Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
THREE MONTHS LATER
“Lens Family… I love y’all. For real.
Being here with you in Through Ken’s Lens, talking, musing, running around my favorite spots in Silverrun… It’s been special. It felt like home in a way I didn’t expect.
And as you know, I finally wrapped production on Beyond the Game. Getting to sit down with DaVinci Bryns and hear the real story behind the headlines, not the highlight reels, meant everything to me. That’s why I do this.
Life has a way of shifting on you when you least expect it, and I’ve got some new beginnings on the horizon that I’m not quite ready to share yet. But I’ll be signing off for a little bit while I transition back home.
I’m good. I’m grateful. And I’m exactly where I need to be. Keep me lifted like I keep you lifted. I love y’all. I’ll see you soon.”
Kennedi sighed as she hit upload on the vlog she’d recorded. She thought about the last thing he’d said to her before she left, his forehead pressed against hers in the back of a club, his voice dropping in a way she’d never heard from him.
“When you’re ready to stop running, I’ll be right here.”
The hoodie dress did its job, hiding the curve of her stomach that had started to announce itself whether she was ready or not. Four months pregnant. Nobody knew. Not her mama. Not her girls back home. Not the father.
She’d told herself Colorado was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Four months later, carrying his child, that lie was getting harder to maintain. Especially on nights when the baby fluttered, she was alone with it and had nobody to tell.
His last text had been at the airport. Be safe out there. She never responded. The silence settled between them like concrete.
She was carrying his baby. A baby she already loved more than she had language for. Whatever happened between them, they'd have to find their way back to each other — even if it meant nothing more than raising it together.
She told herself she could live with that.
She was lying again. But she’d gotten good at that.
“Little LA, the countdown is on to meet your daddy. Lord, he’s going to cuss me out.”
Her phone buzzed in the cupholder.
Mommy: You ain’t changed your mind, have you? I miss my baby.
Kennedi called her back before she could think too hard about it.
“I know you ain’t being shady,” Kennedi said as her mother giggled.
“I’m being honest. Girl, you will change your mind in a heartbeat. It’s my fault for being busy when I was pregnant with you. I still love you, though.”
“Ma, I’ve never heard that old wives’ tale before. But yes, I’m still coming home. You act like I’ve been gone for years.”
“That’s what it feels like, Kenny. I should throw something on the grill and invite the girls over to celebrate.”
“Mommy, no. I don’t need a big to-do. I just want to get home.”
“I know, I know. We miss you.”
“I miss y’all too. I’ll be home soon. I made it to the airport.”
She touched her stomach beneath the sweater at the gate, the reality of it still catching her off guard sometimes. A baby. Rolani's baby. A whole person she was responsible for.
One thing at a time. Home first. Then Rolani. Then the truth.
Her phone buzzed. It was Halo and Sametra on a FaceTime call together.
She answered.
Sametra's face filled the screen first, Summer on her hip. “You sure got up there quick to leave us.”
Kennedi propped the phone against her carry-on. “Don't make me cry before I board.”
“Too late,” Halo said from the other side of the screen. “You look beautiful, by the way, Momma. Colorado agreed with you.”
“It did.” She smiled. “Y’all agreed with me more. I’m going to miss y’all so much.”
“We are coming to visit, don’t even worry. Are you ready to face the music?” Halo asked.
“As ready as I can be. Still scared, but all I can do is be honest.”
“Yeah, because he definitely deserves to know.”
Truthfully, she knew she should’ve told him, but fear didn’t move with logic or fairness. It moved with instinct. And right now, it was trying to protect her heart and her baby from the possibility that Rolani Pracher had moved on without her. Them.
“I’ll tell him,” she said finally. “I will. I need to make sure I’m not walking into anything I can’t handle.”
Halo shook her head, smiling despite herself. “You journalists, I swear. Everything’s a story.”
“This one’s the biggest story of my life,” Kennedi said softly. “I can’t afford to get it wrong.”
The rest of the call passed in laughter as she waited for her flight. Kennedi let herself enjoy it, knowing she was about to leave it behind. Sametra got to talking about her pregnancy with her newest addition, Summer, whom Kennedi had fallen in love with over the past few months.
“Summer tore me like a sheet of paper. She got that big ass head from her daddy.”
“Mimi, don’t scare the girl. You knew that man had a big head when you married him.”
“I did, and that’s exactly why he had to pay for Momma to get snatched back together again.”
Kennedi’s eyes went wide. “You had that surgery?”
“Brand new, baby. I can drop it like a bag of ice with zero resistance.”
Halo dissolved. Full tears, hand over her mouth, unable to speak. Sametra told that story to anyone who would listen and meant every word of it. Kennedi held out for about four seconds before she went, too, and then she asked for recommendations before she fully caught her breath.
“You call me the minute you need to talk,” Sametra said as they called for Kennedi to board. “I don’t care what time it is. You hear me?”
“I hear you, Ice box.”
Rolani sat across from Giovanni in his office, listening to him go on about expansion plans and community outreach.
His mind kept drifting, the way it had been since last night.
He hadn’t meant to watch her vlog. It popped up on his timeline while he was scrolling to pass the time.
But since he had, he’d been replaying the words in his head.
New beginnings.
Transitioning back home.
For a brief, reckless second, he wondered if he was supposed to be part of that sentence, if maybe she had left space for him somewhere in those plans.
The thought irritated him more than it hurt.
She hadn’t called. Hadn’t texted. Hadn’t said anything to him directly.
Only told the world she was moving on to whatever was next.
That was on him for even thinking he’d be included.
“Yo, you even with me right now?”
Rolani’s eyes snapped back to Giovanni. “Yeah, man. I’m here.”
“You sure? ‘Cause you've been somewhere else for a minute.” Giovanni leaned back in his chair. “What’s good with you?”
“I’m straight. Got a lot on my mind and plate.”
Giovanni studied him for a second before letting it go. “Aight. Well, listen. I got run something by you. I’m bringing somebody on to help us with media and storytelling for Idle Hands as a whole. Build the brand the right way, control our narrative, all that.”
“Okay. What’s that got to do with me?”
“She’s gonna be working under you. Shadowing you heavily at first. You good with that?”
Rolani shrugged. “Yeah, that’s cool. When does she start?”
“Soon. Well, she kinda already started. She got you set up for a radio interview. She’ll be in soon to finalize everything.”
“Oh, word.”
“Yeah, she just wrapped a big project. That Beyond the Game special. She sat down with DaVinci Bryns and some other athletes.” Giovanni pulled up a clip on his phone. “She did the premiere special for us. Remember? Paige’s friend.”
Rolani sat up in his seat, now fully engaged.
“Kennedi?”
“Yeah”
“Well, yeah nigga, I remember her.”
That was an understatement. He remembered everything.
The plane. The studio where she’d fumbled a mic clip because her hands were shaking, and she thought he didn’t notice.
The premiere where she’d rolled her hips on that dance floor and held his stare.
The elevator where he’d put his gun to a man’s temple for touching her.
The hotel room where she’d opened the door and pulled him inside.
The morning when she’d checked the hotel over blueberries because she couldn’t be his girlfriend, but she could make sure he didn’t die.
He shook his head.
And the club. The back office at Velvet, where he'd had her and still couldn't make her stay. He'd asked anyway. He already knew what she'd say.
She left on Tuesday. One text at the airport. She never responded. He kept his word — didn't blow up her phone, didn't show up in Colorado. Gave her exactly what she asked for.
That didn't mean it was easy.
Giovanni kept talking, scrolling through his phone.
“Yeah, she killed that piece. Had me looking like I actually know what I’m doing.
” He laughed. “That premiere coverage is what caught their attention and led to her getting the Beyond the Game deal. So really, we helped her launch back into the big leagues. Now she’s coming back home, and I want her on the team. ”
Rolani scoffed. The fucking nerve of that premiere being the very reason she had a runway to run.
He still fucked with Kennedi. Hell, he was happy for her, proud of her. He respected her hustle. But he refused to believe that what they had was supposed to stay in a hotel room in LA.
“When’s this radio interview?” Rolani asked, keeping his voice level.
“Next week. I don’t know all the details, but she should be here to sign her contract and everything within the next few days. I need you to look over it and get it back to me by tonight.”
“I got you. I gotta head back to LA in a few days for the merch meeting. I’ll get it back to you.”
Giovanni set his phone down. “And bruh, I know you got a lot going on with Monroe and everything, but this is important. Soon, Robin will touch down and lighten the load. But in the meantime, take care of Kennedi. She’s the real deal.
She can take what we’re building and make people actually care about it.
Not just the product, but the story behind it. ”
“I hear you.”
Silence. Rolani looked at his best friend because he could tell he wasn’t saying something.
“What you ain’t saying, G?”
“I can’t lie, I thought y’all would’ve hit it off.” Giovanni leaned forward. “She’s cute, successful, and has her head on straight.”
Rolani’s expression didn’t change, but something sharp twisted in his chest.
“I hadn’t noticed.”
Giovanni laughed. “Man, you’re lying. Anyway, she’s professional. All business. That’s probably why she curved your ugly ass.”
All business. Right. That’s exactly what she’d been that night in LA when she’d pulled him into her hotel room and let him worship every inch of her body until the sun came up. Real professional. Business only.
He cut the thought off before it could take him somewhere he couldn’t come back from.
“When is she getting back to Coupeville?”
“A few days. She’s wrapping up some stuff in Colorado first.” Giovanni stood, signaling the meeting was over. “This is gonna be big for us, man. The right storyteller can change everything. The more funding, the better.”
“Yeah,” Rolani said, standing too. “I’m already knowing.”
“Hit me when you get back in town.”
“Bet.”
He left Giovanni's office and walked to his car, his mind doing what it always did when her name came up—replaying the film. Rehashing the moments to make sure he wasn't tripping.
He checked the time. Monroe would be getting out of practice in an hour, and he still had to stop by the house before picking her up and taking her to Georgie's.
Having Monroe full-time had changed everything.
The late nights, the spontaneity, the freedom to move however he wanted — all of that took a backseat the day Monshay left and didn't come back.
He'd stepped up on the strength of his brother. Had to. And in a lot of ways, Monroe had grounded him in ways he didn’t know he needed.
But that didn’t mean he’d forgotten about Kennedi Walters.
In the driver's seat, his phone was already in his hand. Scrolled to her name. The last text in the thread was the one from the airport. Nothing after that. Rolani glowered at her name on his screen, thumb hovering over the keyboard. The urge to text her, welcome her back was on his mind.
But nah.
He tossed the phone into the cupholder and started the engine.
The silence had given him clarity. She’d run.
He’d spent four months figuring out why.
Somewhere around the halfway point, he’d stopped being angry and started being ready — ready for the conversation she owed him, ready to show her that the man she’d left was not the man she was coming back to.
He had more to prove now. More to protect.
And a whole lot less patience for games.
Rolani pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward his house. He grabbed his phone at a red light and texted Giovanni.
Rolani: Hit me the minute she touches down.
She could run. But not in his city.