Page 57 of Rebellious

“What that mean?” Mort asked carefully, wondering if he should retreat until she sobered. He didn’t need a repeat of the same bitterness they’d been stuck on for weeks or another screaming match like they’d had in Long Beach. “Explain, please, pretty girl.”

“I refuse to repeat myself.”

“News to my fucking ass. All the fuck you been doing is repeating yourself. Now, when I need you to, you won’t say it.”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

He didn’t, but she wouldn’t believe him, so he said, “I don’t want no other woman but you, Bailey. Whatever that motherfucker told you, he lying. I haven’t fucked Kendall.”

“Shut up, motherfucker! I hate you. Do you hear me? I fucking hate you. You betrayed me. You broke me.”

“As you fucking broke me?” he barked. “As you broke Harley?”

“Fuck you and her. What about me? Why do I still love you and Harley when you hold me in so little regard?”

Bailey needed understanding. She was full of alcohol and anguish. Once she slept it off, he’d reason with her.

“I love you so fucking much, Bailey,” he told her. “You my everything and have been since the moment I met you.”

“The writing was on the wall even then. You didn’t want me.”

“You so fucking wrong. You all I want, baby,” he continued, hoping his words got through to her. “All I ever wanted, then, now, and forever. I love you and only you, but if divorcing me make you happy—”

“It won’t!” she screamed, breaking down into body-shaking sobs. “I don’t want you to leave me, but you don’t want me!”

“Didn’t you just fucking hear me?” he asked, frustration turning into anger and seeping through. “You all I want.”

“Then why are you sleeping with Kendall?” she said, barely able to get the words out through her tears, stuck on that bullshit because of Johnnie. “You’re fucking Johnnie’s wife.”

“I’m not, goddamn it!”

“I should’ve let him make love to me to show you and that cunt how it feels. He would’ve too. He got a hard cock for me.”

Growling—sick to his fucking stomach—Mort jumped to his feet and began pacing, unable to keep still. Faintly, he was aware that Roxanne, Grant, and Knox stood in the doorway, peering in, but he paid them no mind. “I. Don’t. Want. No. Other. Woman. Get that through your thick fucking skull, Bailey.”

“You took Kendall away,” she fucking repeated, just to be a miserable bitch.

He had no way to defend his day with Kendall or the fact that he’d spent thousands on her. The optics looked bad. He’d been so fucking worried about Symphony when he should’ve distanced himself from Kendall. He’d always hated to see her in pain and went out of his way to right any situation that hurt her. He did the same for Meggie, but he’d never consider taking her away. He’d never kiss her, other than on the cheek with brotherly affection. “I did,” he reminded her, wishing Bailey would drop the fucking subject at the same time deciding she needed to get all the poison and venom out of her system. If she kept bringing it up, it wasn’t resolved in her mind. “But only because Johnnie a motherfucker and Kendall needed her friend.”

“I’ve been needing my friend for weeks and he’s turned his back on me,” Bailey said bitterly.

“That’s not fucking true! I took you away and—”

“Out of guilt!”

“All you want to talk about is a fucking baby,” Mortician yelled, losing his patience all over again, failing Bailey just as she accused him. “At least Kendall talk about other shit.”

“You’re not my husband. I should’ve married Fin. Or anyone else. Someone on my level. I hate you so much. Just go somewhere and die.”

Those words hit Mortician with the force of a bomb, spreading through his entire body and crushing his soul. He’d never felt as lost or as pathetic as he did in that moment. Their marriage had been limping along for weeks, its essence slipping away little by little until only this remained.

“Fine, Bailey,” Mort said in a thick voice, so devastated he didn’t even care that his cheeks were suddenly wet. It barely registered that Roxanne had rushed to his side and hugged him, in tears herself. “I’m leaving. I’ll start divorce proceedings immediately.”

“No! I don’t want you to leave, Lucas!” Bailey buried her face in her injured hands. Blood seeped through the bandages. “Mama, talk to him. Don’t let him leave me, please.”

“Bailey, sugar…” Roxanne swallowed, tears spiking her lashes. “What do you want the boy to do?” she asked hoarsely.

Instead of answering, Bailey shoved the covers aside and got to her feet, trying to stumble toward him but too unsteady to do so. Droplets of blood stained the thigh area of her silk pajamas, along with splotches he assumed were alcohol.