Page 133 of Remiss

“That’s who you measure right and wrong by?” Diesel sounded incredulous.

“He would’ve seen Hopper as unworthy to have my child.”

“Does it matter? Who gives a fuck, Johnnie?”

“That’s my grandfather. Respect him!”

“Fuck him,” Diesel spat. “When did it start to matter what that motherfucker thought?”

“You didn’t even know him, you disrespectful asshole,” Johnnie shouted, drawing attention. He didn’t care. He was so furious at the situation.

“Thank fuck I didn’t know him,” Diesel retorted. “Again, I ask you when did you start living by Logan Donovan’s standards? When did we lose you? No, when did Uncle Christopher lose you?”

Shame poured into Johnnie, but he pretended it didn’t matter. He clenched his jaw.

Diesel signaled Potter to bring him a beer.

“I noticed the resemblance between you and her, but I thought it was a coincidence,” Diesel said once he got his beer and took a sip.

Johnnie gulped half his beer. “It might be.”

“She’s from Camas. Do you have a connection there?”

“Not that I know of.” Johnnie shrugged. “I’m not sure where Hopper was from.” He sidled a glare at Diesel. “How’d you meet her?”

“It’s a sordid story, filled with sex and drugs. I don’t love Tabitha. I don’t even like her, but I care about Jana. As my wife, she’ll have the protection of the club and Aunt Meggie will take her under her wing.”

Johnnie heaved in a breath. “Hopper didn’t have the decency to tell me.”

“From everything I’ve heard, your grandfather wouldn’t have been happy. He would’ve killed her and her baby.”

Paz came to Johnnie’s mind, along with Christopher’s insistence that Grandda ordered her death. If Hopper came to him with news of her pregnancy back then, Johnnie might’ve been happy. He’d fucked her once or twice bare, so deep in grief over Paz he’d just wanted a connection to someone.

Now? The very idea repulsed him.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do besides get a goddamn DNA test, Diesel? This is something that it seems Christopher would do. Not me. I’ve always been the responsible one.”

“I can argue that point, but it won’t do any good, so I’ll save my breath.”

“Fuck you.”

Diesel gave him a thin smile. “She looks like you,” he repeated.

“As if I give a fuck. A DNA test will tell the truth.”

“And then what?”

He’d send her away somehow. “We’ll see. Until it’s confirmed, don’t mention this to Kendall.” Before Diesel argued the point, Johnnie raised his hand. “Please.”

“Fine, Johnnie.”

“I want nothing to do with her for the time being, especially if I have to hide her from Kendall so I won’t cause her unnecessary stress.”

Draining his bottle in a few gulps, Diesel got to his feet. “Do whatever your conscience can handle. Whether it’s right or wrong. It’s what you do anyway,” he said, and walked away.

By the time Diesel stalked back to the table and sat, Monty’s body was gone and conversation began again. Normally, it was loud and boisterous,joyful, but unease hung in the air. Christopher wondered how many of these motherfuckers had disrespected Megan.

The idea that she’d go to dinner with anybody, butespeciallyEaston DeLuca almost drove him fucking insane. He could barely breathe thinking about his wife, hislife, turning herbeautiful smile on another motherfucker.