If Rebel didn’t hate him, she disliked him because of that situation. Sighing, Christopher lit a smoke to wait until Kendallran out of fucking tears. Five minutes later, he stood and walked to her sofa table to get rid of his cigarette. As he returned to his seat, she finally shut the fuck up, lifted her head and grabbed tissue from the silver box on her desk.
“You cryin’ cuz of what Johnnie did last night or what he did Sunday? Or both?”
Her face crumpled again and horror washed through Christopher.
“You know you a pretty bitch,” he blurted. “And you ain’t wrinkled or nothin’.” He squinted. “You don’t look no older than thirty-five.”
“Are you trying to make me feel better?” she wailed, tears slipping down her cheeks.
If she kept fucking crying, she wouldn’t be able to keep her fucking head upright. It would hurt too fucking much.
“How the fuck old you are?”
“You don’t know?”
“Am I supposed to fuckin’ know?”
“Yes!” she cried, sniffling like a little kid. “I’m your sister-in-law. You’re supposed to remember my birthday is September 15thandmy age.”
“I ain’t supposed to know no motherfucker’s birthday exceptMegan’s.”
Still sniffling, she swiped at her cheeks. “And your kids, of course.”
“I got too many motherfuckers to keep the fuck up. I remember cuz of all the plans Megan make. As long as I remember, Megan’s birthday, Romantic Motherfucker Day, and our anniversaries, I ain’t carin’ aboutmyfuckin’ birthday. When Megan tell me it’s a motherfucker’s birthday, then I say happy fuckin’ birthday.”
“Your club members, too?”
“We have a monthly fuckin’ barbeque for all the motherfuckers born in that month. I ain’t got to fuckin’ remember individual days.”
“Okay.”
“You been takin’ your fuckin’ meds?”
“Yes. I promised I would.”
“When you see your doctor again?”
“In two weeks.”
Maybe he couldn’t hug her, but he could talk to her or order her to see her doctor sooner.
“I’m fine,” she croaked. “I-I…last night when Johnnie gave me the gift, I thought…but it wasn’t because he loves me.”
“As much as I hate to take up for that fuckhead for any fuckin’ thing, hedolove you. He just a stupid motherfucker.”
“My Johnnie wasn’t.”
“News fuckin’ flash:yourJohnnie gone. Never to fuckin’ return.MyJohnnie gone too, Kendall. Sometimes, I still miss that motherfucker. That make me hate him more.”
“Maybe life can get back to normal once a deal is worked out,” Kendall said, hope filling her teary brown eyes. “The way it was before Bash contacted Brooks.”
If she needed a bit of optimism to hold onto so she wouldn’t sink into a pit of despair, Christopher wouldn’t take that from her. “We already are, yeah? We talkin’ about the peace agreement but look at it as a new beginning. We tidyin’ up loose ends. Seein’ to Molly. Harley’s play. The kids gettin’ back in fuckin’ school. Megan and me goin’ to the cabin. Nothin’ too excitin’ but fuckin’ necessary to really fuckin’ move on. Let Johnnie settle his fuckin’ ass down and think he forced whatever happen between the Dwellers and the Scorpions. Let us get the fuck back to doin’ family shit and club meetins. Your Johnnie probably comin’ back to you.”
She blew her nose, tossed that tissue, then grabbed another one and dabbed at her eyes. “At the meeting with Bash, Johnnie was…my virtue…he said…”
Snapping his brows together, Christopher studied her, trying to make sense of what the fuck she meant. “What fuckin’ virtue?”
Shame and despair blanketed her face. “You think I’m a whore too, and that Meggie’s a paragon.”
