Misalliance (Death Dwellers MC #4.5) (8 page)

Christopher’s doing, Kendall knew, and another way of spoiling Meggie. The other girl might’ve claimed not to need such a huge and expensive home, but she’d decorated it, so exactly what did that say about her?

Now Kendall knew what type of lifestyle gun-running, drug shipments, and other illegal activity allowed someone to lead.

“Stop, Kendall,” she mumbled to herself.

Months ago, she’d been warned by Digger and Mortician that she’d face a losing battle if she pitted herself against Christopher’s wife. She hadn’t quite believed them. So many things she hadn’t believed and she’d had to learn the hard way.

On the second floor, she glanced up at the last flight of stairs, a little disheartened and already so tired. However, unease urged her on. It felt as if someone lay in wait for her or watched her. Deciding the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows marching along the hallway unnerved her, she continued up to the third level.

If Christopher had followed the layout of the old house when he’d had this one designed, then the master bedroom would be down the hall, at the far end. The floors were gleaming white marble. Three six foot sections of painted walls divided the big windows. It annoyed her that each stark white wall had a huge, framed photo of Meggie.

Fuck, he lived with the girl. He didn’t need oversized pictures to show his “devotion” to her.

As she neared Christopher’s bedroom, Kendall sagged in relief. Finally, a sign of life. Music filtered through the half closed door and into the hallway.

Reaching the room, Kendall pushed her way in. It was decorated in cream, chocolate, and red. Fitting since blood money got Meggie this
Architectural Digest
style place. If the magazine ever featured the houses of assholes and psychopaths, this would be a number one pick.

Snorting, Kendall stopped at the sight of Meggie. She sat on a chaise lounge in the sitting room, TV remote in hand. The music Kendall heard came from a video channel.

“Hey,” Meggie said morosely. Her stomach was huge. Unfortunately, it was the only part of her body the babies seemed to have affected. “I wondered what was taking you so long to get upstairs.” She said into the silence and pointed to her iPhone. It must have a way for Meggie to control the intercom at the gate.

Kendall swallowed, wanting so badly to truly like Meggie. In so many ways, she did. On the other hand, Kendall’s jealousy towards Meggie continued to undermine their friendship.

Not saying anything, she made her way to the chair closest to Meggie and sat carefully down.

“How are you feeling?” Meggie frowned and cocked her head to the side, eyeing the robe Kendall wore.

“I only have the gown I wore yesterday and the heels,” she answered defensively.

“Well, I’d suggest we go shopping, but Christopher has my car keys.” Meggie wrinkled her nose. “And my doctor put me on bed rest during my visit early this morning.”

Kendall didn’t want to say the wrong thing about controlling maniacs and vapid girls, so she only nodded. Instead of pressing her to add more to the conversation, Meggie fell silent and returned to her stupid music videos.

Each time Kendall fought through her negative feelings towards Meggie, she discovered a new layer to Johnnie’s relationship with the little blonde. Despite the numerous times Kendall reminded herself of Meggie’s adoration of Christopher, she forgot everything when faced with the girl. Johnnie undermined all her efforts and kept presenting reasons for Kendall not to like her, as if he purposely made her jealous.

She wouldn’t do this. Closing her eyes, Kendall drew in deep, calming breaths, deciding to start the conversation with the basics.

She focused on Meggie. “How’s the pregnancy?”

Once before, their pregnancies had created a fragile bond between them. Unfortunately, it hadn’t lasted. Just hours later, they’d both lost their babies.

Meggie smiled and raised the remote to lower the volume. “I’m doing fine. How’s yours?”

Kendall’s muscles clenched at the tension between them. Admittedly, it hadn’t been this way when Kendall had first arrived. She rested her hands on her favorite spot—her belly—and pursed her lips. Their conversation seemed so phony. What woman asked
how’s your pregnancy
? Maybe,
how’s the baby
…? Shifting in her seat, she cleared her throat. “Is Christopher happy about the new babies yet?”

“Not really. He won’t accept them until they are in his arms.”

Silence again. Their conversation headed nowhere fast, but determination filled Kendall. She’d work through the discomfort until she got their reunion to where she wanted it to be. “Where’s your son?”

“He’s with Roxy. Bailey’s mom is here to look after Harley. She’s staying with us.”

“You do know they aren’t here?”

Meggie nodded, but didn’t elaborate, instead asking, “How long are you going to be here?”

With effort, Kendall reminded herself Meggie’s words weren’t as bad as she made them out to be in her head. After all, she’d invited Kendall to the wedding in the first place. “Until after the baby is born.”

“Johnnie will soften before then and realize what he’s wanted for months has finally happened. You’ve returned.”

Not responding, Kendall glanced away. Meggie wore a pair of socks and what looked to be Christopher’s dress shirt. The thing swallowed her. Unlike Johnnie’s shirt on Kendall. Just thinking of the comparison in her head reminded Kendall of the intimate way Johnnie had touched Meggie.

“Do you want to look online for clothes?” Meggie asked, in a valiant attempt to change the subject and remove the tension. Her golden hair was piled on her head. The strands that escaped appeared longer than Kendall remembered. Shinier, too. The girl’s eyes were a bright blue.

Megan was Kendall’s complete opposite.

How could Johnnie go from loving Meggie to Kendall?

“Tell me your favorite stores,” Meggie persisted. “Let’s look for clothes for you.”

“Not at the moment.” Kendall made a face, unable to bear the pretense any longer. “You invited me to Bailey’s wedding, because…?

“Um, because you’re our friend, and I thought it would be good to have you here.”

“Everyone called to check on me, except you and Johnnie.” She almost added that Christopher had the club’s PI locate her, but decided to withhold that for now.

Dr. Stanton would advise against her causing unnecessary drama.

“I didn’t think you’d want to hear from me,” Meggie answered. “I didn’t want to do anything that would make you stay away any longer than necessary.”

How very thoughtful of her. Miss Perfection had struck again.

“I don’t think we’ll ever be friends,” Kendall blurted, her head spinning with the resentment bombarding her.

Instead of the protest Kendall expected, Meggie stiffened and narrowed her eyes. “Any particular reason why?”

“We’ve never quite hit it off,” she continued, the easiest answer to offer. Any other reason was too explosive. Besides, she still felt raw and emotional over Johnnie’s newest bombshell in the saga of him and Meggie. In a way, though, she was glad she hadn’t resolved her issues with Meggie. Discovering exactly what went on certainly would’ve ruined any strides they might’ve made. “I…we don’t see eye-to-eye on anything.”

Meggie studied Kendall for so long that she began to squirm. The coldness freezing the girl’s blue eyes and the tightness of her lips almost had Kendall believing
she
ruled Christopher, instead of the other way around.

Getting ungracefully to her feet, Meggie went to a small bar, inlaid into the wall and opened the refrigerator hidden below cabinet. She pulled out bottled water. After handing one to Kendall, she opened hers and drank from it.

“What happened between you and Christopher in Hawaii?” Meggie stood close to her, her gaze steady but unyielding. She drank from the bottle again. “I only recently found out about his being shot while he was there.”

She could tell Meggie what happened, but
that
wouldn’t do any good either, except to further complicate the situation. “You think my decision that we can’t be friends has to do with your husband? You must already have some type of doubt in your mind about him, if you are so easily rattled.”

“Don’t start,” Meggie warned. “Whether we’re friends or not, Christopher and Johnnie deserve better than you and I at each other’s throats. I don’t have doubts about my husband. I
do
have doubts about you. For weeks before you left, I got the impression you wanted to sleep with him. What would possess you to walk away from Johnnie, other than some type of bad behavior towards Christopher?”

Once again, Meggie’s honesty rocked Kendall’s foundation. Did Meggie really know her so well or did jealousy play a part in this conversation? “I left Johnnie because he had you plan my wedding.”

The girl still didn’t look convinced, so Kendall lifted a brow in haughty warning. Meggie didn’t flinch.

“I want you and Johnnie to reconcile,” she began evenly. “For him and for you. I think you two love each other. You and I
never
have to speak, but, you’ll just fuel Christopher’s hatred if you continue with nonsense. I’ll get him to understand that Johnnie being an effective member in the club doesn’t depend on if you and I like each other.”

A voice cleared and Kendall looked in the direction of the door, finding a pretty, Black lady, hand on door knob, taking in the scene. The resemblance gave the woman’s identity, Bailey’s mother.

“You sit,” she ordered, nodding to Meggie. “You, get out.”

Both Kendall and Meggie startled. As soon as Kendall got over her shock, she bristled. “You don’t know who I am—“

“You’re Kendall,” she said flatly. “I’m not putting you out because I have something against you. I’m putting you out before Outlaw gets back and catch a case because you’re here.”

Meggie plopped in her seat. “She’s visiting me, Roxy,” she snapped.

“She could be fucking with K-P’s ghost. I want her gone. Neither of you girls’ need to be under stress and her being here causes a shitload of stress.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at both of them. “Don’t make me repeat myself. I’m going to get Bunny and send her in here with Harley and Baby ChrisJoe, while I get food.” She looked Kendall up and down, and shook her head. “I’ll be at the clubhouse in about an hour, Kendall, to get your size, so I can get you decent clothes. Meet me in Dinah’s room.”

“
Roxy
!” Meggie screeched. “Don’t call CJ, ChrisJoe, and what in the world do you need to discuss with my mother?”

“I knew your daddy, Meggie, and I’m acquainted with your husband. That baby named after both of them, so that’s
my
name for him. As for your mama, me and her gonna have a talk. She’s a grown ass woman who has a daughter who needs her to act like a grandma.
And
K-P cared about her a lot. She’s dishonoring his memory by doing this bullshit.”

“We’ve discussed this. Momma hates me. She’s sick.”

“Your mama’s not sick, baby. She’s weak.” Roxy narrowed her eyes at Kendall. “You’re an attorney. Been through a lot of shit. I understand that, but I’m gonna need you to straighten up. If that means you have weekly therapy sessions to discuss shit, you do that. You do what you have to do for you, and fuck everybody else. None of us here are your enemy, so get it together, and stop with the bullshit.”

With one last look between the two of them, Roxy turned on her heels and slammed the door behind her.

“What just happened?” Kendall whispered.

“Roxy,” Meggie said on a groan. “I suggest you do what she says, while she’s being nice.”

“Does Christopher know she talks to you like this?”

Meggie sniffed. “I can do without a repeat of the shouting match I endured between the two of them earlier.”

Kendall smirked. “Who won?”

“It was a draw.”

Dear Diary,

In my dreams, my mother loved me. I never understood what I’d done to her, for her to treat me as she did. Still, I would prefer to have her alive and mistreating me, rather than dead. I don’t even know where she’s buried. Or even if she’s buried.

Spoon drugged me the night of her suicide and kept me in a stupor for the next five weeks. He never told me anything about what happened to her body. I’d been so focused on Caroline, I neglected to inquire after my mother.

But what is a mother? Do I qualify as one for the relief I feel over Baby Biker? I mourn its loss, but what would’ve been its quality of life? The day after I slept with Johnnie, I was sedated.

How long does conception take? Twenty-four hours? Forty-eight? No, that’s rhetorical. I know it takes place when the sperm fertilizes the egg. But it can happen a day or so after sex. Can’t it?

Even if I got pregnant the night Johnnie and I had sex, the very next day I had all kinds of powerful drugs in my system. Baby Biker was formed in a lethal environment. I know what I suffered for years at the hands of bullies, simply because of my height and weight. What challenges would my son or daughter have faced if it had been born with any physical or mental challenges because of what happened to me?