Chapter Twelve – Easton #2
Cleaner shoved him. “Don’t play fucking dumb, Pounder. That cunt. Molly.”
“Get the fuck out of my way,” Easton spat. “You no longer have to worry about her. She’s mine now.”
“The fuck she is. She’s one of my favorite wet cunts. You’re not taking her from me.”
“Fuck you.” Easton pushed past Cleaner, ignoring the hit to the back of his head meant as a warning. Otherwise, he would’ve been knocked the fuck out.
“Your time’s coming,” Cleaner growled behind him.
Ignoring him, Easton forgot to knock on Bash’s door and just walked into the fucking office, then crashed to a halt.
Bash sat at his desk, eyes on his laptop, tears streaming down his cheeks. Sounds of a stampede and dramatic music filled the room.
“Mufasa,” Bash sobbed. “That’s my daddy.”
Easton gaped, unable to do anything else.
“And Scar? Scar is Christopher,” he spat, wailing like a little kid.
“I’m little baby Simba. A lost little lion without his daddy.
” His fingers trembling, he paused the movie, grabbed the box of tissue on the edge of the desk and blew his nose.
“What do you want, boy?” he asked, more in control.
“That fucking movie always tears me apart. I don’t know why the fuck I watch it.
I just…” He sniffled. “I visited Tio, glad I didn’t have to fuck him up.
If he’d succeeded in killing Diesel, the boy would’ve ruined my fucking plans.
I would’ve missed him but that would’ve been the breaks.
” He grabbed more tissue and dried his cheeks.
“That cunt, too. She should’ve shut the fuck up.
Then Celia would’ve been upset. What then? I couldn’t have killed Tio twice.”
“So, uh, watching the Lion King did what exactly?”
“I don’t know, Easton. Every time I watch the movie, I wonder why. It’s devastating.”
“Because of Cee Cee?”
“And Christopher. I often think about what would’ve been if only.
Scenarios I’ve been over time and again, and they all end with my father alive.
With Christopher and me associated. Daddy loved the Death Dwellers but hated Logan Donovan.
” More tears slid down his cheeks. “I, my feelings for that old fuckhead are as complicated as Johnnie’s.
I once told Ryan he was a great man. But not greater than my father.
No one was. Did you know he once beat Celia? ”
“Cee Cee?”
“Logan. She told me a little while ago after confessing to going to Christopher to beg for my life. He didn’t shoot my little sister like I would have had a strange bitch come on premises.
When she undressed to show she wasn’t wired, he didn’t let anyone touch her.
I owe him. I owe him, Easton. Other than Daddy, my little sister is the only one who loves me and he didn’t take her away from me.
Like I would have done. Why did he have to kill Daddy?
Why? I don’t know how to feel about that motherfucker.
” Bash laughed bitterly. “Daddy went to deal with Logan and that motherfucker offered Christopher’s life for Zoann’s pussy.
” He jumped to his feet, snatched his laptop and hurled it against the wall, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Bash—”
He screamed again and swiped everything off his desk.
Unsure what to do, Easton rushed forward and grabbed Bash in a bear hug before he hurt himself. He wasn’t a good man at all, but he was a very tortured one, chased by demons of the past and present.
“Outlaw is fair-minded and family oriented,” Easton whispered. “He’d never hurt your Celia unless she threatened his wife.” At least, that’s what he’d heard. Women got a pass as long as they didn’t fuck with Meggie. “She’s safe in his company. He’ll protect her.”
“What the fuck’s going on here?” Cleaner demanded.
“Get out!” Bash screamed, wild again and jerking against Easton. “This is a private moment between my son and me.”
“Bash—”
“Get out, Cleaner. This is none of your fucking business. Get out,” Bash ordered.
Cleaner threw Easton a vicious look, then backed out and slammed the door shut. Bash staggered to his office chair and dropped into it.
“What do you want, boy?” he asked, tired and defeated.
“Molly,” he said, afraid to bring up the will right now. They needed Outlaw’s help. Easton saw an opening to buy Meggie some time until he made the situation right with Molly.
“You want Molly?”
Easton nodded.
“To do what?”
“To keep her.”
Bash studied Easton for so long he began to squirm, then he shook his head and smirked. “Sit the fuck down.”
Another part of his plan fucked up. Frustrated, Easton stalked to one of the chairs in front of Bash’s desk.
“Let me guess. You’re going to claim her as yours, then suddenly set her free because you’re tired of her.”
Easton clenched his jaw.
“Am I right?”
“Does it fucking matter?”
Steepling his fingers, Bash lifted a brow.
“She’s dying, Bash. I want to help her. She doesn’t deserve this fate. I just want to claim her to protect her since you aren’t letting her go.”
“Despite being such a miserable motherfucker, I like living. I can’t just bring that cunt back and neither can you. You’re a swinging cock. Christopher won’t hesitate to fuck you up.”
“I fucked an injured, traumatized, seventeen-year-old girl. I deserve to be fucked up.”
“Whininess is Johnnie’s forte, asshole,” he said, his emotional upheaval calmed once more. “You wanted to save her fucking life and earn her freedom. Your cock did it.”
“Really?” Easton made it a point of looking around the room before glaring at Bash. “I can’t tell.”
Silent, Bash lit a cigarette, then took a few drags. “Do you know Daddy started my preparation so I’d be ready to hold this position before I realized he was training me?”
“And?”
“I always wanted a son to guide to the presidency.”
“You have one. Tio.”
Puffing his cigarette and releasing the smoke, Bash smiled and his eyes crinkled.
“He’s a fucking psycho. Nothing but a killer.
He doesn’t have planning skills to save his fucking life.
He’s not a fucking leader. You need a motherfucking brain.
You need charisma. And you need to be a good strategist. Like you. ”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, I’m not taking you as my heir. You’d be fucking dead before I got the words out. If not at Cleaner or Tio’s hands, then another motherfucker. You aren’t well liked around here. You’re so fucking cocksure.” Bash nodded. “You’re brave and fairer than me or Daddy would ever want to be.”
“So what are you saying?”
“You make me think, boy. Cleaner hates you for it. He much prefers the other me.”
“I noticed.”
Bash smiled and finished his cigarette. “I’m going to let her go, but she’s coming with us whenever we all ride out to Hortensia for Kendall’s meeting.”
“When will that be?”
“In a couple of days.”
“Bash…Molly won’t last a couple more days. One of the wounds is infected. She needs medical attention.”
“Let her go, Easton. Do you really think she’ll be okay if she survives? Her dying will be a gift. Allowing her to live would be tragic.”
“I moved her to my room,” Easton said, desperation creeping into him. If Randolph left and returned with medicine, his life would be in danger since Bash felt she was better off dead. “I couldn’t live with myself if she died—”
“You didn’t shoot her. I did. I’m not losing sleep over it.”
Easton couldn’t with Bash. One minute, he was hysterical and vulnerable, and the next he was back to being a psychopath.
“Do you know what I want for you most of all, Easton?”
“Me in a fucking mental institution?”
“You as a Death Dweller.”
“What?”
“Not as a spy. As a real true brother. Under Christopher’s tutelage.”
“That’ll never happen. You sent me there to fuck his wife. He doesn’t trust me.”
“There’s no way for that to happen, but it’s what I would like. Every motherfucker has dreams for his cumsquirts.”
“I’m so fucking touched.”
Scratching his jaw, Bash snickered. “I don’t know what I want to do with Meggie anymore,” he admitted, growing serious once more. “I want to talk to Kendall first. I want…” He shrugged. “She’d never go for a motherfucker like me.”
If she went for Johnnie, she’d go for anyone. Easton cleared his throat, then pulled out his phone and went to his music app. “Listen to this.” He found Always by Atlantic Starr. After Bash listened with avid interest, he played Secret Lovers by the same band.
“Bitches like that?”
“They do.”
“Do you think Kendall will?”
“Or something similar. Most women like romantic songs.”
Bash’s eyes widened. “Cunts consider it romantic when motherfuckers fuck other motherfuckers even though they belong to another motherfucker?”
“Some do.”
“I’d slit her fucking throat.”
Easton drew in a breath and pursed his lips. “For liking the song?”
“Isn’t it for Kendall?”
“It is.”
“Then why the fuck would I hurt her for liking that fucking song? I meant a bitch who said her cunt belonged to me then opened it for another motherfucker’s cock.”
“Ahh.”
“I’d never hurt Kendall. She’s my queen. Life goals.”
“She and Meggie are best friends.”
Bash frowned. “Seriously?”
“Quite.”
“Fuck. That complicates shit.”
“Didn’t you tell me you didn’t know what you wanted to do with Meggie?”
“I still want to fuck her. And kill her. I just won’t dismember her.”
“I see.”
“But, fuck, if it upsets Kendall—”
“It would crush her.”
Bash winced. “Goddamn. I guess it’s a good thing we have the meeting planned. I can ask her about that little twat.”
Bash’s flip-flopping was fucking headache inducing.
“About Molly.”
“You won’t shut the fuck up about that little cunt, will you, boy? Are you sure it’s fucking altruism and not a fucking case of her young pussy feeling so fucking good you want to sink into it when she’s fucking present and healthy?”
“Absolutely not.”
“By the way, she might get physically healthy? Mentally. Never. That bitch was gone way before she got goner.” Bash guffawed at that stupidity. “Turning a drug baby into a drug addict is kind of poetic justice, wouldn’t you say?”
“Nope.”
“You’re as much of a sourpuss as Dee Dee.”
“I don’t know this woman—”
“Ain’t a cunt. It’s Diesel. Your cousin. My nephew.”
“You call him Dee Dee?” Easton couldn’t help but laugh. “Does he know?”
“He hates it. No fucking fun,” Bash scoffed.
“But a bad motherfucker. Absolutely insane. One of the most arrogant motherfuckers I’ve ever met.
For instance, I told him to give Tabitha a chance for six months.
Still hasn’t moved back to the condo. He thinks he knows best. He’s going to get that cunt fucked up. ”
“Which cunt?”
“Jana.”
“I’m sorry, but what? You’ve lost me.”
“Slow on the uptake, huh? Haven’t you been listening to me?”
“Have you been listening to you?”
“You’re an asshole,” Bash said, laughing. He swiveled in his chair and stared at his broken laptop. “Can you buy me another one?”
“Laptop?”
“A gaming one. With 128GB RAM and 8GB SSD drive.”
“That’ll be at least eight grand.”
“Please?”
“If you let me get Molly medicine and tell everyone she belongs to me.”
“You’ll buy it?”
“Yes.”
“You can give me the money.”
“You’ll blow it on drugs.”
“Probably. But I’m not doing what you asked until I get my new laptop.”
“How about I buy you one from a store today with as much RAM and hard drive space that’s available. You and me can sit and build your gaming laptop together on what I get for you today.”
“If I get Molly’s medicine?”
“I’ll pay. Randolph is watching her for me. I can send him for the medication and your laptop.”
Bash nodded. “Should I kill him? Cleaner thinks I should. He doesn’t trust why he suddenly showed up.”
“Isn’t that Hopper’s son? Don’t you like fucking Hopper?”
“You think she’d stop fucking me if I blow Randolph’s face off with my shotgun?”
“I don’t think she’d be too happy,” Easton said calmly.
“Why do you think he’s here? You think he’s working for Christopher?”
“Do you know Outlaw wants to kill Randolph?”
Bash’s eyes widened.
“I’m sure you do. One of them must’ve told you.”
“I don’t remember. However, I can only assume he fucked with that little cunt in some way.”
Easton explained Randolph’s crimes.
“I think I did hear about that, so I guess he isn’t here on Christopher’s behalf. And you’re certain Hopper would be mad if I killed him?”
“Positive.”
“I haven’t killed a motherfucker since I fucked up Tom Harris. I’m having withdrawals.”
“Celia would be very proud of you. She hates all the killing that you do. She always sees the best in you.”
“You’re right. Celia loves me. She risked her life for me.”
“She did.”
“I’ll ignore my urges for her.” Bash met his gaze. “And for you. You don’t like unnecessary killing either.”
“I don’t, so thank you.”
“Get her medicine and my laptop. Save her if you can, but Easton, prepare yourself for when she croaks. I think she’s too bad off to survive.”
Not responding, Easton got to his feet and rushed away. When he threw open the door, Cleaner was lurking in the shadows, but he allowed Easton to pass without incident.
However, the heat of Cleaner’s gaze burned into Easton until he turned the corner and got out of the motherfucker’s sight.