Chapter 43
Dae
When I pull into my driveway again, it’s much later than I planned. Close to nine o’clock in the morning. It took longer than expected for the police to believe that I was just protecting myself from two would-be muggers.
My license to carry came in handy. And the two motherfuckers who would’ve attacked Kennedy had she shown up went along with my story since they didn’t want to confess to attempted kidnapping.
They’re still in police custody.
I’ll have to figure out how to get those bastards later. Now, I need to figure out how to get to Blackmon.
For the moment, though, I must go inside and explain what happened to Kennedy. That this meeting was a setup. I know she’s pissed, but when she realizes her safety was in jeopardy, I’m sure she’ll see my reasoning.
Instead of pulling into the garage, I climb out of my car and head to the front door. I pause and remember that I put in a new code since Kennedy knew the old one. Pushing out a deep sigh, I punch in the code before placing my palm against the lock scanner.
“Alarm disengaged,” the scanner beeps and releases the lock. The other locks around the entire house disengage as well.
I push open the door but stop short. I can barely get it open. From what I can see inside, there’s stuff scattered everywhere. It takes some force, but I manage to push the door open.
Once inside, I see broken table and chair legs in a pile behind the door, which prevented me from opening the door all the way. There’s a trail of glass that leads from the door toward the kitchen but also splinters off toward the living room.
I stop at the living room and find Kennedy sitting in the center of it, surrounded by torn pillows, glass, and the remnants of what used to be the couch, I suppose.
Slowly, she lifts her head to look at me.
The force of her glare almost knocks me back a few steps. People say if looks could kill, they would be dead, but it’s not until this moment, right now, that I truly understand what that means.
I’ve had people look at me with disdain and even hate before. My father looked at me with eyes that wished I was never born.
This is different.
It’s as if something shattered in her eyes. A look I’ve never seen before from anyone.
“Kenn—” I say while I step toward her.
“Don’t,” she says in a gravelly voice. “Do not take another step in my direction.”
I stop at the entryway, surveying the scene in front of me. Her eyes are watery as if she’s been crying.
She sits among a pile of broken wood and glass, presumably from the furniture. I notice a trickle of blood running down her arm.
I move toward her. “You’re bleeding …”
“I swear to God, I will rip your fucking heart out of your chest if you take another step in my direction.”
She grabs a wooden stick that must’ve once belonged to a chair or the couch and wields it like a baseball bat.
“You’re going to hurt yourself,” I say in as calm a voice as I can muster.
“I will hurt you a lot worse,” she promises.
I don’t move. Not because I’m afraid of being hurt but because I can tell she doesn’t care about hurting herself right now. I don’t know if she feels the cut on her arm.
“Baby, what—”
“I’m not your baby.” She takes a few steps back, although I haven’t moved. It’s as if she can’t bear even being within a few feet of me.
My breathing starts to get shallow as my chest feels like it’s constricting.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what, Dae? What are you sorry for? For locking me in your fucking house?” she shouts at the same time she throws the wooden stick at me.
I duck, and it narrowly misses me. She picks up another broken wooden stick.
“Save your fucking sorry for someone who wants to hear it.”
“It was a setup,” I finally tell her. “Blackmon was setting you up.”
Her eyes narrow. Though there’s pure venom in that glare, I hope she’s also taking in what I said.
“There were two bastards there waiting to attack and kidnap you. You wouldn’t have walked away if you had gone to that meeting this morning.”
Her nostrils flare, and her face firms.
“That’s why you did this? To keep me safe?” She spits out the last word.
“Yes. I would never do it for any other reason.”
“Really?” she asks.
I push out a breath. Maybe she gets it now.
“Yes.” I can’t get the answer out before I have to duck again as she hurls the second piece of wood at my head.
When I rise to look at her, her eyes are fuming. More than before.
“You think I didn’t fucking think of that?” she yells. “Do you believe I would show up to a meeting at six-thirty in the morning with a fucker I don’t know without any type of backup?”
She bends down, picks something up, and throws it at me. It’s one of the coasters that used to sit on the glass table.
“I was meeting with a contact from the police department to meet me there this morning. She was waiting for my call. I was never going to go there alone.” She throws something else my way. It’s one of my shoes.
She moves deeper into the living room, picking up another wooden stick. I step inside the living room.
“You shouldn’t have been there,” I say because even if she had a police officer with her, she shouldn’t be in a position where her safety is at stake.
“I shouldn’t have been here,” she says with such finality that my knees weaken slightly.
“You always belong here.” I look at her in her fiery gaze. “You can be as pissed as you need to be. You can break everything I own, but here, with me, is where you belong. Safe.”
“Safe?” she mocks. “With you?”
“Yes.”
She stops and cocks her head to the side. “How long, Dae?”
“Forever,” I answer without needing to think about it.
She shakes her head. “No. How long were you going to keep lying to me?”
I frown because I don’t know what she’s referring to.
“Are you trying to figure out which lie of yours I’ve figured out?”
“I never lied to you.”
Her eyes narrow farther. She digs in her pocket and pulls something out. In her hand is the handkerchief she gave me all those years ago.
“That was you … in that alleyway.”
My chest tightens even more.
“The boy I saw getting beat up by three guys.”
“It was me,” I finally admit.