.”
“Do not blame my husband for her crimes.”
“I love Brooks to death, but that motherfucker’s a fucking idiot,” Kendall snarled.
Charlotte gasped, and her hands flew to her mouth.
Storming to her feet, Kendall snatched her purse. “Have you contacted Bash or anyone about Meggie?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
Kendall bared her teeth. Charlotte had once meant the world to her. The only other opinion she valued more was Brooks’s. Then she met Johnnie. Not only had she gained a new family, dysfunctional though they were, but an entirely new perspective and appreciation of differing views. Charlotte remained stuck, stubbornly insulated in her own little world.
“Get out of my house, Kendall. Don’t come back.”
“I once held you in the highest esteem, Charlotte. You meant everything to me. You are still important to me.”
“If you apologize, I will consider forgiving you.”
“Who have you talked to about Meggie?”
Smugness wasn’t a good look for Charlotte. Or, maybe, it was pettiness, since she’d always been conceited even after she’d fallen from her pedestal in society.
“You have your secrets and I have mine.”
Kendall heaved in a breath. “Keep your fucking secrets. I don’t need you to open your goddamn mouth.” Not only did she have ‘secrets’, she had contacts. “Good day, Charlotte.”
Sitting on the bed in the room he’d moved to, Johnnie stewed in anger, bitterness, and misery. On the one hand, he couldn’t stop thinking about that horrendous video between his grandfather and Sharper Banks.
Somehow, Jana Reynolds always intruded and added humiliation to his hodgepodge of emotions. Now that Kendall was home, it was inevitable she discovered that cunt’s existence.
Despite Diesel’s claim that Jana wanted nothing from him, Johnnie didn’t believe it. He was a fucking prize as a pal, a partner, or a parent. She’d want the Donovan name for prestige if nothing else.
Fucking slut. Just like Hopper. Dirty, sloppy bitch.
Johnnie scrubbed a hand over his face, thinking of Mattie. She’d been influenced enough by Rebel, her whore of a cousin. He could only imagine what would happen if she met Jana.
How had he ended up in this predicament?Him? The golden boy. The one with the brains, the future. The education.
No, they were lying. Jana belonged to Christopher. Logan was his grandfather, too. A blond. Her genes could’ve skipped a generation, bypassing both Hopper and Christopher. Logan had gray eyes, too.
If Johnnie remembered, Hopper’s eyes were bluish gray, although he wasn’t quite sure about that. She’d been a good fuck with a pretty face and a nice body. Her eye color hadn’t mattered one bit.
