What the fuck? Christopher couldn’t fucking imagine Johnnie being so goddamn angry and vindictive that he’d humiliate Kendall in front ofBash. “Listen up, I’ve called you a whore before cuz you pissed me the fuck off, but I was a hypocritical motherfucker cuz I was a fuckin’ whore, too. I fucked more bitches than I can fuckin’ remember. I ain’t got no virtue either, and neither doesyourmotherfucker.”
Christopher had seen Kendall at her fucking worst, so bad he’d choked the fuck out of her once or twice and would’ve danced naked under the fucking moon if he’d been able to put her to ground. Maybe he hadn’t valued her enough to notice, but in his memory, he’d never seen her so broken up.
“Kendall, baby, you worked so fuckin’ hard on yourself and I can’t fuckin’ express how fuckin’ proud I am of you. I ain’t too fuckin’ sure why Johnnie still got a brain in his fuckin’ head since that motherfucker useless, but you either got to overlook what the fuck he says and does or let me fuckin’ kill him.”
“He’s on Meggie’s No Kill List.”
Yeah, that motherfucker was, which made Christopher very fucking unhappy. Even more unhappy was seeing Easton’s name added to it when Megan produced her ledger this morning.Howfuckinever… “Megan keepin’ that motherfucker alive foryou. The minuteyouain’t givin’ a good fuck if I shoot him with nine or ten different guns, he’s dead.”
“I don’t want Johnnie to die,” she said pitifully.
“Of course fuckin’ not,” Christopher said sourly. “Tell me why the fuck that motherfucker called you a whore?”
Listening to her explanation, hearing how Johnnie insulted her to high fucking heaven, almost made Christopher find that motherfucker and shoot the fuck out of him anyway. But that would mean crossing Megan.
He snatched his cell phone from his pocket and fired off a text to Mortician.
I’m at Kendall’s office. She’s in a bad way. Can you come and talk to her? If you can’t, it’s fucking fine. I’ll think about calling Megan but me and her supposed to spend the afternoon fucking. If I got to give up that time with my woman, I might saw Johnnie’s cock off with a butter knife.
Mortician: Say less. I’ll be there in thirty.
Satisfied, Christopher shoved his phone back in his pocket. He needed to tell Kendall about the DNA test he planned to order, but he didn’t want to distress her further.
“I love Johnnie,” she started in a watery voice. “But I’m tired of not mattering to himat all. I don’t want Mattie afraid of Johnnie. I don’t want to discover Jana is his daughter and have him act like a flaming fucking jackass toward her.”
“Too fuckin’ late,” Christopher grumbled, detailing Johnnie’s meeting with Jana Sunday before last.
Her face fell.
“You not upset that you not the only one who had kids by him?”
“The old me would’ve been livid and—”
“We ain’t lookin’ at the old you, Kendall. I couldn’t standthatcunt. But lookin’ back a waste of fuckin’ time. Let’s talk about the current you. Fuck that other bitch.”
“If we don’t learn from the past, we’re bound to repeat our mistakes.”
“You already fuckin’ learned. Hard fuckin’ lessons. Reflect on them, but don’t fuckin’ dwell on them. You so much fuckin’ better than I wanted to give you credit for. You better than what Johnnie’s fuckin’ doin’ to you. I’m so fuckin’ sick of that motherfucker.”
“And that frightens me,” she said hoarsely. “When I leave him, I don’t want to take away his last line of defense.”
Christopher didn’t comment immediately. He just allowed her words to sink in. Life was so fucking funny. All the goddamn years he would’ve performed handstands in Siberia with his fucking cock swinging if it got Kendall to leave didn’t mean a fucking thing. He’d accepted her as his family and actually liked and cared about her. The idea that one day, she wouldn’t be a part of their dynamic unsettled him.
“I take it Johnnie don’t know.”
“No.”
“Mort?”
“Only Roxy.”
That made sense. “When you leavin’?”
She swallowed. “When Rory turns eighteen. I-I don’t want to leave my son solely in Johnnie’s hands.”
“Rory love you. He might leave with you.”
“He loves me, but he idolizes Johnnie. He’d never come with me. I can’t put that burden on him and ask him to make that choice, but I need to serve as the buffer between my son and his father.”
