Chapter Six
All Rigged Up
Kingston
I never really gave much thought to our family situation. Truth being told, I wasn’t much of a stewer like Roy. He loved to sit around marinating in life’s what ifs, and what should have been.
Not me.
Life was what we made of it. Yeah, mine wasn’t perfect, but whose was?
I didn’t reflect on the past or my presence on this earth. I just took life for everything it was worth. Whatever I could get out of it.
That’s what I wanted.
All of it.
For the most part, it was all mine for the claiming. There were perks to being an outlaw’s son. Especially when that outlaw carried the VP patch. I’d watched our ol’ man take what he wanted for as long as I could remember.
He was a mover and he was definitely a shaker. I wasn’t surprised by his ambitions with Forty. I’d heard the stories over the years.
To be fair, I heard it every other time my father drank.
Forty ruined what my dad had with Roy’s mom, Penny. He snitched to Kate and damn near cost my parents their marriage, if you let Dad tell it.
Roy should really be a little more grateful for Forty’s intervention, to be honest. Knowing Dad, he’d probably have paid for a clinic visit and never gave Penny’s pregnancy a second thought. He always had a way of burying secrets before they could blow up.
Roy was the exception.
I smiled to myself as I thought of my half-brother. When it came to Roy, that was really all I ever saw. Half. He was half a man, with half a set of balls, and half the ambition of any other outlaw amongst us.
Did it really count as outlawry if a man had more degrees and certificates than he had charges?
My brother had been arrested all of one time in his whole miserable life, and I was pretty sure that was just an underage drinking thing. He wasn’t a criminal.
So, how the fuck did Dad think he was going to make a killer out of him?
I parked my bike in front of the Kids Center and planted both feet against the ground as my thoughts suddenly became clearer.
The old man buried secrets, and my brother was incapable of keeping one.
The only reasonable thing to do when one was applying Birdman style logic, was to off Roy after he did the dirty work.
Roy wasn’t an outlaw, but he wasn’t a dumbass, either.
I sucked my teeth and wondered if he’d thought that many paces ahead.
“You just going to hide on your bike all morning, or?” Kennedy’s voice cut through the madness.
I snapped a smile into place and leaned so I could see her better.
“It’s not too late to run. I got room for a backpack.” I patted the seat behind me.
She shook her head, planked a hand over her brow and stared at the building.
“Kate would chase us down barefooted in rush-hour traffic, and you know it.” Kennedy laughed.
“She definitely would,” I confirmed without hesitation, as I stood and dismounted.
“Guess that means we better get it over with.” She sighed and started that way.
The sunlight peeked through her Kansas City jersey, making the bold white undershirt stand out.
“You ever catch the games?” I asked, as I jogged to keep up with her swift pace.
“Huh?” She glanced at me and then followed my gaze to her jersey. “Oh! No.”
She shook her head and chuckled, “Nah, I don’t care for football. I just don’t really care for red, either, and it was slim pickings at the Hot Locker.”
I whistled, low and restrained. “Hot Locker? That’s high dollar. I can’t even save up for a pair of socks from that place.”
“Times are hard,” she teased, cutting me a devious glance. “Five dollars is a lot to scrape up.”
“For one sock, yes! I prefer to be charged by the pair. Several pairs, actually. I normally purchase my entire package of socks, for what they charge for a shoestring in the Hot Locker.”
“A shoestring…” She snorted with a laugh and shook her head. “You’re too much. Just say they don’t sell grease and boots. You can admit it. I get it, you’re a tight ass.”
My jaw dropped, but before I could get a word in edgewise, she accused, “You have never been in that mall a day in your life. Have you?”
“Got me.” I grinned, holding the door for her.
She entered, and I studied the back of her long, pale legs and the shorts she’d chosen. They weren’t as short as most of the gym rats, but they clung where it counted.
“King, Kennedy,” my mother called, waving her arm like a mad woman.
I groaned and teased my fingers along Kennedy’s back to direct her. She flinched and glanced back at my hand, causing me to lift them.
“Sorry,” I said, without really meaning it.
I’d been dying to touch her for weeks. When the ol’ man laid his plans out, I couldn’t have been more pleased.
Yeah, I’d take her out, but not before I tried it out.
“Good, you’re smiling. I was hoping you wouldn’t be all sour pussed and difficult,” Mom chirped.
I squinted, allowing my smile to turn exhaustive before her very eyes.
She groaned and took Kennedy’s hand, patting the back of it as she led her toward a group of young girls.
“Everyone, look, it’s Kennedy. You girls remember a few years ago when we went to state? That was all Kennedy.”
Kennedy instantly seemed to object to the summary my mother had provided the kids, but I tuned out when she tripped over her words and stared down the gym. It was only a split-second thing, she picked up and carried right on rattling, but I’d noticed.
My own attention swung that way and landed on the club sweetheart who had, apparently, provided her own invite.
“How’s it going, Rigs?”
“Oh, you know. It’s all a girl can do to—” Apparently, she didn’t get the dismissive wink I’d handed out with the greeting, but when I gave her my shoulder and turned back toward Kennedy, her annoying voice finally trailed off with a lilt of defeat.
“So,” she spoke a little louder, “What are you doing after?”
“After what?” I begrudgingly asked.
I knew she had a thing for me, but right now, I had a thing to do for my family.
And even if I didn’t…
Who the fuck would blow off Forty-Kal’s daughter for a worn-out club sweetheart? Was she nuts?
“I know your mother made you do this thing with Kennedy. But…I mean… Well, you know, after…”
I stared at her until the smile awkwardly froze on her face and slowly melted away.
“Made me? You think my mommy makes me do things?” I asked, unable to keep the grin off my face.
“Wh–? No, I wasn’t…” Rigs fake lashes were fluttering so fast, I was surprised I couldn’t feel a breeze.
“Fuck off.” I nodded, encouraging the advice to be followed.
She blankly stared like my dismissal was too much to comprehend. When I bugged my eyes, hers widened.
“Uh–Okay,” She stressed the last word like I was the world’s biggest asshole and pranced away with twice her usual attitude.
I could feel my mother’s eyes on me as I made my way toward Kennedy.
“Anyone can try out. You just have to show up on the day they indicate.” Kennedy finished explaining just as I ventured toward her.
“Yeah, but like, how good do you really have to be? Do they accept anyone just because they show up to try outs?” a little blonde girl in a jumpsuit asked.
“That is the joy of small-town life. Almost everyone makes the team, if only because our numbers are so few. I can remember my seventh-grade year, they didn’t have a High School varsity team, because they didn’t have enough kids trying out to form one.” Kennedy shrugged.
I smirked, unable to quell my inner wiseass, “You imagine that means you were just the best out of what they had? I mean if other schools had their choice, and the local school put you on the team out of necessity and numbers…”
Her head swiveled slower than a horror movie, and those piercing green eyes burned into me.
“I’m not saying you aren’t decent, I’m just saying…”
“They didn’t offer me a full ride because I was decent. They offered tuition and housing because I was good, King. What did football ever get you?”
The children giggled, but she didn’t stop there. She lowered her tone and turned her head so the kids couldn’t read her lips, “Some already ran through ass?” Her gaze shifted ever so subtly from me to the corner of the gym.
I didn’t need to look.
I knew Rigs was still lingering back there.
“Pass,” she abruptly announced, before grimacing and repeating a bit louder, “Hard pass.”
“Not my ass, not my ol’ lady, never has been,” I mused, finally giving in and casting a glance back to Rigs.
She was leaning on the wall, but when she saw my attention slide her way, she instantly shifted away from it and began to preen.
A whistle blew, and a lady with cropped hair loudly summoned the children to the center of the gym, “Alright, everybody, gather around. We’re going to go over our assistance program.
It’s really good stuff. The program Kate Crowe has founded with last month’s grant will help buy uniforms and cleats for anyone who lives in the district and qualifies as low income.
We also have information regarding free sports physicals for the first week of school.
Gather around, I have fliers for everyone. ”
Kennedy and I ventured after the kids, taking up a post behind the masses while the woman went over the details of the charity program my mother helped set up.
“How long are we stuck here again?” Kennedy quietly asked.
I flubbed my lips, ready to leave if she was. Before I could say as much, a hand settled on my shoulder and delicate fingers curled tight. I turned my head to investigate and was greeted with a wet kiss on the cheek.
“All set, Babe?” Rigs wiggled into me like we were a thing.
I couldn’t contain my grimace, or the heated way my eyes anchored on her.
“You fucking slow or something?” I whispered under my breath, jerking my shoulder away from her weight.
She flopped into me and made a loud noise, as if she’d stumbled. Several of the children looked back. The woman with the short hair stopped speaking and glared.
“I’ll leave you two to it.” Kennedy winked, taking a wide arc around us.
Rigs reached for me, and I slapped her hands away, fully prepared to trot after Kennedy. From across the room, Kate shot me a passing look that reeked of disapproval.
I pinched my face up, jerked my head back, and somehow managed not to tell her to go fuck herself in front of a gym full of half-pints.
“Get,” I warned Rigs from behind my hand, as I worked the stubble around my mouth, “and stay your thirsty ass away from me.”
The venom boiled in me, making me shake my head the entire way across the gym.