Chapter Twenty-Four
When Reality Shifts
Kennedy
When his eyes lifted with his smile, I exhaled enough stress to drop my shoulders. I slowly shifted toward the front door, eager to hear that our plan had been a success.
I needed that confirmation more than my next breath.
“Hey,” he sighed, like he was coming home to his family after a long day’s work.
I inwardly churned as the seconds passed and he didn’t offer anything further.
“All good?” He asked when he realized I was staring at him.
“My brother? My dad?”
“Everything is quiet over at Forty’s place.
Nothing amiss. I dropped your car off and Birdman bought the story.
Kingston wasn’t there gloating. So, it’s like I said.
He got pissed he couldn’t control every little detail of his plan and fucked off.
My– Birdman believes I got rid of your body and he intends to lose the car. So…”
I gnawed my lip and hesitantly nodded, “That’s good right?”
“Yeah,” He started past me, clearly not giving it a second thought, “Did my mom get started on breakfast?”
“She’s out back, sitting on her swing.” I rubbed my arms, and waited for some indication of what was next on our agenda. I felt like I was playing the most important game of chess in my life.
It was definitely the deadliest.
I watched him intently for some sign. Words. Anything.
“Right,” he sighed.
That was it? ‘Right?’
“Roy, what happens when he realizes I’m not gone? What happens if he suggests that I am dead, like to my father or…” I shoved my hand through my hair and tried to keep a grip on my last few grains of patience. “This is a Band-Aid on a gaping-ass wound.”
Penny had the kind of presence that was felt long before she was seen, I turned instinctively toward the kitchen archway and there she was, hugging an oversized coffee mug.
A warm, thoughtful smile fluttered, but never fully took hold.
The soft lines at the corner of her eyes suddenly looked more due to worry, than a life of laughter and love.
That one little glance made me realize she was as exhausted as I felt.
“She’s right, Roy. You know it. We all do.” A silence lay between us for several breaths before Penny resorted to pleading, “Take her with you. Ride away from all of this.”
Her gaze darted between us until I suddenly wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince, me or Roy.
“The Saints can figure it out. You two would never have to look at any of them again. You could–”
“Mom,” he snapped, shutting her up effortlessly.
She blinked once. Twice.
I thought for sure she was going to weep.
“You have no idea how freeing it is to step away,” she began again, making direct eye contact with me while she said it. Her determined gaze was dry. Her tone was gentle, motherly; there was no evidence of the frantic creature she’d been moments ago.
I was captivated.
She might as well have screamed those words. I heard them in my mother’s voice. The auditory hallucination scared me so badly. I thought I’d lost my goddamn mind for a moment.
Maybe I had.
I closed my eyes against the sound of her voice.
“I did it. I left. You can, too, honey.” Her warm, soft hands tenderly framed my face.
I shook from the inside out and my hot tears baptized her slender fingers.
“Okay,” I whispered, my voice cracking despite the fact that I was barely capable of lending air to that single word.
“Jesus!” Roy exploded, jerking the sensation away.
I gasped, and abruptly opened my eyes.
He was inches from her, open disbelief spelled out on his features. He led her back a few paces by the wrist.
I wasn’t sure what had happened.
Was I overstressed and slowly going mad?
Was my sugar low?
Did I just experience some kind of spiritual event?
“Breathe. Breathe, Kenny,” Roy encouraged, his large, heavy hand strumming up and down my back.
The use of that nickname snapped me out of my distant, overwhelmed mental space enough to realize I was hyperventilating.
That horrible, helpless sensation was the last thing I remembered aside from the sensation of weightlessness and world spinning before everything went black.