Misfit (Death Dwellers MC #6) (8 page)

“Nothing’s going on,” she stressed.

“Bullshit, but I have to accept it for now. Whatever it is, fix it,” he ordered.

“It was just a joke gone bad,” she admitted. “Meggie doesn’t have a sense of humor.”

“Oh, wow.” If Kendall’s jokes with Meggie were any way the insult she’d given Fee, then she understood the attitude. She shook her head. “You’re such a riot.”

“I am,” Kendall agreed, either missing or ignoring Fee’s sarcasm.

Rory jigged up and down. “I want to go, Dad.”

Kendall swallowed at the sight of Rory’s energetic moving, before blurting, “Keep still.”

“He can’t.” Johnnie grabbed Rory’s hand. “He’s a little kid.”

Snapping her mouth shut, Kendall ground her teeth together but stayed silent.

“I’ll see you later tonight, gorgeous.”

As abruptly as he’d arrived, Johnnie departed with his son.

Kendall heaved in breath and stiffened her spine. “Let’s eat.”

Fee followed Kendall to the dining room, finding Meggie seated at the table.

Kendall stalked to the other side of the table and leaned forward. Bracing her hands on the table, she glared at Meggie. “You’re doing a piss poor job of keeping up appearances like we agreed after last week’s…disagreement. Unless you’re doing this on purpose.”

Wait, what?

“I’m here, aren’t I? I didn’t know Johnnie hadn’t left yet.”

“Do you know I can take your extreme reaction as a sign of your extreme
guilt
.”

Meggie jumped up. In turn, Kendall straightened. “I don’t care if the guys are gone or not. I’m leaving. I refuse to sit here so you can accuse me of sleeping with Johnnie because my son has blond hair.”

Oh shit. Christopher needed to know about this, too.

Kendall rattled the chair in front of her. “It was a fucking joke.”

“No, it wasn’t. You don’t joke about those things.”

“You’re so, so annoying. Fine! I’m sorry. Ok? Can we just eat?”

Meggie laughed without humor. “You’re impossible. You can eat your lox and bagels yourself, Kendall. You’re just incredible. You know that?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I didn’t mean it as a compliment, so shut up.”

“Do you accept my apology or not?”

“That is one of your crappiest apologies ever.”

Kendall shrugged. “It’s the best I have.”

“Don’t ever accuse me of sleeping with Johnnie. I’ll stop coming to our brunches and not care who knows why. More than that, don’t
ever
say my kids aren’t Christopher’s. He’s the only one I’ve had children for.”

“He’s the only one you’ve slept with. According to you. That means he had to teach you in order to find any pleasure.” She raised her hands at Meggie’s glare. “Just an observation.”

“First a joke and now an observation,” she hissed. “Are you advertising your own experience or bragging about it?”

“Please, can we forget about this? We’ve been getting along for the past few months.” Kendall thrust her chin toward the side board. “I have fruit for you. To extend an olive branch. Until we settle this, you’ve agreed to keep it from Outlaw. For our men’s sake. I appreciate that. I didn’t mean to insult you by suggesting Ryder belonged to Johnnie.”

“I’ll stay and eat the fruit.” Meggie stomped to the sideboard. “I’m so over your petty spite, Kendall.”

“And I’m over your interference,” she retorted.

Fee stood as a silent witness to Meggie’s and Kendall’s volatile relationship. More than that, she realized the lengths the two women went to, to protect Christopher and Johnnie. If Fee ran to Christopher with everything she’d learned, all hell would break loose.

It didn’t matter he’d hired her to report to him. Protecting him and their family mattered most. If that meant being a real friend to Kendall and hiding everything from her brother, then Fee would.

Meggie adored Christopher and would never do anything to jeopardize him. Yet, even she kept her arguments with Kendall under wraps.

“Fee, I just remembered you have a pile of emails to answer for me.”

“Kendall, if you don’t allow Fee to eat with us, I’m leaving.”

“No, Meggie,” Fee inserted, not wanting to add fuel to their simmering fire. “I intended to excuse myself anyway. I have a few appointments to schedule for Kendall.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to sit with us?”

Fee nodded. “Positive, Meggie.”

“The three of us can go out to eat,” she suggested.

“Not on my account.” Fee backed towards the door, leaving them to their version of friendship.

She questioned her own reasons for referring to Kendall as a friend. After today, she wondered if it was her sanity she should question.

Cash lifted his head at his ringing phone, pushing Daphne off his chest and reaching over to his nightstand. The moment he grabbed the phone, it stopped ringing. He ran his fingers over his bleary eyes. Raising his arm, he looked at the time on the watch he’d never removed.

11:43.

Intending to press redial, he frowned at the name beneath the words
missed call
. Not Georgie like he suspected, but Josh, their brother. Usually, the guy was in the middle of a business deal, especially so early on a Monday. Shit! Something awful must’ve happened. Their father flashed in his head. If something was wrong, then it would also affect his little sister.

Cash didn’t want Georgie to worry about their dad. Parnell’s antics had jeopardized her enough because of how much she loved the motherfucker. He hadn’t developed the same closeness or devotion for their father. Parnell didn’t support Cash’s biker lifestyle, his sexual preferences, his casual attire, his drug and alcohol use, his…in simpler terms, Parnell approved of
nothing
about Cash. Even his military service didn’t impress Parnell. Instead of “finding” himself in the Marine Corps, Cash had decided being a lifer in the United States military was definitely not for him.

Now, their dad was having issues with Abby Mason—he was just a dickhead like that—and Georgie worried about his state of mind, despite everything he’d put her through. Josh held Abby partly responsible for his mother’s suicide. He’d forgiven Parnell for whatever wrong doing he might’ve been responsible for. Which, knowing his father, had been a lot.

Parnell McCall was a fucking womanizer. He could couch it as boredom or falling out-of-love. His father liked
young
women, so it wasn’t surprising to Cash that at almost sixty, the asshole shacked up with someone not quite thirty.

His mother was much better off without Parnell in her life. She’d just returned from Iceland. Lake Myvatn. She adored luxury and dragged her second husband around the world to resorts of all types, with the search for the perfect hot spring, her latest obsession.

Her traveling suited Cash perfectly. It kept her out of his business and her quest to
fix
him.

Cash sat up, ignoring Daphne’s sleepy groan. Just as promised he’d locked himself in his room at the club with her. If anyone asked, she would say they’d fucked like monkeys the entire weekend.

They’d drank like monkeys but he hadn’t put his cock in her yet. He’d promised her he’d do her, so he would. He didn’t want to piss her off, since her cooperation would assist him in the jam he might be in with Outlaw. Not only couldn’t he rely on Slipper’s silence regarding Fee attending the party, but the motherfucker would know Cash had something to hide. He’d be at the alcoholic ass’s mercy, subjected to blackmail.

No fucking thank you.

If he didn’t play this perfectly, he’d be fucked up in so many different ways by his president.

He’d met Outlaw at the age of eighteen when he’d been enrolled at the University of Portland. By twenty, he was a full-fledged member of the club. A month after he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry, Cash went Nomad, returned to Houston, and ended up in the Marine Corps. He’d been out of the military nearly four years now. In all the years Cash had known Outlaw, the man hadn’t hesitated to kill whoever had it coming until he’d met his wife.

That’s why Kendall, Brooks, Johnnie, and Digger remained alive. They’d all committed offenses that only death would repay. Cash suspected Meggie had something to do with that decision, but he couldn’t be certain.

Where Fee was concerned, though, Cash doubted Meggie would stay Outlaw’s retribution.

“Ghost?”

At the sound of Daphne’s voice, he glanced over his shoulder. She lay on her back, the covers pushed to her waist, revealing her breasts. That shock of white-blonde hair and her wide mouth added to her allure.

Usually, Cash enjoyed her—all the Bobs. This time, he couldn’t stop thinking about the look in Fee’s eyes or his conversation with Stretch.

Daphne skated her fingers across his bare back, sending shivers down his spine. “You’re up early.”

“My phone ringing interrupted my beauty sleep.”

She laughed. “You must get a fuck-ton of sleep then.”

“Silver tongued imp.”

“My tongue’s golden.”

“Yeah, babe, it’s more than golden. You could lead a priest to sin.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Do that. Because it is.”

Facing forward before she responded, he wondered if he should return Josh’s call. How would he feel upon news that something had happened to their father?

Certainly not the panic that had hit him when Josh had called about Georgie’s injuries months ago. Would it be relief? Their father had been emotionally neglectful, but showered all of them with fun and good times.

“Are we staying in the room again today?”

He flipped his phone then caught it in his hands. “No.” Today, the guys were taking their young sons to the park for some type of sappy bonding. “We’re going to give Outlaw something else to focus on besides me and Fee. You.”

“Shit.”

Standing, he turned and smiled at her turned down mouth. “What?”

“Outlaw won’t like you throwing me on him. I’ve tried to get him to fuck me. He won’t. When I went to get the money from him the time you sent me, he looked at me like he wanted to kill me.”

“He’s a ‘family man’,” he said, using air quotations. “He has nothing against you. If Meggie found out, she’d lose her shit.”

Setting his phone aside, he grabbed his jeans and stepped into them.

Daphne stared at the ceiling. “Me and Meggie know each other.”

When she didn’t elaborate, he said, “And?”

She shrugged. “It’s like I said to the girl the other night. It’s us and them. She’s a them.” She sighed. “He’s faithful and loyal to her, and she knows it. She doesn’t like me—I fuck with her a lot.”

“Why?”

“I have my reasons. Besides, I want to be a them, too.”

“Ahh, fuck,” he said with sympathy. She sounded so sad, not like the girl he knew who just went around fucking and sucking at the command of the bikers. “The most you’ll do with Outlaw is suck his cock.”

“Really?” she asked, torn between hope and disbelief.

“Yup.”

“I thought he was your friend.”

“He is. That’s why I want him to have a little fun with you. How could he fault me for anything if he gets a taste of you? He knows my type of woman.”

His usual type. Fee was so far removed from the type of girl Daphne was, it was like night and day. Knowing, seeing, believing, and experiencing were all different. Outlaw would
see
Cash with a club rat and
believe
he’d long since moved on from Fee. Then, if all went according to plan, the man would
experience
the expertise of Daphne’s mouth and
know
his assumption was correct, allowing Cash to live another day to fuck Fee.

Of course, he couldn’t tell Daphne that, so he’d offer a simple lie.

“He’d see I have his best interest in mind by bringing our best cocksucker for his enjoyment. Therefore, he’d never think I’d fuck around with his sister.”

Daphne snuggled closer to him, giggling. “Best cocksucker, huh? Thanks for the compliment. By the way, if he’s your friend you
know
he worships his wife. He’s not cheating with me.”

Yeah, Outlaw was quite faithful to Meggie, surprisingly so. Blow jobs were completely different than actual fucking, in Cash’s estimation.

No harm, no foul.

“It’s just a cock suck. Fun. Something for him to think about, other than what I’m doing.”

“More diversionary tactics?”

“More? What the fuck are you talking about? This is
one
time.”

Guilt rushed across her face, so quickly Cash might’ve imagined it.

“We’ll see,” she murmured. “What do we do until then?”

He pointed to his sound system. “We can listen to music.”

“That’s it?”

“For right now. After we leave the park, I’ll take you back to my place, babe, and make up my lack of attention to you.”

“I’d get more enthusiasm from a fucking dead man.”

Maybe, he was a hypocritical jerk, but each time he thought about Fee and Stretch, and their sense of betrayal, he lost interest in engaging in any type of sex with Daphne. Believing Outlaw would allow another woman to suck his cock might’ve been the act of a desperate man, one who refused to admit to deeper feelings, and thus take a death-flirting ass kicking. “I just have a lot on my mind.”

“You have Outlaw’s sister on your mind,” she guessed.

He stiffened.

“Your secret’s safe with me.”

Shaking his head, he put on his T-shirt then shrugged into his cut. “A thousand bucks if you play along with me and follow my lead.”

“
Only
money? Or money and dick, too?”

“Both,” he promised, to keep her on his side. “I’m getting breakfast. I’ll be back.”

“I’ll be here.”

Closing the door, Cash went to the main room, finding no signs of Saturday night’s wild party, although it had lasted well into mid-afternoon yesterday.

Digger walked out of the kitchen, plate in one hand, biting into the sausage he held in the other. He sat at the bar. “Ghost.”

“You’re up bright and early.”

“Had to leave Bunny room before the kids woke up.”

She still lived with Meggie and Outlaw, while Digger resided at the club.

“I can’t wait ‘til our house finished and we married.”

“Jesus Christ. All you motherfuckers with marriage.” That’s where Fee’s ideas came from.

“Yeah.” Digger snickered. “All us motherfuckers now domesticated.”

Cash grimaced. Boredom had led his father to make fucked up decisions. In Cash’s eyes, the worst of all of Parnell’s infractions was convincing his wife to bring other people into their bed. To Cash, marriage had a certain sanctity. A line that should never be crossed. Blow jobs were impersonal, nothing to worry about. Parnell went so much farther. If his father knew he couldn’t keep his cock in his pants, then he should never have walked down the aisle.

“Your sister younger than you and got a family,” Digger reminded him. “You seemed really happy for her. I know if Sloane fuck over her, you would want to fuck him up.”

“Georgie is happily married, so I’m not knocking that relationship.” Sloane loved Georgie. That would never change, but they were the exception rather than the rule. If, for some reason, Sloane
did
fuck over Georgie, then Cash would deal with him. He didn’t want his little sister’s heart broken.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the same confidence in his own ability to stay faithful.

Sunlight bounced into the room as the door opened. At first, the glare prevented Cash from seeing the identity, then a little ball of energy ran toward him, right before Johnnie appeared.