Death Dwellers Motorcycle Club:: Fifteen Bad Boy Biker Books

by Kathryn C. Kelly

  “Don’t play fucking stupid, Megan,” he ordered. “To get back at Kendall.”

  “Really, jerk?” Megan retorted. “Even if he had put Emily in your path, which I don’t think he did, she wouldn’t have gotten here without your involvement. Again, why would my husband pull such a stunt? Kendall isn’t around anymore. Besides, if you’re so worried about Kendall’s reaction, you wouldn’t have made a move on Emily to begin with.”

  No one said anything in the wake of Megan’s heated words. They all stared amongst one another, but Emily seemed to fixate on Megan. Unease slipped into Johnnie and he took Emily’s hand in his own.

  “’LAW!” CJ screeched into the silence, running into the room and skidding to a halt. He looked at Emily, gazed at her hand entwined with Johnnie’s, then he turned to Megan. He focused on Emily again. “Who you?”

  Emily smiled at him. “I’m Emily.”

  “Miss Emily,” Megan inserted.

  “Emily,” Emily insisted. “Miss-ing and Mister-ing went out ages ago.”

  “When you have children, you’re welcomed to tell them how to address adults,” Megan said coolly. “CJ is mine, so you will not overstep my authority.”

  “Whatcha want, boy?” Christopher asked, sounding both annoyed and tired.

  “Oh!” CJ said, running to his father. “Diesel humping Lyndsey in the bathroom. I watcheded him, ‘Law. Just like you told me when him did that to her in my treehouse.”

  “WHAT?” Megan screeched, her face going sheet-white. Horrified, she looked between her husband and son.

  CJ stayed focused on Christopher. “Him and her went to the bathroom and I ‘lookted’ under the gap between the door and the floor. Him bent that girl over and started doing this.” He pumped his hips back and forth. “Then her say, ‘ohh,’ and him did this to her.” He slapped a hand over his mouth. “Her dress wayyyyy up and his pants down, ‘Law.”

  “How the fuck long you watched them fuckin’, boy?” Christopher demanded.

  “Omigod, Christopher,” Megan gasped in outrage.

  “That’s what they was doin’, baby.”

  “Diesel getting ass,” Digger said with a grin. “That’s a cool little motherfucker.”

  “No, he isn’t,” Megan protested.

  “He certainly isn’t,” Bunny agreed.

  “Miss Emily, why you holding Uncle Johnnie hand?” CJ asked.

  “Because we’re dating,” Emily answered with a smile.

  CJ nodded, then turned and started out of the room, yelling, “Ro! You got a new Ma.”

  “Let’s go,” Johnnie said. Without waiting for a response, he guided Emily toward the door, nervous that Rory would see him with a woman who wasn’t his mom.

  Neither he nor Emily spoke as they walked along the forested path that took them past Mortician, Val, and Christopher’s houses. Behind Digger’s house stood Johnnie’s property as well as Cash and Stretch’s. They’d created a nice little enclave for themselves and their women.

  “That was interesting,” Emily said once Johnnie had left the property. “Are they always so colorful?”

  “Always,” he confirmed. “It surprises me how much we look forward to the weekly dinners, considering they almost always turn into a free-for-all.”

  Emily chuckled. “Perhaps, that’s the fun in it right there.”

  “Maybe,” he agreed, hoping she stopped her small talk so he could think over the evening’s events.

  Every now and then, streetlights lit the inside of Johnnie’s Navigator, and Emily saw his handsome profile with unerring clarity. Ever since she’d met Outlaw, her luck had changed for the better. Such as now. At that moment, the light glimmered into the car, allowing her to see how he was closing up. He gave her the merest of glances, then refocused on the road ahead, but it was enough to know if she shut up now, her fortunes would head south again and she’d be paddling her canoe in a sea of shit once more.

  She pretended to put her anger aside. Pretended that she didn’t hate Megan Caldwell as much as she had always despised Kendall. Whereas Kendall hadn’t known the power she had over men, Megan was well aware of her influence. She had beauty and youth and the devotion of Outlaw. Still, in Emily’s eyes, Megan was gorgeous but Kendall, with her natural red hair, was absolutely stunning. Because blondes had a reputation of being more fun, everyone wanted to be blonde. They came a dime a dozen. Redheads, though, were a rare breed, which made them all the more outstanding.

  A country song invaded her thoughts. Johnnie had turned on his radio.

  She blew out of breath, then turned the radio to the ‘off’ position.

  “I was listening to that,” he complained.

  “I love Country music, too,” she said, able to tell this truth. “But I’d prefer we talk.”

  “About?”

  The last person in the world she wanted to discuss. “Kendall,” she said softly. “Your wonderful family.” She’d keep her hatred toward one of them to herself. Well, she didn’t care for Zoann or, actually, none of those bitches that had been present. “I would’ve loved to have been part of such a huge, unruly bunch,” she said in a small voice. She forced herself to sniffle. “You’re very lucky.”

  The silence stretched by for such a long moment that Emily feared she’d overplayed her hand.

  “My family is nosy, noisy, bossy, and more than a little opinionated,” he finally said.

  True, true, true, and true. “They are perfect,” Emily lied. “I’m honored you brought me to meet them.”

  “Yeah, well—”

  “As to what the girl…Joann, was it…?”

  “Zoann.”

  Of course, she’d never forget that bitch’s name. “Oh, what an unusual and pretty name.”

  “She’s my cousin,” Johnnie grunted.

  Emily would grunt that fact, too. Who would want to claim that bitch as family? “It’s obvious she loves you very much.”

  Johnnie sidled a glance at Emily. “She could’ve kept her fucking thoughts to herself.”

  “I know they aren’t the truth, so please don’t be embarrassed on my behalf.”

  “I’m not,” Johnnie said, surprising Emily.

  After all, Zoann called him a piece of shit for a slew of crimes that mostly involved Megan Caldwell.

  “I just can’t believe she had the fucking gall to say that to me.”

  Emily lowered her lashes. “Was it true?” She applauded the meekness in her voice.

  “Does it matter?”

  Not really. Not for her end goal. “Of course,” she said in a trembly voice. “How do you think I felt hearing you brought me there to compare me to another woman? One who isn’t even your wife? Are you in love with that girl or something?”

  “Who? Megan?”

  Duh. Who the fuck else?

  Emily nodded. “Y-yes.” She sounded pathetic.

  Outlaw needed to give her extra money for her performance.

  “I once loved Megan with all my heart,” Johnnie admitted. “But I don’t anymore. It’s Kendall whom I love and miss terribly. She’s just so fucking frustrating, Emily. Besides, Megan, Zoann, all of them were right about you. You’re the bitch who started my wife down that mental path.”

  If Emily had her way, she would put Kendall through much more, and throw Megan in to boot. “We were just children,” she said, feigning regret. “I’m so sorry and ashamed over my actions. You have to know—”

  He rolled to a stop in front of her shoddy apartment building. “I don’t have to know anything,” he interrupted. “Kendall and I have enough between us without adding you, or any other woman into the mix. And I don’t believe you are truly regretful. Something about you screams scheming bitch.” He shrugged. “Whatever the case might be, I can’t see you anymore. I’m not interested in you. I’m not attracted to you.”

  Emily gasped, his words shocking her out of her pretense. Before she lost her temper, though, she managed to rein in her anger and burst into tears. “You can’t mean that, J
ohnnie!”

  “I do,” he said.

  She reached over the center console and threw her arms around his neck. “No! Johnnie, please. I’ve fallen in love with you. You can’t…just give me a chance to prove how happy we can be together.”

  He disentangled her arms from around his neck and pushed her away. “Quit the fucking theatrics, Emily.”

  “Why are you doing this to us?” she wailed.

  “There’s no us.”

  “Yes, there is!”

  Without responding, Johnnie got out of the car, walked to Emily’s side and opened her door. “Get out of the truck, Emily,” he ordered.

  She hoped one of the crime lords saw Johnnie and confronted him, so she could watch the asshole beg for his life. The men who lived in her neighborhood were real criminals. Even the cops were afraid to traverse these streets at night.

  “Get the fuck out! Now!”

  Asshole. “But—”

  “But, nothing. I might still end up divorcing Kendall, however, you’re not going to be one of the reasons. Now, get the fuck out of my truck before I pick you up and put you out.”

  Usually her tears worked. “You’d leave me in this condition?” she got out on a big sob.

  “The only woman’s tears that ever held any power over me is Kendall’s.”

  Hoping her expression was so woeful it kept him up tonight, Emily got out of the Navigator. She thought to kiss him then changed her mind. She’d go ballistic if he spurned her. His rigid stance told her he would. Better to leave that can of worms unopened.

  “Good riddance,” he told her.

  Emily watched as he sped off, vowing to have the last laugh when all was said and done.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  “Megan?”

  “Yes?”

  Christopher considered her response an improvement from the past few hours. After Johnnie and Emily left, Megan got up and called for CJ and Diesel, looking as if she’d turned into a little Tasmanian she-devil, ready to tear them and Christopher up with her bare fucking teeth.

  She’d ripped into Diesel for disrespecting Digger’s house and “having sex” in it. Never mind the fact that the motherfucker—that was, Digger—didn’t fucking see it as disrespectful. Then, she’d punished CJ for being naughty. Whatever the fuck that meant. His boy was only doing what the fuck Christopher had instructed him to do. As for Christopher, besides pinning him with her she-devil looks, she didn’t say one fucking word to him. Not one. She wouldn’t even fix her fucking mouth to utter a fucking sound in his direction.

  Not a goddamn peep.

  So, fuck, yeah, hearing her respond to him was a step in the right fucking direction.

  “We been home for fuckin’ hours, baby. You been hunched the fuck up in those covers, pretendin’ your fuckin’ ears plugged the fuck up with wax or something. Just ignorin’ the fuck outta me.”

  “What do you want?”

  Christopher sighed. It was the middle of the goddamn night, but fuck if he’d been able to sleep. He knew she’d been awake, too. Nightmares didn’t plague them as much lately. Still, he kept a close watch on her, waiting for her to tell him the truth about how far along she was in her pregnancy.

  Unless she was carrying five or ten little motherfuckers, he saw the size of her belly. Maybe, she thought by not confessing how far along she really was, she could save that incompetent motherfucker’s life. One in two thousand dick snips failed, or some shit like that. It had to do with cock plumbing reconnecting. Still, that didn’t matter. Shouldn’t the doctor-motherfucker have known Christopher had a working dick again to save not only his fucking money but his fucking pain?

  “Christopher?”

  Once she told him she was either delivering another fucking tribe of kids or she was further along than she’d admitted, he’d tell her she didn’t have to worry about the doctor. He was already fucked up and grounded. At the moment, he’d address the matter-at-hand. “First of fuckin’ all, it would be quite fuckin’ helpful if you fuckin’ told my ass why the fuck you a pissed lil’ motherfucker.”

  “You know why.”

  He had an inkling, but he didn’t want to admit that. “Cuz of Diesel and CJ.”

  “Partly. Diesel is too young to be having sex and CJ is definitely too young to be spying on someone to tell you they are being intimate.”

  “Fuck, baby. Diesel got a cock. Whatcha expect him to do with the motherfucker? He gotta use it.”

  “To urinate,” she yelled.

  “What? Urinate? Ain’t no fuckin’ kid of mine urinatin’, Megan. Urinate! A real cock don’t fuckin’ urinate. The motherfucker piss. Don’t ever fuckin’ put the word urinate in a sentence when you referrin’ to any man in this fuckin’ house.”

  “There’s only one man in this house,” she countered.

  “Fuck, baby, then change man to motherfucker. Don’t use urinate and penis about no motherfucker in this house.”

  “Omigodddd, Christopher,” she groaned. “You’re so insane.”

  He smiled at the back of her head, knowing she was softening toward him. Encouraged, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into the spoon position. She held herself stiffer than a mummy, but what the fuck ever.

  He nosed her hair. “Don’t be mad at my ass, Megan.”

  She stayed silent for a moment, then she sighed. “How could you hire Emily to go with Johnnie?”

  And there the fuck it was. The real fucking basis for her anger. Megan had always figured shit out. While Johnnie felt as if meeting Emily was too much of a coincidence, Megan knew it.

  “Do you know what that’ll do to Kendall?” she whispered. “That’ll devastate her. It’ll kill her.”

  Quite the fucking point.

  Megan stiffened a little more, almost fucking impossible considering how mummified she’d been before.

  “That’s the point, isn’t it?” she asked, her voice sad and watery. “You want her so overcome that she’ll kill herself.”

  He closed his eyes, hating the pain in her tone. Hating even more that he’d caused it. “I hate Kendall, Megan. She ain’t no good. She got you took from me.” He clenched his jaw. “I fuckin’ hate that bitch. I’ll never, ever fuckin’ forgive her.”

  “She got me back,” she argued. “You promised me you wouldn’t kill her.”

  “If she fuck her-fuckin-self up, my ass ain’t killin’ her,” he snapped.

  Megan elbowed his chest as hard as she could. “You’re splitting hairs. You’d be directly responsible for her death.”

  “Fuck, Megan, I’m so fuckin’ tired of that bitch dominatin’ our conversations. Most of our fuckin’ arguments cuz of her. Most of me and Johnnie arguments cuz of her, too.”

  “Do you realize what you say to Kendall in front of Johnnie?”

  “Do you fuckin’ realize what that bitch do in front of that motherfucker?”

  “Christopher—”

  “No, Megan, shut the fuck up, and listen. That bitch my enemy, your enemy, and our boy enemy. Enemies dealt with. Case fuckin’ closed. Ain’t you dealt with her fuckin’ ass when you beat that bitch black and fuckin’ blue? Why? Cuz you was fed the fuck up. Why the fuck you suddenly flippin’ the fuckin’ script and expectin’ my ass to look the other fuckin’ way. Johnnie better off with-fuckin-out Kendall. Her kids better off with her ass gone.”

  “You think Emily is better?” Megan asked in outrage.

  “Fuck, Medusa better than Kendall, Megan. Nurse Ratched. Fuck, Freddy fucking Kruger. Any-fuckin-body but motherfuckin’ Kendall.”

  “Christopher, I will never trust Kendall again with my children or my confidences, but she’s part of our family and she has a terrible illness. As long as she’s alive, there’s hope that she’ll get better and do better. Dead—”

  “Dead, we get fuckin’ peace. That bitch ain’t never gonna be better, Megan.”

  She let out a small sob. Megan had to know he spoke the truth. Kendall had had so many chances and he was sick to fucking de
ath that she took so much of their energy and time discussing her or trying to un-fucking-do the bullshit she’d done.

  “Please, don’t kill her, Christopher. Please.”

  “I’m not the motherfucker that’s gonna kill that bitch. She gonna kill her own ass.”

  “Because of you. Your actions. Don’t do this. You’re not that unfeeling to drive someone to suicide.”

  He released her and turned onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. This shit here was exactly the reason he hadn’t wanted Megan to know what he was up to.

  “I should’ve known you were going to find a loophole to our agreement,” she said miserably.

  Placing his hands behind his head, he glowered at the ceiling. Damn Johnnie for bringing Emily to the dinner. What the fuck was wrong with that motherfucker anyway? Him and Kendall wasn’t even fucking divorced yet. The assfuck should’ve known the women would be on his stupid ass over Emily.

  “Loophole, huh? Is that what the fuck you callin’ it?” he grouched.

  “I could also call it a betrayal,” she retorted. “You promised me you wouldn’t hurt Kendall. Your hatred of her is eating away at you. It’s almost a sickness. You’re better than this.”

  At the sound of her hurt and disappointment, Christopher froze.

  “Suppose Johnnie hadn’t brought Emily tonight? You would’ve gone ahead until Kendall found out.”

  His heart began a frantic, uneven rhythm at her desolate tone. His worst fucking fears were coming true. He’d pushed his woman too far!

  Turning on his side, he pulled her into the crook of his arm and pressed his forehead against hers. “Don’t hate me, Megan,” he whispered, closing his eyes.

  The feel of her fingers combing through his hair made him look at her. “I could never hate you,” she whispered.

  The tears shining in her eyes broke his heart and made him feel lower than a motherfucker.

  “I’m very mad at you, but you explore and re-explore options. That’s why you’re such a good leader and a cunning adversary.” A tear leaked from her eye and he thumbed it away. “Kendall can’t come to any harm by your hand, at your command, or through your orchestrations and machinations to force her hand to take her life. Is that clear?”