Chapter Sixteen #3
“I didn’t know where the fuck you went,” Christopher conceded.
“But I knew that motherfucker was still the fuck alive. You ain’t shed a single fuckin’ tear at his goddamn funeral.
You ain’t balked that he had a closed casket.
Nothin’. Logan always had fuckin’ power over you.
If that motherfucker was fuckin’ fucked up, you woulda been inconsolable. ”
“I don’t understand—”
“Of course you fuckin’ don’t. You ain’t had to learn to read motherfuckers to stay the fuck alive. I did. From young. I picked up when Logan was about to attack me. Elmira. Ma . And braced myself. Schooled my fuckin’ face so they didn’t get no satisfaction.”
“I’m so sorry, Christopher,” Johnnie said. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“I ain’t told you that for your fuckin’ pity, John Peter. You wasn’t responsible for none of those motherfuckers. You tried your fuckin’ hardest to be loyal to me, but you could never decide. You thought you could please both of us and that would make you happy.”
Johnnie bowed his head. Guilt flickered over his face, quickly disappearing.
“Grandda had a girl for me in Colombia,” he said, soft and sad.
“Paz. She couldn’t speak English. Not that it mattered.
He got her to serve me. Service me. She was the reason I never visited him again.
The only time she was allowed clothes was when we went out.
He called them traditional clothing, worn to set them apart. He called her a throwaway.”
Christopher already knew how the story ended. Throwaways to Sharper Banks and Logan Donovan were marked for death. “Lemme guess. He fuckin’ killed her.”
Johnnie shook his head. “No, his butler went rogue and killed her.”
“Think that all the fuck you wanna, but if Logan involved, I’d bet my fuckin’ life, he ordered her dead.”
“You weren’t there. Grandda was horrified.
I was thinking of a way to save her. He’d just told me she was sixteen.
” Johnnie drew in a deep breath. “I was so fucking angry with him. We argued and Mauricio came in. The next thing I knew, Grandda was looking over my shoulder and nodding, then a spray of wetness hit my back. Mauricio slit Paz’s throat. ”
“At Logan’s signal,” Christopher insisted. “That fuckin’ nod was the go ahead, Johnnie.”
“No…I don’t…no!” Tears formed in Johnnie’s eyes and he blinked.
“No! Grandda appreciated beauty and Paz was gorgeous. Everything went down on my last night, when I told Grandda I wanted him to help her. He agreed. That’s when he told me she was sixteen.
” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I was…what? Twenty-three? Twenty-four? We…he asked me if I came in her. I never thought to ask anyone if she was on birth control. Mauricio slit her throat because he was a xenophobe. I was an American on his turf. I swear Grandda was outraged.”
No, Grandda ordered her death. But Johnnie had a fucking blind spot toward Logan.
“John Boy, listen up. I’m so fuckin’ sorry Logan did that.
It sounds like you really fuckin’ cared for her and try not to fuckin’ think about it, since you never once told us.
Not even after Logan turned up from the fuckin’ grave. ”
“I try not to think about her ,” Johnnie said quietly. “I can’t help but to think about him.”
“I ain’t ever asked you to choose between me and Logan.
Even now. All I want from you or anyfuckinbody is fairness and honesty.
I ain’t a monument of goodness, but I try my fuckin’ best to give motherfuckers what the fuck I want.
Big Joe taught me that. Big Joe was a good motherfucker. I can’t…As fucked up as Dinah was—”
“Logan and Sharper sexually assaulted her, Christopher. The stories that aren’t in the letters, Bash filled in.”
Christopher nodded. “I know me and you was related to Snake.”
“Snake-Snake?” Digger cut in. “Meggie brother? That fucking reptile?”
“Yeah,” Christopher answered as Johnnie said, “we’re first cousins. His mother was the sister of our father.”
“Meggie girl know?” Mort asked.
“Not yet,” Christopher answered. “I’m tryin’ to let Kendall unfuck all the fuckery first.”
“What else you know, Johnnie?” Val asked. “It all sound so fucking complicated.”
“Rack and Logan set up K-P so Roxanne could find him in bed with two women,” Johnnie answered.
“It was her first time back at the club after her run-in with Grandda where he called her all kinds of filthy names. Do you know I’ve heard even Cee Cee liked her?
Big Joe had a fucking crush on her. And K-P never truly got over her. Her minister sold her virginity—”
“To Sharper,” Mort inserted, regret framing his features. “Big Joe and K-P saved her, then Rack went the next week and killed her pastor right in front of her.”
Johnnie nodded. “How’d you find out?”
“She told us the story when she was trying to get through to Harley,” Digger revealed.
“Fuck, I just got a new respect for Roxanne,” Cash said, awed. “She was around way back when and has kept her mouth shut.”
Christopher searched his mind for why that statement bothered him.
“Why you never told us about Paz, Johnnie?” Val asked into the silence.
“What could I say? That I was a grown man who fucked an underaged sex slave? That Grandda hired maniacs?”
“No, you can say Grandda was a maniac, bruh,” Digger said. “ He the motherfucker that ordered her death.”
Confusion knitted Johnnie’s brow. “Why would he do that? Grandda had no fucking reason to have her killed! She was an innocent girl.”
“You came in her,” Mortician said. “As much as Logan hated Digger and me, you think he wanted his golden child to have what he’d deem as a less-than-perfect grandchild?”
“But—”
“Think about it later. It ain’t fuckin’ important.
You forgave that motherfucker enough to send money to him every fuckin’ month.
” Christopher wouldn’t waste his time trying to have Johnnie come to his fucking senses about Logan.
It would never happen. “So far, Kendall ain’t found nothin’ that show Megan in danger.
Anything you read show different shit? Any more from Bash? ”
“No,” Johnnie croaked.
Christopher narrowed his eyes. “Listen up, motherfucker. If Bash contacting you, tell me or forever hold your fuckin’ peace. I’m offerin’ immunity now .”
“I haven’t talked to or seen Bash in fucking weeks,” Johnnie swore in a steely tone.
“I haven’t found evidence of the phones being tapped,” Stretch cut in. “Either Bash is making lucky guesses, he has someone on the inside here that’s feeding information to him, or he has Cee Cee and Outlaw’s genes and is just staying one step ahead with plans of his own.”
“Speaking of Meggie…” Digger grabbed Mort’s almost-empty pint of vodka and finished it off, ignoring Mort’s scowl. “Now that Torie fucked up, Meggie back to normal?”
“What the fuck you mean, assfuck? My woman always fuckin’ normal.”
“No, your woman related to Big Joe and Snake,” Digger replied. “She pretty like them. She got her daddy’s head for numbers and know how to make fucking money like a big dog. And she got those blue fucking eyes. Know what else she got?”
“Big Joe temper,” Val said. “When Meggie mad, her fucking eyes ice over just like her daddy’s did.”
“Snake eyes stayed wintry, until they was flaming with insanity. I think that motherfucker was a White Walker,” Digger concluded. “But Meggie ? Big Joe was a good dude unless you fucked over him, then he’d burn motherfuckers to a crisp.”
Nope, that would be Reb once she got older. For now, they were safe. Megan insisted she cancel her order for the flamethrower.
“Same with Meggie,” Digger went on. “You look at her and think, ‘hey, this a gnome-sized little motherfucker and I don’t got to worry about her. Then, you fuck over her, and she say you get a bullet and you get a bullet and you get a bullet. Fuck, man.”
They all laughed. Ironic that Christopher stuck out his chest in pride now, when he’d felt so lost when she was actually ordering motherfuckers killed.
“That just mean don’t fuck over Meggie girl, son,” Mortician said once their laughter died down.
“Yeah,” Christopher agreed.
Val sipped his rum. “You good now? Meggie told you that you can’t kill a bunch of motherfuckers, right?”
“Megan ain’t wantin’ me to kill,” Christopher confirmed, even if she hadn’t said those exact words.
Besides, Val was family. He didn’t have to worry.
“Fuck, if she ever told you to kill at will, I’m hiding,” Digger said.
More laughter filtered amongst them, releasing the tension that had floated up.
“Prez, I’m thinking about visiting Claude this week,” Mort said.
The jeweler.
Fuck, Christopher had forgotten all about Megan’s diamonds.
“Hit me up when you do. We can ride together.”
Mort nodded.
“Sorry, fellas, what did I miss?” Knox asked as he walked to the table and took one of the empty seats.
They all snickered. Motherfucker missed a lot during his weekly call to Grant.
Christopher stood. “Fuck all, Knox. I’m gonna bring Gunner to his bed, then get you motherfuckers, so we can join the girls.”