Chapter 13 – Johnnie
Withdrawing from Kendall and rolling off her, Johnnie tried to take her into his arms, but she pulled away and presented her back to him, curling into a ball. A sob escaped her.
“You came,” he said irritably. “Why are you so fucking upset?”
She didn’t answer, only sobbed again.
Huffing, he stared at the ceiling. He applauded Kendall’s theatrics. She’d always been a drama queen who knew how to tug at his conscience. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asked as his phone vibrated. Renewed irritation surged into him. He didn’t want to be disturbed. “Why are you crying?”
“If you have to ask, I don’t need to answer, because you won’t give a fuck.
” She sounded so miserable. “It doesn’t matter,” she decided as she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, her red hair cascading down her back.
“I’m leaving for an overnight trip with Charlotte.
Can I depend on you to take Mattie to see Rebel or should I ask Meggie if Mattie can stay with them until I get home tomorrow evening? ”
Johnnie froze, his annoyance turning to burning anger and jealous fury. “Charlotte?” he asked, barely recognizing his own voice. “You’re going on an overnight trip with Charlotte?”
Glancing over her shoulder, she nodded. Johnnie ignored how gorgeous and sexy she looked. “I am,” she sneered. “Unless you’re holding me hostage in addition to sexually assaulting me every day?”
Horror washed through him. “Sexually assaulting you?” he gasped, so outdone his fury evaporated. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
She stood and faced him, unashamed in her nudity, a warrior queen he’d long loved. She swiped away her tears; she was still crying. “Have you lost yours, bastard? Sex with you isn’t my goddamn choice. You’re forcing me.”
He gaped at her. Yes, the first time they had sex after so many weeks hadn’t been his best moment, but since then she’d submitted to him. Once or twice, she’d even returned his kisses and responded.
“Is that why you’re going away with…? It must be Mortician. Christopher won’t leave Megan right now and Bash is Bash. You wouldn’t really give him pussy.”
“I’m going away with Charlotte!”
Tired of her fucking games, Johnnie bared his teeth. “Redding?”
She lifted her chin, forever defiant. “Do I know another Charlotte?”
“You must, since that cunt is deader than dead.”
At Kendall’s squeak, Johnnie realized he’d blurted news of Charlotte’s death when he’d kept it to himself for almost a week. No, he’d kept it between him, Christopher, Diesel, Bash, Val, Easton, and Brooks since last Monday.
They’d put Brooks on a plane so he could get his emotions together, mainly because Johnnie hadn’t wanted Kendall upset over that bitch’s demise.
Another noise escaped Kendall. A gasp. A sob. Sounds of pain, grief, and heartache.
Johnnie’s phone vibrated again, but he ignored it, jumped out of bed and rushed to his wife, drawing her into his arms and hugging her tightly. For the briefest moment, she clung to him, accepting his comfort, accepting him and his love for her.
“I’m sorry, gorgeous. I’m so sorry. I know how much she meant to you.”
“She was like a mother to me at one time,” Kendall cried pitifully, tightening her arms around his neck. “My God! I can’t imagine how Brooks is suffering.”
“Fuck Brooks!” Johnnie barked. “He’s probably doing a fucking happy dance.”
“I tried to warn her. I told her to leave Meggie alone. I even threatened to tell Outlaw myself. She just wouldn’t listen. I understand why you killed her.”
“I didn’t kill that cunt.” Johnnie’s irritation returned. “Diesel did. Motherfucker. She should’ve been mine.”
“She wanted to sacrifice Meggie.” Her face crumpled. She didn’t understand, or need to know, the depths of Charlotte’s depravity. “I guess you did want her dead for that.”
“Is that why you think I wanted to kill her?” Outrage pounded in him.
“Because of Megan?” He began laughing like the lunatic Kendall turned him into.
“That’s fucking rich, Kendall. I don’t wish it was me who shot her because of Megan,” he spat.
The idea offended him. That cunt wanted to hire Bash to not only kill Megan and Rebel but Johnnie and Kendall’s children.
“Not that my reason’s important. Your lying is.
You’re running off with Mortician for a quick fuck because my cock is no longer enough for you. ”
“I’m not having an affair,” Kendall said with force, a liar and a manipulator to her soul. “I wish you’d stop putting that out into the world.”
“I can put what the fuck I want wherever the fuck I want it. You’re pretending I’m forcing you to my will to give you a fucking excuse for your bad behavior. You and Mortician have always had a thing for each other.”
“I love him, motherfucker. Platonically. I understand that’s hard for you to wrap your head around because you aren’t acquainted with either concept. Companionship or romance. Unlike Mortician.”
Johnnie stiffened. “Are you really comparing me to him?”
“He’s incomparable so fuck you. You compared me to Meggie for years, so suck up your wrong assumptions and asshurt feelings.”
Blinded by jealousy, Johnnie hoped to frighten Kendall into compliance. “You’ve just signed his death warrant.”
She shoved him. “If you harm one hair on his head, I will fucking kill you,” she warned, low. Aggrieved. Unhinged.
He raised his hands and heaved in a breath. “Are you taking your meds?” he asked carefully.
“Fuck you. What does it matter to you?”
He thought it prudent to change the subject. His nerves were raw and his temper frayed. “Where are you going on your overnight trip?”
“Not to have an affair.” She swiped at her wet cheeks. “More’s the fucking pity. At least I’d have the choice.”
“You have the choice now,” Johnnie told her in that same soothing voice, suddenly frightened he’d fucked up completely and lost her for good. “I love you, Kendall.”
“No, Johnnie,” she said, hoarse and pitiful.
“You don’t,” she reiterated, seeming convinced, her sad resignation alarming him.
“If you loved me, you wouldn’t do any of what you’re doing.
You would’ve been happy that Chris…Outlaw accepted me.
You would thank Mortician for looking out for me.
You wouldn’t have t-t-told me about Ch-Charlotte…
” She covered her face and sobbed again.
He hadn’t told her most of what Charlotte had done.
“I love you, Kendall,” Johnnie croaked, hoping to undo whatever damage he’d done. “I love you.”
“Stop spouting that fucking lie!” she shouted. “If you loved me, you’d fucking respect me. You don’t.”
“Christopher does?” Johnnie asked, his hackles rising again. “Mortician does?”
“Yes! Mortician has gotten annoyed with me over the years, but he’s never turned his back on me. Never. He’s been my friend since I met him.”
“Is that why you’re rewarding him with pussy?”
Kendall looked so tragic. Still beautiful. Still naked. But heartbroken. Devastated over Charlotte’s death. Fed up with him. Just a smorgasbord that didn’t bode well. “I’m not sleeping with him!”
“You’re a goddamn liar.”
“Keep it up and I will become one,” she said darkly. “I’ll fuck him in every room in this house. I’ll set your picture on the nightstand so you can watch us fuck. Stop fucking with me.”
He threw her a putrid look. “You want to sleep with him?”
“My God, motherfucker, you’re insane and are determined to drag me down with you,” she yelled. “Am I fucking him or fantasizing about him?”
“You tell me.”
“I am! I am not sleeping with Mortician.”
“But you fantasize about him.”
Wiping the last of her tears away, Kendall smirked at him. “From what I heard, he’s an exceptional lover. Kind. Attentive. He doesn’t force himself on women.”
“Stop with that bullshit!”
“Fuck you, motherfucker. I will never fucking forgive you for what you’re doing to me.”
Wait, what? Hadn’t she said she might not ever forgive him? How had she gone to never forgiving him?
Johnnie’s stomach turned. Judging by the gleam in her brown eyes, Kendall took pride in tearing him apart.
“As much as I’ve heard what a beautiful big cock he has, I value my marriage vows, Johnnie.”
“But not me. If you did, you wouldn’t destroy me.”
“I’m not taking responsibility for what you did.
Tell it to someone who cares. I fucking don’t.
I can’t help if you’re at the other end of my marriage vows.
That was a stupid mistake on my part. I was proud to be the wife of the man I married.
But you? The current you? The motherfucker you’ve become?
I fucking hate you. You put the idea of Mortician and me in my head and I cling to that.
He’d take care of me. He’d care about me. ”
She started to cry again.
Johnnie swallowed, suddenly regretting so much, but especially his behavior toward Kendall.
“I’m sorry,” he told her.
She turned and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
Woodenly, he walked back to his side of the bed and sat on the edge.
His phone vibrated again at the same time Kendall’s phone began ringing.
He considered ignoring his device, but he needed a distraction from the deepening hole in his heart, so he picked up his phone and unlocked it.
Bailey’s name on his screen worsened his shitty mood.
Opening and reading her message multiplied the feeling by a thousand.
Bailey: Would you like to meet later? I have more questions.
Johnnie groaned, still regretting how he’d used Bailey to get to Mortician. At the end of the day, she was innocent. She just had the misfortune of being married to a fuckhead.
Johnnie: Not today, sweetheart.
Bailey: Please? I fell and hurt my thigh. I need someone to distract me from the pain. If I thought Lucas cared, I’d call him, but he doesn’t.
She thought Johnnie did? Wait a fucking minute.
He reread the message. Squinted at the text.
Was she insinuating what he thought she was?
For a moment, he considered leaving Kendall to her bitterness and delusions and going to see what Bailey wanted.
Answers he’d give. Dick he would not. Let her fuck over Mortician with another man if that’s what she meant.
Bailey: Please, Johnnie? I’m in pain and all alone. You are the only one who has been honest with me. I need that in my life.
Though Bailey was undeniably beautiful, she couldn’t hold a candle to Kendall. Hell, Megan was even more stunning and she still paled in comparison to his wife. Kendall was the reigning beauty queen of the Death Dwellers, which might’ve been why so many men wanted her.
Johnnie: No. I’m with Kendall right now. You know? My wife.
Well, he wasn’t exactly with her, nor did she want his company, but that was neither here nor there. Besides, the only other woman he’d ever wanted in recent memory was Megan. Bailey did nothing for him.
Bailey: Do you know if Kendall and Lucas have been together again since they went away?
Probably. He just couldn’t prove it.
Familiar rage swept through Johnnie at the memory of discovering they’d left town together.
He considered storming into the bathroom to shake the fuck out of Kendall.
However, he knew how that story would end.
Either in a massive argument, sex that Kendall would claim was rape, or both.
With his emotions so jumbled, he wasn’t in the mood for contention or sex.
Tired of talking to Bailey, Johnnie powered off his phone and lay on the bed, closing his eyes as myriad feelings swarmed him, anger—the most prevalent—didn’t completely drown the guilt—the most unwelcome.
He listened to the shower, imagining Kendall’s naked, soapy body under the spray.
The spicy scent of her body wash floated underneath the door sill, and he breathed in deep, licking his lips, his dick twitching.
Only Kendall’s previous claim of rape stopped him from joining her and fucking her to remind her who owned that beautiful body of hers. Who claimed her heart and soul.
Kendall’s phone rang again. Irritation rose in him, and he wondered if it was Mortician or Christopher, her side pieces. Or Bash, her pathetic admirer.
Grabbing the phone, he answered it without checking the caller ID, ready to give whichever bastard encroaching on his territory, a piece of his mind.
“What?” he barked.
“Er…” A woman cleared her throat.
Johnnie’s brow furrowed.
Pulling the phone away from his ear, he checked to identify the caller, one Anne Phillips with an out-of-town number. Was Kendall cheating on him with a woman, too?
“Is Ms. Miller available?”
Ms. Miller. Informal. Cryptic. Sneaky. Kendall was using her maiden name.
Johnnie’s guard went up.
“She’s busy,” he informed the mystery caller. “I’ll take a message.”
“I’m just calling to verify that Mrs. Phillips can meet Ms. Miller tomorrow at her office. Please have her give us a call back to confirm at her earliest convenience. Thank you.”
With that, the lady hung up, leaving Johnnie confused.
Grabbing his own phone, he powered it on again and opened Google to see who the fuck Anne Phillips was.
It didn’t take him long to find a LinkedIn profile of the woman, a divorce attorney based in Boise, Idaho.
Horrified, he suddenly understood that Kendall wasn’t going away to fuck Mortician again, but to take steps to dissolve their marriage.
He’d told Kendall what he’d do if she tried to leave, and yet even with the threat of losing custody of the kids, she was sneaking around, behind his back, and contacting divorce lawyers. Did she really hate him that much?
Unable to bear the thought, he grabbed his phone and went to his texts.
Mortician, no doubt, was the reason that Kendall was pursuing a divorce.
After hearing the way she spoke about him, he knew she saw their marriage as a nuisance, blocking her from her darling enforcer.
If Mortician wanted to fuck with Johnnie’s marriage, Johnnie would fuck with his.
He’d see how he liked being outed to his wife.
Johnnie: Hey Bailey. It’s me. I have news. Yeah, Kendall and Mortician went away together again.
Bailey: I see. Thank you for letting me know.
Johnnie: No problem, sweetheart.