Page 5 of Relentles
As much as K-P despised Cee Cee’s behavior, he trusted him to have their best interests in mind over Logan. The old motherfucker bamboozled Joe into believing…? What exactly, he couldn’t answer. Joe had a blind spot with Logan. Probably because he resembled his father. The idea that Logan had blood ties to Joe horrified K-P. Cee Cee confirmed that it was just an unfortunate coincidence. Once K-P uncovered birth, marriage, and death certificates, he’d discovered it was true.
Logan Donovan went to Cee Cee’s strip club to strike a business deal, and a demon infiltrated their lives.
“Aren’t you paying Logan a fee on behalf of Meggie and Dinah?”
“I am, but I don’t bring in the amount of money Cee Cee does since I loathe Sharper and refuse to run women.” Joe gave K-P a level look. “I’m still alive, brother. Meggie and Christopher are still alive.Dinahis still alive as are you, Bailey, Roxanne, Luke and Mark. I tell myself the profits from the drugs, my good credit, and keeping motherfuckers in line allows me to breathe another day. But it’s bullshit. Without Cee Cee’s money and Logan’s fear of him, I’m dead. We’re all dead.”
Sharper would kill his sons without a thought. More than once, K-P offered to take them under his wing, which Sharper always declined.
What were any of their lives worth, beholden to men like Logan Donovan and Sharper Banks?
“I don’t even understand half the legalese in the club documents.” K-P scraped his fingers through his hair. He wanted to stay in the dark. What he already knew plagued the fuck out of his conscience and kept him awake at night.
“I intend to live to be a hundred so I can have the biggest party ever,” Joe announced, smiling sadly, “be the dirtiest old bastard alive with all the raunchiness going on.”
Despite his annoyance, K-P laughed. “You’re a crazy motherfucker, Joe.”
Joe shrugged.
Of the documents, he’d been able to read, one stuck out the most. “Why didn’t you include your son in your will? Or Christopher?”
“Christopherisin my will,” Joe said. “So’s Joey, although I’m sure he won’t be happy with what I’ve bequeathed to him. I don’t know what you managed to steal out of Rack’s room.”
“I stole them back,” K-P amended. “They were yours in the first fucking place.”
Joe dismissed the words with a wave. “I gave you my most recent will.”
Fuck. He’d either left it behind or hadn’t read it yet. In the last will K-P scanned over, Joe bequeathed all his worldly personal possessions to Dinah.
“We need to go through these documents, Joseph. Burn the ones no longer valid. The last fucking thing we need is to have any confusion over ownership.” Especially while Meggie was the owner of the club’s properties. “You’re risking her fucking life.”
“I want her to have a good life,” he said stubbornly. “The moment the debts are discharged, I have to divide the profits I’ve earned for the five of us and then everything reverts to the club.” His eyes glazed. “I’ll leave nothing for my baby girl.”
K-P studied Joe. He’d had erratic behavior for months. One moment, he was clear-headed and no-nonsense, and the next he was irrational and reckless. Generally, the changes in mood occurred after a visit to Dinah. Either Joe had begun to dip into the merchandise or Dinah was drugging him.
“Joe, listen to me. They will kill Meggie. If you’re here, you will give her a good life.”
“The life that Sharper’s boys have.”
“She’ll never have that. We’ll never see that type of money in our fucking lives.” Sharper wouldn’t have, if it wasn’t for his wife’s money. “What the Frank wealth didn’t afford, his charismatic preaching made up.”
“He could’ve made the loans, since Viv hated him by the time the land came up for sale.”
“He didn’t have the credit.”
“He had rich people’s credit.”
“Joe, you envying that motherfucker—of all motherfuckers—and his bank accountwill get your daughter killed.Not to mention yourself, since you’re fucking skimming money we all agreed to share. You’re hiding your bullshit behind Meggie’s name and putting a fucking target on her back.”
“I don’t trust Sharper or Cee Cee.”
“Because you’ve become a stupid motherfucker and blindly loyal to Logan Donovan in the last few months.” He let that sink in. “Even over your baby girl.”
A muscle ticking in his jaw, Joe glanced away. “They won’t find out. I’ve been hiding cash. I want to buy Meggie a house. Free and clear. So she’ll never have to worry about a roof over her head. I want to have money saved for her education and her wedding.” He hung his head. “I don’t ever want her to be left alone while she’s pregnant and she bleeds to death because her man is trying to earn enough to give her what she wants.”
The stark pain in Joe’s voice and on his face stole K-P’s anger. He was allowing the hole left by Kimber’s death to cloud his judgment. It wasn’t drugs; it was grief.
“Emotions are so fucking complicated, Kaleb. I…Logan’s a dirty motherfucker, but then Dinah says I am, too.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I want my cock sucked and I want to eat her pussy. She thinks I’m nothing but a fucking whore. And I’m not. I failed Kimber and I failed Dinah. I can’t fail Meggie.”
