Page 8 of Remiss

“If Patricia was nothing else, she was Christopher’s motherfirst.She saw how upset he was over Big Joe’s death. She knew he hadn’t killed Boss in cold blood. Know what the fuck elseIknow?”

“What?” Aunt Patricia might not have been the paragon everyone believed her to be, but knowing she lost her life trying to protect Christopher was devastating. “Something about Megan or Christopher?”

“Megan and Patricia got into it, didn’t they?”

Back then, Johnnie didn’t know the full story about why Christopher left Megan. Years later, he revealed hisargumentwith his mother. Even then, with the woman dead a decade, Johnnie had felt Christopher’s pain.

Swallowing, Johnnie nodded.

“She thought Meggie would be a pushover like Dinah, even though Rack warned her that little cunt was a hellion. Maybe, because she was Big Joe’s girl. Or, maybe, because she was a fighter…but Patricia ended up liking Meggie and regretted talking to Christopher. That bitch had more plans than a weekly scheduler. She fuckingknewboth Snake and Rack wanted Meggie for different reasons, hoped Christopher would return, but thought you were the next best option if her son didn’t come back. She felt as if she owed it to Big Joe to protect Meggie.”

“I still don’t understand.” Nor did Johnnie know how they’d gotten so far off the fucking topic. “Your convoluted explanation doesn’t explain your theory that Rack killed her and not Snake.”

“It isn’t a fucking theory, dumb ass. It’s fact. Patricia didn’t believe her son killed Big Joe in cold blood, so she started searching, but stumbled on the proof by accident. Rack hid that fucking video with Tex and Sinner feeding Big Joe drugs and riling him up in her house in Hortensia. She returned for the holidays or some shit. She was cleaning up and found the footage. Rack told Sharper and Logan, and they ordered her killed.”

His grandfather ordered Aunt Patricia’s death? Her own father? Fuck! “Loganknewwhat was planned for Boss?”

“Yeah, Johnnie. In case it went the fuck over your head when I said it the first time:Boss wanted to get clean. He called Logan and Sharper, and begged for help for the umpteenth time, even more frantic to turn his life around. For Meggie and Christopher. He loved those two. For my aunt Kimber, who he never stopped loving. And for Joey. Boss was flawed and fucked-up and stupidly loyal, but he wanted to do better. Meggie had just turned sixteen. He said he had two years to sober up so hecould convince her to live in Hortensia. If she wanted her mama with her, he’d kill Thomas Nicholls. Boss adored his daughter. Sharper and Logan spent the next year putting plans into motion. They didn’t tell anyone, afraid Daddy would get wind of their intentions.”

Christopher, Johnnie, Mortician, Val, and Digger had long suffered the consequences of that night. Despite moving on and accepting the way Big Joe died, that violence was a lasting legacy. It shaped each of them in different ways, leading to division, bitterness, rivalry, pain, and anguish. Knowing not only Sharper, butLogan, and their machinations orchestrated such a turning point crushed Johnnie.

“If Boss sobered up, Sharper and Logan knew they’d lose control over him,” Bash continued. “They figured he’d made enough money for the club. Besides, Sharper had tons of dough thanks to his wife and the misappropriation of his sons’ trust funds. By then, Big Joe was expendable, buteverythingfell apart when he was killed. Daddy was never the same and K-P mourned his brother. It created a domino effect.”

After so many years of being just as vile as her father, Aunt Patricia had been left defenseless. Had she been honest, she wouldn’t have died. She’d berated Christopher to his face, then sought to protect him behind his back. “Where’s the video?”

“Rack took it the night he killed Patricia.”

Johnnie’s eyes widened, a fact that escaped him suddenly dawning on him. “He was in on it…?”

“Wally Bart was a small fry. Make no mistake. Big Joe’s death devastated him. But he and Daddy had a falling out, K-P hated him, and now Boss was gone. He had no choice but to do as he was told. Not to mention, Logan awed him. If the motherfucker wantedRackto suck his cock as his king, he would’ve complied.”

Rack as opposed to Sharper.

“Stop smearing my grandfather with those allegations. Logan was fucked up to the nth degree. He hated homosexuals, however. He wouldn’t have had such relations. I know there are letters… ‘love letters’—” he used air quotations— “but I know they’re false. I knew my grandfather better than anyone.”

“I’m not here to defend that motherfucker or listen to you uphold his character. Such as it is. I’m not even here to ride down memory lane. Or clue you the fuck in. An impossible task, if I may say so, since you’re so fucking brainless.”

Easton snickered.

“I resent that!” Johnnie flared.

“Don’t give a fuck. I’m here,tellingyou why I’m fucking with Christopher,tellingyou what I intend to do to Meggie, and you’re still entertaining me. At the very least, you could throw me the fuck out.”

Johnnie laughed. “You think I’m a dumb fuckhead?”

“As a matter of fact,yes.”

“That was a rhetorical question. My point is, you’re feeding me bullshit because youwantme to throw you out to instigate your retaliation.Christopherwould listen to you to get all the facts. Don’t try and playmefor a bitch, motherfucker.”

Bash folded his arms. “You’re making bitch moves, so you’re a motherfucking bitch.”

“Fuck you. Christopher—”

“Neither you nor I arehim,” Bash interrupted.

“You must be watching from afar to think you know so much about him.”

“I told you what the fuck I’m doing, Johnnie. Get your head out of Meggie’s cunt and you might find your fucking brain.”