Chapter Forty-Three – Kendall #2
Bash lit a cigarette, puffed for a minute, then smiled.
“If Kendall gave me half a chance, I’d try to behave for her.
We all know I wouldn’t. She’d probably end up dead at my hand.
I’m an addict and I kill even quicker when I’m high.
But I’d kill to have a bitch worship me the way she does you.
The way Meggie does Christopher. Just for a little while.
Just to see how that feels to have a woman show me real kindness.
” He puffed again, released more smoke. He nodded to Kendall.
“She treats me like a person. A man, Johnnie. Even if she is slightly afraid of me, she stands up to me and for herself. I want to do this for her. I want her to be proud of me.”
Swiping at her tears, touched in spite of herself, Kendall walked to Bash and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you. Truly. And I promise I will talk to Christopher. Maybe, you two can work something out. As long as Meggie is safe, he might be willing.”
He swung his gaze over his shoulder and looked at her. “I’d have some conditions.”
“No!” Johnnie snarled. “Get the fuck out of here, Kendall. You aren’t a member of the club.”
“This is my fucking office, motherfucker. You get to fucking stepping.”
“Christopher would be so proud,” Bash crowed.
“What are the conditions?” Kendall asked, swiping at her wet cheeks, glad Johnnie snapped his big fucking mouth shut.
“Diesel stays married to my niece for another six months like I ordered.”
“Christ, I can’t believe you said that,” Johnnie complained.
“Tabitha is your niece?” Kendall asked dumbly.
“His, too.” Bash held his cigarette between two fingers and pointed. “Christopher’s as well.”
“And you knew this, Johnnie?”
“I just found out, Kendall. I can explain.”
Kendall shook her head. “No. No, you can’t. That bitch was here to get close to Meggie, fuckhead.”
“You don’t know that.” He turned to Bash. “Unless you told her.”
“Nope. Didn’t have to say a fucking thing.”
Diesel would kill Tabitha. Of that, Kendall had no doubt.
Suddenly, the Jana thing took on a new perspective.
If she got Christopher and Bash to the table and they ironed out a peace agreement and a business arrangement, it would be so fucking fragile.
One fuckup could lead to bloodshed. She’d have to keep Tabitha’s secret.
That fucking bitch.
“What else, Bash?” Kendall said briskly. She’d have to tell Christopher and Meggie. They’d help her. “What other terms?”
Johnnie sidled a resentful glance her way. “Did you ask him about the letter from—”
“Dad!” Rory exclaimed, saving both Hopper and Kendall.
She was certain Johnnie intended to ask about Hopper’s letter. Out of spite and anger.
Johnnie roared to his feet, so Kendall stood, too. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Bash rise.
“This is adult business,” her husband snapped. “Get the fuck out.”
Rory threw an uneasy glance at Bash. Something passed between them. Fuck. Her son hadn’t come for Johnnie. He wanted to talk to Bash.
“You’re not feeling well, Dad,” Rory said. “You shouldn’t have left home.”
“Since your mother is playing Robin to your uncle’s Batman, I most certainly did need to leave. Now, get out.”
Rory glanced at Bash again.
“So now you’re enamored of him, too, son?” Johnnie demanded. “First, Bash tried to steal my woman and now my son.”
Kendall rolled her eyes.
Rory, on the other hand, looked as startled as Bash.
“Don’t ever get married, Rory,” Johnnie raged. “A woman you’ve spent your entire fucking life worshipping will find another cock to ride and turn her back on you.”
Clearing her throat, Kendall pasted a smile on her face. “This meeting is over,” she announced, gathering her pen and tablet, tired. Johnnie’s vitriol depleted her of energy and almost of sanity.
“How can you look in the fucking mirror every day and face yourself, Dad?” Rory asked bitterly. “You’re right. I’m never fucking marrying or having children. You’re turning into Logan day-by-day. If that fate awaits me, those genes die with me.”
“Logan?” He pounded his chest with his bandaged hand. “I’d never turn into Logan. I loved him, but—”
“Why?” Rory shook his head. “Never fucking mind. It doesn’t matter. Don’t ever talk about Mom like that again, especially in front of me. She’s better off without you, then to live with your fucking abuse.”
“I don’t abuse your mother and is that a threat?”
“You’re so fucking smart, figure it out.”
“See how my son is talking to me, Kendall? And you’re just standing there, silent as a fucking mouse. I wasn’t good enough for Megan and I’m not good enough for you. What’s wrong with me?”
“You,” Rory snapped before Kendall could respond. “You, motherfucker. It’s you. You. You. You. Straighten up before Mom kicks you the fuck out.”
“If she tried to leave me, I’d fucking knock her out and take her far away,” Johnnie responded. “She swoons when Christopher says that about Megan. Swoon now, wife.”
“Consider me swooned,” she drawled.
“Swooned? Is that even a word? Christopher’s rubbing off on you in more ways than one.” Johnnie gave a bitter laugh. “You sound as ignorant as him.”
“And, you, motherfucker, sound stupid,” Kendall snapped, fed up.
“Stupid, crazy, ignorant, mean, and spiteful. Fuck you. Bash amuses himself by running circles around you. If you wouldn’t have been so fucked up, you would’ve told Christopher everything.
Barring that, if you would’ve just met the man as his equal instead of a superior jackass, you might’ve made some fucking headway.
” She punched him in his goddamn foul mouth, then clocked him in the eye.
“You’ve fucked everything up because you don’t know how to come off your high fucking horses and see these motherfuckers are your equal.
” She kicked him, cackling at his howl. “I want to fucking kill you, motherfucker. I’m not fucking Christopher.
I’m not fucking Bash. I’m not fucking Mortician.
And I’m definitely not fucking you. You so freely discussed my pussy?
She’s out of commission to you, fuckface.
” She had been anyway, but Kendall wanted to humiliate him on the same level he’d done to her.
Johnnie started toward her and Kendall raised her fists, taking on a fighter’s stance.
“I will break your motherfucking teeth. Those fuckers will fall out of your bloody goddamn mouth like Tic Tacs.”
Johnnie turned, so she lowered her fists. The moment she did, he swooped around and shoved her into the wall. Everything crashed to a halt.
Somewhere, on the fringes of her rage, Rory’s gasp reached her. Johnnie’s look of shock penetrated her red haze. She didn’t care that Bash settled his hand on his gun. Or that Rory looked ready to rush his father.
Nothing fucking mattered, except the fuckhead who’d put his fucking hands on her. The one with satisfaction blooming on his face as his surprise receded.
She couldn’t believe fucking believe Johnnie. He’d crossed so many lines today alone. Added to the havoc he’d wreaked over the months and…
A bloodcurdling scream escaped her, releasing all her pent-up anger, frustration, and pain. She barely saw how Bash, Johnnie, and Rory jumped. Rage suffused her, and she sprung. Knocking him into the goddamn wall and trying to beat that motherfucker unconscious.
He tried to catch her hands, grab her arms, but she knew better than to allow it.
She didn’t trust him not to punch her. The thought crushed her and she pummeled him harder.
Tears streaked her face. Hatred welled inside her, then broke apart, crushed by the love for Johnnie that she couldn’t seem to overcome.
“Kendall, stop!” Mortician forced her away, pulling her off Johnnie mid-punch, and wrapping his arms around her. “Stop, baby. Stop.”
She squirmed. “If you ever put your motherfucking hands on me, bastard, I will carve your fucking heart out.”
Sitting up, Johnnie looked at her, his eyes blazing. His face, lips, nose, and eyes bruised and bloody. He had the fucking nerve to look hurt.
Rory stepped behind Johnnie and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, Dad. Let me help you to your feet.”
“Why do you want to help me?”
“Because we’re family, Dad. I love you.”
“You don’t like me. You prefer Christopher.”
“That’s like respect,” Rory said quietly. “You can’t like someone who don’t like themselves.” He raised his watery gaze to her. “Are you okay, Mom?”
“After a bottle of whisky, son,” Kendall said thickly.
Val stepped next to Rory. “Come on, Johnnie. Let’s take you home.”
He glanced at Kendall. “I’m sorry,” he croaked.
“Say it when you mean it,” she replied.
Johnnie got to his feet.
“Dad, maybe, the only way you’ll stop wanting to be Uncle Christopher is to be away from him. Maybe you should resign as an officer, go Nomad again, and run the lab full-time. Or one of the businesses. You won’t be in his shadow.”
Kendall snorted. “He means you want to put yourself in his shadow, because, motherfucker, this was unnecessary.”
Mortician covered her mouth with his hand and she tried to bite him. He wouldn’t move it, so she elbowed him.
“He just calming down, Red,” he whispered.
She huffed. Johnnie had embarrassed her and acted like a general fuckhead.
Val and Rory helped Johnnie to his feet. His bandages were bloody and his eyes were bright as if he had a raging fever.
Once Val guided her errant husband away, Mortician released her.
Rory ran to her, hugged her and kissed her cheek. “Are you okay?”
“I need a moment.” She drew in a sob. “I always thought if I showed Johnnie how much I loved him, he would finally love me the way he’s always loved Meggie. But I don’t know if he’s so obsessed with your uncle because he admires him or loves her.”
“It isn’t Aunt Meggie’s fault.”
“I don’t blame her.”
Rory swiped at her wet cheeks. “No matter what Dad thinks, I know you and Uncle Christopher have a brother/sister relationship.”
“Johnnie was supposed to be happy for me,” she said hoarsely.
“This has been highly entertaining,” Bash said into the silence.
“I’m sure.”
He walked into her view and stopped next to Mortician. “You are a prime example of why I like tall women.”
“Shocking,” she said sarcastically. “That you’d allow any woman to fight you. I would think you’d just fucking shoot her.”
“Nope. Slit her throat,” he said matter-of-factly.
Mortician lifted a brow at her. He was willing to shoot Bash then and there. She shook her head.
“Why’d you ask Johnnie in? You and I were doing fine without him.”
“I thought he’d see he had nothing to feel threatened over.”
Bash extended his hand. “Thank you. For seeing me as a real man and treating me as an equal.”
Wrung out, she offered him a limp handshake. “Christopher doesn’t?”
“Wasn’t talking about him, but he does. We’d make a good team, him and me,” he said wistfully.
They still could, but it wasn’t up to her. She could only deliver the terms.
Bash looked at Rory, dug in his pocket, and pulled out a key. He held it out. “I’d intended to give this to your mom.”
Sucking in a breath, Rory snatched it.
Bash curved his mouth into a half smile. “A little bird told me you had a request. It’s at the Linnet Hotel. Room 614.” He patted Rory’s back. “Take care of your mother, kid.” He swept them all with a smirk and sauntered away.
Rory stared at the key with wide eyes.
“What’s that key for, son?”
“Molly,” he breathed. “He brought Molly back.”