cannibal; kendall roy

39

Dinner was something Marguerite Garnier didn't really do. She hadn't done it in years. She tended to pick at her food and only eat the vegetables in it. Or avoid the bread when hamburgers or sandwiches were served up.

When she went out for dinner, on a rare occasion, she didn't eat much. These days, she likes watching Kendall break into a steak, or whatever the catch of the day was at some glass box seafood place. She liked watching him explain the menu to her, as if she'd never been capable of ordering food. Or when he'd order for her.

He tended to baby her.

He always had.

But now, she watched as his hand sat firmly on her thigh, his thumb running up and down her leg, trying to pick at the fabric.

And then there had been Naomi Pierce, introducing herself to the pair from across the table, pulling Marguerite's head out of the clouds and back into the conversation.

At first glance, she didn't know what to think of the woman. She was more fashionable than the other Pierce's, held herself higher and didn't seem all too convinced by the air that the Roy family had been floating around all day.

In other words, she was more willing to see through their shit than the others present at the table.

"So, uh, are you like..a, an actress or like a poetess?" He asks, his hand reaching up to the table and leaning in.

There was Kendall. Playing the role.

"Cause that was, you know, pretty legit."

"Oh. I uh, volunteer at a drug addiction treatment center in Mill Valley, and I continue my recovery there as well."

"Oh. Oh wow. That..." he trails off, looking at Marguerite "That's great...I, yeah I'm actually in recovery myself."

No, he wasn't.

Kendall was the farthest thing from in recovery, they had just taken lines earlier in the day. Hell, her mind could easily whip back to the night of Shiv's wedding, blood almost unrealistically pouring out of her nose for hours on end.

"My uh, Lou, my fiancé, she's sort of my rock in all of it. Keeps me feeling uh" he looks over at her, his eyes practically leading her to speak "You know?"

"Kendall's doing great. Much better than I did."  It was simplistic. She knew that there were a billion other things that he could've said, but he had chosen to play the card of pretending to be sober.

Even though to someone like Naomi, someone who suffered with similar problems, she would instantly be able to see through them, and determine that they were probably farther down the rabbit hole than her.

Being a liar didn't pay off, not in Marguerite's eyes.

"I know" Naomi offers, nodding her head "I know who you guys are."

"My uh, not so spotless reputation precedes me" Kendall says joking, nudging Marguerite a little, who forces a smile as her eyes connect with Naomi's trying to read over her expression.

"I could just tell." Her eyes stay latched onto the pair, seeming to still offer friendliness.

"Oh. Right. Okay."

Kendall seems to retract having realized his own mistake, and his hand instantly treating back to Marguerite's thigh, his hand lazily tracing patterns on her skin, trying to calm himself down. Part of him felt stupid, another part of him felt as if he had potentially fucked everything.

And trading his hands on Marguerite wasn't doing enough, so he pulled one of her hands off of the table and latched his fingers into it, giving it a gentle squeeze as conversation continued further down the table.