Page 5 of Storm

“What are you readin’?”

“Torn by Carian Cole.”

“What the hell is that? Some fairy tale?”

“If you want to call it that. They do get their happy ending,” she tells me.

“Life doesn’t have happy endings, darlin’.”

“No shit. Why do you think I read? You think I don’t know that nothing ends like this,” she says, holding her book up in front of her. I shrug.

“I don’t know. Some women seem to think they can make their lives turn out like that shit,” I say, nodding toward the book once more.

“First of all, this isn’t shit. She’s an amazing author. Secondly, I’m not one of those girls that stupidly believes that this stuff comes true. I’ve seen firsthand what this world is like.”

“Is that why you’re so jaded?” She snorts a laugh, closes her book and hops off the table she was sitting on.

“You know fuck all about me. Let’s keep it that way.” She turns to walk off, and I say something else I probably shouldn’t.

“You can’t go through life like that. You’ll never get anywhere,” I tell her. She stops walking and turns to face me once more.

“What makes you think I want more than this?” she asks, throwing her arms out to the side.

“That look in your eye. The anger that you carry around with you. The fuckin’ weight of it all on your shoulders.” Her mouth snaps shut as if I’d hit the nail on the head. She watches me for a second before walking back toward me.

“What makes you think you can see all that?” I shrug once more.

“Maybe I see a little of myself in you.”

“That’s laughable.”

“Is it? I know what it feels like, Princess. And it fuckin’ hurts. That pain? It fuckin’ burrows down inside of you, eatin’ away at any good you feel. It sucks you so fuckin’ dry that you feel like you’re gonna just wither up and turn to ash.” I can see that her breathing has kicked up a little, and it makes me wonder just how much she does hold onto.

Kenzee smiles at me, but that smile doesn’t reach her eyes.

“You think you know how I feel? You think you understand that ache inside of me? You weren’t there. You don’t know and you never will. You think that because you went to prison, you know everything, right? Well prison isn’t the real fucking world, Storm. I lived it. I felt it, and I fucking dream of it. So the next time you think you know anything about me, keep it to yourself.” With that, she turns and walks away from me as her uncle, Jenson, strolls toward me. He says something to her that I can’t hear but all she does is flip him off and keep walking. He chuckles as he gets closer to me.

“That one’s gonna be the death of me.”

“No shit.”

“What are you doin’ out here?” he asks.

“Just workin’ out. Gettin’ a little mai thai in.”

“You should teach her. Get her fuckin’ mind on somethin’.”

“I doubt she wants to learn. She seems pretty set in her ways,” I tell him.

“That she is. The girl is somethin’ else.”

“Seems like it.”

“Don’t take what she says to heart. She’s damaged, Storm. I’m pretty sure what she went through pretty well ruined that girl.”

“You think so? Doesn’t she have a boyfriend or somethin’?”

“No. She can’t keep a man around. Even if she tied his ass to the bed.”