Misfit (Death Dwellers MC #6) (53 page)

After returning from checking on Cash a little while ago, Megan and Zoann once again sat next to each other on the other side of the waiting room, their eyes and noses red from their crying. Megan had changed out of the red jumpsuit she’d worn earlier today to Christopher’s doctor’s appointment…Fuck, between then and now seemed like a different lifetime.

Digger’s phone rang and he pulled it from his cut. “That’s Bunny,” he announced, standing and going to a seat along the back wall for privacy.

Slipper glanced around, his greasy hair hanging limply around his shoulders. “Where’s Stretch? He hasn’t shown up yet.”

Johnnie frowned. “So?”

“Yeah, what the fuck you fuckin’ gettin’ at?” Christopher demanded.

“Nothing,” Slipper said. “It’s just that when I went to get Ghost, Stretch’s bike was in front of his door. He said he didn’t know where Stretch was, but I heard him talking to
someone
when he went to put his clothes on.”

Fuck this motherfucker.

Cash bristled. “Meaning?”

Christopher glared at Cash. “Fuck all.”

With the way Slipper laid it all out, it wasn’t hard to guess the truth.

“Listen up, Slipper. I ain’t havin’ fuckin’ poisonous ideas pollutin’ my fuckin’ club. If you insinuatin’ what the fuck I think you is, think the fuck again. The motherfucker who fucked up Fee lived a block and a fuckin’ half away from Cash. My ass sent Stretch to Noah house and Stretch probably fuckin’ parked his ride at Cash to sneak the fuck up on Noah.”

“A block and a half?” one of Slipper’s sons question. “Could Stretch walk that far with his gimp leg?”

Slipper’s second son snickered. “The motherfucker a pansy-assed bitch. Don’t belong in a club with
real
fucking men.”

“You got one fuckin’ more time to open your fuckin’ mouth about this and I’m fuckin’ you up, motherfucker,” Christopher snarled, his voice capturing Megan’s attention.

She glanced uneasily toward the still-empty hallway. While the ER was busy in these early morning hours, they’d been escorted to a third floor outpatient waiting room, deserted in the middle of the night. However, that didn’t mean some motherfucker might not be roaming by, if only to search for one of them.

“Anyone need coffee?” she asked, at Christopher’s side in a heartbeat, and ruffling her fingers through his hair. She placed a kiss at his temple and he wrapped an arm around her waist. “Me and Zoann could find some. You and Orange could come with us, Fritz,” she said to Slipper’s sons.

“No,” Christopher said. “You want fuckin’ coffee, these motherfuckers go a-fuckin-lone, Megan. Ain’t havin’ you or Bitsy goin’ fuckin’ nowhere ‘til I get my fuckin’ hands on Noah.”

She groaned.

“They can’t go on lockdown, Christopher,” Johnnie argued. “They have a business to run. Remember?”

Fuck the business. He wasn’t risking Megan. They’d just have to start something else. Christopher opened his mouth to announce his decision.

“Everything will be fine, Christopher,” Megan interrupted. “Let’s not worry about anything else but Fee right now.”

“Hey Puff,” Val greeted, walking into the room and heading straight for Zoann.

Stretch and Mortician followed close behind, drawing everyone’s attention thanks to the way Slipper had called the situation out. Noting how Cash stiffened and scowled at Slipper, Megan whispered, “Let me get them out of here before Slipper insinuates something about Stretch, and Cash loses it.”

Irritation surged into Christopher. “Ain’t no insinuation, baby,” he whispered back. “They was probably fucking and Slipper know. Or almost caught them, since I sent his ass to get Cash.”

“Please?” she pressed. “Cash is really protective towards Stretch. It can get really bad. Let me diffuse this.”

“Fuck. Fine,” Christopher growled.

She gave him another quick kiss, then turned to Cash.

“Can you come with me for a minute? You too, Johnnie.”

John Boy lifted a brow, but rose without hesitation, following her to the door, where she paused and pulled out her phone. She frowned at the screen, and Christopher recognized it for the ploy that it was. “Shoot, Mort, Val, and Stretch, you come, too.”

Christopher would have to impress upon Cash to be more fucking careful. Otherwise, they’d have another bloodbath on their hands and, this time, Christopher might not be around to save them.

“Why we here, Meggie girl?” Mort asked as Meggie led them out of the waiting room and to a nearby stairwell.

Stretch couldn’t imagine why she’d escorted them to this landing to do nothing but lean against the wall and frown between him and Cash. Looking at Cash, Stretch got no indication as to Meggie’s intentions. Her fucking sigh didn’t clue them in either.

“What’s up, sweetheart?” Johnnie asked, at peace with her again.

“There are idiots lurking,” she answered, sadness softening her words. She and Fee were close. After losing so many people, she might lose another. Only this loss would affect Stretch as much or worse. “I couldn’t single Cash and Stretch out. I mean there’s been enough bloodshed. The minute Stretch walked in, Slipper, Fritz, and Orange honed in. They’re idiots. We all know it, but your expression said a lot, Cash. We aren’t thinking of hiding our feelings, right now, so it was just easier to get you out of there.”

Her words touched a nerve in Stretch, already scraped raw by all that had happened. “Maybe leave the club too, huh, Meggie? At least that’s how Kendall feels.”

Johnnie growled, but Mort placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded to Meggie, who glared at Stretch. She’d grown up, learned to hold her own. She needed neither Outlaw or John Boy to defend her.

“I don’t feel that way, Stretch,” she snapped. “If I did, I’d tell you nor would I go through the trouble of attempting to protect you.”

“My wife had a point.”

Johnnie’s cool words felt like a betrayal. If Stretch could count on anyone, he always thought it was the men with him. “Thanks a fucking lot, John Boy.”

Folding his arms, Cash leaned against the wall. “I understand what Johnnie’s saying, Stretch. With all the discrimination, a biker club’s the worst place in the world for us to be. If we can’t hide our feelings, then we don’t need to be here.”

Mort clapped Stretch’s back. “You always been a quiet motherfucker. Kind of gentle. Since all that shit went down, you just not been the same, brother. Otherwise, you’d understand the meaning behind Johnnie’s words.”

His resentment increased. They thought circumstances made him overly sensitive. That wasn’t it.

“Kendall said that before the bathroom incident,” Stretch reminded them.

“It doesn’t matter when she said it,” Meggie interrupted. “She was telling you to be careful.”

Stretch laughed without humor. “Really?”

After the way Kendall had fucked with Meggie’s marriage, he wondered if she’d defend Kendall if she was clued in. “Kendall was concerned about me?”

She nodded. “In the way that only she has.”

She stepped closer to him, her gentle look reminding him of her willingness to side with Fee—
them
—and get Outlaw to accept their relationship. Stretch finally understood why Outlaw didn’t want to lose her and had almost went insane when she’d been injured. Faced with the prospect of losing Fee, he felt out-of-sorts and afraid, too.

“Be careful, Stretch,” she whispered. “When you love someone, it’s hard to hide your feelings, especially in times like this. I don’t want anything to happen to you or Cash.”

He appreciated her a lot. Unlike Kendall who tried to force herself on everyone, Meggie earned her status. Outlaw had ordered they respect her.
She
made them like her. Just as Kendall made everyone
dis
like her. “I understand, Meggie.”

Johnnie glared between Cash and Stretch. “You’re going to have to make a choice. The club or your affair.”

“They don’t,” Meggie flared. “They have to be less circumspect but they shouldn’t be made to choose.”

“Stay out of this, Megan,” Johnnie declared, his scrutiny of her bordering inappropriate. “This is club business.”

Not really. She was keeping the secret of Fee being with Stretch and Cash. That made it
her
business. However, Stretch couldn’t point that out.

Meggie threw Johnnie the evil eye.

“Christopher can’t fucking kill every member who has a problem with gay men, Megan,” he snapped. “That would be most of the fucking club.”

Yes, they were bikers, and bikers were
real
men.

“What the fuck made you join this club?” Val asked. “You fucking with your life if you can’t keep this shit under wraps, brother. You got to be more careful. Fucking at Cash’s house? That’s dumb shit.”

“It’s Cash’s house,” Meggie argued, folding her arms at Johnnie’s narrowed eyes. “They should be able to do as they please.”

She faced off with Johnnie for a moment, before he capitulated.

“Right, Megan,” he agreed. “Except when brothers know where Cash lives.”

Everyone turned to Cash. It was his fault that the brothers knew his house as an orgy pit. “Slipper and I were doing a job for Outlaw one day and I forgot something at the house,” he explained. “After that, I invited him over once or twice to party with me.”

“What’s done is done.” Johnnie looked at Stretch. “I too am curious to know how you joined this club.”

“Yeah, brother,” Mort inserted. “Outlaw never gave us that full story.”

“I was at the Night Flyers’ clubhouse one night when Outlaw came in looking for Boy.” He shifted his weight and glanced at Meggie, glad he wouldn’t have to hold anything back since Outlaw was so forthcoming with her. She was in his corner. She deserved to hear everything, too. “I saw his cut and had already heard about the Dwellers. I started talking to him and he told me I was welcomed to come to the club anytime. When I went there, I met KP. Everybody,” he added, wondering if she got the connotation.

She did. Her eyes widened. “You knew my dad?”

“I did. They accepted me, and for the first time since I was eighteen, I had a place where I was welcomed.”

After being kicked out of his parents’ house, Stretch lived on the streets for a while before he’d gotten involved with a biker from the Night Flyers MC, who’d taken Stretch in. Their relationship soon eroded under the pressure of the club lifestyle. The night Stretch met Outlaw he’d been at the MC, searching for Davis, who hadn’t been home in weeks. His last ray of hope had been used up by the time he walked into the Dwellers’ clubhouse. If things hadn’t worked out that night, he’d intended to end it all. He had a high school diploma but his job choices were very limited. Working as a clerk at a quikmart didn’t pay the cost of rent, food, and other necessities.

The one time he’d admitted to being attracted to both men and women had lost him his family and a roof over his head, so he didn’t trust many people.

Somehow, he’d found Outlaw, who’d been his saving grace, without even knowing it.

“Christopher recognized a good man when he saw one.” Meggie glanced at her watch. “I guess enough time has gone by to make Slipper and his sons think this was a very important meeting. Just remember to appear neutral.”

As Meggie headed for the door, Stretch laid a hand on her arm, stopping her. She’d accepted him without question, from the moment they’d met. He wanted to repay her, apologize for his role in what had happened to her father.

“I knew your brother,” he blurted. “But my loyalty has always been with Outlaw. I’d never betray him.”

“Not purposely,” she said.

She was right. As long as he had an affair with Fee, he was betraying Outlaw.

She took her hand in his. “That doesn’t matter right now. We just want Fee to survive.” Her words cracked, but she forced a smile. “I didn’t realize you’d been around so long,” she continued, swiping at a stray tear.

“I became a hangaround about three months before Big Joe was gunned down and his head sent to the club.”

Meggie stilled, the color draining from her face, her watery eyes widening. They very air around them stopped.

“Fuuuucccckkkkk,” Mort groaned as Val and Johnnie covered their faces.

“Daddy’s head?” she gasped.

Stretch floundered. “I-I thought you were aware of what we did to him.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Johnnie reached for Meggie, scowling when Mort got to her first, pulling her into his arms and whispering to her.

“C-Christopher beheaded my father?” she managed.

“I did,” Johnnie bit out, his look murderous enough to strike Stretch dead. “Do you understand me, Megan?”

In other words, don’t hold his brutality against her husband.

Before Meggie responded, the door opened and Outlaw walked in. Mort dropped his hands from Meggie’s shoulders and straightened up. Val leaned against the banister and looked over it. Johnnie clenched his jaw, although Stretch doubted Outlaw noticed their actions.

He honed in on Meggie and her trembling.

“What the fuck goin’ on in here?” He pulled her into his arms. “Megan, baby, why you cryin’?”

She gripped his cut and drew in a sharp breath. “Do you have any news of Fee?” she asked around sniffles, swiping at her eyes.

His brows snapped together and he took her face between her hands, studying her. “How the fuck me agreein’ to get them two motherfuckers the fuck away from them three assfucks end up with you in fuckin’ tears?”

No one said anything. As Outlaw lasered them with his gaze, each of them looked away.

“I didn’t realize how long Stretch had been in the club,” Meggie said, her eyes downcast.

Outlaw’s confused frown deepened. “That shit makin’ you fuckin’ cry?”

“Can we talk about it later?” she asked on a desperate note. “Once we know about Fee.”

“Fee in recovery,” he said and judging by his look, he didn’t intend to drop it. “She not outta the woods, but she made it through the fuckin’ surgery. Now, tell me why the fuck you cryin’, Megan.”

She glanced in the direction of the stairs, then looked into Outlaw’s eyes. “J-Johnnie decapitated Daddy after you killed him.”

It wasn’t a question but a statement that stunned Outlaw speechless. Once again, his look skewered them before he focused on Stretch.

“Leave, Megan.” Outlaw’s hard voice shook Stretch up.

“Christopher…”

“Go,
now
.”

“Don’t do anything to Stretch. It just shocked me.”

“I ain’t fuckin’ blowin’ this motherfucker goddamn face off and tossin’ his lifeless motherfuckin’ body over this goddamn banister for bringin’ this shit up.” The look Outlaw gave to him told Stretch he wanted to.
Badly
. “I just gotta tell him one fuckin’ thing.”

Suspicion entered Meggie’s eyes. “Promise?”

Outlaw bent and kissed her. “Scout’s fuckin’ honor.”

At the door, she paused. “Are you hiding anything else from me that I should know?”

“You trust me, Megan?”

“You know I do.”

“Then if I’m fuckin’ hidin’ anything from you, it’s to protect you. Hear me? Ain’t involvin’ no other bitch. It’s all about you and your happiness. Some shit you just don’t fuckin’ need to know, baby.”

She thought for a moment, then nodded, her eyes traveling to Val and then turning to the floor. “I understand,” she whispered.

Outlaw scowled at Val. “I’m sure the fuck you do.”

Without responding, she walked out, leaving them alone to face her husband’s wrath.