Chapter Thirteen – Johnnie
Walking into the clubhouse, Johnnie nodded to Cash and Digger and headed to the bar for a setup.
He’d left the office early for a meeting with a drug distributor.
The end result pleased him. If, and when he ran, he’d have enough of Kendall’s meds to last six months.
He didn’t think they’d be away that long, but he wanted contingencies in place.
He intended to spend the evening at the club. After Kendall smashed the Scales of Justice, Johnnie canceled the roses and told De Smet to hold off on sending the chocolates. For whatever reason, Kendall took everything he said or did the wrong fucking way.
Even though he was still prohibited from the master bedroom, Johnnie didn’t want to spend the night alone and stewing in misery. Let her wonder about him.
“If you want a drink, you might have to get it yourself,” Digger called.
Sighing, Johnnie walked to Christopher’s table, where Digger and Cash sat.
Although Johnnie knew how severely Christopher beat Cash and Digger, seeing them with bandaged heads and casts on their arms and legs, along with neck braces as they sat in wheelchairs at the club, was a shock to his system.
He mourned the loss of his fingers, but in the scheme of things, he got off easy.
“What are you doing here, McCall?” he asked in greeting, nodding to Digger. Johnnie glanced around and frowned at the emptiness of the room. “Where is everyone?”
“I don’t know,” Cash rasped. “Ophelia brought me here a few minutes before a mass exodus.”
Johnnie lifted his brows. “And no one told you where they were going?”
“Am I a fucking officer?”
“Not technically,” Johnnie snapped, fucked off by Cash’s attitude. He looked at Digger, who was definitely an officer. “No one told you?”
“I wasn’t in here. Bunny was feeding me, then she wheeled me in and left. She said someone else could bring me to my room.”
“Where’s Val and Stretch?” Johnnie asked.
“I have no clue,” Cash wheezed out. “I’m not their favorite person, so they won’t give me a blow-by-blow of their movements.”
Johnnie looked at Digger again. “Mortician?”
“What Cash said.”
Uneasiness prickled Johnnie’s skin, and he glanced around again. A few of the members aligned with him sat at tables, but neither Potter nor that skinny little motherfucker named Kenny was around. Something was wrong.
“Where’s Christopher?”
Digger and Cash widened their eyes and looked at each other.
“Bruh, you think we’d be sitting in this motherfucker if Outlaw was around?” Digger demanded. “I’d prefer to kick it with Satan then to ever cross swords with Prez again. And I definitely won’t even think about being around him until I can at least try to fucking run away.”
Swallowing, Cash nodded, then moaned. “What Digger said,” he pushed out, mimicking Digger’s words.
“Only you, Johnnie, don’t have the sense of a fucking leaf,” Digger told him. “You constantly fuck with Outlaw. Now, you a seven-finger motherfucker. Next, you going to be a one lip fuckhead. One ear. One eye. One knee. One nut. Piece by piece until nothing left to your dumb ass.”
Digger was right, and a sick feeling rose inside Johnnie. Instead of showing fear or weakness, he scowled. “I don’t appreciate your fucking tone of voice.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you fucking appreciate. It’s ‘cause of you, me and Cash so fucked up.”
“Oh, I like that. I didn’t make you—”
“You fucked with Meggie,” Cash said. “If she’d been here, Outlaw wouldn’t have went ham on us, fuckhead.”
“She was still in town when he shot my fucking fingers off,” Johnnie barked.
“Was she at this motherfucker?” Digger yelled. “She didn’t want to be around Prez because you fucked with her, which fucked with their marriage. You’d still be a ten-finger motherfucker if Meggie and Prez had been straight.”
“You stole from her, asshole,” Johnnie sneered. “I didn’t make you do that. You did it because you’re a stupid motherfucker who don’t know how to handle fucking money.”
Sunshine streamed inside as the door opened and Roxanne rushed in. She stopped midway to the table and looked frantically around as if she saw nothing and no one.
“You look like you seen a ghost, Roxanne,” Digger called, snickering.
Instead of a comeback, she stumbled toward them.
Seeing the tears in her eyes, Digger lost his smile. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Where’s Mortician or Outlaw?” she asked.
“Not here,” Johnnie said slowly.
She closed her eyes, then opened them and pinned her watery, light brown gaze on Johnnie. “I need your gun.”
Johnnie got to his feet and settled his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her. He halfway expected her to shove him away. She didn’t. “Talk to me.”
“H-Harley texted me. Ned punched her,” she rambled.
“Who?”
Ignoring Digger’s question or too shaken up to process it, she continued.
“I can’t find her. I’ve been calling and it keeps going to voicemail.
I went to the school and Marvey said she left without permission.
I can’t find…” She hugged him and a little sob escaped her. “If anything’s happened to Harley…”
Ignoring his guilt over his instruction to Marvey, Johnnie took Roxanne’s face between his hands. “Listen to me—”
She shook her head. “Where is everybody, Johnnie? It’s too silent. Something terrible must’ve happened. Is Harley alive or has N-Ned kidnapped her?”
Johnnie guided her to the seat he’d just vacated. “I’m going to make some calls—”
The door opened again and CJ walked to the table.
“We saw your SUV, Lolly,” he said, side-eying Johnnie with dislike. “Harley’s in the car.”
Roxanne released a sobby breath and jumped to her feet. CJ didn’t move out of her path. Nor did he stop glaring at Johnnie.
“You have something to say to me, nephew?”
“I have more than I ever fucking care to say to you, fuckhead,” CJ spat.
“Move out of Roxanne’s way so she can get to Harley, then I’m beating the fuck out of you.”
“Fuck you. I had to come and get her because Mattie saw your fucking Navigator, you miserable motherfucker. Aunt Kendall isn’t at the office so we had to come here.
Wally, Jr. attacked your daughter and she’s hysterical because of you.
Not because that motherfucker tried to rape her.
Not because he punched her. Because you’re a piece of garbage who made her think you’d hate her because of what that motherfucker did. You know what? Fuck. You.”
Over the months, Johnnie’s relationship with CJ had disintegrated into nothingness.
Much like every other relationship Johnnie had ever had.
But hearing CJ’s anger and seeing his look of disgust would’ve been just another thing for Johnnie to brush off.
If not for the reason why his nephew was so angry.
“Lolly?”
Harley’s pitiful voice seeped into Johnnie’s brain. He turned, almost as if he were the villain in his own movie, and the camera slowed everything down for maximum effect. One side of Harley’s face was swollen and her eye completely closed. Dried blood caked her lips and—
“Mattie needs to use the bathroom,” Grant said quietly, and it took Johnnie a moment to realize the comment was for him. “She’s afraid to come in.”
If Johnnie could feel any lower, those words pierced his soul.
“Bring her to me,” he croaked.
“Fuck you. Fuck no,” CJ blared, starting off. “I’ll drive her to my house—”
“CJ, please,” Johnnie said, on the verge of tears. “I swear—”
“Why the fuck should I trust you? Marvey told us what you did. Why? How the fuck can you constantly undermine every motherfucking thing?”
Johnnie closed his eyes. “CJ—”
“Why don’t I go ask her if she’ll see you?” Grant suggested. “She’s very traumatized, so if she doesn’t want to talk to you, can you not say anything to her while she goes to the bathroom?”
Johnnie nodded, and Grant left.
Minutes ticked by, while the heat of CJ’s hate and anger lasered Johnnie. For once, he didn’t blame his nephew. He hated himself at that particular moment. More than that, though, CJ’s fierce protection of Mattie impressed him.
“Oh, baby,” Roxanne said.
“Hey, Lolly.”
Mattie’s hoarse, tired voice hit Johnnie in the center of his chest and he was barely able to look in her direction. He knew if he didn’t, however, Mattie would think he was angry at her and CJ would probably punch him.
Drawing in a deep breath, Johnnie lifted his gaze. Mattie’s face was bruised, but it was her throat and the obvious signs of strangulation that horrified him.
He didn’t know what to do or what to say. He wasn’t good at this. Not like Kendall. He heaved in another breath, blinked away his tears, and swallowed the bile rising in his throat.
He opened his arms, the only thing he knew to do. “Come here, sweetheart.”
She didn’t hesitate to run to him, lay her head on his shoulder and…cry. Gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching sobs, drawn from her soul. He hugged her, as he’d once done, before Bash. Before he wanted to play the hero. Back when things had still been good and she’d been his princess.
“I’m so sorry, Mattie,” he whispered, meaning it. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“I have to use the bathroom,” she mumbled long moments later, a fact Johnnie had almost forgotten.
“I-I’ll go with you,” Harley said.
Johnnie watched his baby girl, unable to remember the last time she’d had a real pep in her step. Or true joy.
“Roxanne, can you take them to your place?” he asked once they went into the bathroom.
She nodded.
“CJ?”
His nephew stiffened and lifted a brow.
“I know I’m not your favorite person but tell me what happened.”
“You’re in good fucking company, because Uncle Digger and Uncle Cash are right there with you in my fucking book.”
“Hey, little bruh! I’m suffering.”