Christopher scowled. “What else?”
“I…nothing that I can think of.”
“You asked about Hopper’s girl?”
Annoyance crossed her face, but she gritted her teeth and nodded.
“She here,” he told her, and cocked his head. “But you already fuckin’ know, huh? Bash told you.”
Removing her glasses, which he just realized she wore today, Kendall sat them on the desk and rubbed her eyes. “Seriously, how the fuck do you do that?”
“We been through how I do it, so answer the fuckin’ question.”
Instead of appeasing her, her annoyance only grew. “You don’t even know what the fuck I’m talking about. Unless Digger is right and I’d hate to give the fuckhead props for anything.”
Snickering, Christopher leaned back. “It ain’t got nothin’ to do with bein’ a freak of fuckin’ nature, which we know Digger mean when he call me freaky in that fuckin’ sense.”
“Can you please stop saying ‘it’ and answer my question?”
“Nope. Not until you answer the motherfuckerIasked first.”
“Yes, Bash told me. He also pointed out that you and Meggie were probably protecting me by keeping that secret.”
Conflicting emotions toward Bash rose in him. The way Bash helped Kendall both impressed and concernedChristopher. Put together with those expensive ass roses and her vulnerability because Johnniereallyneeded to fucking die, Christopher wasn’t happy. “I came to tell you about her and to fuckin’ apologize, Kendall. Megan and me talked about it last night and she thought you had a right to know. She never intended to hurt or betray you but she didn’t want to cause you unnecessary trauma if Jana turn out not to be Johnnie’s. She’s got some things to do this mornin’, but she gonna talk to you herself. On behalf of her, though, she sorry, too.”
Tears gathering in her eyes and her nose reddening, Kendall swallowed.
Christopher held her gaze. “You a strong bitch, but that don’t mean you can’t be hurt. Us wantin’ to protect you and keep that from you had nothin’ to do with believin’ you weak or still a psycho cunt or nothin’ like that.”
She sniffled and burst into laughter. “Thank you for that pep talk.”
Only Kendall could pull off sarcasm and gratitude. “You know what the fuck I mean.”
“I do. It did hurt me at first,” she admitted, and swiped at her wet cheeks.
Kendall needed a friend, a big brother. It crossed his mind to call Mort. If the motherfucker could ride over, he could give Christopher pointers. That would take too much fucking time and he still had something else to discuss with her, so he got to his feet and held out his hand.
At first, she just stared at it, uncertainty on her red, splotchy face. Slowly, she placed her hand in his and he tugged her up, then hugged her.
“It’s gonna be okay, Kendall,” he told her as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Hear me? Even if I gotta kill Johnnie, Ima give you a chance to act like you got sense. If you turn into a psycho cunt again, Ima kill you and put you out your fuckin’misery. Otherwise, we always gonna be your family and support you. Whether Johnnie around or not.”
She nodded.
“Now, go splash cold fuckin’ water on your face. Your nose and face red efuckinuff to power a stoplight for fuckin’ months.”
Snatching herself away from him, she thumped his shoulder. “You don’t insult a lady.”
His job done, Christopher returned to his seat. “I do when that lady my fuckin’ friend and sister, so shut the fuck up and go cool off your goddamn face.”
Whatever went through her head made her burst into tears. Fuck. He searched his mind for how he’d once comforted Zoann. Val suggested he take cues from then to deal with Rebel. He could do the same with Kendall.
First, he’d probably tell Zoann to… “Sit the fuck down, Kendall.”
She stumbled to her expensive ass chair, sat down, laid her head on the desk, and sobbed as if her heart was so shattered it would never recover.
Christopher frowned. What the fuck now? With Megan, he’d hold her in his arms until she calmed down and then found a way to fix the problem. Once, he’d hold Rebel and reassure her. Now, he sent her to Megan. What the fuck did he do with Zoann? He barely remembered. Comforting his little sister had been a fucking lifetime ago.
He could always hug Kendall again. Unfortunately, she was a girl and wasn’t related by blood. If Megan found out he held Kendall for more than sixty or ninety seconds, she might get mad and not believe it was out of brotherly concern. He’d never wanted Torie and he was still suffering the fallout because of the way his actions were perceived.
