Page 13 of Relentles
“You know fucking well what I mean.”
“Actually, I don’t,” Johnnie said tiredly. “Stretch is your husband and Fee is the girlfriend and babies’ mother in this relationship. I’m sure she’d fuck you up if she heard you say you want peace because ofyour sonnotyour childrenas a collective.”
“Ophelia isn’t like that,” Cash argued.
On second thought, Johnnie decided to agree with Cash. During Cash’s courtship of Fee and Stretch, she had been a notorious pushover. Johnnie thought she’d finally grown a backbone. Then, again, shehadstepped aside and cleared the path for her boyfriends to marry each other instead of one of them givinghertheir name. They’d formed Misfit LLC, a legal partnership between the three of them to protect her.
“Stretch and me have argued over my want of peace and his decision to back Outlaw, but my marriage was fine until your fucking ass showed up in Salt Lake City. If it wasn’t for Ophelia, I wonder if me and Stretch would be together at this point.” Sadness pulled down Cash’s features and he leaned back in his chair. “She doesn’t know the root of our problem. She just knows it’s club related.”
“She can’t know. She’d tell Christopher.”
“As she should. That’s her brother.” He shot forward again, all the better to glare at Johnnie. “Meggie’s her sister-in-law,” he hissed, low. “Yoursister-in-law, jackass.”
“Whom I love deeply,” Johnnie blurted, before he stopped himself.
“So you want her to die,” Cash said with disgust.
“You’re pissing me off, McCall.”
“You’vepissedme off, Donovan. There’s a thin fucking line between love and hate. You’re a bitter fucking prick.”
“This has nothing to do with how I felt about her,” Johnnie said, relenting under Cash’s harshness. “It has everything to do with saving Kendall, Mattie,andMegan. I swear…uh…what…?” As Cash’s previous words finally registered, panicked screams echoed in Johnnie’s head so viciously that his temples throbbed. “You can hear her conversations?”
“That just dawned on you, you stupid motherfucker? She didn’t have the tracker when she was in the hospital. Yesterday’s exchange, though? Yeah, I heard every fucking word you told her, but it was this morning since Stretch and me had to erase any signs of Outlaw’s whereabouts and clean up the mess he left behind. It isn’t hard to put two and two together if you know about your trip to Salt Lake City last year, Johnnie. Once you listen to all the bullshit you’re shoveling at Meggie, couple that with what you said to OutlawandBash’s sudden appearance, you’re a guilty fuckhead.”
If Cash exposed him, he was adeadfuckhead.
“There are documents, Cash. Come with me to my house after the meeting and I will show them to you. I’ve been trying to find the originals. Or corroborate the details. Just give me six months. Please.”
“You might not fucking last that long. Meggie has reached her limits with you.”
“Six months, Cash. I…look, I know I haven’t been myself lately. I’m scared and worried. I love my wife. I want to save her. Christopher pulls out all the stops to save Megan—”
“He pulls out all the stops to save the fucking club, Johnnie. Usually when there’s a threat to her, it’s because of a rival club wanting to fuck with him. You can’t go rogue to save your wife when it deals with a fucking enemy. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Cash—”
“And I know exactly what you’re about to do, motherfucker. You want small little factions within the club to align and rise up against Outlaw? Do you know how many fucking members from out-of-town are here? If we don’t show our backing as we usually do, word will travel that Outlaw’s losing support. Do you know the fucking anarchy that can ensue?”
“I know.” He’s still been Nomad when all the bullshit arose after Big Joe’s death. “I will make it clear that Christopher has my allegiance—”
Cash shoved back from the table and stood. “Then get your ass to the fucking officer’s table, fuckhead, before I fucking shoot you.”
“Hierarchy. As the VP, I outrank you.”
“As your cousin-in-law, I can shoot your ass off to save my fucking girlfriend’s brother and his wife.”
“Cash—”
“I hope I don’t fucking regret this, but you have six fucking months to straighten shit out and come clean. He’s going to fucking kill both of us for endangering Meggie. However, ifonefucking hair on her head is touched before then, I’m telling Outlaw and accepting my death like a fucking man.”
Johnnie swallowed. “I’ll get Bash to back off.”
“You’re not Outlaw, Johnnie,” Cash sneered.
“I know,” Johnnie said quietly, cringing at the memory of the harsh words he’d spouted at Christopher a little earlier. He didn’t want Christopher to resign. He only wanted him to take a vacation for a few days. Usually, he hated when Christopher lefttown for a getaway with Megan. One, it meant Johnnie had to listen to everyone’s complaints and he didn’t have the patience for it. And, two…Megan…
“Thank you, Cash,” he said sincerely, shoving aside whatever he might have thought about Christopher’s wife. “Expect to be at my house for several hours. There are a lot of documents—”
