Chapter 14 – Mortician #3
“All the truths he revealed,” she interrupted Mort wildly.
Never mind the fact that Mortician didn’t have a motherfucking clue what that motherfucker said to her today.
“You took Kendall away behind Johnnie’s back and behind my back again.
You told me Kendall wouldn’t hand you the bullshit that I do, so no wonder you left with her again. ”
Mort was so outraged that Bailey was rehashing this in front of his mama-in-law to make him look bad, he didn’t hide his fucking wince.
Heat slid into him at Roxanne’s gasp and he raised his hands.
“I did take Kendall on one day trip, Roxanne,” he admitted. “Almost a month ago. Outlaw asked me to go to her office because she was in a bad way. I took her away to distract her from her misery. Not to sleep with her, and I haven’t gone away with her again.”
Bailey cried harder, but the way Roxanne studied him made him flush like a bitch. More because of the brief kiss he’d shared with Kendall in her den rather than what happened on their trip.
“I’ll be back,” Roxanne said tightly, turned and stalked out of the room.
He didn’t know if she believed him, and prayed his mama-in-law wasn’t getting her collapsible baton to beat his ass. “I’m not fucking no other woman, Bailey, and I don’t plan to,” he stated, trying to suppress his fury.
His efforts were in vain. He was so fucking mad, he was shaking.
To calm himself, he settled on the edge of the bed, attempting to reclaim her injured hands. She resisted. Not wanting to agitate her further, he let his arms away.
“Tell me what else Johnnie told you today, baby.”
A little sob left her. “All I needed to know,” she said hoarsely, sniffling pitifully. “His words haunt me.” She covered her face and cried.
“Tell me. Please,” Mort added, desperate to help his wife. He wasn’t sure which conversation with Johnnie tormented her since she’d apparently had more than one. Did she even remember she wasn’t related to Meggie? “We settled everything.”
“You would think that. You’re the perpetrator not the victim.”
“You not a motherfucking victim either!”
“I am,” she wailed. “Because I’m me.”
“What that mean?” Mort asked carefully, wondering if he should retreat until she sobered. He didn’t need a repeat of the same bitterness they’d been stuck on for weeks or another screaming match like they’d had in Long Beach. “Explain, please, pretty girl.”
“I refuse to repeat myself.”
“News to my fucking ass. All the fuck you been doing is repeating yourself. Now, when I need you to, you won’t say it.”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
He didn’t, but she wouldn’t believe him, so he said, “I don’t want no other woman but you, Bailey. Whatever that motherfucker told you, he lying. I haven’t fucked Kendall.”
“Shut up, motherfucker! I hate you. Do you hear me? I fucking hate you. You betrayed me. You broke me.”
“As you fucking broke me?” he barked. “As you broke Harley?”
“Fuck you and her. What about me? Why do I still love you and Harley when you hold me in so little regard?”
Bailey needed understanding. She was full of alcohol and anguish. Once she slept it off, he’d reason with her.
“I love you so fucking much, Bailey,” he told her. “You my everything and have been since the moment I met you.”
“The writing was on the wall even then. You didn’t want me.”
“You so fucking wrong. You all I want, baby,” he continued, hoping his words got through to her. “All I ever wanted, then, now, and forever. I love you and only you, but if divorcing me make you happy—”
“It won’t!” she screamed, breaking down into body-shaking sobs. “I don’t want you to leave me, but you don’t want me!”
“Didn’t you just fucking hear me?” he asked, frustration turning into anger and seeping through. “You all I want.”
“Then why are you sleeping with Kendall?” she said, barely able to get the words out through her tears, stuck on that bullshit because of Johnnie. “You’re fucking Johnnie’s wife.”
“I’m not, goddamn it!”
“I should’ve let him make love to me to show you and that cunt how it feels. He would’ve too. He got a hard cock for me.”
Growling—sick to his fucking stomach—Mort jumped to his feet and began pacing, unable to keep still. Faintly, he was aware that Roxanne, Grant, and Knox stood in the doorway, peering in, but he paid them no mind. “I. Don’t. Want. No. Other. Woman. Get that through your thick fucking skull, Bailey.”
“You took Kendall away,” she fucking repeated, just to be a miserable bitch.
He had no way to defend his day with Kendall or the fact that he’d spent thousands on her.
The optics looked bad. He’d been so fucking worried about Symphony when he should’ve distanced himself from Kendall.
He’d always hated to see her in pain and went out of his way to right any situation that hurt her.
He did the same for Meggie, but he’d never consider taking her away.
He’d never kiss her, other than on the cheek with brotherly affection.
“I did,” he reminded her, wishing Bailey would drop the fucking subject at the same time deciding she needed to get all the poison and venom out of her system.
If she kept bringing it up, it wasn’t resolved in her mind.
“But only because Johnnie a motherfucker and Kendall needed her friend.”
“I’ve been needing my friend for weeks and he’s turned his back on me,” Bailey said bitterly.
“That’s not fucking true! I took you away and—”
“Out of guilt!”
“All you want to talk about is a fucking baby,” Mortician yelled, losing his patience all over again, failing Bailey just as she accused him. “At least Kendall talk about other shit.”
“You’re not my husband. I should’ve married Fin. Or anyone else. Someone on my level. I hate you so much. Just go somewhere and die.”
Those words hit Mortician with the force of a bomb, spreading through his entire body and crushing his soul. He’d never felt as lost or as pathetic as he did in that moment. Their marriage had been limping along for weeks, its essence slipping away little by little until only this remained.