misunderstoodebook (24 page)

“Megs would never—“

“Betray Christopher,” Mortician finished because he knew him that well. “That girl eyes ain’t big enough to see him. She think he fell from Mount Olympus or some shit and just dally with us mortal men. Feel me? But, John Boy, she human. You provoking her by thrusting your hard dick up at her with Prez in the fucking room. She ain’t blind to that cuz she ain’t blind to you. You get her in a weak moment, away from Prez, she’ll give you some pussy.”

Johnnie was offended on Megs’s behalf. “I didn’t know you thought so little of her.”

Mortician chuckled. “I adore her and I give her the highest props. I’d do anything in the world for her, so you got it wrong.”

“Then what do you mean?”

Mortician snorted. “To say
you
college-educated motherfucker, you being a stupid fucker.”

“Let’s get to work. I don’t have time for this.”

“You sure Kendall expecting, John Boy? Or are you so wrapped up in Meggie, you creating this shit in your head so
her
pregnancy don’t upset you so much?”

“I don’t know,” he said after a moment of heavy silence. “I doubt it, though. Kendall is the last woman I’d peg a pregnancy fantasy on. She intended to—“

“I know what she intended. All chicks
intend
something. Don’t they? But you like her. She at your house. Give yourself a fucking break and see what you can make happen with her. You got to. And not just for you. For Meggie. Cuz the bullshit you pull with her would only end up hurting her. Let her go, man. It’s time.”

It was time. Even if it wasn’t with Kendall, it had to be with someone. Because it couldn’t be Megs. If he got her in his bed, it would destroy her. She didn’t take anyone’s feelings lightly and that was one of the things he loved the most about her.
Jesus
. He scrubbed his hand over his face. “I love her.”

Mortician nodded, then smiled. “Nothing like a real first love. You won’t ever forget her. Not that you could since you see her every-fucking-day. But you learn a lot from your first love. What not to do and shit. And, sometimes, if you lose your first love, when that second love comes along, it’s stronger and deeper. So love Meggie all you want. Just love her with the knowledge that she not yours and cherish whatever you two did together when Outlaw was coming to terms with
his
feelings for her.”

“You look like you’ve been thinking about things yourself?” he said, cocking his head to the side.

Mortician shrugged and ducked away from Johnnie’s scrutiny by opening his cut and getting his cigarettes. He pulled out an envelope and slid it to Johnnie. “Something like that. Even before that motherfucker slunk back in our lives.”

“Because of Bailey?” he prodded, ignoring the reference to Logan and holding the envelope up.

Eyeing Johnnie, he offered a reluctant nod. “Yeah. She’s so fucking smart. And funny as hell. But what the fuck I got to offer her? Dick and cash and K-P already spoil the fuck out of her and give her whatever the fuck she want. That leaves me with dick to offer her.” He scratched his scalp. “She going to school to be a psychiatrist and she want a family one day. Babies once she get her degree.”

“I understand,” Johnnie said, and he did. Mortician’s life was as complicated as the rest of theirs. He opened the envelope and pulled out two photos from an ultrasound. Not paying much attention to the details, he glared at his brother. “What the fuck? Stealing Megan’s photos?”

“Nope. Got that out of Red’s purse, you fucking blind mouse.”

“What—“ Johnnie’s mouth dropped open and he looked closer at it, seeing Kendall’s name printed on the photos, the reason Mortician called him blind.

“Guess you know a pregnant bitch when you see one.” He snatched the photos out of Johnnie’s hands, leaned over and shoved them into his suit pocket. “Later, John Boy. Let’s work now.”

Johnnie’s mind race but Mortician was right. There was too much to do for him to study those photos. “Let’s put the discussion about women aside and focus on the reason we’re here.”

“Yeah, this fucking lab. And I have to tell you, just from looking around, you oversee this motherfucker with precision.”

Johnnie smiled, pleased. This lab was his pride and joy, a place Christopher had given him complete control over.

They’d already expanded from just a testing facility where they followed through on what doctors ordered then sent out the specimens for the results. Now, they had a lab onsite with a Medical Laboratory Specialist on the payroll. He processed the specimens and sent out results. All legitimate and above board. However, with the lab, the MC had a way to launder their money, pass the dirty dollars through and wash it clean. Kept everyone happy.

“Come on,” Johnnie grumbled. “I’ll give you a tour later, since you seem so fascinated with all the shit in here.”

“Always found science cool. Loved dissecting animals and seeing what was on the inside.”

Johnnie didn’t comment. Mortician still had a love of dissection. He’d just moved from animals.

“What you doing all dressed up in a suit and tie? It’s just us here.”

“I have a meeting with a couple reps to look at new equipment.”

In silence, they walked through the deserted hallway to the back where Johnnie’s office was located. Once he’d patched back in full-time and Outlaw needed him in Hortensia, he’d hired a manager. Johnnie looked after the books, though, distributed the money to their offshore and overseas bank accounts.

He walked in and turned on the overhead light, since his office had no window. Pulling out his chair, he opened his top drawer and found his smokes. After offering Mortician a cigarette and lighting both of them, he went to his cabinet, unlocked it and got two files, handing them both to the other man.

They smoked in silence while Mortician read over the needed information about two lab employees he’d discovered were skimming money. “This ain’t my jurisdiction. John Boy. Outlaw send me out on jobs, I know where to go to do what I gotta do. Here? No.”

“I know and I wouldn’t have asked you if I hadn’t had to bring Kendall here. But I need to go through the books, get to the meeting with the reps and get back to my house to check on things there. I don’t have time to grab these stupid bastards.”

“Not to mention having all kinds of gore on your designer suit.”

As if that stopped him, a fact Mortician knew. “How about I call them and ask them to meet me here? Discuss the fact they were stealing from us.”

Mortician snapped the file closed and tapped out his cigarette in the ashtray.

“Call them, John Boy. Make the meetings about 30 minutes apart. Give me time to finish with one before the other one comes face to face with me.”

Johnnie nodded. “You got it.”

After showering and braiding her hair, French-style, Kendall went to Johnnie’s room and borrowed a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. He was only two or three inches taller than she was. Usually, she towered over most men, but not Johnnie, a refreshing fact.

Kendall rubbed her temples.
You’re a bad sister.
Spoon’s voice floated into her conscience and she shivered because he was right. How could she be so lustful toward Johnnie when Caroline was in such danger?

The burning temptation of Johnnie seared into her brain. Easing up on her quest for acceptance enticed her more than she thought possible. She could live and let go of the past. The last man who’d truly cared about her had been her father. When he’d been crushed to death in the cab of his 18-wheeler, all the love she’d ever known had been crushed with him.

Why not try…?

Because Johnnie
wasn’t
her father. He was merely the man who’d provided the seed for the child who grew inside her.

Johnnie and his charm and hotness had her on edge. She’d always had older lovers. They’d been her meal ticket, her clothes allowance, her college tuition. They’d taught her about the finer things in life, all the things she’d lost when her daddy had been killed in a truck driving accident.

She’d tried part-time jobs at department stores but people were assholes and she wasn’t cut out for dealing with the public. At sixteen with her grades were going to shit, she discovered the power she had over men. One of her teachers asked her to come to his class after school to discuss her grades and the work she needed to bring them up.

She’d gone with good intentions, but, then, she’d noticed the way he kept staring at her boobs. That day, she’d lost her virginity on the floor in the back of the classroom and passed with flying colors. Their affair had continued most of the year and he’d bought her things, given her money, showered her with attention. She’d felt loved and beautiful, instead of being the overgrown freak with the big boobs. She’d started shaving her pussy because boys were mean and nasty and always whispered evil things to her about the color of her pubic hair.

Yes, assholes, it was red like the hair on her head, but she’d never let anyone know that. Because, really, when it came right down to it, the color of her feminine mound didn’t matter. What it led to mattered most of all.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, a knock sounded on the door followed by one ring of the doorbell. Kendall froze and tipped to the small entrance hall, staring at the muted sunlight shining through the frosted glass arch inlaid at the top of the door. Her freedom might lay in whoever stood on the other side. But where could she go? She had
nothing
.

No, she had something. More like, someone. Brooks. She could ask whoever it was to contact Brooks for her. She would’ve done herself if she’d known Johnnie’s password to log onto his computer.

She’d tell Brooks everything because she trusted him most in the world. About what Spoon did to her and her little sister. About her pregnancy. About her fear. He’d help her. If she had no one else in the world, she had him and his family.

The knock sounded again. “Yo’, Red. I know you fucking in there.”

Not anyone who’d help her then. Only Mortician. Johnnie’s brother and friend.

“Motherfuck man,” he growled and she heard keys jiggling. “I need to go to Stretch’s team. Bitches driving a motherfucker crazy.” He grunted a laugh. “Fuck, motherfucker like pussy too much.”

Before she processed his odd words, he’d swung the door opened, his body filling it. He scowled and rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“I’m not saying shit. Just know I’m not happy because you was listening to my knocks and standing two fucking feet from the door like a simpleton. I can deal with any type of bitch but a fucking stupid one, Red.”

“What about a scared one?” she blurted before she had time to consider her words. Or remember the man before her was Johnnie’s friend. “I don’t…you might’ve…” The suddenness of his appearance took her confidence. She bowed her head and bit the inside of her cheek, not wanting to expose all her weaknesses.

“I might not have done shit, Kendall,” he snapped. “If I wanted to fucking do it, it would’ve been done already.”

She glanced at her toes, her thoughts frozen on that day in her office.

“So ask me what the fuck I’m doing here?”

Not lifting her gaze, she mumbled, “What are you doing here?”

“Sir.”

A frown creasing her brow, she focused on the humor in his dark eyes. “Sir?”

He nodded. “You didn’t add
sir
when you repeated what I said.”

“Okay…sir.”

The moment she said it, he hooted with laughter. “Girl, don’t give motherfuckers around here power like that.”

“Didn’t you just tell me to call you sir?”

“Whatever going on in that gorgeous head of yours, I advise you to tell John Boy. You an attorney, so act like it. The woman who came to fuck Outlaw and you is two different bitches. Unless you got a fucking cold ass twin, I say find that other bitch real quick. That’s all the advice I’m giving you because I’m here to bring you to a fucking grocery store, so you can buy some food.”

“I don’t have mo—“

He pulled out a wad of cash and interrupted her. “
You
don’t fucking need it.”

“I don’t have any shoes.”

Mortician gritted his teeth. “I hope the next motherfucker who gets a bitch make sure she have more than one change of fucking clothes or a pair of fucking shoes to wear. I’m about over half-dressed bitches.” He glared at her. “Tell me what the fuck you want to eat and I’ll play Boy Fucking Friday and go buy it for you.”

Chapter 15

Annoyed beyond belief because Logan was having a delayed reaction over Caroline’s death and refusing to leave the funeral home, Johnnie walked into his house, immediately warmed by the central heat and cheered by the scent of food. He paused for a moment, the surge of contentment at the novel experience of a woman to come home to, surprising him. Even when he’d been with Iona, they hadn’t lived together.

Strains of operatic music reached his ears and he frowned. What the hell?
Opera music
? Who listened to that bullshit by choice?

His irritation returning, he stalked to the kitchen. “Turn that goddamn shit off—“ He snapped his mouth shut when he noticed Kendall, standing next to the breakfast bar, wearing a ruffled red, white, and green apron she must’ve found somewhere. And. Nothing. Else. Her ample breasts fell from the sides of the bodice, which managed to cover little more than her nipples. Her hair was loose and wild, a blanket of red silk raining around her. His gaze roamed from her bare feet to her long legs, pretty knees and soft thighs to the bare ‘v’ at her apex. Her little apron didn’t cover her pussy and Johnnie licked his lips, already smelling her arousal.