Chapter 15
Nico
It was four weeks since I last spoke to or saw Kennedy, and it was beginning to take its toll on me. Working with my dad was hard enough, and now with Kennedy gone from my life; I couldn’t see the point of anything.
I was working on the job site. It was a sunny day and I’d taken my shirt off. According to our new accountant, we needed to complete the construction of the building in less time than we’d hoped for.
It was an all-hands-on-deck situation and I was helping the men in their work. My dad of course, was nowhere in sight.
I couldn’t remember how long I’d been working. I was up at six and at the site by seven to begin work sooner. The sun was beating down on us now and I could feel drops of sweat trickling down over my eyelids.
It was only when the three men who were working with me, stopped hammering and looked over my shoulder—that I realized there was someone standing behind me. I turned to see Kennedy standing there. She’d been watching me and the men reacted obscenely to her presence.
“Look who we have here,” one of them said while another one whistled.
“Go back to work!” I snapped at them. I lunged at Kennedy, grabbing her by her elbow and dragging her away.
“What the fuck are you doing here!” I hissed under my breath. A lot of the men had noticed her already, and I couldn’t blame them for admiring her. Seeing her again had its effect on me too.
She was in a pretty yellow dress, loose and light for the sunny day. Her red hair was flowing delicately around her shoulders. Without any makeup on or a fancy dress like she wore at the theatre; Kennedy still looked beautiful.
She yanked her elbow away from me, glaring at me rigidly.
“I’m good, thanks for asking!” she snapped.
I believed I’d dragged her far enough away from the men, but the last thing I wanted was a scene. I wasn’t expecting this from her. I thought she would have forgotten about our episode by now.
“How did you know where to find me?” I asked. Her eyes swooped over me. She was trying not to look at my bare torso, but I knew she’d noticed it already. That electricity in the air had returned. There was no denying that we both still craved for each other.
Kennedy crossed her arms over her heaving breasts. From the flush in her cheeks and her sparkling, raging green eyes—I could tell that she was pissed.
“Are you going to tell me how you found me?” I growled, glaring at her…breathing in her beautiful body. She held her chin up.
“My friend Ava, she said her family has dealings with yours and she told me the possible places where I could find you,” she finally replied.
Ava? Did she mean Ava Luccio? I had no idea that they were friends! So, all this time…Kennedy would have known exactly the kind of work that my family was involved in!
“What the fuck, Kennedy? You didn’t tell me you and Ava were friends?” I snapped. She rolled her eyes at me.
“We weren’t exactly sharing personal information with each other. Remember?” she snapped back.
I clenched my jaws as I glared at her. It was difficult to deny myself. I could barely breathe around her or keep my hands to myself. My first instinct was to grab her and pull her into my arms. I had to fight every gut feeling just to keep the few inches of distance between us.
“What are you doing here, Kennedy? I thought I made it very clear to you…” I began to say and she nodded her head. Her lips were quivering. I could see that she was trying hard to keep the tears down. Why was she crying? What was going on?
“I know what you said, but I wanted to see you. We need to talk, Nico,” she said. Her voice had turned softer. She wasn’t fighting her rage anymore, she was fighting tears.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to see her cry. The last thing I wanted, was to hurt Kennedy. And yet here she was, hurt and upset because of me. A few more moments and I would be putty in her hands. My resolve to keep my distance from her would be broken. And then what?
I’d be putting her in danger, and she didn’t deserve that!
“We don’t have anything to talk about, Kennedy,” I said, as curtly as possible and I brushed past her to walk away.
“Nico!” she said my name aloud and I had no other choice but to stop in my tracks. She was attracting too much attention to herself. I didn’t want any of these men to find out about my personal life. All of them were capable of reporting to my father with information.
“Kennedy, you have to leave now. You can’t be here. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into!” I hissed, charging back at her.
She held her ground, locking her gaze with mine.
“This was the only way I could talk to you. You’ve not answered my call. I know you don’t want to talk to me,” she whimpered. My palms itched with the desire to hold her. I could see how upset she was, how miserable I was making her…but it was the only way to keep her safe.
“We had a deal. It was just sex between us. I had my fill and decided to end it,” I said. It hurt me to even say those words.
“I know what the deal was!” she snapped. “But…you didn’t even have the basic decency to let me know it was over between us. I waited for days…for weeks…for your call or a text. Anything! You just dropped me,” she continued, but in a low softer voice. Her eyes were filled with tears.
Kennedy had always struck me as a strong woman, someone who could take care of herself. It was hard for me to believe that I’d broken her, that she was feeling this weak.
“Okay, well, I’m sorry I didn’t text to let you know. I just thought it would be best if we never spoke again. Anyway, it’s over now and you should leave,” I said. I was trying to be firm with her.
“Nico, can we just go somewhere for a little bit? To talk in private?” she asked, looking pleadingly into my eyes.
“I’m working, Kennedy, and no. What part of, it’s over, do you not understand?” I barked.
She said nothing. Her breasts heaved and she was breathing hard as she watched me.
“Goodbye, Kennedy, take care of yourself,” I said, in a softer voice and I turned from her again.
“Nico, I’m pregnant. It’s yours,” I heard the words.
They entered my ears but I didn’t exactly register them. All I could do was stand still, frozen to the ground.
“That’s what I needed to tell you. That’s what you don’t have the time to hear,” Kennedy’s voice was sizzling as she spoke now. She was pregnant? With my child? I was going to be a father?
I whipped around to her and saw that she’d wiped the tears from her eyes. She was holding herself straight. She still had her pride. I couldn’t say anything. What were the appropriate words in this situation? I didn’t know how to feel.
When I said nothing, Kennedy nodded her head gently. Like this was exactly what she was expecting from me.
“Okay, I get it. I’ll go. I just wanted you to know. I didn’t want to keep it a secret from you,” she said.
Kennedy was walking past me when I grabbed her wrist.
“Come with me,” I grunted and tugged her in the direction of my car. There was no way I was just going to let her leave now. Not after what she’d just told me.
“Where are we going?” she asked as I opened the car door for her.
“Somewhere we can talk about this,” I replied. After she was sitting safely in the car, I ran back to where I was working. I needed to put my shirt back on.
“You know that piece of ass?” one of the men asked when he saw me return. It made me fucking furious to hear him talk about Kennedy like that. I socked his jaw. The punch came out of nowhere and I had no way to control it. The others looked surprised by my reaction. We were all accustomed to talking about women like that.
“Don’t ever fucking call her that,” I growled as I picked up my shirt.
They watched me in silence as I ran back to the car, to Kennedy who was waiting there for me.