Chapter Eight –Christopher #2
Uncertainty entered her eyes, though she nodded, and pasted a careless smile on her face.
“Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,” she started.
“And burnt the topless towers of Ilium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss: Her lips sucks forth my soul, see where it flies! Come Helen, come, give me my soul again. Here will I dwell, for heaven be in these lips, And all is dross that is not Helena!”
Folding his arms, Christopher glared at her. “I ain’t your motherfucker. I hate Marlowe as much as I hate Shakespeare. Borin’ fuckheads.”
“It’s one of my favorite quotes from Doctor Faustus.”
“And you hurt my goddamn ears for what fuckin’ reason?”
“To tell you that I know I don’t have a face that could start or stop a war, so you have every right to be skeptical about the reason Bash wants peace.”
Fucking Johnnie. As much as Kendall tried to ignore that motherfucker’s motherfuckery, he still got into her head and chipped away at her confidence.
“It ain’t like you a fuckin’ Gorgon. What the fuck you talkin’ about?
I ain’t asked you that cuz you can’t make a motherfucker go stupid.
It’s cuz I don’t want to put that fuckin’ burden on you.
The motherfucker might decide to up his fuckin’ game and ask for pussy, then we would’ve wasted fuckin’ time cuz you now one of my lil’ sisters and I’d have to fuck him up for the disrespect. ”
“He was actually rather charming.”
Christopher grunted, laying how she saw Bash at Johnnie’s feet, too.
She looked so sad and sounded so defeated.
He couldn’t help but wonder if Megan had moved in a similar manner before she left.
“I told him I would bring the terms to you. I have drafted some documents for you to read over. If you are comfortable with everything, arrange a meeting. Maybe here at the office? Listen to what he has to say. Brooks doesn’t immediately have to present the contracts to Bash. ”
Brooks wouldn’t present a goddamn thing.
“He also wants Diesel to stay married to Tabitha for the next six months.”
That would be a problem because Diesel was so fucking hardheaded. He also wanted his fucking way and thought he could outsmart every motherfucker around.
Christopher scowled. “What else?”
“I…nothing that I can think of.”
“You asked about Hopper’s girl?”
Annoyance crossed her face, but she gritted her teeth and nodded.
“She here,” he told her, and cocked his head. “But you already fuckin’ know, huh? Bash told you.”
Removing her glasses, which he just realized she wore today, Kendall sat them on the desk and rubbed her eyes. “Seriously, how the fuck do you do that?”
“We been through how I do it, so answer the fuckin’ question.”
Instead of appeasing her, her annoyance only grew. “You don’t even know what the fuck I’m talking about. Unless Digger is right and I’d hate to give the fuckhead props for anything.”
Snickering, Christopher leaned back. “It ain’t got nothin’ to do with bein’ a freak of fuckin’ nature, which we know Digger mean when he call me freaky in that fuckin’ sense.”
“Can you please stop saying ‘it’ and answer my question?”
“Nope. Not until you answer the motherfucker I asked first.”
“Yes, Bash told me. He also pointed out that you and Meggie were probably protecting me by keeping that secret.”
Conflicting emotions toward Bash rose in him.
The way Bash helped Kendall both impressed and concerned Christopher.
Put together with those expensive ass roses and her vulnerability because Johnnie really needed to fucking die, Christopher wasn’t happy.
“I came to tell you about her and to fuckin’ apologize, Kendall.
Megan and me talked about it last night and she thought you had a right to know.
She never intended to hurt or betray you but she didn’t want to cause you unnecessary trauma if Jana turn out not to be Johnnie’s.
She’s got some things to do this mornin’, but she gonna talk to you herself.
On behalf of her, though, she sorry, too. ”
Tears gathering in her eyes and her nose reddening, Kendall swallowed.
Christopher held her gaze. “You a strong bitch, but that don’t mean you can’t be hurt. Us wantin’ to protect you and keep that from you had nothin’ to do with believin’ you weak or still a psycho cunt or nothin’ like that.”
She sniffled and burst into laughter. “Thank you for that pep talk.”
Only Kendall could pull off sarcasm and gratitude. “You know what the fuck I mean.”
“I do. It did hurt me at first,” she admitted, and swiped at her wet cheeks.
Kendall needed a friend, a big brother. It crossed his mind to call Mort. If the motherfucker could ride over, he could give Christopher pointers. That would take too much fucking time and he still had something else to discuss with her, so he got to his feet and held out his hand.
At first, she just stared at it, uncertainty on her red, splotchy face. Slowly, she placed her hand in his and he tugged her up, then hugged her.
“It’s gonna be okay, Kendall,” he told her as she rested her head on his shoulder.
“Hear me? Even if I gotta kill Johnnie, Ima give you a chance to act like you got sense. If you turn into a psycho cunt again, Ima kill you and put you out your fuckin’ misery.
Otherwise, we always gonna be your family and support you. Whether Johnnie around or not.”
She nodded.
“Now, go splash cold fuckin’ water on your face. Your nose and face red efuckinuff to power a stoplight for fuckin’ months.”
Snatching herself away from him, she thumped his shoulder. “You don’t insult a lady.”
His job done, Christopher returned to his seat. “I do when that lady my fuckin’ friend and sister, so shut the fuck up and go cool off your goddamn face.”
Whatever went through her head made her burst into tears. Fuck. He searched his mind for how he’d once comforted Zoann. Val suggested he take cues from then to deal with Rebel. He could do the same with Kendall.
First, he’d probably tell Zoann to… “Sit the fuck down, Kendall.”
She stumbled to her expensive ass chair, sat down, laid her head on the desk, and sobbed as if her heart was so shattered it would never recover.
Christopher frowned. What the fuck now? With Megan, he’d hold her in his arms until she calmed down and then found a way to fix the problem.
Once, he’d hold Rebel and reassure her. Now, he sent her to Megan.
What the fuck did he do with Zoann? He barely remembered.
Comforting his little sister had been a fucking lifetime ago.
He could always hug Kendall again. Unfortunately, she was a girl and wasn’t related by blood.
If Megan found out he held Kendall for more than sixty or ninety seconds, she might get mad and not believe it was out of brotherly concern.
He’d never wanted Torie and he was still suffering the fallout because of the way his actions were perceived.
If Rebel didn’t hate him, she disliked him because of that situation.
Sighing, Christopher lit a smoke to wait until Kendall ran out of fucking tears.
Five minutes later, he stood and walked to her sofa table to get rid of his cigarette.
As he returned to his seat, she finally shut the fuck up, lifted her head and grabbed tissue from the silver box on her desk.
“You cryin’ cuz of what Johnnie did last night or what he did Sunday? Or both?”
Her face crumpled again and horror washed through Christopher.
“You know you a pretty bitch,” he blurted. “And you ain’t wrinkled or nothin’.” He squinted. “You don’t look no older than thirty-five.”
“Are you trying to make me feel better?” she wailed, tears slipping down her cheeks.
If she kept fucking crying, she wouldn’t be able to keep her fucking head upright. It would hurt too fucking much.
“How the fuck old you are?”
“You don’t know?”
“Am I supposed to fuckin’ know?”
“Yes!” she cried, sniffling like a little kid. “I’m your sister-in-law. You’re supposed to remember my birthday is September 15th and my age.”
“I ain’t supposed to know no motherfucker’s birthday except Megan’s.”
Still sniffling, she swiped at her cheeks. “And your kids, of course.”
“I got too many motherfuckers to keep the fuck up. I remember cuz of all the plans Megan make. As long as I remember, Megan’s birthday, Romantic Motherfucker Day, and our anniversaries, I ain’t carin’ about my fuckin’ birthday.
When Megan tell me it’s a motherfucker’s birthday, then I say happy fuckin’ birthday. ”
“Your club members, too?”
“We have a monthly fuckin’ barbeque for all the motherfuckers born in that month. I ain’t got to fuckin’ remember individual days.”
“Okay.”
“You been takin’ your fuckin’ meds?”
“Yes. I promised I would.”
“When you see your doctor again?”
“In two weeks.”
Maybe he couldn’t hug her, but he could talk to her or order her to see her doctor sooner.
“I’m fine,” she croaked. “I-I…last night when Johnnie gave me the gift, I thought…but it wasn’t because he loves me.”
“As much as I hate to take up for that fuckhead for any fuckin’ thing, he do love you. He just a stupid motherfucker.”
“My Johnnie wasn’t.”
“News fuckin’ flash: your Johnnie gone. Never to fuckin’ return. My Johnnie gone too, Kendall. Sometimes, I still miss that motherfucker. That make me hate him more.”
“Maybe life can get back to normal once a deal is worked out,” Kendall said, hope filling her teary brown eyes. “The way it was before Bash contacted Brooks.”