Chapter 42 – Kendall #2
“My point is I won’t fuck up Johnnie unless you told me to. I can’t believe that I’m turning into a bleeding cunt but this was nice. The arguing those motherfuckers did in front of me made me feel like I was part of the family.”
“They always argue. Especially Outlaw’s sons.”
“Why aren’t you calling him Christopher anymore?”
Kendall shrugged. “Does it matter?”
“If it has to do with the brainless fucking blond, fuck yeah.”
“Johnnie isn’t as bad as you make him out to be.”
That motherfucker was worse.
“That brainless motherfucker is worse,” Bash growled as the thought ran through Kendall’s brain.
Before she responded, Abel stuck his head in. “Mrs. Donovan?”
Kendall stood, Bash’s visit easing her somewhat. She wasn’t sure how he’d done it, but he had. Smiling, she waved Abel in.
“Everyone’s test results are in,” he told her.
Kendall rubbed her temples. She still hadn’t looked at the tests that had been taken in advance. Only one mattered the most to her. Jana’s, where she could confirm once and for all that she was Johnnie’s daughter.
Bash got to his feet. “I’m glad to see you smile, gorgeous,” he said, and sauntered out.
She’d wasted enough time moping. Deciding to wait until later to stress about Johnnie, she looked at Abel. “Do you have Jana Reynolds’s results?”
He flipped through a small stack of pages, then picked up three sheets.
Kendall frowned.
“Mr. Caldwell asked me to test four potential fathers.”
Pursing her lips, Kendall took the papers from him, unsure why he’d waste so much money on more tests than necessary after the exorbitant fees to have expedited and onsite processing.
She read each name, looked at the results, and rubbed her eyes.
She couldn’t be seeing that right. She tilted her head to one side and then the other, turned the page sideways.
It was still the same result.
Kendall fell back against the chair, too fucking shocked to move.
“Do you want to review the other results before you address everyone?”
“No.”
Anticipating the fallout from the new development hiked up her anxiety.
The moment she walked into the living room with Abel at her side, both of them carrying the DNA results of too many people to even consider, Kendall cleared her throat.
She started with the fuckheads responsible for all the chaos.
“Cee Cee Caldwell and Wallace Bart were half-brothers.”
She sounded cold and sterile as if she was an actor giving a very bad performance. She couldn’t care. She just needed to get through this without breaking down.
Johnnie’s intent gaze on her was nerve-wracking. Not only didn’t she want him near her, she didn’t want his icy silver gaze studying her. He knew he’d won.
Tension was high in the room. To Kendall, it had to do with more than why they were there, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask. She wanted to find a way to draw out the evening as much as she wanted it to end as quickly as possible, so she’d get through whatever Johnnie planned.
The results blurred in front of her and she couldn’t remember if she’d announced Cee Cee and Wallace’s relationship, so she repeated it.
“Baby, you just said that,” Roxy told her.
She nodded, saw Meggie narrow her eyes and Outlaw glare at Johnnie.
“Red?”
Mortician’s voice washed over her, soothing her. He was her friend. She could confide in him about Johnnie’s cruelty and he wouldn’t want to kill her husband.
Outlaw would.
Bash would.
Meggie would.
Johnnie would be dead and Rory would never forgive her. Maybe Mattie, JJ, and Blade wouldn’t either.
“Would you like a glass of water?” Celia asked, sitting near Bash.
She needed vodka. Gallons of it. And sleeping pills.
“Kendall, Ima ask you this once,” Outlaw started in that tone he used when he was about to kill someone. “What the fuck’s wrong? Cuz, see, Rebel came in earlier and froze just the way you fuckin’ doin’ now.”
“She did?” Meggie looked at Rebel who was sitting across the room with Harley, Mattie, and Jana. “You did, Reb?”
At the sight of Jana, hysterical laughter bubbled inside of Kendall.
“Unless your motherfucker wanna die in front of everyfuckinbody, I know he ain’t fucked with Rebel and you,” Outlaw continued.
“One just get a bullet in his fuckin’ head.
Fuckin’ with both you and my girl get this motherfucker riddled with bullets, beheaded, and his arms and legs chopped the fuck off. ”
“That’s my dad!” Rory cried.
“Motherfucker, you fucked with my sister,” CJ snapped. “I suggest you get off that tired fucking record before I shoot the fuck out of you.”
Kendall closed her eyes.
“You don’t even have a gun, CJ,” Rory croaked.
“Then I’ll just choke the fuck out of you,” CJ said viciously, his eyes blazing. “I suggest you shut the fuck up and when I hear your motherfucking mouth again, find something new to say because that shit irritates the fuck out of me and makes you sound like a broken fucking record.”
Zoann slid to the edge of her seat on the loveseat where she sat next to Val. Her gaze roamed from Ryan to CJ to Rory to Devon and back to CJ again. “What did Rory do to Rebel?”
CJ glanced at his mother, who gave the slightest shake of her head, her eyes begging him to walk it back, although his reaction confirmed what Johnnie told Kendall.
“It isn’t what you think, Aunt Zoann,” CJ told her.
A little green around the gills, Zoann pressed a hand to her belly and CJ lifted his brows, almost a mirror to his father’s mannerisms.
“You’re…” He shifted. “Uh, okay? Are you okay?”
Kendall knew he’d probably reached the conclusion that she was pregnant.
Meggie was usually so sick when she was carrying a baby.
Zoann had shared her news while they were in the kitchen helping Celia with the meal, revealing Ryan and Devon didn’t know yet.
Kendall appreciated how CJ picked up on the need for discretion.
“You’re okay, Aunt Zoann?” he asked again because she hadn’t answered when he first asked.
Zoann nodded. “Can you get me another ginger ale, Harley?” she asked, her skin paling, her eyes tearing up.
“If none’s in the refrigerator, look under the cabinet, sweetheart,” Celia told Harley.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Glasses are in the center cabinet,” Celia added.
“Okay, Aunt Celia,” Harley said.
“Mom?” Ryan looked truly concerned. He might’ve gone to his mother if he’d had somewhere to go, but it was so crowded, he had to remain standing against the wall as Harley weaved her way through. “What’s wrong, Mom?”
“I’ll explain at home, son,” Zoann responded.
“I didn’t mean to upset you, Auntie,” CJ said.
“I don’t know why CJ jumping on Rory upset you, Mom,” Devon started. “He didn’t mention my brother. You must suspect Ryan of something if whatever’s going on with Rory upset you this much.”
If Devon hadn’t grabbed Zoann’s attention, she would’ve seen Outlaw, Diesel, and Val’s filthy look at him. She would’ve seen Rebel, CJ, Ryan, Grant, Mattie, and the Triplet’s incredulous ones.
“You—” Axel started, but Diesel clapped his hand over the boy’s mouth then bent and whispered to him.
The interruption helped to distract Kendall from her own problems. She remembered she had a job to do, her mantra of the evening.
While the drama between Devon continued, Kendall looked at the results again.
“Cee Cee Caldwell and Wallace Bart were half-brothers.”
“That’s the third time you’ve said the same fucking thing.” Cleaner’s ugly tone sliced through Kendall. “If a cunt can’t use her fucking brain, she doesn’t need it in her goddamn head.”
“And if a motherfucker not shuttin’ the fuck up, he don’t need his motherfuckin’ head,” Outlaw snapped. “Back off Kendall, assfuck. This my only fucking warning.”
“It isn’t as if you’re fucking armed, Outlaw,” Cleaner sneered.
Mortician shoved his cut aside to show his gun. “Prez not. I am, so I suggest you shut the fuck up, pardner.”
“Foul!” Tio cried. “We’re unarmed.”
“That’s on your bitch ass.” Digger was still in a wheelchair, so Kendall wasn’t sure what he thought to accomplish. “Mort taking my place for right now. No SAA worth his fucking salt not packing, so fuck you and back the fuck off Mort and Kendall.”
“Make me,” Tio said.
“How about I fucking make you?” Diesel inserted, his tone hard and cold, hatred gleaming in his eyes. “I have a fucking score to settle with you, so I suggest you shut the fuck up and disappear while you still can.”
“I take fucking exception to that Dee Dee!” Bash barked, a quiet observer until that point.
Harley walked back in, carrying a glass filled with ice in one hand and a can of ginger ale in the other.
The argument halted while Harley handed Zoann the glass, then opened the can of ginger ale. Val took over from there, pouring the soda into the glass, then bringing it to Zoann’s lips and allowing her to drink.
It took a minute for Harley to make her way back to Rebel and Mattie, but when she did it dawned on Kendall that both her daughter and her niece were pale and clinging to each other.
“Fuck,” Bash said on a groan, capturing Kendall’s attention.
Easton had whispered something to Bash, which greatly displeased him. Seeing Celia’s curiosity, Bash leaned over. Whatever he told her made her widen her eyes and gasp.
This was getting out-of-hand. Kendall had a lot of results to read.
“Do you need me to help you, love?”
Meggie’s gentle voice drew Kendall’s attention. Her sister-in-law still sat next to Outlaw, but she focused on Kendall, the kindness she desperately needed in Meggie’s gaze.
“Take a deep breath, babe,” Bunny said, sitting on a folding chair right next to Digger, no longer shunning him.
Hopefully, they were working through their issues.
Suddenly, Diesel was there, concern in his eyes. “Tell me what you need me to do?” he whispered. “I can kill Johnnie for you tonight. Right now.”