Kenzie
I was in hell. Pure hell. It was torture. My brain was scattered, and my body was on fire. I got back into the diner with Jeremy following close behind, and I was a ball of nerves. Both from the revelations about Chace and the instant way my body reacted to Jeremy’s presence. I had almost convinced myself it was the wine that night that made me want more of his kisses, his hands on my skin. But I was wrong. I hadn’t had a single drop of wine today, and all I wanted to do was strip that shirt off his body and li—
“Everything okay?” Ryder asked as I fell into the chair. I was sure my face was flushed. Sweaty, even. And nothing even happened. All Jeremy did was kiss my jaw and run his thumb across my hip bone.
“No. We need to talk.” I narrowed my eyes on him.
“Now?”
“That would be nice.” I stood back up and walked away, but not before catching Jeremy’s dark gaze and hint of a smile.
“What the hell is going on between you and Jeremy?” Ryder asked the moment we were back outside.
“We are not talking about me.” I turned to look at my brother.
“Then why are we talking?” He folded his arms across his chest.
“Okay, fine, we are, but we’re not talking about my relationship with Jeremy.”
“Your what?” Ryder growled.
“What?”
“Relationship?” He could barely even speak the word. His lip curled in a sneer, his hands flexed. I rolled my eyes. He was so damn protective, but he didn’t need to worry about Jeremy. I was safe with him. That, I was certain of. Chace, on the other hand, was a ticking time bomb.
“Give it a break, Ryder. Not in a romantic way. Relationship has multiple meanings. He’s my neighbour. A friend. And he’s just looking out for me.”
“Yeah, right. I see the way he looks at you. The same way I look at Bailey.”
“Whatever. It’s nothing.” I kicked at the gravel with my boot and looked down at the ground so Ryder wouldn’t see the smile I was trying to hide. The way Jeremy was looking at me had my skin tingling all over.
“Bullshit. It’s something. I’ve never seen you act like that with someone.”
“Like what? You’ve seen me sit in a room with him for five minutes.” I rested my hands on my hips and tapped my foot on the ground. I didn’t want to discuss this now.
“That’s all I need, sis. It’s that magic twin shit we have going on.”
“Oh, really, do tell…” Stupid twin connection. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, it was really inconvenient.
“You like him.”
“I do not.” I didn’t. Did I? Maybe I did. I couldn’t tell. I liked his company. I liked his face. It was handsome. And his body. The tattoos. Those lips. I liked the way he made me feel.
Crap.
“You do. You’re too nice. You don’t say anything sarcastic. You’re too friendly.”
“And, what? I’m usually a bitch?” I raised an eyebrow in challenge.
“No. You’re the biggest smartass I know. But not with him.”
“Don’t be stupid. You don’t know how I speak when we’re alone.” I snapped my mouth shut. That came out wrong. But he was right. Normally, I was sarcastic and blunt, but for some reason, with Jeremy, I wasn’t. As much, anyway.
“You like him. And you’re afraid to say the wrong thing, so you’re all nice as pie.”
“Maybe I do. I don’t know. But so what?”
“So, nothing. I just wanted to hear you admit it.” He smirked. Jerk. I punched him in the chest. “I want you happy, Kenz. And if an ex-criminal makes you happy, so be it. He just better not hurt you.”
“Dude, we’ve been neighbours for, like, a week. This is not an insta-love story. It’s way too freaking early to be talking happily ever after.”
“Not really. Not when he’s the first guy you’ve shown interest in since the douchebag.”
But that was because I compared every guy I met to Chace and to Ryder. If they had any of Chace’s qualities, I didn’t want to know them. I wanted a guy Cole could look up to, like he did Ryder. I wanted a guy who would treat me the way Ryder treated Bailey, like she was his everything. I didn’t know what my mother did when she raised us, but she nailed it with Ryder. He was kind, protective, caring. He was my hero, and I wasn’t afraid to admit it. It was hard for anyone to measure up to him.
“Speaking of…we need to talk about him.” And now Ryder knew about my unsure feelings toward Jeremy, it wouldn’t be so hard to bring up the fact Chace had seen us kissing, somehow. Maybe.
“What?” His frown lines deepened, and his fists clenched. His eyes turned black, just like they always did at the mere mention of Chace.
“I need to know what happened.” We never kept secrets. Never. But this was something my dear, stupid brother refused to tell me. That fact alone was enough to set off warning bells. It was bad enough that he either couldn’t talk about it or refused to acknowledge it further.
“When?”
“Don’t play dumb. When Johnny had to bail you out.”
Ryder’s eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched. The vein in his neck throbbed. A tell-tale sign he was angry.
“No,” he hissed through clenched teeth.
“Yes.”
“It has nothing to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me. He’s stalking me,” I shouted, shoving him in the chest.
“He what?” Ryder’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.
“Don’t act like you don’t know. I know Jeremy spoke to you about it when he called me. Which, by the way, you failed to tell me about.”
“All he said was Chace knew you were eating pizza.”
“Even you’re not that stupid, Ryder. How the hell would Chace know that, huh? How would he know we sat on my sofa and shared a meal? How would he know we kissed? Because he’s watching me. Somehow.”
“You kissed?”
I threw my hands in the air with a groan and walked away. “That’s what you focus on. Out of everything I just said, all you heard was Jeremy and I kissed. Yes, okay. We kissed. It was great. I enjoyed it a lot. I want to kiss him again.”
“Aww, that’s nice to hear, babe.” Jeremy’s voice sounded from behind me. I spun on the spot to glare at him. He held his hands up in surrender. What was he doing out here?
“You kissed my sister?” Ryder asked.
Jeremy winced.
“That’s not the point, Ryder. Chace saw. We were in my locked apartment on the second floor. And. He. Saw,” I ground out.
“Shit.” Ryder pulled on his hair and kicked the wall beside the ice freezer.
“Look, obviously something pretty bad happened. We’re just trying to find out how much of a danger he is to Kenzie and Cole.” Jeremy stepped forward, hands still held up to show Ryder he didn’t mean any trouble.
“Why are you out here?” Ryder asked Jeremy. “This has nothing to do with you.”
Jeremy folded his arms, his muscles flexing, pulling tight the sleeves of his t-shirt. “Things looked like they were getting heated. Just doing the neighbourly thing and checking on Kenzie.”
“Yeah, well, this is our business. Piss off back inside,” Ryder replied.
“No can do. Sorry.” Jeremy shrugged and leaned against the freezer, crossing his legs as he watched me carefully.
My stomach fluttered, and I had to suppress a smile. This was not the time to smile. I was angry at my brother, and I needed answers. I didn’t need to go getting all giddy over a guy with really, really nice arms and tattoos.
“Please, Ryder. Just tell me,” I pleaded. I wasn’t above dropping to my knees and begging him. Though I’d probably put him in a headlock and throw him to the ground first.
Ryder closed his eyes and tilted his head back. When he looked back at me, I saw everything. He didn’t even need to speak. It was all there in his expression. The pain, the anger, the anguish. His eyes were burning with rage. He was hurting just as much as he was furious. My heart stopped, and my stomach churned.
“Bailey,” he whispered and slumped down against the wall. Resting his elbows on his knees, he continued. “He tried to attack Bailey.” His head dropped into his hands, too overwhelmed to speak.
I wanted to throw up. The thought of anything like that happening to anyone, let alone Bailey, made me sick.
“What kind of sick, fu—” I stopped talking when Ryder punched the freezer beside him in anger. Me getting pissed off wasn’t helping anything.
I fell to my knees in the gravel in front of my brother and grabbed his hands. Jeremy’s arms hung limp at his side, but his back was ramrod straight, jaw clenched. He caught my eyes, and I could see the same fury in him as I did in Ryder. I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know what to say. How did you respond to something like that? Instead, I sat there quietly holding my brother’s hands.
I knew whatever he had been hiding was bad. I also knew what Chace did was classed as attempted sexual assault. I’d found that out last year when Brody’s friend looked into Chace for me. But I never imagined it was Bailey. My brother was a knight in skinny jeans. He was the first one to stand up for someone else. He was a protector by nature. And I stupidly assumed that maybe he’d stopped Chace from groping a drunk chick at a party or something.
Okay, maybe I didn’t stupidly assume.
Maybe I knew deep down inside that it was all to do with Bailey.
Maybe I just didn’t want to admit that something like that could happen to someone I cared so much for. Bailey was like a sister to me.
I didn’t want to push him, and I didn’t want to know any details. All I wanted to know was that Bailey was okay. That it was stopped before it went too far.
“D-d-did h-he—” My voice was scratchy, and the lump in my throat stopped me from getting the words out.
Ryder shook his head.
I breathed a sigh of relief, the weight of his confession lifted off my shoulders.
“You got there in time?”
Again, he shook his head. He looked up at me with red rimmed eyes—he wasn’t crying, but he was damn close—and cleared his throat.
“Jack.”
“Jack?” I gasped in surprise. Jack was a gentle soul, not a fighter by nature. He was Ryder’s roommate and best friend at uni. And he was also the loudest, most inappropriate person you could ever meet. But he cared. He wore his heart on his sleeve and would do anything for Ryder, Bailey, and Indie.
“He got there just—” Ryder swallowed and clenched his jaw.
“In time.” I finished for him. “Shit. I’m sorry.”
Ryder’s eyes cleared as a mask of indifference settled over his face. He stood and brushed off his jeans. “Not a word to anyone.” Then he walked back inside with no further explanation, for which I was grateful. I wasn’t sure I could handle hearing the details.
I sat on the ground for a while longer, Jeremy coming over to sit with me. “You okay?”
I bit my lip and shrugged. I didn’t know what I felt. It was jarring to find out the father of your child could be capable of such a horrendous act.
My stomach rolled again. I pushed myself up and ran around the corner. Hunching over, I emptied the contents of my stomach. Gross. Jeremy’s hand rubbed soothing circles on my back. And I groaned, throwing up again. So not attractive. I didn’t want him to see me like that. I stood and classily wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. My skin was damp, and my hands were shaking. Jeremy put his arm around my waist.
“Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
I winced. Great impression I was making.
“A little vomit isn’t going to turn me off, babe.”
“I said that out loud?”
“Yep.” He opened the doors to the diner and, ignoring everyone else, he led me down the hall and into the bathroom.
I splashed my face, rinsed my mouth out, and fixed my hair. All I wanted to do was go home and have a shower.
I felt dirty. And that was stupid. But it didn’t make it any less true. Dirty by association. I knew there was something wrong with Chace, but I never would have imagined he could do what he did. And Bailey. I didn’t know how she stayed at the same uni with him. I would have been out of there in an instant. She was stronger than any of us gave her credit for.
I had been furious with Ryder for acting so stupid and getting himself arrested, but it all made sense now. I was proud of him for protecting his girlfriend and almost wished he’d beaten Chace harder.
“Feel better?”
“No.”
“Want to get out of here?”
I nodded. “I need to make sure Cole is okay first.”
“Sure, you go do what you need. I’ll go and get some food. I think you need it now, since your lunch is outside in the dirt.”
“I can’t believe I did that. Yuck.”
“It happens.” Jeremy ushered me out of the bathroom with a light squeeze on my waist. He turned right and walked into the kitchen, while I made my way back over to everyone else.
Bailey and Ryder were standing and looked as though they were ready to leave. I wasn’t sure if Ryder had told her what we discussed, so I wasn’t sure what to say to her. Instead, I squeezed her arm, and she gave me a small smile. She knew I knew.
I figured after our discussion outside they probably wanted to be alone, so I said, “Cole, buddy, pack up. It’s time to go.” I decided to bring him home for the night, regardless of Chace.
Bailey frowned at me. “I thought he was coming home with us again.”
“He is.” Ryder ruffled Cole’s hair then pointed at me. “And you’re going to the police to get this Chace shit sorted once and for all. Cole isn’t going back to that apartment until Chace is long gone. I don’t care.”
“He can’t stay with you all the time, Ryder. You have lives. Work. I’ll pick him up tomorrow because I have a few days off.”
“No. Kenzie, this isn’t up for discussion. You pick him up when Chace is out of the picture. Until then, you can stay over whenever you want, but Cole isn’t leaving.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. I didn’t like the idea of leaving Cole there for too long. A couple of days was one thing. He’d think it was some big holiday since we’d never been on one. But I missed him when he was gone and hated being alone. But Ryder was right. I couldn’t bring Cole back to the apartment until I knew for sure what Chace was up to. I didn’t want Chace to have the opportunity to spy on Cole. He was safer with Ryder than with anyone else. And it wasn’t like I wouldn’t see him. I’d be there every day I wasn’t at work until he fell asleep.
“Okay.”
“I’m staying over again?” Cole looked up with bright eyes.
“You are.” I smiled at his enthusiasm.
“Yes!” He threw his fist in the air. At least he was happy about it.
“Give me a kiss.” I pulled him into my arms and hugged him. “You be good, and I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”
“Love you too.” He wrapped his small arms around my neck and kissed my cheek. “Aunty Bailey is taking me back to the beach,” he whispered in my ear like it was a big secret.
“Oh, that will be fun!”
Cole walked over and grabbed Bailey’s hand. They all said goodbye and walked out together.
Jeremy returned a few minutes later with a bag of food. “Ready?”
I nodded but didn’t fail to notice the looks from Harper and Indie. Raised eyebrows and a smirk from Indie. Harper looked as though she was studying a really hard text. Her lips were pursed and eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“I’ll catch up with you later,” I said, resting my hand on Harper’s shoulder, and then waved goodbye to everyone else.
“Kenzie!” Indie called out as I reached the front door. I turned to look at her. “I nearly forgot. Next Saturday night. My parents’ place.”
“Why?”
“It’s my birthday. We’re having dinner then instead of Sunday. Make sure you’re there.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “See you then.”
“Oh, and Jeremy,” she continued.
He stopped, cleared his throat, and looked over his shoulder at her.
“You’re invited too!” She rested her head on her fists and smiled proudly.
“Umm…thanks,” was all Jeremy said before he walked out the doors.
Indie shot me a wink and waved.
I followed Jeremy out and let him walk me to my car.
“I’ll follow,” he said as he closed my door once I’d gotten in.