Chapter 20

Phoenix

“How’s she doin’?” Leo asks as I sit at the bar with my head in my hands.

“Doc checked her out. Her nose is broken, a shit ton of bruisin’. Nothin’ physically that won’t heal but that’s not what I’m worried about.”

“Don’t do that, Phoenix. She’s stronger than that and you know it. She’s got us, yeah?” Nodding my head, I know she does. When the guys found out what those bastards did to her, they lost it. It made me proud to call them family in that moment.

“She’s been through hell, Leo. Fuck! That is gonna leave an impression on her. She might be strong but that was some violent shit.” He knows what I mean and when he slides the bottle of Jack in front of me. I know he gets it.

“Lucky is pullin’ up some shit for us. He ain’t slept in days,” Leo informs me. As much as I want to tell him to have Lucky take a break, I can’t. I need to find the motherfuckers that did this to her. I need to make them feel every ounce of pain that she has.

“You think her dad knew anything about this shit?” The question has been lingering in the back of my mind. Something just rubs me wrong and I can’t place it.

“You think he’d put her in the line of fire?” Leo asks. I glance over at him and shrug.

“Don’t know shit anymore.”

“Yo, Prez! Got a visitor!” I swivel around on my stool when I hear one of the guys calling out to me. Ascher saunters over toward us as Leo grunts. He’s still not too keen on the idea of Ascher being around but he’ll get used to it.

“What’s up, bro?” He nods at me.

“Not much. What’re you doin’ here?”

“Came to check on your girl. How’s she doing?” Taking a long pull from the bottle, I set it back on the bar.

“She’s pretty fucked up. They did a real number on her.”

“What do we know? We got any leads on the assholes?” Ascher asks.

“Got my guy workin’ on it. I’m thinkin’ we need to go have a little chat with her daddy. Make sure he didn’t know shit about this. If he did, I’ll take that motherfucker out with the rest of them,” I say. I’ve thought it over. If he had anything to do with it, I know I’d kill him without blinking an eye, but he is Kenna’s dad. I don’t know what her reaction would be to all of that, but I do know that I won’t let that shit slide.

“Gonna talk to Kenna. See what her thoughts are on this,” I say as I shove off the stool and head down the hall. My heart slams into my ribs with the thought of seeing her. She’s so broken right now and all I want to do is make it right and make her whole. Kenna isn’t the type of girl to take shit lying down and she isn’t the type to stay down for long which makes her my perfect match. Walking into the room, I find her sitting on the edge of the bed fully dressed like she’s about to go out for the day.

“Goin’ somewhere?” I ask. She turns her head to look at me over her shoulder and gives me a slight grin.

“I can’t sit here and do nothing, Phoenix. We have a city to run.” God hearing her say we sends a chill up my spine.

“You also have healin’ to do. I’m not one to boss you around but you need rest, Babygirl.” Her eyes stay locked with mine and I can’t help but laugh. I walk toward her, sitting on the edge of the bed next to her and pull her into my side. Pressing my lips to the top of her head, I sigh.

“You’re gonna be a pain in my ass about this aren’t you?” I chuckle.

“It’s what I do best,” she teases.

“I wanna ask you somethin’ and I don’t want you to get upset but do you think that your dad knew anything about this shit? I’m just askin’ since Philip was his man.” Kenna lets out a sigh and shifts so that she’s closer to  me, wrapping her arms around my waist.

“I hate to say this too because he is my father but if you want to go talk to him, we should go.”

“We?”

“Yes, we, Phoenix. I’m the one that got hurt in all this,” she snaps breaking my goddamn heart a little more.

“You think so? You don’t think it fuckin’ killed me to not know where the hell you were and what was happenin’ to you?” As the words leave my mouth, I stand from the bed. This is insane. I was losing myself when she was missing.

“I’m sorry. You’re right.” She stands from the bed walking over to me and wraps her arms around my waist. I take a deep breath and wrap my own around her, pulling her as close as I can.

“Fuck, Kenna. I’m sorry. I thought...fuck. I thought what if I never see you again. I was scared to death and all I wanted was to kill someone for goin’ near you. I’m gonna kill them all, Kenna. I’m gonna make their blood spill all over Miami for what they did to you.”

“Let’s go talk to him but I’m telling you right now, that when you find the assholes that did this, I want to be there Phoenix.” Her words would normally soothe me, but those words make me uneasy. I don’t want her to have to relive any of that shit.

“Not a good idea, Babygirl.”

“Side by side, remember?” I chuckle and kiss the top of her head once more.

“Side by side, Babygirl. Let’s get you somethin’ to eat before we go. There’s someone here that wants to see you.” I lead Kenna out of the room and down the hall. She stops confused at what she’s seeing when she spots Ascher standing near the bar. She looks up at me for an answer, but I truly don’t have one. I don’t know what makes Ascher do the things he does.

“I look like shit,” she mumbles making me laugh.

“You look like a girl that lived another day. You’re fuckin’ gorgeous,” I remind her. We walk a little closer when Ascher turns his head. His eyes roam over Kenna before his hands fist at his sides. That’s where him and I are the same.

“You could say hi and not just stare,” Kenna snaps at him. Leo laughs catching her attention.

“You look good, babe. Don’t let that pretty boy throw you off,” Leo chides.

“He’s right. You look good. How are you feeling?” Ascher finally asks, stepping closer. Much to my surprise, he pulls Kenna in a for a hug. She looks at me out of the corner of her eye confused as hell. That makes two of us!

“I’m okay. I’ll live. Someone has to keep your brother in line.” Ascher pulls back and nods.

“Look. I know I fucked things up with both of you but I’m here now. I want to help with whatever I can. My brother loves you even if he hasn’t told you yet. I know when to back off and when to be a brother. This is me, being a brother.” His words surprise us both. Kenna turns toward me, tears in her pretty eyes.

“Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Love me?”

“More than you know.”