Page 185 of Ruptured

Not willing to relinquish Aunt Mary, Christopher grabbed his lighter and re-lit her. “I fuckin’ hate Logan, so what your old man did was poetic fuckin’ justice to that dirty motherfucker.”

Mort stood and walked to the door, closing it. Before he sat down again, he pulled out another joint. “Figured you’d need your own, but I just wasn’t sure since you going back to the hospital.”

Christopher shrugged. “You goin’ home anytime soon?” he asked, changing the subject, not knowing what to say about Megan. “Bailey gotta miss you.”

“I wouldn’t fucking know, Outlaw. Bailey haven’t called me or responded to any of my gifts. I guess she been too fucking busy at work.”

“Maybe, she just hurt you fuckin’ moved out.”

“What the fuck she expected me to do? She still not getting it through her goddamn head how wrong she was. If she can’t understand, then it can happen again.”

They enjoyed their blunts in silence for a few minutes.

“I miss Bailey,” Mort finally admitted, and shook his head. “And, fuck, I almost…” He glanced away and sighed. “I almost fucked another woman. I want to make up to my wife and I feel like a mean fuckhead, but if I go back home, it’s going to be the same shit. Bailey wanting another baby. Harley not there. Bailey demanding Harley apologize. Bailey angry at the fucking world and blaming me for shit I didn’t do. Looking atmelike I’m fucking wrong forherbullshit.”

“You still love Bailey?”

Setting his joint on the edge of the desk, Mort scrubbed a hand over his face and nodded. “I do. And I’m stillinlove with her. I just don’t like her too fucking much right now.”

“I suggest you keep your distance from that other bitch. Shit spin outta fuckin’ control faster than you realize and weeks later, you still sufferin’ the fuckin’ fallout. She one of the club girls?”

Mort shook his head. “It’s Symphony.”

“That young bitch at Tee’s?”

Mortician nodded. “I told her I’m old enough to be her daddy. Fuck, she was fucking relentless.Remorseless,” he grumbled.

“She’s gorgeous,” Christopher said, sympathizing with his friend, although he’d never come close towantingto fuck another woman once he accepted how much Megan meant to him. “Age ain’t nothin’ but a number.Ifyour marriage fuckin’ over, Mort. It ain’t. You love your wife and it don’t matter if that other woman younger, older, or the same age as her, no bitch worth the pain it’ll cause Bailey and your children.” Rebel was convinced he’d fucked Torie. He didn’t think she’d ever believehim, but she’d finally forgiven him, though their relationship was forever altered. “The damage it’ll cause to their trust in you.”

“I offered to hook Symphony up with one of the brothers,” Mort confessed. “I was thinking Bishop.”

“If that’s what you wanna do. I suggest you wait ‘til you and Bailey straight, so she don’t misconstrue nothin’.”

“I hurt Symphony’s feelings. I told her I love my wife.”

“Symphony not worried about Bailey, Mort. She wantyou. Chicks lookin’ in got a fuckin’ ability to home in on when shit not goin’ right. Maybe we look like fuckin’ sad motherfuckers. Or, maybe, we not talkin’ about our wives with the reverence we should. But they know and become what they think we missin’. I just knew Torie, or no other woman, could ever give me what Megan do. No woman could ever love me with such passion and intensity and I couldn’t ever love another woman in no way.”

“The situations different, Prez. Meggie was sick. Bailey fuckin’ misguided.”

“Youwas once misguided too, motherfucker. Remember that goddamn bet?”

They laughed.

“In the end our situations not so different,” Christopher continued. “I-I don’t know my wife anymore, and I’m so fuckin’ furious with her.MyMegan would’ve understood the entire Torie situation.MyMegan wouldna…” Glowering, he snapped his mouth shut and drew in a deep breath. “You know she want me to find another cabin for our anniversary,” he said, changing the subject again. “I told her I would one day.”

Back in familiar territory as the voice of reason instead of the receiver, Mort adjusted his position. “Her church anniversary is as important as the ceremony was, Outlaw.”

Christopher scowled. “This another example of what the fuck I’m talkin’ about. When the fuck my wife questioneveryfuckinthing? The way she look at everyfuckinbody now tearin’ me the fuck up. I need my Sweet Angel.”

“You might not never get that Meggie back, Prez.”

“I know,” Christopher said in a tortured voice. “But suppose this new Megan see me as a hindrance? Suppose she tired of bein’ a wife and a ma?Mywife?” He rubbed the back of his neck and rested his elbows on the desk. “Don’t it seem that way to you? She so caught up in bein’ the scorned wife, she ain’t payin’ attention to her family.”

“Your woman changed a lot since we first met her. Each new version of her always better than the last and always come with surprises. The one constant thing is how much she love you. Nothing changing that, Outlaw.”

Christopher wanted to believe that. Unfortunately, her attitude told him differently.

March 7th