I SIT HUDDLED BENEATH A blanket with Saylor at my side. Her arms wrapped tight around me as we sit side by side on the couch in our apartment above the now badly burned In Ruins. She shushes me as I cry silent tears, my shoulders shaking, distraught over what happened.
Devastated that it’s all my fault.
Rhett, Gus, and Nash are finishing up their talk with the police at the front door. Being briefed on what’s happened with Mallory and the state of the bar. I heard the officers mention that the fire damage was kept at the bar itself, but smoke and water damage cover almost half of the rest of the space.
I still can’t believe any of this has happened, that Rhett and I were practically taken hostage and our lives were threatened. My thoughts run wild thinking it all over.
Once we had gathered ourselves and calmed down enough, Rhett and I made our way over to the EMTs to check us over. Assessing us both. We were scratch and bruise free so we were released quickly without any issue.
Then we were pulled away by the police. Initially they tried to split us up to question us, but one look at Rhett and hearing the feral growl that erupted from his chest had them backtracking and letting us stay together.
I wouldn’t have stood to be separated anyway.
We answered what we could. How Mallory just showed up with a gun, started talking nonsense, then started the fire. The scene escalating quickly and rapidly.
That’s when Officers Sullivan and Tiego from the Sunvale PD told us everything they knew. And it nearly brought me to my knees.
In the hour since being rescued to that moment in questioning they learned more than I would have thought possible. They informed Rhett and me that they found Mallory’s car parked on the street, located her address from the registration and contacted her hometown’s local police department, who searched her house and found Clark, dead from multiple gunshot wounds to the torso. They also found numerous photos of me and of Rhett and me together.
Shock slammed into me. I already knew about Clark from what Mallory said, but I still couldn’t believe it—still can’t. And to know she had photos of me—of us together—made me feel dirty. Knowing she was stalking us, watching us. I can’t even comprehend it.
When I asked how she found me, since I had moved, Officer Tiego said they found letters from a private investigator that led her to me. Citing I was her long-lost sister as reason to why she needed to find me. Once she had my info, she hunted me down and watched me until she finally lost it and found her perfect moment. Almost a month she was in town—watching me—and I never knew.
How could I not know?
Not long after the police released us from their squad car turned makeshift interrogation room, Saylor, Gus, and Nash were finally allowed to see us. They each took a turn wrapping us up, sharing their fears, and then Gus let us know he heard yelling downstairs, which caused him to call the police.
“When I heard the pops, I knew it wasn’t any fireworks going off,” Gus recalled.
Thank God the police arrived just as he was making it downstairs to see what was going on. It saved him from Mallory and the fire. Something I’m beyond grateful for; Gus has become like a father to me. If anything bad happened to him, I don’t know what I would have done.
Enough of this is my fault; I can’t imagine having that on my conscious, too.
I run my hands down my face. “I’m so sorry.” My voice whisper-soft when I speak to Saylor. The quiet and my thoughts getting to be too much.
Her arms tighten around me. “Don’t you even dare. None of this is your fault, Kennedy. Do you hear me? None of it.”
“I didn’t even know she was watching me, stalking me. I led her here. Caused her to…to kill a man, her husband. I’m the reason behind all of this.” I shake my head and cry harder. Hands raking through my hair as I keep my sobs locked tight, not wanting to make any more of a scene.
Saylor releases me to fully turn towards me. Her hands grasp my face and lift so I look right at her. “You didn’t, doll. You didn’t. That was all on Clark and her. He cheated, not you, and that’s what caused her mania. None of this was your fault.” Her eyes implore me to believe her.
But I can’t.
I can feel Rhett’s eyes on me, no doubt watching my and Saylor’s exchange. “How can you say it isn’t? She was only here because of me. Because I slept with Clark. And because of me I put Rhett in danger, put him in the line of fire. Literally. Because of me In Ruins is now actually ruined. You and Gus are out of work until God knows when. I’ve destroyed so much.” My hands lift to cover the sob slipping from my mouth.
“You’ve destroyed nothing, Kennedy. Nothing.” Saylor’s hands now reach for mine, pulling them from my mouth and holding on for dear life. “If anything, you’ve mended and healed each of us. Completed this completely unorthodox family. You’re the last puzzle piece we’ve been missing. You’ve changed our lives, brightened each day…Would you tell her, big brother?”
Looking up, surprised, I see him standing above me. Nash and Gus at his back. I didn’t even hear them move, or the officers leave.
But instead of him speaking, it’s Gus who answers. “Sweetheart, not one of us blames you for that crazy woman’s actions. Not one,” he stresses. “We’re just thankful you two are safe and unharmed. The bar can be repaired. It’s all cosmetic and can be fixed. But you two.” He points a finger between Rhett and myself. “Can’t be replaced.”
Tears roll down my cheeks even harder now, touched by his words. Rhett watches on. His jaw clenching along with his fists at his sides.
“We’re a family who sticks together, Kennedy. We’ve overcome before, and we will again.” His hand lifts to squeeze Rhett’s shoulder.
It’s quiet for a few minutes. All of us contemplative. Before Rhett finally speaks. “Mind giving us a minute?” His deep voice rumbles around the room.
Gus nods as he drops his hand from Rhett’s shoulder. “The police and fire department cleared the bar; we’ll head down there to check things out.”
Saylor kisses my cheek, then stands. I watch her walk up to Nash, his arm wrapping around her shoulders. His lips to the top of her head as they follow Gus through the door.
Rhett’s silent as he walks around the coffee table and sits next to me. We’re thigh-to-thigh when he reaches over and wraps his safe, strong arms around me, pulling me in and kissing the top of my messy hair.
I shake my head. “I just can’t shake the feeling. Of knowing she watched us. Of knowing she killed Clark. Of the gunshots and the flames.” I shiver and shudder. “This whole night. I just—I can’t believe it happened. That it’s my fault.”
“Bullshit,” he spits out.
My eyes shoot to his.
“I heard what Saylor said to you, and she’s right. Just like Gus said, none of what happened is your fault, and if I hear you say it again I’ll tan your ass red, you hear me? That woman clearly lost her damn mind, and that wasn’t because of you. That’s on her cheating husband.”
“And he cheated with me…”
“Doesn’t fuckin’ matter, angel. That man made a choice, one that had dire consequences for him, his wife, us. But in no way, shape, or form does that mean any of it is on you. Nothing. You’re a victim in this, baby. Not the cause.”
I think his words over, realizing he’s right. I can’t help but feel some responsibility in what happened. But I was used by Clark just as Mallory was cheated by him. It doesn’t mean he deserved his fate though. Despite everything she did, I truly hope Mallory can get the help she so desperately needs.
“Come here,” Rhett all of a sudden says as he pulls me across his lap, arms banding tighter around me.
Strong. Safe. Loving.
My mind gets to thinking about the night as the silence surrounds us again. Shame tints my cheeks in embarrassment when I think back to all Mallory said. “What you heard tonight…” I start but don’t get to finish.
“Changes absolutely nothing between us, angel.” The stark conviction in Rhett’s tone slams through me, rocking me to my very core.
I look up into his devastatingly handsome face to see nothing but truth and love staring back at me.
“I love you, Kennedy. Every part of you. Your past, your scars, your fears, our future. Everything she spewed and spit tonight doesn’t matter because every step, every mistake, every move you ever made led you right here, to me, right where you belong.”
His words wrap around my fragile heart, yet again pumping love and strength straight into every beat.
Just when I think I can’t ever love him more, he proves me wrong. Despite everything we just endured, I’ve never felt like I belong more than I do right now in this moment.
And I know without a shadow of a doubt that I’ve finally found my love…my home.