Johnnie #2
“We were having problems. He found out about me and Johnnie. I didn’t mean to get pregnant.
When Johnnie came back from Colombia, he was different.
Sadder. He drank so much. Ran lines more than normal.
One night we were drunk and high and I stayed in his room with him for the entire weekend.
Big Joe was so angry with us. Johnnie never used coke again. ”
“Is there any possibility the baby’s is Snake’s?”
“Joey had blue eyes. Jana’s eyes were silver-gray. Like Johnnie’s.”
Kendall heaved in another breath.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You didn’t get pregnant on your own.” Kendall had everything she needed to know about Jana. A DNA test was necessary and would confirm paternity, but deep down she knew the truth. “Back to the letter again. Tell me exactly what you wrote. Bash might’ve left something out.”
“Okay.”
“Do you mind if I record you?”
“Uh—”
“Can you send me one dollar?” Kendall asked.
“A d-dollar?”
“Yes. In the mail. One dollar bill.”
“A dollar?”
“You can send more if you’d like.”
“We won’t go back to town until the weekend.”
“Mail it then.”
“Okay.”
“Excellent. I’m now your attorney. We have attorney-client privileges. Those recordings will only be for my benefit. I’ll even transcribe them myself.”
“Randolph said you were smart.”
“Not high praise since he’s a fucking idiot,” Kendall retorted.
“He’s still my son. Do not insult him.”
Kendall would try to keep her opinion to herself. “Do you have any way for me to get money to you?”
“No.”
“Is it only because of Bash?”
“Nowadays, yes.”
“We’ll talk about the money Outlaw would still like to give you in a few minutes.” She set her phone on her desk and enabled the listening device on it. “Please tell me the contents of the letter.”
As Kendall listened to Hopper, she realized the woman had been correct. The information she provided wasn’t much different than what Bash told Kendall yesterday. One thing was clear: she needed to get to Roxy’s house and she needed to snatch Father Wilkins and hang him upside down from a meat hook.
He hadn’t accidentally burned that rectory to the ground. It had been purposely torched. Either to destroy the real will or to kill him. One meant he was a traitor and the other meant he was a traitor with a target on his back.
That fuckhead knew what was going on. If he had the will all this fucking time, he’d betrayed Outlaw, Meggie, and the entire club. More to the point, he’d put Meggie’s life at risk.
“Thank you for all the information and your willingness to help,” Kendall told her.
“Is it odd that I feel as if I’ve betrayed Bash?”
“No,” Kendall said. “You two seem to care for each other. And you haven’t betrayed him. You are just fair and know Meggie didn’t deserve such a brutal fate for no reason at all.”
“I’m doing it for Outlaw and Meggie, but also Big Joe. He loved her very much.”
“So I’ve heard,” Kendall responded.
“How is…?” Instead of asking the question, Hopper sighed. “Never mind. Take care of yourself, Kendall.”
“Johnnie is okay,” she said. Whether Johnnie knew about Jana didn’t matter. He shared her with Hopper and it made sense she’d want to know about him.
“That’s good to hear. Still wickedly charming, I guess.”
“Age has mellowed him,” Kendall said, wishing that were true.
“I bet. And Outlaw?”
“Insane,” Kendall said with fond laughter. “As over-the-top as ever where his wife is concerned.”
She made a noise in the back of her throat and then said, “The others?”
“Mortician is the resident sage, especially to us. The women,” Kendall clarified. “Digger is still his shadow.”
“He always was.”
“Val turned his life around and has become such a wonderful husband and father.”
“I always thought he had the saddest childhood. The way he was abused as a kid and never knew where his father buried his mother’s body. He was kind, though. A little dense sometimes, but always sweet to me.”
“He’s still the same lovable Val,” Kendall said. “Just older and wiser.”
“Listening to you makes me a little wistful. I left before peace was found, but I always adored those guys. Even when Joey and Rack called me a traitor because of it. I adored Joey, too. It was puppy love, though.”
“You protected Meggie, Hopper. Yes, your son fucked up. But you aren’t alone.
You will always be a Dweller girl. Respected and cherished.
If Bash is telling the truth, then Christopher will keep him in line.
I foresee alliances. Maybe, you and Bash do have a future.
He’s so fucked up, but I think he wants to do better. ”
“Should I give him a chance? Let him stay with me a few days? I live off the grid. I’m a ghost. I have no bank accounts. No bills. No mailing address. As far as anyone knows, I’ve fallen off the face of the earth.”
“I don’t suggest you give up your location. That’s your safe space. Even if he turns out to be everything we think he can be, there’s still Cleaner. He sounds like an awful motherfucker.”
Hopper laughed. “You curse hardcore.”
“Honey, I curse hardcore and drink hardcore.”
“Randolph said you were really classy. A girly chick.”
“I am. I love fashion, make-up, and opera. That doesn’t mean I can’t call a motherfucker a motherfucker.”
“So true.”
“If you visit Bash and decide to make a detour to Hortensia, there’s money and hugs waiting for you.”
“Thank you, Kendall,” Hopper said, a skeptical note in her voice.
Kendall understood. She wouldn’t push the woman. If she took the offer, then she’d see for herself. If Kendall never talked to her again, she hoped she remembered she chose to remain isolated.
“Would you like my phone number?” Hopper asked after a moment. “You can give it to the guys. I’d love to talk to Meggie again. You can also call me whenever you’d like.”
“I’d love your phone number. Please feel free to call me as well.”
When Kendall hung up, she contemplated her conversation with Hopper.
Christopher would want a report on Kendall’s meeting with Bash as soon as possible.
She needed to focus on that. She also needed to draft documents to present to Christopher about the peace agreement between the Dwellers and the Scorpions.
Maybe she’d also assemble a business deal of some sort.
She just needed to figure out what working relationship would benefit both clubs.
She also looked over the financial records to calculate how much Bash might be owed since Cee Cee’s death.
Johnnie would be so angry with her.
Kendall swallowed. The way he treated her at the meeting, the things he’d said to Bash about her, ran through her head. Fuck him. Part of the reason she’d been looking for houses and attorneys was because of that motherfucker’s behavior in front of a man who was supposed to be his enemy.
Anger surging into her, Kendall awakened her laptop and dialed the number on the screen to inquire about the house that would work fine for her once she divorced Johnnie.
Every time Johnnie remembered Kendall’s meeting with Bash yesterday, fury rushed through him. But something else, too. Fear. He knew him and Kendall reached a turning point. She’d reached a turning point with how she saw their marriage. She was fed-up.
Whether she slept with Christopher and Mortician didn’t matter–much.
In the big picture, those infractions could be overlooked.
The way she’d dressed for Bash, looked at him as if he were a man and not an animal, laughed with him, and didn’t cower, frightened Johnnie.
That spoke to him more than if she’d fucked the entire club. He was losing his wife.
Just as he could lose his life.
The closer Kendall got to the truth, the more in danger Johnnie was. The truth wouldn’t set him free. It would get him fucking killed.
Going on the run looked less like just words thrown out to Cash McCall and more like a reality. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want Megan to die. Not that it mattered any longer.
He just knew he was in deep shit. Christopher wanted him dead.
And Kendall was fed up.
He was confined to a small guest room. Not only was his beloved wife furious with him, but his children. He’d barely slept a wink, so he’d gotten out of bed quite early this morning and hastily arranged several meetings then hit the road for Seattle.
He opened a high yield savings account at a regional bank, moving some of the money from one of his personal accounts that he used for vacations, cars, and entertainment.
Kendall only bothered with their joint bank account and her own personal one that she used for her and Mattie’s wardrobes.
Next, he met with a design team based out of Seattle but with offices in Pereira and other international locations.
His grandfather’s Colombian farm probably warranted a complete rebuild.
However, Johnnie just needed the kitchen, living room, a bedroom and a bathroom completed in the next month or two.
Hopefully, he wouldn’t have a use for it anytime soon and he was just overreacting.
Having a place to live and money were two obstacles easy to overcome. The final two? Not so much.
To get away, an untraceable escape route was imperative. Christopher’s net reached far and wide. If Johnnie didn’t make strategic plans, he’d be caught and brought back to the club within an hour.
Finally, and possibly the most important, was Kendall. She might not want to leave when he told her he wouldn’t take the kids.
How could he? Four children would slow him down and allow him to be caught and killed.