Chapter Twenty-Two – Christopher #2
“Your woman don’t hold grudges. If she mad, she hand out her punishments and let it the fuck go.
Almost losing Kendall was so fuckin’ hard on her.
She probably don’t want to revisit that trauma.
And, fuck, if she start talkin’ to you about what the fuck you did, she might cut the fuck out of you. Be thankful she let it go.”
“It just doesn’t seem like Roxanne. Kendall’s one of her babies. She’d hand me my ass on a platter.”
“Not if Megan ain’t told her right away.” Christopher’s stomach growled. As far as he was concerned, the matter was settled. “Now is you fuckin’ finished cuz I’m fuckin’ hungry.”
“C’mon,” Knox grumbled and stalked back to his house.
Sighing, Christopher followed, suddenly hoping Roxanne had made her delicious praline pancakes.
Once he walked into the house and closed the door, he breathed in the scent of bacon and maple syrup with an underlay of the cinnamon and apples air freshener she favored.
It was nice and toasty inside with the sounds of a family preparing for breakfast.
All at once that lost feeling rose inside of him again. He was too hungry not to eat, so he’d scarf his food then get back home and pray Megan called.
“You coming in the kitchen, boy?” Roxanne called.
“I’m fuckin’ comin’,” Christopher grumbled, unsure why she had the power to make him feel like a small kid.
Fuck, she wasn’t even that much older than him.
“I ain’t gonna be too long,” he said as he reached the kitchen and found Val sitting at the island with a goddamn mega stack of pancakes. “You left some for me, assfuck, cuz I—”
She came out of nofuckingwhere, swinging that goddamn broom like a motherfucking battle ax. The first blow landed on Christopher’s back and stunned the fuck out of him. The second blow on his chest sent him fucking running.
“Boy, if you ever put your motherfucking hands on Meggie again, I will cut those motherfuckers the fuck off,” Roxanne snarled, chasing him and beating the fuck out of him with that broom.
She hit him again. Christopher covered his head and tried to reach the back door, but she swung that motherfucking handle like she was a batter at the plate, whacking his bicep.
He was so fucking glad his leather jacket had a thick lining.
However, he didn’t trust her not to break his fucking hand if he touched the knob again, so he started toward the other side.
Somefuckinhow, she met him head-on and raised the broom above her head, ready to crown him. She must’ve run in the opposite direction.
Christopher raised his hands in surrender, various parts of his body stinging like a motherfucker. “I ain’t ever doin’ what I did again to Megan,” he swore. “Just put the fuckin’ broom down.”
She narrowed her eyes.
Swallowing, he took a step back.
“I never took you for a dirty, low-down motherfucker, Outlaw,” she said. “But you picking up that little girl, shaking her, and then dropping her is beyond fucking comprehension.”
“You did that, Outlaw?” Val asked, as appalled as Christopher felt hearing Roxanne and seeing the look in her eyes. “Puff must not know.”
“She doesn’t,” Roxanne confirmed. “Meggie told me.”
“I’m sorry,” Christopher said, his pervasive guilt making him lash out. “But I’m so fuckin’ tired of this same shit. First, CJ. Now, you. This between Megan and me. I ain’t gonna do it no more, but I was goin’ through shit, too.”
If she narrowed her motherfucking eyes anyfuckinmore, she wouldn’t be able to fucking see. She readjusted her position, swung, and hit the side of his head so fucking hard, he saw stars. It all happened so fucking fast, he couldn’t react.
“You’re lost your motherfucking mind, standing there like a fucking bitch, feeling sorry for yourself and making excuses. Kindness, motherfucker, is free. Free, and you haven’t given Meggie much of it lately. Love is precious. The love you two had was on a different level—”
“Had?” Christopher asked. “What the fuck you mean had? She ain’t lovin’ on me no more?”
She hit his stomach and sent him running again. Motherfuckers jumped out of the way of her swinging fucking broom.
“Motherfucker,” she snarled. “Feeling sorry for yourself ass bitch!” She swung and hit him somefuckingwhere.
He was in too much pain to realize where.
“You want sympathy and empathy when you haven’t shown Meggie none!
Empathy is human. It humanizes you. That’s what made Meggie love you so much.
You showed her what she hadn’t gotten anywhere else.
Show her some now and you might get your woman back. ”
Christopher put the sofa between him and Roxanne. “She still might not forgive me. That’ll heal us. Her fuckin’ forgiveness. Whatever we goin’ through. Forgiveness is healin’ ‘cuz when I forgave Big Joe the wound inside me closed up. It freed me.”
Roxanne considered that, then swung again, hitting his shoulder.
“You get forgiveness when you deserve it.”
“Big Joe—”
She hit him again. He wasn’t about to stand there and get his ass beat, so he turned and sprinted away. He reached the door and felt so much relief, he slowed down. She whacked his ass.
“Motherfucker, you walk the fuck out that door, don’t ever darken it again. Face your fucking punishment like the big man you fucking are.”
“You want me to let you beat me black and fuckin’ blue?” he snarled, angry, guilty, and fucking annoyed that she was right.
“If I want to beat you fucking unconscious, I expect you to take it in the same manner you handed your bullshit to Meggie.”
“I said I was fuckin’ sorry!”
“Not enough!” She whacked the back of his fucking thighs. “You, motherfucker, need a fuckin’ gatekeeper to keep you from fuckin’ up.”
“Beatin’ my ass ain’t no fuckin’ gatekeepin.”
She hit his ass again, but this time she swung that motherfucker so many times, Christopher wondered when he’d be able to sit afuckingain. She only stopped when she broke the motherfucking handle.
“You fucking lucky I don’t feel like getting another broom from the closet. Now, sit down and eat.”
He limped around and gave her an incredulous look. Folding her arms, she smirked at him, huffy, puffy, and sweaty, but so motherfucking proud of herself.
Mort, Grant, and Knox gaped in shock. Val had moved to the other side and resumed eating.
Roxanne pointed to a stool. “Sit.”
“How?” he grouched.
“The same fucking way your wife did after you broke her fucking heart.”
“Ain’t stopped her from sittin’. Her fuckin’ ass wasn’t on fire.”
Roxanne stiffened and dropped her arms to the side.
Before she picked up the broken stick and fucked him up, he hopped his ass to the stool and sat, unable to stop the groan that escaped him. Gritting his teeth, he dropped his aching head into his palms.
The door opened. Just as he’d welcomed the warmth a little while ago, the bracing chilliness felt as good washing over his heated skin.
“You aren’t ready,” Kendall said.
“I didn’t eat,” Zoann added. “I thought we would eat at the diner.”
Christopher stiffened. All he needed was for those two to discover what the fuck he did.
Their curiosity was hard to miss, though he didn’t want to raise his head and rattle his brain.
But they had that nosy bitch tone, when a motherfucker was trying to sound fucking normal and anxious to know what the fuck they’d walked in on at the same time.
A tap on his shoulder made him lift his head.
Kendall’s eyes gleamed. “Act like a spoiled manchild, get your ass beat like one,” she said and thumped the side of his head, then stalked away.
Zoann put her arm around his neck. He gave her a wary glance. Smiling, she leaned in and kissed his cheek, so he relaxed a fraction.
“If I was Meggie, I would’ve fucking broken your goddamn jaw with a fucking chair. All the fucking things you said to her. The way you hid what happened to Rule, fuckhead. How dare you!”
Sinking her fucking claws into his cheeks, she then pinched the fuck out of him.
“OUCH!” he screamed, grabbing his cheek and feeling the warm blood dripping over his skin.
“Did you try to talk to this motherfucker, Matthew?”
Val slowed his chewing, glanced from Bitsy to Christopher, and swallowed.
“You didn’t, did you?” She glared at Mort, who pressed his lips together and averted his gaze. “What about you?”
“What you wanted us to talk to him about, Chester?” Mort asked carefully.
She stiffened.
“We’ll finish with them later, baby,” Roxanne announced, bringing her baby pit bull to heel. “We have to get going if we want to beat the lunch crowd.”
“Where…where…” Knox gulped, shifted, and tried again. “Wh-where are you going, m-m-m-my l-l-l-love?”
“I took care of this motherfucker.” Roxanne nodded to Christopher, then flipped him off at his glare. “One down. One to fucking go.” Sniffing, she looked pointedly at Mort.
Alarm raced across his face. “I didn’t do nothing!”
“Keep it that way,” Bitsy barked.
“Not you,” Roxanne announced. “Symphony,” she said.
“Kindness free,” Christopher parroted like a petulant little boy. He scowled at her. “Love precious. Empathy human. And forgiveness healin’. Remember that before you fuck Symphony up.”
She gave him a putrid look as if she hadn’t thrown that at him a few fucking minutes ago and swept out of the room with Bitsy following in her wake.
“Fuck,” Mort said.
“That bitch dead,” Val said calmly, reaching for the platter of bacon and digging in.
“Maybe you should call and warn her?” Knox asked timidly.
“I can…I can go to the diner,” Grant offered.
“How the fuck they found out about Symphony anyfuckinway?” Christopher asked, hungry and hurting.
“Red, I guess,” Mort said morosely. “Symphony wouldn’t fucking behave. Even in front of Kendall.”
“Then that bitch deserve what she get,” Val said. “Play with fucking fire. Get fucking burned. Kendall a solid bitch now, but even I know fucking with her is smoke few motherfuckers can handle.”
“Only Prez, Roxanne, and Meggie girl,” Mort said with a nod.
Christopher looked at Grant. “Stay out of it, boy. Intervenin’ now would make it seem like Mort sent you to save Symphony. With the warpath they on, Symphony would end up far worse then if we just let the chips fall the fuck where they might.”
Cuz Symphony played with fucking fire. It was time to face the fucking heat.