Tears rushed to Tabitha’s eyes. “I-I’m so sorry, Aunt Kendall. Please don’t tell Mrs. Redding. She hates me.”
Kendall stared at Tabitha as she sobbed, then howled with laughter. “My daughter does a better fucking cry job than you,” she said when her humor fled. “Your tears aren’t real, so shut the fuck up.”
And just like that, Tabitha stopped crying. But she still didn’t leave. “Have you talked to Diesel?”
“Should I have?”
Tabitha cleared her throat. “Uh, well…he usually answers my calls and texts. I’m his wife.”
“More’s the fucking pity.”
Tabitha huffed. “He hasn’t answered any form of communication from me since yesterday. He didn’t even come in to work.”
Even if she knew why he wasn’t answering Tabitha, Kendall wouldn’t reveal that information to the sneaky bitch.
Sneaky bitch?
Sneaky bitch.
Kendall’s eyes narrowed. What was the sneaky bitch up to? She waltzed in here, questioning Kendall about Outlaw tracking Meggie and Diesel’s whereabouts. Why? This went fucking deeper than nosiness. She was a mainstay at the get-togethers, so she’d see her husband tonight. This was about something else.
“What the fuck are you up to, cunt?”
“What—”
“I need to talk to you.”
The interruption startled Kendall as much as the speaker did. Ryan didn’t make a habit of visiting her, so seeing him in her doorway shocked her.
“I’ll catch up to you later,” Tabitha said, making a hasty departure.
“Tabitha!”
She kept going.
Ryan snapped his fingers in front of Kendall’s face. “I need to talk to you, Kendall.”
The disrespect got her full attention. Standing, she went and closed her door. Val might not want to discipline him, but she’d have no problem doing so, especially right now when she was so on edge.
“I’mAuntKendall to you, young man,” she said, returning to his side.
He smirked. “You’re anything I want you to be. I’m visiting because I want to hear about my great-grandfather,” he announced. “Since Mom won’t tell me and Val does whatever she tells him,youget the honors.”
Zoann was the perfect combination of firm and loving toward her boys. Val doted on them, so Kendall wasn’t sure why Ryan was actingout. Whereas Tabitha deserved her hostility, Ryan needed understanding. Later, she’d call Zoann and talk to her. Maybe, they’d figure something out together.
Shedding her work mantel and going into auntie mode, she said, “I’m sorry, hun, Logan Donovan isn’t a topic I intend to discuss with you or anyone. If your mom won’t tell you, maybe your Uncle Johnnie or Uncle Christopher will.”
Ryan’s lips thinned and his nostrils flared. He was a nice-looking boy, but he had such a cruel tilt to his mouth. “I don’t wantthemto tell me.”
“I understand, Ryan.” She drew in a deep breath. “Ican’ttalk about him. It’s too painful,” she admitted.
At first, he didn’t react, then he swept her with a look. “You think I give a fuck about how you feel? I want to know about Great-Grandfather and the original club members. I choseyouto tell me, so you will.”
She didn’t have time for this foolishness. Before she lost her temper and shook the fuck out of him, he needed to go. She stepped aside and nodded to the door. “Leave.”
“No.” He sat. “Not until you talk, bitch.”
Kendall glared at him, hoping to intimidate him as an authority figure and a member of the family.
