Chapter 21 Not Strong Enough by. boygenius
Will
I didn’t often use my connections that came with being a Bly.
I spent my entire adulthood trying to distance myself from those connections, but damn, when I did use them they were handy.
I was able to charter a plane to take me and Jackie to San Francisco where we picked up Theo and Violet and flew to Utah.
Theo and Jackie were silent for almost the entire trip, but they held one another’s hand for the majority of the flight.
I had learned from Jackie more information about her brother Malachi, or Kai as she called him, and her parents.
Apparently, when Kai turned eighteen he moved out of their house and joined the army.
He had been an Army Ranger for the majority of his time serving.
There was a base nearby that he was currently stationed at.
He was around my age, only a year younger at thirty-three.
Both her and Theo seemed to think highly of Kai, but for some reason didn’t have a strong relationship with him.
I wondered why he didn’t get them out of the house when he turned eighteen and instead they had to spend two additional years there until Nate was an adult.
I didn’t voice these thoughts aloud.
They didn’t need to know about my less than positive feelings surrounding their oldest brother.
Hell, they weren’t even positive that he was alive.
From the call Theo received, his wife (which neither Jackie or Theo knew about) was frantic explaining how hurt he was and how badly he wanted to see his sisters.
Seemed odd to me, since it seemed as though he didn’t try to foster any relationship with them. What changed?
I continued to think about Kai and exactly what situation we were walking into when we finally entered the small town.
It felt like we had been driving in the middle of nowhere for the last forty-five minutes, which I honestly think we were.
Grantsville was the smallest town I had ever been in.
There were mostly fields and not a single stop light in sight.
“Turn up here on Cooley Street,” Theo directed in the passenger seat next to me.
Initially, I had wanted to be next to Jackie but apparently she had the worst sense of direction and didn’t actually know how to get to their childhood home. It made sense as she was only fourteen when she left.
I looked at her in my rearview mirror. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail and she had the same jeans jacket she wore when we first met. Even with the obvious worry in her eyes, she was beautiful.
I made the turn and continued to pass field after field. “Are we going to Kai’s or your parents’ house?”
“Kai’s. His wife gave me the address.”
I nodded as I continued to follow her directions.
After a few minutes and a few more turns, we pulled into the driveway of a modest farmhouse. It was two stories and seemed to be in great condition besides its obvious age.
A blonde woman came barreling out the front door, with an oddly large grin on her face. Both Theo and Jackie groaned when they saw her.
“No fucking way. Is that Mckinley?” Jackie asked.
Theo sighed, obviously just as upset to see this Mckinley character as Jackie was.
“If she’s Kai’s wife, I am going to have some words with him.”
“Do we not like her?” Violet asked her mom as she sat next to Jackie.
“We do not,” Theo climbed out of the door and cooly greeted this Mckinley woman.
“If she’s married to your brother, why is she smiling like an idiot? Didn’t her husband almost die?” I turned and asked Jackie.
She just shrugged in response and followed Theo out the door with Violet right behind her. I followed as well and made my introductions with Mckinley, who was in fact Kai’s wife. She ushered us into her home and began to give us an especially unwanted tour, given the circumstances.
“And this is the dining room. I bought the table off of the Taylor’s when they sold their home. Can you believe they moved to Tooele?” Mckinley rambled as she pointed out her various furniture and art pieces.
“Wild,” Jackie mumbled, not amused by her apparent sister-in-law.
I stifled a laugh at her complete lack of enthusiasm.
I turned my attention to Mackinley, wanting to speed things along as I could see both Jackie and Theo teetering on the edge of a freakout if they didn’t see their brother soon.
“Where’s Kai? As much as I like your dining table and its invigorating history, I think his sisters would like to see him now. ”
Mckinley shot me a death glare.
I guess she didn’t like being interrupted.
“I’ll go grab him and let him know you’re here.”
We watched as she made her way up the stairs. I turned to Jackie, my brows drawn together in confusion. “What the hell is going on? I thought Kai was on death’s doorstep?”
“So did I. At least that’s what Theo said,” she whispered to me.
Theo raised her hands in surrender. “Don’t shoot the messenger. That’s what she made it seem like. I guess she exaggerated a bit.”
Jackie opened her mouth to respond but promptly shut it when we heard steps coming down the staircase.
Mckinley was the first to come down and behind her was who I assumed was Kai.
He had the same brown hair as Theo and brown eyes as Jackie.
He was also tall, at least six foot four.
He was honestly a mountain of a person. But most noticeable were the cuts around his face, his left arm in a sling, and the cane that was helping him walk.
He seemed less than excited to be walking but the second he made eye contact with his sisters, he smiled.
“Y’all came,” Kai stated as he stared at his sisters, an accent slipping through in his words.
“Of course we did,” Theo walked toward him and hugged him tight.
I looked over to Jackie and saw unshed tears in her beautiful brown eyes. I hated it when she cried, it always felt like my heart was being ripped out. I took her hand in mine and pulled her closer to me.
“What happened?” Jackie asked, her voice shaking with emotion, as Theo finally let go of their brother.
Kai turned to her. “Look at you, Jack. You’re so grown up.” He limped over to her and she met him in the middle. He wrapped her in a hug. “I’m okay, I got hurt in a stupid training exercise.”
I was skeptical.
There was no way he was that hurt from a training exercise.
“Real training exercise? Or is that what the army told you to say?” I asked.
Kai looked at me for a moment before chuckling. “What do you think? I’m Malachi James, by the way, and you are?”
I extended my hand to shake his hand. “William Bly, Jackie’s boyfriend.”
He shook my hand while eyeing Jackie. “It’s nice to meet you, William. I didn’t know you had a boyfriend, Jack.”
“I didn’t know you were married,” she quipped.
Kai responded with a chuckle again, his arm wrapped around Jackie as Mckinley glared at him. “Touché. Come sit.”
We followed him to their living room, which looked out across the back field. I knew Jackie hated her time living in this city, but damn was it beautiful. There was a view of the mountains in the distance and a bit of the Great Salt Lake peeking through.
We all sat down on their couches and Violet sat on Theo’s lap. No one spoke for a moment, all probably trying to figure out what to say, when Violet broke the silence in the most Violet of ways.
“I thought you were dying.”
“Why did you think that?” Kai asked, confused.
“Well your wife made it seem that way when she called us,” Jackie responded while eyeing Mckinley, whose ears were red with embarrassment.
Kai turned to her, even more confused. “You told them I was dying?”
She stuttered trying to explain herself. “I-I didn’t think they would come. You said you wanted to see them so I got them here.”
Kai sighed and rubbed temples as though he had a headache. “Can you give me a moment to talk to them? Alone?”
She just nodded in response as she stood and walked away. Once she was out of earshot he continued. “I’m really sorry about her.”
“Please explain why you married her? She was horrible to us back in high school,” said Theo.
“It’s a long story.” Kai sighed. “One I don’t want to get into right now.
I’m just sorry she lied to get you guys here.
When I got hurt, one of the guys on my team asked what I needed.
I was really drugged up on pain killers because they were trying to get me out of the field and I said you two.
I guess he told Mckinley and she called you. ”
Jackie stood and sat next to her brother. Theo followed suit, handing me Violet who settled on my lap and then took a seat on the other side of her brother.
“I’m glad she called, I just wished she wouldn’t have stressed us out so much,” Jackie stated. “Can you tell us what happened?”
He shook his head. “I wish. I promise I would if I could.”
“I know you would,” Theo sighed as she took in the sight of her brother, “I’m sorry it took us so long to come here to see you.”
“Don’t you dare apologize. I get why. If I could, I would never come back here either. I should have gone to see you two more. Or even called. I guess after Nate died… it was just too hard.”
They were all silent for a moment before Jackie spoke up. “It’s not the same without him.”
“It never will be,” he remarked, “but you’re here now. How long are y’all in town?”
I shrugged. “We have no plan, I guess however long you want us here.”
He smiled at me. “Good. We have extra rooms y’all can stay in. Grab your stuff and I’ll show you where.”
I grabbed all of our bags from the car and followed Kai down the hall where the guest rooms were. I dropped Theo and Violet’s bags in one and mine and Jackie’s in another. As I turned to leave, I was stopped by Kai in the doorway shooting me a suspicious glance.
“What?” I asked.
He stared a moment longer before responding. “How old are you?”
“Thirty-four.”
He marinated on my response. I knew there was an age gap between Jackie and I, but it wasn’t as though she was eighteen and I was twenty-five. She was twenty-seven. A fully grown woman who could make her own choices, and I was lucky enough to be one of them.
“Treat her well, okay,” Kai finally responded.
“Of course.”
“I’m going to be her big brother for a minute.
God knows I have years of that to make up for,” he began as he sat at the foot of the bed and I sat next to him.
“Jackie and Theo deserve the world. A world Nate and I fought hard to give them. I… I love them more than you could ever understand. The shit we went through together because of our parents bonded us in ways you couldn’t understand. Just… just don’t hurt her.”
I nodded. “Of course I won’t, but I thought it was Nate who got her and Theo out. What do you mean you and Nate fought for them?”
Kai sighed before looking at me. It was unnerving how similar he looked to his sisters.
“I won’t go into too much detail and please keep this between us.
But, the night Nate got them out, I was there too.
Someone had to make sure our parents didn’t follow them.
That’s why I stayed here while they left.
I kept an eye on my parents, kept them away from Jack and Theo. ”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Our parents aren’t good people,” Kai began.
He paused for a moment, as if trying to decide just how much to tell me.
“I tell you this just because I need you to keep an eye out for Jack and Theo. I know about the Bly family, and if you are the Bly I think you are, you have the money to keep them safe. Our parents are fucking crazy. They beat all of us, abused us emotionally and physically for some idiotic beliefs. Nate and I got the worst of the physicality, honestly probably Nate more than me. They were cruel and vindictive and more stubborn than you know.”
“It’s been thirteen years, and you still think they are a threat to Jackie?”
I was confused.
I knew my father was a horrible man, but I also knew that since I had left he wouldn’t go as far as to find me now.
Kai nodded. “Trust me, they are.”
We sat side by side in silence for a moment. The reality of what us coming here to Grantsville meant. Yes, they were here to see their brother, but being this close to her parents put Jackie in danger.
Kai clapped my shoulder before standing using his cane for support. “You seem like a good man, William.”
“Will, call me Will.”
“I can do that. Now I need to find that niece of mine because I am pretty sure she has barely any idea that I’m her uncle and I need to rectify that immediately.”
I watched as he exited the bedroom, limping with each step. There were things I could tell he wasn’t saying. Information about his parents and why they were the way that they were. I wasn’t sure if that was important information for me to know.
I laid back on the bed. My life had become extremely convoluted since Jackie walked into my office those few weeks ago.
I understood the way the world worked before, it made sense then. Now, I was chasing down a cult and scared that my girlfriend was going to be kidnapped. Add on top the information Kai just shared with me, it felt like everything was crumbling.
However, it was all worth it.
Jackie was worth it.