Misfit (Death Dwellers MC #6) (88 page)

Bunny whispered something to CJ, but Digger tuned them out. Instead, he looked at his hand resting on the table and snuck a glance at his dope ass wedding band with skulls and tire tracks. He congratulated himself on how he’d pulled off continuing her biker themed wedding with their jewelry. Even the cut of Bunny’s ring with the black diamonds and a small row of white diamonds, brought to mind black enamel and gleaming chrome.

“Bun-Bun?”

Sitting in a chair, Bunny leaned back so CJ could climb into her lap. “Yes, sweetie?”

“Are you a girl?”

Digger exchanged a look with Outlaw, the conversation from a few minutes ago coming to mind. Prez sighed, looking resigned. Fuck that! Digger wasn’t letting the little motherfucker get him into trouble.

He jumped to his feet just as Bunny opened her mouth to answer. “Uh, let’s get to going, baby,” he told her. “We got to meet with that chick who doing up the nursery.”

“That’s in two hours, Mark,” she said distractedly, still looking at CJ. “You know I’m a girl, bud. Why?”

“Then you got a pussy?”

“WHAT?” Bunny screeched, her mood going from good to outraged in an instant. But she wasn’t outraged with the
kid.
No. Her glare told him she placed the blame on
him
.

Well, maybe, Outlaw, too, but they liked their motherfucking peepers, so…

“What is he talking about, Mark?” she demanded, then sniffed and got to her feet. “I’m telling Meggie.”

“Ain’t no fuckin’ need for that, Bunny,” Outlaw said as calm as possible, but Digger swore he saw that motherfucker twitch.

“Yes, there is a need, Outlaw! This is going too far. He’s a little boy. He can’t say pussy. It’s bad enough he calls his penis a cock.”

Outlaw glared at her but she didn’t back down. “Why let him waste fuckin’ years of sayin’ fuckin’ penis only to have him get older and say cock and dick?”

“He’s a child, and his mother doesn’t want him saying that
now
,” she pointed out.

“Listen up, boy, ain’t right sayin’ pussy and cunt right now.” Outlaw narrowed his eyes. “Bunny right about that.”

Digger admired his woman not backing down. Frankly, he would’ve tucked his tail between his legs at those freaky snake-ass eyes with that wild warning. But, then, he was a dude and Bunny was a bitch. Bunny wasn’t committing a killable offense and Outlaw would chop off his own hand before he
hit
a girl.

“Now, sit the fuck down, Bunny.”

Folding her arms, she plopped back into her seat. “I don’t have to say anything. CJ is going to slip up in front of Meggie himself.”

“Nuh-uh. I just telling Ro that girls got pussies and everybody is pussies.”

They all cringed. Any other time Outlaw would’ve been loving his kid’s maleness, but Meggie would have his ass.

“That’s it!” Bunny jumped to her feet and swept them both with a dark look, before taking CJ’s hand and stomping away.

“Fuck, Prez, you knew your kid was there,” Digger complained when Bunny left, leaving only the scent of her perfume and shampoo in her wake, to taunt him.

“I ain’t the stupid motherfucker who started talkin’ about pussies, assfuck,” Outlaw growled back, shutting up Digger. “Fuck, if I ain’t thinkin’ of a way to fix this shit, Megan gonna chain her cunt the fuck up. What the fuck I’m thinkin’? My boy ain’t even shuttin’ the fuck up when I told him to shut the fuck up about Traveler.”

“Fuck, but girls too uptight about that shit. I just came from the best fuckin’ time of my life and I’m already in trouble.”

Prez nodded, then met Digger’s gaze. “I ain’t havin’ it no other way, Digger.”

Knowing exactly what Outlaw meant, Digger grinned, suddenly looking forward to seducing away Bunny’s anger and outrage. She loved him as much as he loved her. They’d forgive each other any and everything. They’d been through hell and came out lovers and best friends. “Me either, Prez. Bunny my everything.”

Outlaw leaned back, satisfaction on his face. “Welcome to Club Pussification, brother.”

Bailey looked at her bank statement, the sum Lucas insisted on depositing barely registering as she waited for a call from her mom. She didn’t know if Roxy was dead or alive. How could her mom do this to her?

“Hey, pretty girl,” Lucas said, sitting at the breakfast table where Bailey had been for a long while, well before the sun rose.

Between checking on her son and daughter, and listening to them on two different monitors, Bailey always returned to the breakfast room, remembering all the times she’d awakened to the smell of her mother’s cooking and strong coffee.

Lucas took her hand in his and kissed it. Not letting her go, he offered her a gentle smile. “Roxy a tough bitch, Bailey. Wherever she at, she fine.”

“She didn’t even tell my grandmother. Suppose she went somewhere to die?”

“I think Roxy went somewhere to come to terms with whatever her doctor telling her. She need to process the shit, before she can put on her brave face to the world.”

Bailey understood what Lucas was saying, but didn’t he know how much she needed to be at her mother’s side at this time?

“This not about you,” he said gruffly, reading her mind. “This about Roxy. I know you need to be there, but what does she need? She the one with the cancer.”

“I don’t even know what type of cancer it is!” she sobbed, the well finally opening. Even after she’d moved away from New Orleans, Bailey had kept in close contact with Roxy. Once she married Lucas and Roxy visited the club, adopting Kendall as her own, she’d practically moved in with Bailey. She was
supposed
to move in, then she’d just left. Now, Bailey had to accept not only not knowing about her mother’s illness but her location as well. “Mama has never been so selfish!”

Disapproval tightening his mouth, Lucas released her hand. “Peep this, Bailey. You don’t think this the reason right here she disappeared? Your mama got a fucking right to be selfish right now. Know why? This some fucked up ass shit for her. You not a spoiled fucking child. You a grown ass woman with a husband and children. Lay the fuck off Roxanne, man.”

Lucas was so right. Having no argument at her own selfishness, Bailey nodded.

“Roxanne going to resurface when she good and fucking ready.”

“I know.”

“No matter what she facing, we here for her. I’m going to be your strength so you can be hers.”

He always had been and he always would be. Without Lucas, Bailey wasn’t sure how she would’ve gotten through the devastation of her father’s death. With him at her side, she’d conquer any and everything, from the most painful heartache to the greatest success.

“I love you, Lucas.”

Taking her hand again, he pulled her into his lap and kissed the top of her head. “I love you, too, pretty girl.”

“Roxanne, if you don’t fucking call Bailey, I’m hunting your ass down and dragging you the fuck back to Hortensia,” Mort snarled, later that afternoon, after he’d gone to Prez. In turn, Outlaw called Riley, who connected them to Roxy. He hadn’t meant to yell at her—she was going through shit herself—but Bailey’s sadness just about killed him.

“You got to find me first, Mort,” Roxy said.

True, that. Maybe, if Prez hadn’t left Mort alone to have a private conversation with his mother-in-law, he might be able to get Roxy to call Bailey. Working with what he had, Mort decided to fake more knowledge than he had. “Riley found you. It’s just a matter of calling him and demanding he tell me where you at.”

“Ever heard of a burner phone?”

Ssssccccrrreeecccchhhh…Roxy had his ass there.

Unable to think of a comeback, Mort scowled at the phone.

“I been hanging around the club for how long?” The weak quality to her voice frightened Mort. “I picked up a trick or two.”

“Roxanne, I’ll give you whatever you ask for if you place one call to Bailey. Fuck, I’ll hand over my entire fortune to you just to stop her from worrying.” He glanced toward the door. “Please.”

Silence, and then a watery laugh. “If I ever doubted how much you love my Bailey, that doubt would be gone,” she said and sniffled. “I don’t want Bailey to see me with the way I’m looking or sounding. You understand that, don’t you? I’m
her
momma. The last thing I want is my baby’s pity. I already feel less than a woman with all my hair gone and all the weight the steroids making me gain.”

“Fuck, Roxanne, since when you became such a superficial bitch.”

She laughed again. “Who would’ve thought it? Two things I never worried about—what I already had and what I never had. But that’s not important right now. I don’t feel superficial. I just feel stripped of my dignity.”

“Your ass all alone and don’t have nobody to tell you how fucking pretty you are,” he shouted, hating to hear her sadness. Generally, Roxy and Bailey were upbeat, happy women.

If something upset them, Mort always found a way to fix it. Adding Roxanne’s unhappiness to Bailey’s made the situation seem even more unfixable.

“I created a bank account for Bailey, and trusts for Lou and Harley,” he told her, wanting to include her just as he’d started doing when she lived with them. “The will was finally probated.”

“That’s tight, baby. I’m so happy for you.”

Mort hung his head. “Why you not cussing my ass out? How bad off are you?”

“As soon as I feel better, I’m going to cuss you from here to Kingdom Come.”

“You swear?”

“I promise, Magician.” She snickered at the name she’d called him during their first phone conversation when he’d been such a fucking dick to Bailey and Roxanne wanted to cut him. “I’m going to call Bailey. Let her know I’m fine and not to worry.”

“Are you?” he asked, almost dreading the answer.

She sighed. “I will be. I believe that and you better, too.”

“I do. I don’t fuck with you New Orleans girls.”

Ice clinked through the line. “Ice water,” she said, then picked up the conversation again. “We some bad bitches. That’s why
Only
by Nicki Minaj my anthem.”

“Digger back from his honeymoon. Meggie threw Bunny a cold-ass bachelorette party, complete with a dick-swinging motherfucker Outlaw laid down the rules to.”

“You didn’t?”

“Fuck, no. I know Prez threatened Jax enough for all of us.”

“How’s Kendall?”

“She just got back. Prez was going to kill her for real,” he said, and explained the situation.

“I told her to stop riling that man up. She got a crazy man herself. She want to piss a man off, do it to her own. Lord Jesus, I need to put Kendall over my knee. Wait until I see her.”

“When’s that going to be?”

“I don’t know,” she said softly, sounding like a vulnerable woman, not the touch bitch he knew.

“Me and you didn’t get off on the best start, but you like a mama to me. I already lost my mother too early. I don’t want to lose you.”

“We all have to die, baby. Some of us sooner than others. Don’t mean we want to go.”

“I just…Fight, Roxanne. This might be selfish as fuck for me to say. You not saying if you in pain or where the cancer at. If it’s curable. Nothing. But, fight. Harley wouldn’t know what to do without her
glam-ma
.” Roxy said she was too young and glamorous to be an ordinary grandmother.

“I’m not saying nothing. I’m scared and I don’t want to jinx myself.”

“Is there anything I can do for you? On the real. Bailey…without you and K-P, I wouldn’t have her. You raised an amazing, smart, beautiful woman who belong to me. What makes her hurt, makes me hurt, too.”

Another sniffle and laugh. “K-P looking down on all of us, smiling. He always thought of you as a son. With the way you treat our Bailey, he’d worship you. K-P loved that child something fierce, and his eyes wouldn’t be big enough to see Harley and Lou. You a fine man, Mortician, more than worthy of Bailey. More than capable of taking care of her with me alive or not.” She released a noisy breath. “Now, let me go and call my baby and talk some sense into her. Bye, Magician.”

Before Mort could get himself together, she’d hung up. Feeling as if the world had upended, he covered his face with his hands.

A few minutes of silence went by before the door opened, and Meggie and John Boy walked in.

Meggie hurried to him. “Are you okay, Mortician?”

He didn’t want her to worry, so he nodded. “Yeah. Just talked to Roxy. She about to call Bailey and you know how difficult Roxanne can be.”

“Omigod! You talked to Roxy.” Something in his expression made her lean closer. “What’s wrong? Is she…will she be all right?”

“Roxanne always all right,” he answered, getting to his feet. He wouldn’t be responsible for upsetting Meggie and having Prez shoot his ass off.

Meggie drew her brows together.

“What you and Johnnie doing?” he asked, to change the subject, sending a message over Meggie’s head that he hoped Johnnie read. The motherfucker had been silent since they’d walked in. He looked angry, too. “What’s going on with you two?”

“Nothing,” Meggie answered as Johnnie fumed, “two hundred fifty thousand dollars.”

“For
your
wife, moron.”

“No fucking wedding in the fucking known world costs that fucking much. You’re out of your fucking mind, Megan. I’m not giving you that much money for anything.”