“Perfect opening,” Meggie said, drawing Fee back to the conversation. “About you, Cash, and Stretch.”
Fee blinked stupidly. “You want to know about our sex life?”
“Omigod, no! I want to talk about your relationship.”
In that case, she almost preferred talking about what happened between the sheets. “I already know it isn’t a conventional relationship and I should know better.”
“It isn’t conventional,” Meggie agreed. “It is your business. If they make you happy, then everyone else should shut up.”
“Really?” She hadn’t opened up to Zoann about her relationship, but she was pretty sure her sister wouldn’t be so accepting. She’d call her stupid, just like Kendall had. “Are you just saying that?”
“Of course not. I’m serious. I’ll stand by your decision and find a way to get Christopher to accept it.”
“Do you think you can?”
“Yes, eventually. He wants you happy. I’m going to tell him not to kill Cash or Stretch for sleeping with you.”
Fee choked. “Will he listen?”
“It isn’t club business. Not really, anyway, so I think he will. Just tell Cash and Stretch to make themselves scarce until Christopher calms down.”
“What about my job? My lack of one, I mean.”
“I’m going to tell him you no longer work for Kendall, Fee. If that’s what you’re asking. He has to know.”
She couldn’t believe what she was about to ask. “Can you fudge the truth a little? Like you’re doing with Kendall?”
“I’m not fudging the truth with him. I’m outright lying. We both know what my pretense of getting along with Kendall really is. It’s to save her life.”
“You withholding this from Christopher about me is to save my relationship with him.”
“Your relationship is going to be fine,” Meggie promised. “But he has to know. I’ll tell him you two had a disagreement and she fired you. You didn’t know how to tell him.”
Meggie’s truth was vague and left room for Fee’s own story.
Before she could thank Meggie, her doorbell rang. “I’m popular this evening.”
“It seems so,” Meggie said as she grabbed her cell phone from her purse. “I’m going to text Mort. Tell him I’m ready to leave.”
“Mortician is your body guard today?” Fee asked, reaching her door and opening it.
She gasped, then grinned in pleasure seeing Cash and Stretch smiling at her. “Come in.”
“Whoa,” Stretch murmured when he spotted Meggie.
Cash glared at Fee. “Fuck.”
“I’m leaving.” Meggie stood and gathered her purse. “I haven’t seen anything. To keep it that way, I’ll wait for Mortician downstairs.”
“I don’t think so, sweetness,” Cash said with a frown. “It’s dark outside.”
“Yeah, Meggie. Outlaw would have a fit if he found out you were alone on a street where someone could take you.”
“Mort’s on his way. He’ll be here in about ten minutes. I’ll be fine.”
“No,” Cash and Stretch chorused.
Meggie threw them a frustrated scowl.
“Why don’t we have a drink?” Fee offered. “Invite Mortician up as well.”
“Hell no!” Cash immediately said. “It’s bad enough Meggie’s here.”
Fee disagreed. “Cash, this is the best thing that could’ve happened. Meggie’s going to get Christopher to accept our relationship.”
Stretch went to the sofa, never able to stand too long. “What do you mean?”
“Just what I said. Isn’t that great? We no longer have to sneak around. We could be like we were in Kansas.”
“No. Fuck no. Hell no,” Cash growled. “Outlaw beat my ass a few weeks ago because of what I did at the park. He’d fucking kill me this time.”
“If Meggie tells him not to kill you, he won’t,” Fee pointed out. “He might beat you up again, but then we could be out in the open.”
“Really? And how the fuck could I stay in the club?” he snapped, nodding to Stretch. “My brothers would automatically assume we’re fucking.”
“Well, you are,” Fee blurted, before she thought better.
Three pairs of blue eyes looked at her with incredulity.
“You’re out of your fucking mind, woman?” Cash yelled. “Homophobia is alive and well. I’d get fucking killed. Stretch would never survive this time around.”
“You told me fear of Christopher made you not want to go public,” Fee reminded him. “Now, you’re saying something completely different. What’s the real deal? Everyone won’t assume you and Stretch are fucking. Besides, the most you do is suck him off! You’re the top.”
A furious blush stained Meggie’s face. “Uh, I’ll wait outside.”
“No the fuck you won’t!” Cash ordered. “Outlaw would have my ass. Sit here until Mortician arrives.”
Without another word, Meggie stomped to the nearest chair and sat.
“Meggie, if you have a grudge against asshole, tell Outlaw how he just screamed at you. He’d rip his tongue out.” Stretch offered Cash a dirty glare. “What’s really the problem? I’m willing to go out in the open about me, you, and Fee. No one has to know that you and me fuck. Meggie can keep you alive.”
Cash scrubbed a hand over his face. “What you’re telling me is you agree with Fee? You want us to go public?”
“Not the two of us, motherfucker,” Stretch hissed. “The three of us.”
“No.”
Fee’s heart started beating fast and furious at Cash’s harsh tone, as if nothing would change his mind. “I love you. We love each other. I want us to be together. We…I thought we were working everything out.”
“You thought wrong. I’m not interested in letting every motherfucker in the world know what we’re doing.”
“We love each other, Cash,” Stretch repeated Fee’s words. “Why wouldn’t you want everyone to know?”
“You’re still not sure if you want to keep us forever?” Fee guessed dully.
“Bringing Outlaw into this, going public, complicates matters,” Cash confessed. “Everyone is going to scrutinize our relationship. Wait for it to fail. Fuck, Fee, I’m still in charge of the Bobs. I’m happy with the way things stand between us.”
“I’m not!” Fee cried, tears rushing to her eyes. “I can’t continue like this. I want the world to know about us. I want to be able to show you two off. Let everyone know you’re both mine.”
“No, you want to fucking pen me up and force me into something I’m not ready for.”
Fee would agree on one thing. This was going too fast, spinning out of control. But she couldn’t allow his reticence when she wanted so much more. “What do you mean you’re not ready? We’ve been sleeping together for over a year,” she reminded him, her heart breaking.
Ire twisted Cash’s face. “You open your legs to me. You can keep your pussy to yourself any fucking time you want to.”
“Fuck you,” she spat, swiping at angry tears.
Gasping, Meggie jumped to her feet and hugged her.
“I can’t do this shit,” Cash declared. “This ends here and now. Tonight. All of us. We go our separate ways.”
“What?” Stretch choked out, drowning out Fee’s sobs and Meggie’s whispers.
“You fucking heard me,” Cash said. “She wants more.”
“Yes, but we can be happy with what we have. Right, Fee? Tell Cash you’re just venting.”
“I…” Fee hiccupped, wanting so bad to be able to say that. If not for her sake, then for Stretch’s. Still holding onto Meggie, she straightened. “I can’t. Despite everything that Kendall does, Johnnie loves her. He sticks by her, determined to overcome whatever challenge they face. Meggie loves Christopher so much, has such faith in him, that even evidence of another woman, didn’t shake her belief. We can have that, too. We just have to be willing to face the fire, to rise up and claim our happiness. Please, Cash? I love you and Str
etch so much. He loves you, too. We love each other. Don’t do this. Don’t force me to end what we have. I can’t stay with you if you insist on hiding me.”
Hesitation slid into Cash’s face, as if he’d give in, then his expression hardened and his lips thinned. “It’s over, Ophelia. Weeks ago, I swore it would be the three of us or none of us. It’s none of us, thanks to you.”
The hurt in Stretch’s eyes made Fee cry harder and she ran to him, sitting on the sofa and hugging him tightly. He sat, frozen, not responding to her.
“Don’t tell Outlaw, Meggie,” Cash told her.
“I hadn’t planned to. Not until Fee gave me the go ahead. Don’t end it on my account.”
“You don’t know why the fuck I’m ending this, so stop with your goddamn speculation. Don’t fucking pretend you don’t find this affair disgusting.”
“I don’t,” she said softly. “But, maybe, you do, and that’s the problem.”
“Fuck off.”
“Have you lost your ever-loving fucking mind? Talking to Meggie like that, brother? She hasn’t done anything. It’s all you, Cash. You and me and Fee.”
Right on cue, the doorbell rang.
Meggie sighed. “And Mortician.”
Cash released harsh laughter. “Great. Just fucking great.”
Standing, Fee made her way to the door. Sure enough, when she opened it, the club’s too-handsome enforcer stood there. Seeing her tears, he brought his hand to his side, where he had a gun holstered.
“I’m fine,” she rushed out.
He didn’t wait for her to invite him in. When he walked into her small living room, suddenly too crowded with three big bikers there, Mortician halted. “Fuck, man.”
Meggie raised her hands in supplication. “They were not here when I arrived.”
“I’m envisioning a gruesome death and my ass in line for that fate, too. Just by fucking association.”
“Shut up!” Meggie demanded. “No one’s dying. You make it sound as if Christopher’s an insane maniac.”
“He is,” Mort, Cash, and Stretch chorused.
“Yeah, Meggie girl, and Prez the first to admit it,” Mort said.
“He has self-control!” Meggie insisted. “He won’t randomly shoot.”
“Nothing random about these two motherfuckers fucking Prez baby sister. That’s systematic and planned rendezvous. That mean Prez going to plan a systematic hacking off their cocks and fucking me up for witnessing their bullshit.”
“Nuh-uh!” Meggie yelled. “If that was the case, I’m here. What would he do to me?”
“Nothing, sweetness,” Cash said, much calmer.
Fee didn’t know if Mort’s presence took his anger or if he was getting control on his own.
“That would make my death even worse,” Mort surmised. “My ass your guard today. I’m supposed to keep you away from any shit that would get you fucked up, kidnapped, maimed, or dismembered. I’m definitely not supposed to allow you to get in a situation that would piss him off. Some kind of way that would lead to a pussy lockout and…fuck! This shit bad.”
Meggie sniffed at Mort’s speech. “Not if we leave. Okay?”
“Just tell me why you crying, Fee? If you straight, I can go with a clear conscience.”
“You can leave now with a clear conscience,” Meggie retorted. “The less you know, the better for you.”
“Yeah, Mortician, go,” Cash said. “I was just leaving myself. There’s nothing to tell Prez. Whatever was going on with me and Ophelia is over.”
“Don’t do this,” Fee begged, her pride going out the door, the closer Cash got to hers.
“It’s done,” he announced, offered them all another hard look and stormed out.
Stretch hobbled to his feet. “I-I should go.”
“Don’t you dare!” Fee shouted wildly. “Don’t you dare run behind him and offer a dick suck to get back with him.”
“I can’t run any fucking where,” Stretch pointed out. “I certainly won’t suck that asshole’s cock tonight. I’ll talk to him tomorrow when he’s calmer.”
Mortician frowned but Fee ignored it, too caught up in her pain.
“No!” she screamed. “If I have to let him go, so do you. He doesn’t want me or you.”
“Yeah,” Stretch sneered. “Thanks to you! I fucking knew bringing you into our relationship would ruin me and him.”
“Get out!” Fee shouted.
“Gladly. I’ll never forgive you for what you’ve done. You needed to stop pressuring him. This is all your fault.”
“Stretch, go, brother,” Mort commanded.
Too overcome with tears to do anything, Fee sank to the floor and covered her face. A moment later, she heard her door close.
“Come on.” Meggie wrapped her arms around Fee and helped her to her feet. “Sit on the sofa.”
Once Meggie helped her to the seat, Fee drew in deep breaths, just as Meggie’s phone blasted Christopher’s ringtone.
“Tell him you’re on the way,” Fee suggested, her head pounding. “I need to be alone anyway.”
Meggie studied Fee closely, then sighed and answered her husband’s call, doing as Fee requested, then ending with her usual, I love you.
“I’ll be fine,” Fee swore once she hung up.
“I feel as if this is my fault.”
“It’s not,” Mort spoke up. “Cash a fucking ass. That’s the fucking problem. The way he treated Stretch for months prove that. You two too good to put up with his ass. You and Stretch might work better without him.”
“I said horrible things to Stretch,” she cried. “He’ll never forgive me.”
Worry creased Meggie’s brow. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
She doubted she’d be okay for a long time to come, but she nodded, not wanting to hold Meggie up. She had to get to her husband and children.
“Come to the house tonight,” Meggie insisted. “Sleep there.”
“Okay,” Fee agreed hoarsely, wondering if she should’ve left well enough alone. She might not have had the relationship she wanted, but, at least, she would’ve had them.
Storming away from Fee’s apartment, Cash couldn’t believe what had just happened. He couldn’t believe her. Giving him an ultimatum. Either confront her brother or lose her. He was just settling into the idea of a fucking relationship, knowing all she wanted, and she hit him with that.
He jabbed the elevator button, aware of Stretch hot on his heels.
“Not a fucking word,” he warned, pressing the number one and allowing the doors to slide shut.
“Fuck you, asshole,” Stretch returned. “How could you destroy us?”
Fee lived on the third floor, so the elevator reached ground level in no time. Without answering, Cash stalked into the lobby and out into the cool twilight, heading to his cycle.
Stretch grabbed his collar and jerked him back. Cash reacted, swinging around with a fist to Stretch’s stomach.
“Leave me the fuck alone.”
“So that’s it?” Stretch gasped, clutching his stomach, wheezing out a cough. “You’re just walking away from us? From me? Since when did you and I depend on Fee?”
Cash thrust his fingers through his hair, not having an answer to the question. When had it? He thought of Fee the Saturday she’d come to the party and found him with Daphne. Something about that night changed everything. Maybe, if he knew what it was, he’d have the answer. Right now, he needed to get the fuck away and think. He didn’t need to think of her despair or see Stretch’s hurt.
He turned to his bike.
“If you want out of this relationship, go.” Stretch’s voice halted him. “Fee and I love you. We want to make this work.”
“Give me time to think this through,” he said, after a moment. His boiling temper would lead him to more regrettable behavior. “Back off right now. Let me calm down.”
“Fuck you,” Stretch said again, ignoring Cash’s request.
His temper spiked a little more.
“You’re not fucking me over anymore, Cash. I’ve stuck by you when you were at your worse. Fucking everything you saw.”
“Stretch, shut the fuck up. I don’t need this from you right now. You want to go, fuck off, then.”
“Fuck you.”
Losing complete control, Cash faced Stretch again. He’d never seen him so angry—almost as angry as Cash. What the fuck was going on? Stretch was the calm motherfucker.
He decided to try one more time to diffuse the situation. “I’ll talk to you in the morning. Give me tonight.”
“Everything is always your way, Cash. I understand the thought of going back to the state of our relationship prior to Kansas City isn’t acceptable. I don’t like the idea, either. Just like Fee had no right to make those demands of you so soon, you had no fucking right to end it between us.”
“Stop being a whiny motherfucker. It’s over. Move the fuck on,” he snarled, panicked, hurt, and overwhelmed. “I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want either of you. It’s over.”
The moment the words left his mouth Cash wanted to take them back. He wanted them, more than they knew. More than he’d realized, until that moment. But he hated the position Fee had put him in. He hated knowing he’d have to go to Outlaw and confess, when he hadn’t shown himself worthy of Fee. Fuck, Outlaw didn’t think he was worthy of Stretch.
Once more, he started to turn away, feeling lower than fuck. The dawning hurt in Stretch’s eyes didn’t help him. Cash had hurt him a lot. Stretch had given him chance after chance and he’d used that to his advantage. Now, with his back against the wall, his behavior was even more fucked up.
He halted. “I’m sorry, Stretch.” Instead of going to him as he wanted, he bowed his head. “I want you. I always have. From the moment we met you enthralled me. But I can’t do this without her. She came into my life—our lives—and stole a piece of me. She’s our glue. Don’t you understand that? When we’re being assholes, she reins us in. She’s sweet and kind, our sexy Circe.”
“No, she’s the one who’s destroyed us,” Stretch snarled, his desperation leading him to unreasonableness. “From the time she came into our lives, you’ve differed to her. Fuck me.”
Death Dwellers Motorcycle Club:: Fifteen Bad Boy Biker Books Page 333
